Not many of the grown-ups who have carried home for their little ones this season one of those dolls which graced many store windows—made entirely of felt, with fluffy hair and unusual clothes—had any idea that it had its origin in the desire of a mother in Turin during the war to give her baby a doll, when che had no money with which to buy one of the smiling beauties offered for sale in the shops. Such, however, is the case. The mother in question was Mrs. Scavini, the wife of an Italian painter and, herself an art student, and it all happened while her husband was off soldiering. First she made one for her, own little girl, then for all the other Tittle girls who saw the doll when they were playing im the park Soo the work developed beyond the mother's powers, and with the termination of the war, when her husband returned, he and several other artists joined in' the work, painting the dolls and designing new figures. This doll-making is now seriously considered as Italy's important contribution to the art of toymaking.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.