NEW PROFESSIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13841, 1 March 1909, Page 3

NEW PROFESSIONS.

" SURGEON " , AT WORK. The Lead 'surgeon r was a woman, and her slim, 'wttne lingers touched with healing skill ttie battered babies that were entrusted to her care. This was.no ordinary hospital, that I visited (writes a. " uaily ■". I representative), with paui-stricken wards, and soft-footed nurses, hut a large "surgery" decorated witJi pretty curtains and lit, as the evening shadows fell, with tender' lights. And the patients were dolls, dolls of all kinds—baby dolls, boy and girl dolls, men and women dolls, and - dolls from many lands who had met with sad accidents. The surgeon chatted pleasantly with me as she touched a faded complexion with new bloom, replaced a lost eye, stitched up a gaping: wound ,iri: the. side,. or deftly added.a/'waxen.foot .or;'hand':'-. In I>dH-land, luckily, al fatal accident or an unsuccessful; operation is .nearly., unheard of., '^Ci;::-^-I/,. ;'•'■■; "Yes,," she said,..'-.' this, is; the .dolls' hospital, and the workl, is full, of ' interest and variety. It is .wonderful ho'w -children cling; to their;, old 'toys. They; would far .sooner ; have/; aii' old treasure repaired than a'-new toy tore- ; place it. , ;..'...■■ "Children tare, naturally conservar' tivej but apart from; this many of them have. what I. call 'heirloom.'* toys —dolls that have been handed down through more than one .-. generation!. One came into my" hands recently. ' with a crushed foot,rand it -still I-wore'' the smooth hair and"'stiff silk dress of early Victorian days'. ' " Just now is-a very busy season for me/ and nearly every post brings me battered treasuresi,with urgent childish messages asking that' 'they may be re- ( stored to health as speedily as possible.'.' ;.-..- ' • ' . At that time the surgery bell rang, ( and, a distressed little girl came in with ber nurse, hugging a doll, with ' half its face beaten in by a too strenu- ' ous brother of its owner. " Could you—could you mend her?" the child sobbed,, "and not hurt her." " Why, yes," cheerily replied the surgeon. "I won't be a moment," and she disappeared soon to come back < with a perfect doll in her hands. : „ The child shrieked with delight. . • ' " But," said the surgeon, "you must i leave her With mo for to-day, and then ■ when you eonie tb-morrow she will be , quite well." > '' She thinks you have mended the ; broken face," I observed after the child had gone. " Ves, I never kill the illusions of : babyhood. The land of make-believe is verv beautiful, and by a little gem the illusions can live a little longer. That is why I never operate in front of my little customers. " But 1 keep quantities of heads in . readiness, and I can usually find one that is a good resemblance of the ori- , ginal," said the doll surgeon grimly, and. she opened a case —a veritahle Bluebeard's cupboard —and showed me rows of fair heads, dark heads, medium heads, and heads of all sizes. The replacement of lost eyes is one of my most frequent operations, and-I keep' several drawers full always to hand. I also keep a large supply of hands, and feet, legs, bodies, .and all parts of doll's anatomy, so that they may be quickly replaced. I can make

I them myself, but I buy them ready made, as. 1 hud my time is -quite taken up with the necessary repairs. "Then a doll's surgeon must ,be a 'perruquier, and be able to restore lost xresses. It is wonderful, too, , how children love long-haired dolls. See, the care with which they will comb and brush and curl the favourite's wig. "Shoes, stockings, hats, .and, in fact, the entire doll's outfit are also a part of my business. Many a delightful moment I spend with little purchasers trying the effect of bronze, black or, white shoes against some -wonderful hued-dress that is the favourite colour; or the most fashionable tilt of the, kvtest hat on the golden ringlets of fconie admired treasure. "Oh, yes, I have quite poor customers sometimes," continued the energetic surgeon, "and 1 try to accomodate my price to their slender , purses. And really children and their dolls are so interesting that'no trouble is too great for me to take, and no doll is too dilapidated for me to try and mend—whether it is a golliwog that lias lost his wonderful wig, or a wee doll whose paint has washed off. "Yes," concluded the surgeon, '• there is an excellent opening for women as dolls' surgeons. The profession is by no means overcrowded, and it does not take long to learn the'tricks of the trade.' ' There is even wider s>'ope for the woman who has an artistic knack, and can model the heads as well as do the surgical work."