Transcribed by Emily Smith. Geo. The Northern News-Saturday, January 6, 1900 WORKING DOLLS. Mr. F.M. HOLMES, in "Cassell's Magazine" for January says:—Would you know how to make a fortune? Then invent a cheap doll's voice to say "Yes" and "No," and your fortune is made. For years doll manufacturers have been endeavouring to do this, and they have failed. Dolls will laugh with indiarubber faces, will cry, will sing, will move their arms and their eyes, will walk and talk—So far as to call on their beloved parents—yet they stubbornly refuse to say "Yes" and "No." They have no will of their own, you see; they have no perception of right and wrong. Not surprising, perhaps, you will think, when even human beings sometimes find these troublesome little words difficult to utter. But in literal fact, notwithstanding the ingenious contrivances pressed into doll life, no one can vocalise these sounds; and the world of doll-makers is patiently waiting, gold in hand, for a gifted genius to arise and produce them. Or you might make a fortune in dolls' shoes. Nearly all dolls' shoes come from Germany. There must be millions of them, and they form quite a big trade. Surely a dolls' shoe factory would succeed well in Britain. But, indeed, nearly all the numerous contrivances of puppet-land hail from abroad. Do English manufacturers despise them, or are our people not sufficiently ingenious to produce them? Science, too, had had a word to say; and perhaps it is here that English makers are found wanting—they do not apply science to the art of doll-making as do the Germans. We do not grudge the foreigner his ingenuity and enterprise, but we should like to see more displayed at home. -- Emily Smith