Among such a vast number of dollies there are of course a great many babies. These are all placed in the "Nursery," where they are waited upon and attended by full-grown dolls, dressed neatly, and with pretty little nurses' caps. Everything is provided in the way of cradles, rattles, and baby-jumpers for these very little folks, and they are so well cared for and amused that their papas and mammas, who are busy taking part in the tableaux, need have no concern about them.
Taking it altogether, the exhibition is a pleasant place to visit. The dolls are all well dressed, and will be sold at prices which, by comparison, are not unreasonable; but they will not be removed from their places in the tableaux until after the exhibition is concluded.
And now for the object. Several years ago a half-dozen young ladies set to work to raise three thousand dollars to build a little cottage somewhere on the sea-shore, which might afford a comfortable summer home to such of the children as were able to bear removal from the Children's Hospital, on Thirty-fourth Street and Ninth Avenue. This institution is managed by the Sisters of St. Mary, an Episcopal sisterhood, and so well managed that the ladies wished to place the little summer home also in their care.
The three thousand dollars was raised long ago; but the project grew, as such things will, and the house which was built last spring cost, with the land, about nine thousand dollars. It is situated on Rockaway Beach, between the large new hotel and Far Rockaway, and will accommodate about forty children. Some of those who are taken from the hospital will remain all summer; others will go for ten days or two weeks. In this way the ladies hope to give health and pleasure to a great many poor little children, who must otherwise suffer in tenement-houses all summer.
The home will be called "St. Mary's by the Sea." It will be opened early next summer, and the inmates will be very glad to receive a visit from any of their friends who are interested in the work.
[PEOPLE WE HEAR ABOUT.]
WILLIAM S. GILBERT.
If the name of the author of Pinafore were as widely known as is his work, William S. Gilbert would be one of the most celebrated of living persons. This gentleman, to whom we owe that delightful comic opera, is forty-five years of age, and a lawyer by profession, though he does not now practice law. Unlike "Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B.," Mr. Gilbert does not "stick close to his desk," but does "go to sea." In fact, he wrote a great deal of Pinafore on board the yacht Pleione, of which he is the owner and captain, and doubtless "a right good captain, too." He has a companion who never leaves him, whose name is Roy. Roy, of course, is a dog, and besides being a dog he is also a capital sailor, for his master never goes to sea without him.
It must not be supposed that when Mr. Gilbert and his friend Arthur Sullivan have finished their opera, and placed it in the theatre manager's hands, their work is done. If you were to call at Mr. Gilbert's house while an opera is in preparation at the theatre, you might find him in his library, with two or three other persons, having a private performance on their own account.