The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1872-12-19
CHILDREN'S TOYS.
How and Where They are
Made.
IFrom Cassell's London Magazine.l


IFrom Cassells London Magazine.l
Toys for the millions are peculiar
to the age. Wood is by far too dear
in this country for their production,
consequently the chief seat of their
manufacture is in the dense woods of
Germany. From out of the old forests
of Thuringia issue the penny boxes
of toys destined to make the homes
of all Europe ring with joyous laugh
ter-children's tea-things, Noah's arks
filed with only the leading animals,
soldiers, &C., and the most ''screech-
INCEST" articles that ever delighted
the urchin's ear and maddened the
old folks. How so many pieces as go
within these boxes can be made,
brought from such a distance, and
within the profit of penny, is a
marvel that can only be understood
when the mystery of their manufac-
ture is inquired into. In the first
place, the wood costs next to nothing;
women are chiefly employed in their
manufacture and great speed in their
production is obtained by the division
of labor, every toy passing through
half-a-dozen hands. It would, at first
sight, seem impossible that the labor
should be used in the production of
animals, but here we have an example
"a ring of elephants, if we may use
the term. All those who have been
abroad are familiar with the round
rings of bread, eight or ten in diane
ter, seen in BARRIERS shops. In toy
case we saw what at first sight ap-
peared to be one of these, but upon
examining it more narrowly we per-
ceived that it was ring of pine wood
turned in q lathe, not exactly in the
form of ring, but in the form of a
ring of elephants-there was the
trunk, the peculiar shaped head, and
the legs cut around the ring, as it
were; and it was evident that the
workman had only to split the ring
into sufficient number of segments
according to appropriate thiclness,)
to transform the circle into given
number of elephants. These seq
mented elephants require, of course,
to be rounded and finished by hand,
but the process is most curious, and
is applicable to the production of any
other animal, and accounts for the
cheap rate at which these wonderous
toys can be produced. When manu-
factured, they come to this country
by water carriage. Of course, art is
out of the question in these penny ar
tieles; but the imagination of children
is lively enough to fill up all defcien-
cies, and, as may be expected, their
sale is immense.
But quality is also to be looked for
from Germany Some of the best
modelled toys in the world are from
Grunheincher, in Saxony, where their
modelling is attended to in a most al
tistic manner. Prussia, where schools
of art are fast educating the people
in all matters of design, is the seat of
those elegant little toys in which the
details are made ofpapier-mache. In
Germany the Government educates
its children in the construction of
toys, hence the comparative cheapness
with which we procure from that coun-
try models of interiors made in paper
and colored to life. So excellent are
some of their little designs, especially
of animals, that they are used in this
country as ornaments rather than
playthings,
Nurenburg is the seat of the metal
toy trade, such as leaden soldiers in
boxes, locomotives and railroads.
Leaden toys, as a rule, are not to the
taste of healthy, robust lads; indoor
games seldom are. There is some
thing derogatory and feminine in sit
ting around the table setting up toy
soldiers.-Boys who indulge in such
amusements are either weaklings or
of an effeminate disposition. It may
be said the love for mechanics would
fast be elected by model steam en-
gines and locomotives; bnt there is
no subterfuge here, and no lad, but
one with turn for mechanics, would
crave after those mechanical toys. It
is extraordinary, the completeness to
which toys of this description are fin
ished. Only in England would the
care be. taken to complete every de-
tail in the most elaborate beam-en-
gines, locomotives and marine en-
gines.-We do not allude to the tin
affairs, which are mere shams-these
are of German production-but of the
brass specimens we see in the win
dows of the opticians. There are
some establishments in London where
the whole process of constructing
these elegant toys is taught. The
rough castings ready for the lathe and
bench can be purchased separately,
and the youth of mechanical genius
is taught to construct these machines;
this is a speciality worthy of note.
Perhaps they can scarcely be strictly
placed in the category of toys, but
we feel certain that they afford an