The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-07-24

The value of play-things to children is
vastly greater than is generally imagined.
They educate as well as entertain. They
both instruct and amuse. The best part Of
training comes from toys. They teach those
rudimentary lessons which are the alapha-
bet of all knowledge and the initiation into
all power. The Tin whistle, the rocking
horse, the wooden blocks out of which
houses are built, football, dolls, patch
work, the hand-wagon, sled, and kite, do
more for the development of the child's
faculties, the training of his dispositions,
and his preparations for the work of life,
than any of the more serious instructions
he ever receives.
We laugh at playthings, but they are the
real things of the child's world. We never
enjoy anything any more keenly than we
did the great wax doll that sat in our chair
waiting to receive us on Christmas morn
ing never take half the intense delight in
"a house, that we felt in the rude pile of
bricks and boards built in the pastures
some Saturday afternoon. The little ma
hogany cradle, with its white sheets and
patchwork quilt, made us just as happy as
We could be. Our toys were treasures in
comparison with which bank-stock and
title-deeds are worthless. ...
We huOW VI CiilL luuiCatcS the
progress Of society in art, culture, and re-
ffinement any more than the playthings
made for children. They are so numerous,
curious, elegant and engaging that we never
visit one of the great toy stores of our city
without regretting that we we've born too
soon by thirty years, and can hardly keep
our fingers from the tempting things.
And just here is where the trouble comes
in. We have so many playthings and they
are so elegant and SO cheap, that our little
folks are surfeited with toys so that they
neither enjoy or use them as they should.
The abundance is fatal both to the appetite
and the appreciation which gives zest to
pleasure and value to possession. 1t is
question whether our children, with their
countless costly toys, enjoy themselves so
much as we did in our young days with the
few coarse and homely toys which fell to
our lot. They riot in their abundance,
while poverty compelled us to make the
most of what we had and we got more
real pleasure out of the rude doll, and the
soap-box fastened upon four wheels and
drown by a string, than most of our chill
'dren derive from an imperial wax baby
with an elegant outfit and the best carriage |
Chat comes from the mandatory
More pleasure, and more culture, too.
We learned to use, when they merely
rev,N in their toys and destroy them; and
we lea rrsed to invent and to make play
things l'nr ourselves. And almost every
eminent in vent has commenced his me-
chanlcal career in the nursery, by mend
ing his broken toys or inventing new ones.
Play-things first shal ,pened the wits which
invented tho steam eng me, and made the
mechanism which is re-i- Making the world.
And just what is wanted by our children
is to be taught the use of pLaythings, and
shown how to amuse themselves most, and
how to get the greatest pleasure out OF their
games. 1t would be far better for them if |
we gave them fewer toys, and more on our |
time and thought in showing them how to |
amuse themselves. The greatest of arts is |
the art of being happy, and the sooner we
initiate our children into it, the happier and
better they will be. Instead of trying to |
entertain them we should teach them to en-
terrain themselves, and show them how to
extract the utmost pleasure from the COM
monest things.
Playthings are books in disguise--object |
lessons teaching what no books can impart. |
And one of their best lessons is the ability |
ITO invent and create. The sooner a child is
taught to make toys, to invent ways and
means for entertainment, the better for his |
culture and character. 1t is vastly better
to teach girl to make her own doll, and
dress it and sew the patchwork for the
quilt, than to buy her the most elegant
things ever manufactured by other hands.
The kite which the boy constructs for him.
self is worth more to him than all other
kites that ever kissed the clouds. Really |
one of the best presents that can be made |
to children is tools. The sooner a girl has
a work box and paint box, the sooner the
boy has a chest of tools, so they can make
their own playthings, the sooner will they
learn what playthings are made for, and the |
more benefit will they derive from them.
"A maxim is the exact and noble express
~ Il.