The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-02-28
Toy Land.

Wood carving is the chief occupation of
many a mountain village both in Tyrol and
in Switzerland; but in no place has it been
carried to greater perfection or been entered
into more thoroughly by the inhabitants
than at ST. Ulrich. One branch of it indeed,
the manufacture of wooden toys, particu-
larly dolls, may be considered almost a
speciality of the district; for the little town
OF st. Ulrich is the great storehouse from
which the chief toy traders of Europe, we
might almost say of the world, draw those
rich and inexhaustible supplies which
brighten so many nurseries and gladden. the
hearts of so many little ones The art is said
to have been introduced into the valley
about the beginning of the last century.
since which time ii has been the principal
employment of the inhabitants, male and
female, young and old alike; for ancient
grandfathers and grandmothers may be seen
steadily pursuing the vocation that has been
theirs from their earliest years; and as soon
as the little boys or girls can be safely
trusted with knives they begin their rude
endeavors to carve the form of some animal
or toy which is the peculiar line of their
family This is one of the odd things in
connection with the trade, that, as a general
rule, each family or group OF families has its
own special department, from which they
do not deviate. Some carve, some paint
some gid, the painters often working only
in one particular color, while the carvers
constantly stick to the manufacture of one
or two, or at the most of half dozen ami
mails, of certain toys or certain portions of
toys and dolls, and so on through all the
endless ramiications of their lilliputian in
dustry. 1t is most curious sight to watch
them at work. They use no models, and
work entirely by rule of thumb; long prac-
tice having made. them so perfect that they
turn out the tiny articles without the slight
est hesitation, every one as precisely alike as
if they had been cast in a mold. In this
way are manufactured the varied collection
of animals found in Noah's ark. Some FAM
lilies will cut out lions, tigers, cames, and ele-
plants; others sheep, oxen and deer; others
chiefly birds; while another group will
produce the wonderfully dressed little men
and women popularity supposed to represent
Noah and his seven human companions. The
coloring of these productions is quite
another branch of the trade; and while the
carving goes on at all times with undated
regularity, the painting of the various arti-
| cles is only added as they are required; that
| is, when orders come from the toy dealers;
and this frequently varies according to cir
| cumstances so that the coloring and gliding
| business is not on the whole so steady and
profitable as the carving. There are several
shops and warehouses where the articles
| thus manufactured are sold, but there are
| two leading merchants who act as wholesale
| exporters, buying the carved work either
| from the people themselves or from minor
agents, who realize a small profit by acting
as middle men. Permission can readily be
obtained to visit those establishments, and
| it is a curious and amusing sight to walk
| through their vast repositories and inspect
the extraordinary collection of dolls and
toys gathered together under one roof.
4 The dolls are in themselves a very
| wonderful exhibition There are rooms
upon rooms quite filled with them, of every
size and STYLE small and large painted and
implanted, their size varying from tiny
atoms scarcely an inch long, to huge figures
of nearly yard in length, most OF them
jointed, and the greater part uncolored, and
just as they came from the hands OF the car