Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-03-14

has been the principal employment of
the inhabitants. male and female, young
and old alike; for ancient 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
q general rule, each family or group
of families has it's own special depart
ment, from which they do not deviste.
Some carve, some paint, some gild;
the painters often working On one par
ticular color; while the carvers con-
stantly stick to the manufacture of one
or two, or at the most of half q dozen
animals, of certain toys or certain por-
tions of toys and dolls, and SO on
through all the endless manifestations of
their Lilliputian industry. It is a most
curious sight to watch them at work.
They use no models, and work entirely
by rule of thumb; long practice 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 q
mold. 10 this way are manufactured
the various collection of animals found
in Noah's Ark. Some families will cut
out lions, tigers, camels, and elephants;
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 articles is
only added as they are required; that
is, when others come from the toy
dealers, and this frequently varies
according to circumstances; 80 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 q
small profit by acting as middlemen.
Permission can readily be obtained to
visit those establishments; and it is q
curious and amusing sight to walk
through their vast repositories, and in
spect the extraordinary collection of
dolls and toys gathered together under
one roof. The dolls are in themselves
q 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
a yard in length, most of them jointed,
and the greater part uncolored, and
just as they came from the hands of
the carver. They are carefully sorted
according to their various sizes; and
great shelves and cases In every direc-
ton are crammed with them. Some
sizes are more popular than others;
very favorite length being about two
inches; of this size one of the great
doll merchants of St. Ulrich buys thirty
thousand every week during the whole
y CcbA LILO u1dhSlS vi DulS kluu Cdu
turn out about twenty dozen q day,
each skillful worker in the painting
being quite an after concern, with
which the carvers have nothing to do.
Here also are bins filled with wooden
animals, also of different sizes and
different degrees of excellence; for
while some are merely roughly shaped
and the production often Of very young
children, others are carved with great
care and dexterity, and are faithful
representations of the creatures they
are intended to initiate. All the nu-
merous toys with which we are familiar
in the shops, or which we have played
with in childhood, here first spring into
being. Noah's Arks, empty and full;
armies Of wooden soldiers on horse
back and on foot; farmyards of various
dimensions, stored with every article
needful for the juvenile agriculturist;
dolls furniture of every shape and
pattern; sets of tea cups and saucers,
and all kinds of domestic utensils;
little wooden horses, little wooden carts.
In short it is toys, toys everywhere; and
even with all our experience of the
capacity of children for acquiring such
possessions, it is really difficult to credit
the fact that this enormous manufac-
ture and unceasing distribution go on,
like the poets brook, "forever." -
Chambers Journal.