The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-05-18
Jgbcre Christmas Toys are Made.

lt ia a place Of which few have heard
aud vet il is en-: with when tile aSSO-
,i1tious OF our childhood are very
clearly connected 1t may be called
the capital of Toy-land. That animal
OIL "A little wheeled platform which we
took t. represent Il horse those woo"en-
ininted dolls of all sizes, from babies
half an inch long to mothers two teet
hiuh. thoss boxes OF landscape scenery
with friZzly cone shaped trees ahd reu-
rooted houses that Noah ) ark, Iy-
roleau homestead in bOat-wItb It's
animals SO true to nature, that draE
with ilnmovabIe barrels-those wooden
soldiers with small waists ana TRAM
gular noses-all these come from >.
Ulrich And they are coming aid VIII
continue to come.
The largest Wholesale houses in the
the vililge are those OF Herr Puigcr,
and of Messrs Tusam and Prinote.
At the latter the Traveller Is taken
through more than thirty large store
rooms, and twelve Of these are full Of
dolls; millions of dolls. large and
small, painted and unpainted, IN BINS,
in cases. on shelves, in parcels ready
packed for expectation. In one room
devoted TO Liliputians an inch and
half in length they are piled up in a
heap literally from floor to ceiling.
Another room contains only horses,
auo. her only carts, Il long corridor has
nothing bur platforms to BE- fitted with
horses bye and bye. Another room
contains doll beds, and a great dark
attic ut the top of the house is fitted
up with enormous bins. each heaped
high with different toy i'll plain
wood, waiting for the painter.
The whole population of the place,
with few exceptions, are brought up
to the trade They begin the work at
six or seven years of age it IS always
going on, and the dealers are always
buving. At the last census :he pOru-
lation numbered only 2.493 souls, and
two thousand of these are carvers, 70
say nothing of painters and gilderS
\ smart doll maker will turn out
twenty dozen small, ;ointed dolls, an
incl aud half in length, per day, and
Of this size doll, Messrs. Tusam and
Prinotc buy thirty thousand per week,
The year round.
Herr Purgcrs warehouse, though
amply stored with dolls and other
toys, contains, for the most part, goods
Of a more artistic and valuable kind.
All the studios in Europe are supplied
with lay figures. great and small,
from these works, and even with model
horses of elaborate construction. Here,
also, ranged solemnly along the dimly
lighted passages, stand rows of beau
tiful saints, large as life, eXquisitely
colOred. in robes richly patterned and
relieved with gold. In other corridors.
we tini the same gOodly company Ie-
produced i'll all degrees OF smallness
In other rooms there are Christs OF all
sizes, colored and uncolorcd, some per-
CT rs works of art. Faultlesslv mod
cled and well painted. There are hun
dreds of thousands Of all prices, Of all
sizes and OF all degrees of finish
Hundreds OF these people do pre-
ciseiE the same things, and have been
doing them all their lives There is
an old woman who carves dogs,
wolves. sheep and elephants. She has
made th, Sc animals all her life long.
and has no idea how to cut ANYTHING
else. She makes of two sizes and
turns out about thousand wear
She has no model Or drawing to work
by, hut goes on steaCi lily, using gauges
of different sizes, and shaping her an
imal5 with great case, ami true to
L,i i.,.,, Ll,,,t
how to carve these six animals, and
her mother had learned in like nan-
her from hers. She has now taught
the art to her grand daughter
In the house next to this oil | woman
lives fine. brown man. who carves
large ChristS for churches 1t is q
sight to see Herr Schooner at work.
lie has no model His block is not
even pointed, as it would be if he
worked in marble He has nothing to
guide him save his cunsummatc kuowl
eige. but lie dashes a. his work i'm a
wonderful way, scoOping out the wOod
IN long fiakes at every "apid stroke.
But lie is an artist 1t takes him ten
days TO cut figure three quarters life
size. and fifteen to execute one rs
large as lile. The wood for the last
costs about fifteen forms and his price
for the figure is forIy-fve, about four
pounds ten, English
Some famiii"s are employed in
carving skulls and cross-bones for the
crucifixes, others making rocking
horses, dolls and so forth The ordi-
nary toys ale chiefly painted by wo-
men; i'll one house there NAV be q
dozen girls painting gray horses with
black spots; in another, they paint
only red horses with white spots. Ii
ia separate branch to paint the sad
dies and head-gcar a good hand
will paint twelve dozen horses in {
+ dIy. and - paid for these about two
shillings three pence.
The art is said to have been intro
ducel into the valley at the beginning
I, . l..