The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-15
JUST FROM SANTA'S SHOP.
MECHANICAL TOYS THAT WILL
FILL ais CHRISTMAS PACK.

4n0 ItnCh 1NdCO anu ll16
worlds Fair Track" that VIII
Delight the Children - A Funny Me-
chauical Dancing Skeleton Per
forming Bears, Barking Dogs and
strutting Peacocks-"The Pig-Cart,"
the Fire Patrol Wagon the "Tur-
tie Game" and the Slower Game"
(Copyrightl
New YORK, Dec. 14.-Every year makes
childhood more and more of fairyland.
The multitude of toys and devices for the
amusement Of the youngsters of our day
would have been revelation to the little
tots of a single generation ago. There
seems to be no end to the delightful process
sion of ingenious mechanical games, auto
matte toys, parlor acrobatics and other
wonderful inventions that are put upon the
market every holiday season and which go
to make jolly Santa Claus pack still more
bulky when Christmas arrives. This year
there are many novelties in new toys that
are marvels of skill and mechanical in
genuity, and are well calculated both to
amuse and instruct
One of the ideas that seems to have
struck the toy inventors most forcibly is
the racing track. no fewer than three me-
chanical reproductions Of which are on the
market. One is called the French Race
Came 1t is new in its method, and very
much superior Co the old mechanical racing
track in point of entertainment and accu-
racy of racing. Each horse has a separate
track and runs well and evenly besides, it
is not likely to get out of order readily,
unless very roughly handled. A great ad-
vantage is that the racers cannot be manip-
ulated so as TO give any one the
advantage unfairly over the other,
although each of them is independent
of its neighbor. This toy can be
bought at different prices, the four-horse
track costing So 80 and the eight-horse
course, with each animal on a separate
course, costing all the way up to 1925. But
the little folks can get as much fun out of
the cheaper as from the more expensive
article Another and somewhat simpler
contrivance of this class is the Honest
Race" with an even start, constantly
accelerating pace and frantic rush at the
finish. Besides, the horses cannot be con-
trolled by the operator so as TO make any
one win he may select. The strong but
simple mechanism keeps the animals
together till half the course is covered and
then begins the struggle, leaving the actual
result as uncertain, apparently, as on the
turf itself. The machine Is quite a pretty
/ affair, with its handsome horses and bril-
liantly clad jockeys. The price is So.
Probably the biggest toy of the season is
the Worlds fair race track" 1t is a large
surface, sub-divided into sections. each
| bearing its appropriate name or designa-
ton, and all indicative of the hot race now
going on among the big cities. east and
| west, for the honor of the fair. There is
one station marked New York, another
Chicago, and still others, Washington,
st. Louis, etc., and the players each
select site. Then a handle is turned,
and this causes railroad train to run
| around the outer edge or rim of the toy,
where the track is laid. 1t runs until it
stops at some one Of the series OF numbers.
| The player who first scores 5000, 600 for the
site, or station-on whose success he is bet.
ting-wins the game The track and its
equipments form pretty piece Of mechan-
Ism and many an hour can be spent by the
| little folks with such toy. The price is
| $500, which rather removes it from the
category of ordinary toys.
The mechanical dancing skeleton is one
| of the funniest toys of the season, and will
PROFESSIONALLY afford much amusement.
An articulated skeleton, made after a
japanese skeleton, is set on pedestal, and
| operated by means of machinery in the
down, and is irresistibly comic. The figure
is white, ten and a half inches high, and
costs So. There is hardly grotesque pose
assumed by a jig dancer, or quickstep or
hornpipe, which this funny little man of
bones cannot perform.
To this class of dancing toys belongs the
performing bear, which is perfect model
Of bruin in full motion, instinct with life
| and very natural in all his movements. He
| hoo a ctaH and ha through fha
antics one sees in performing bear belong
| ing to strollIng musicians, where the latter
have trained the animal. He opens his
mouth and closes it with resounding
snap, pounds the floor with his staff, snaps
his jaws, growls, rolls his head from side to
side and dances. He's very different GUS
toner from the old time toy bear, who
stood stock still. with the exception OF his
head, which he swung lazlly from side to
side to q tongue-lolling accompaniment. He
Just costs So.
OF the same order of comical toys is the
new Uncle Sam velocipede rider" The
figure of Uncle Sam is dressed up in char
acteristic style and, mounted upon veloci-
pede, he grasps the lever in his bands and
sets it in motion. When wound up it will
run rapidly round large circle. but the
circle can be reduced to suit the size Of the
parlor 1t is a strong and excellent toy,
and will please a crowd of children quite as
much as anything they could GET. The
price is ST. A somewhat similar. although
not mechanical, toy is the "pig-cart. D
Piggy runs on wheel between his hind
feet and pulls cart with bell-gong be-
meath. In the cart is a little boy holding
the reins. This toy is drawn by string,
and is very strong and just the thing for a
young child.
Among the smaller mechanical toys is a
walking dog. There is a string tied to his
neck and when you press ball at the end
of the string doggy moves briskly along
from one side of the room TO- the other IN a
very natural way. He costs just one dollar.
Sill another canine curiosity IS tiny little
fellow in a basket kennel. You touch q
spring and out be comes barking furiously,
just like a sDappish little terrier on guard.
He is beauty and costs Sl0-almost as
much as a real live dog; but then be costs
nothing to feed and he won't bite, even If he
does bark.
In the same class Of mechanical novelties,
which seem to be almost Unlimited this
season, are a peacock that spreads his tail
dogs that walk and bark flowers that play
tunes, and XII item that knitsstockings and
purrs lust like a live pussy. While almost
all the mechanical toys are quite expensive
most of those named viii possess such real
charms for the youngsters that eney are
just the thing for filing stockings on
Christmas eve.
Among the larger and more costly me.
chanical toys that have been put on tbs
market this season is the Fire Patro
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