The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-01-01
TOYS FOR THE NEW YEAR
HOW THEY ARE SOLD ON THE
STREETS or PARIS.

Variety of Curious Articles - Their
Chenpncss--Pasr srnoh's serpents.
4 From Dec. - TO Jan. o every year the
city of Paris becomes Que vast fair. Police
regulations of all kinds are relaxed; beg
gars and barrel organs have free run of the
capital; in the open spaces swings, car
rousels, roundabouts, shooting galleries.
and somnainbulists' consulting cabinets
are installed Along the grand boulevards
and main avenues interminable lines Of
wooden booths are erected. Sellers of all
kinds of useful aud useless objects begin
to fill the air with their cries, and to gather
obstructing groups in trout of their dis
play OF miscellaneous merchandise.
The origin of the little booths is almost
as old us the custom of giving Christmas
and New Years presents. but 1t is only
since 1889 that those erected on the boule-
wards have been sufficiently numerous to
constitute a special fair. Since New Years
day OF 1852 they have not ceased to make
their annual visit except during the winter
of lS70-l.
Permission il given each year for erect
ing these booths from Dec ~ to Jan. g on
the boulevards, the puays and the public
squares, with the exception Of the Place
Vendome and the Place de la Concorde.
The principal spot is, of course, the main
boulevards from the Bastile to the Made
leine, where about $50 of them are placed
on both sidewalks of the thoroughfare.
Some 400 or 500 more are scattered about
in other parts of the city. From the Bas-
tile to the Place de la Republique is the
favorite locality for the orange vendors,
and from that point to the Madeleine the
toys, trinkets, knickknacks, etc, known
under the general name of the Article de
Paris, reign supreme.
The maximum width of each booth Is
eight feet, and space OF three feet is left
between each construction. No booth can
be placed within hundred feet of IA store
selling the same article that is to be dis
played by the temporary dealer. The oc
cupants Of the booths pay no tax TO the
city. When the weather is good the net
profits during the fortnight vary from go
to 400 francs for each booth, varying, of
course, with the nature of the merchan.
disc The permit is given by the police
commissioner Of each quarter.
Besides the permissions given to occu
pants Of booths, "A certain number OF licenses
are granted to the camelots or street ped
dlers, who squeeze into corners by the trees,
where there is not space enough for a
booth. They have portable table or stand
and fold up their apparatus at night like
the Arab and quietly steal away-until the
following morning. The camelots are nu-
merous at all seasons of the year, but dur.
ing holiday time it seems as though hun
dreds Of them had sprung up out of the
ground. Like the ragpickcrs the street
peddlers are mainly recruited from the
large class who have no trade and are
obliged to turn their hand to anything
which will give them living.
The corners of streets closed for repairs
are the favorite places for the peddler, and
he has only to set up his table and begin to
arrange his stock IN trade to have IA crowd
of idlers see what he has got. Glancing
around he suddenly eXclai,ns: II may us
we'll ruin myself today as tomorrow. A
nan must eat, mustn't hep" and then he
,tarts off with his boniment or story about
What he has to sell.
The boniment Is the great cad for the
,eddler. Some improvise their story: others
iecite. The article to be sold can change,
but never the boniment. Some of the ped.
dlers try to anuse their crowd by telling
amusing yarns, and then by n clever tran
sition praising the article they have to SELL
Others try to catch customers by awaken
ing their curiosity. Several use the pa
triotic dodge OF encouraging home indus.
try" and all endeavor to prove that the
object they offer is sold as an advertise
ment, and consequently below cost
These peddlers travel over the country,
visiting all the fairs. They have their
special hotels in all the principal places
During the New Years fair in Paris spec-
mems OF all these itlnerant venders both
regular and irregular, may be seen, some
having booths, others operating with a
: simple table or tray, and all dealing as IA
rule In articles that cost nine. thirteen,
twenty.nine or thirty-nine sous. Such are
the traditional prices, just one cent less
than the usual prices of othermen.
The objects sold in the booths along the
boulevards defy enumeration. You may
find everything there from egg beaters and
potato mashers up to casts of the Venus OF
Milo, of Houdon's kiss" and OF Nine
Recamier, and between these twoextremes
are bonbons, nougat, musical instruments,
bird calls, filters, American popcorn, Swed.
ish cutlery, books, artificial flowers, mir
rors, visiting cards, but above all toys OF
all kinds, dolls, dolls furniture, tin sol
diers and more especially very cheap toys.
Last year the novelties were so c0lled me
chanical toys which you wind up with
string to set them going. Such are
and his cart, IA lady with her parasol. an
ostrich carriage, two walters. two fire.
men fighting duel, etc. These toys are
all made OF tin, and "A very simple mechan-
ism causes them TO move over plane sur-
face~with comic stimulation of moving
limbs, or, like the duelists, to lunge at
each other with furious swords for two or
three minutes, while the impetus of the
string and spring lasts. Such toys are all
made as cheaply as possible, and vary In
price from thirteen cents to thirty-nine
cenCs.
As an instance of the economical way in
which they are manufactured we will take
a well known thirteen cent toy, the me
chanical rabbit seated on little car, which
in motion makes the animal beat u pair of
cymbals. First Of ALL the wheels must be
perfectly round in order to have the rotary
movement Of the axletrec make the two
tones strike regularly. If these wheels
were cut expressly they would cost double
, the brice of the toy itself; SO, necessity be-
ing the mother of invention, the toy max
ers conceived the idea Of getting them
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