The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-12-17
THE TOY OF TO-DAY.

4 writer in tic New York Sun, after a
tour of the great toy shops Of that city,
says: Children will have more mechani-
cal toys in their stockings this Christmas
than ever before. The fathers Of the
children, especially those who were born
their childhood, when some candy ami
mails, a game, a tin locomotive, and a
silver dollar were regarded as enough to
make any child happy on Christmas
morning. Those were the days of the
big gingerbread figures, with white eyes
made of sugar and light hair made Of
taffY.
No such crude things as those are
good enough to suit the demands of the
New York children this year. The gen.
Jus of inventors and the skill Of manu-
facturers have been exerted to their ut
most to bring out novelties in toys for
the pleasure of the children and the
draining of their parents pockets. Many
of these toys cost So and so, and elabo-
rate mechanical toys run up into the
hundreds Of dollars. 1t must pay 10
make them or their manufacture would
a visit to any of the big toy shops or
the big dry goods stores which handle
vast quantities of toys during the holiday
season will show how much is done in
the way of mechanical art for the children
of New York. 1t is not so long since a
doll which would close its eyes when it
was laid down was enough to make the
small girl who owned it the envy of her
companions. Such dolls are cheap and
common now and sell as low as fourteen
and seventeen cents. After that came
the doll which could say papa and nam.
ma when its chest was pressed hard
enough. That was regarded as q won
dolls now which not only roll their eyes
and have jOinted arms and legs which
move by clock work, but they have pho
nOgraphs inside which make them talk
and sing. They also have elaborate
wardrObcs dress suits, frOck coats, and
riding things for the men dolls, and ball
gowns, walking gowns, and all sorts of
clothes for the girl dolls. The dolls can
walk around, and are even made to dance
with One another by clock work, and TO
sing with a photograph attachment while
they dance.
The cost of dolls with all these equip
menIs runs up into the hundreds of dol
lars, but they are sold to rich families
and the demand for them increases. Lit
tie girls who expect 10 be presented 10
the Queen of England when they get old
enough to go over to London for the
English season can tell something of how
they will look from seeing the dolls
dressed up in the regulation court pre-
sentation gown.
Hundreds of grown men and women
spend all their time the year around in
.devising these toys. There are big
houses in New York, with hundreds of
men in their employ, who will begin on
January to get up The toys for the hOli-
days of next year. It'is a serious bust
ness to them, by which they earn their
living, and their success or failure de
ponds on the way they suit the caprices
OF the children and the wishes of the
children's parents. 1t used tC be that
almost all toys were imported, and such
things as dolls and the cheaper wooden
toys are still imported, but the mecbani-
cal toys are manufactured more and more
every year in the United States, for there
are more geniuseS in the United States
than elsewhere, and the Yankee mind
runs naturally 10 a mechanical contri-
vance, even if it be only a toy. Millions
of dollars are invested in the toy trade, !
audit is getting to have a neighborhood
OF its own, where the big toy houses get
together, just like the dry goods houses
and the leather houses.
Still, with all this expenditure and
painstsking t is doubtful whether
Christmas brings TO the young folks Of
TO day any more happiness with its toy
monographs and toy dolls, with their
many dresses, than it used TO bring TO
children Of the past in the shape of GIN
gerbread men, candy animals, and a