Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-12-22
CHRISTMAS TOYS.


|
Stone Blocks for Wee Architects--NI Me.
ehanicai and Flavorless Toys Coiored
Sweets--Littie willie's Tragic Death.
| Written for Gazette aud journal.
1t seems easy enough on the surface
to select Christmas gifts for children,
| With the shop full, as they are at the
holiday season, of everything to delight
| the most eXacting yOungster there
should be no difficulty in making q
| choice.
As rule, the baby of either sex de-
lights in blocks. Indeed, these are
usually popular with children of a
larger growth, and like other good
things, it is hardly possible to have too
many of the squares, cubes, or triangles
that make up the building materials of
| the wee architects.
In this day, when the study of chill
dren's foibles and fancies has advanced
to the dignity of science, sets of blocks
are offered for sale that might furnish
amusement and instruction to boys and
girls who have long since quilted the
nursery. Such blocks are of wood, stone,
and composition, and come in shapes
that enable their owner to build any
thing from Queen Anne cottage to a
cathedral. More than mere amusement
can be gained from handling these
| blocks under the direction of an older
person, and they may serve as a valu-
able means Of imparting information
respecting architectural terms and pro-
portions.
There are other toys which one may
be tolerably sure will give pleasure.
| Nearly every boy delights in a train of
| cars, 1ire.engine or steamboat, and
seldom is there q girl found who fails
| to find enjoyment in well-stocked tin
kitchen or miniature dairy-farm. Paint
boxes and crayons give to children OF
both sexes that always dear pleasure OF
making mess.
Games, too, are excellent in family
| where there is more than one child, and
for both boys and girls, big and little,
books are always and altogether admir-
able. The choice of these should not be
a mere haphazard affair.
The purchase of mechanical toys is
usually waste of money. The delicate
machinery will not bear unframed the
energetic handling of the average small
boy or girl, and plaything that can
only be enjoyed under parental super
vision is disappointment to the child
and nuisance to his guardians.
One caution should be especially
observed in the choice of toys for very
little children. They should be such as
would prove harmless to the child,
should he take fancy to test their
flavor. Most Of us are familiar with the
moving tale of Little Willie, who had
AIRED and yellow monkey climbing on a
purple stick" and have heard how
He went and sucked the paint off,
And it made him very sick.
| They stuffed him down with calomel,
lii hopes to move his liver,
But all in vain his little soul
Was waited DER the river.
The parents who wish to avert such
heart-rending catastrophes from theil
own offspring should purchase painless
wooden toys, china or rubber dolls, and
woolly animals.
No less care should be observed in Sc.
lecting hon-bons. Even in the best
regulated nurseries few sweets are
allowed on Christmas Day, and these
should be of the purest The gay -colored
candy images which charm the childish
eyes have their uses as adornments fol
the Christmas tree, but these mixtures Of
mineral paints and afba-terra are unti
for any ones stomach, least of all for {
child's. The old-fashioned barley-sugar
simple chocolate pastilles, or the always
popular lemon drops and cream pepper
mints, if given in moderation, will tickle
the babies palates and do no harm tC
their digestion.