Milford chronicle., 1892-01-08
ToYs oF THE EskIMo.
Llfe Of the CHILDREN Of tho Frosen Nortl
Not bv Anv Means Honotonous.

Llfe Of the children Of the Froaen North
Not by Any Means ATonOtonous.
Did you ever see a group Of children get
together on the sidewalk and play the fils-
einating game Of ''Eskimofn All the
Youngsters gather in a ring and slowly jig
around and around, while half Of them
shrill in a queer sing song:
oh. do you know the Eskimo9
The Eskimol
The Eskinio2
The query Is solemnly answered with
great alaerity by the other half Of the eiF
ele, who shrek:
Oh. yes. We know the Eskimo,
The Eskimo,
The Eskimo;
He Lives in the land OF Ice and snow,
OF ice and snow.
OF Ice and snow.
Then the whole band hop sOlemnly about
IN stimulation Of the supposed antics Of the
Eskimo. sar.f5- e
The funniest part Of It all, according to
a gentleman who has returned from the
arctic regions, is that the little Eskimo
youngsters have an almost identical game
singing an odd little tune Of their own
and going through queer antics unhesi-
tatingly believed to be exact repfesenta-
tiOns Of the children Of the lar away south.
You would think that 50 much Of the
little Eskimo's time would be spent trying
to keep warm that he wouldn't hsye a
great deal left to play. But those little fur
clad tots in the ice and snow are having
more fun than a circus and summer Yaea-
tion rolled into one.
They tag around their male relatives just
a L. 49, a "a
their sDub nosed mammas almost 70 death
by Stealing off among the icebergs In lit
tie Bit OF a tippy, cranky craft made Of
skins and things. They listen round eyed
70 tales Of harpoons and deadly bouts with
polar bears. They tell their sisters brave
tales Of their cwn dauntless courage. and
when bigger boy shouts Polar bearP
they run shrieking to their relatives, just
as If they lived on California street o.
somewhere ia the mission
The Eskimo small boy Is amazingly like
Other boys. He is round faced and brown
checked and chubby beyond belief He
wears queer garments OF skins and Of
leather. He never ate a pound Of candy
or dish of ice cream in HIS life and he
never heard Of a baseball game, but he's
lots like other boys for all that
As for the girl, she's precisely like her
blond sister down here, who hasn't the
faintest notion how good whales blubber
Is. She knows just the same kind Of
games. When one brown tot goes ''vis-
itin" another brown tot she lugs her fa-
vorite doll with her. and then she sits right
down in the dark little hut and begins 70
play house" .-
That doll OF hers is strange looking
being. II has a flat face, made OF wood or
bone, and it has the stihest kind Of arms
and leg -aOt joint in them, and its eyes
are jul painted on the face, and It's a
lucky ooll that has hair on its head, but
little Miss Eskimo loves that doll just rs
much as if it were haxen haired and had
red checks and shining blue eyes. Dolly
sss4ldn,t speak mamma" if you squee2F5
COT. IA lEssel-it would never tfe of.gl
It TO pieces anu -, N,,,,.. con I. s.afl OF I
such a thing Us letting you turn its head, |
but Miss Eskimo doesn't mind that bit. /
She just dresses and undresses her, whips /
her and cries over her dreadful misdeeds 1
quite as much as il her name was Maud 4
Athel Van Buren,, instead Of being an un-
pronOunceable thing in consOnants and a
grunt.
Those benighted little beetle broWs have
never heard of NOah's AK, but they have
q substitute for its weird animals among
their toys. Wooden walruses with fierce
and ghostly birds, whose un
bending dignity suggests the splendid re
serve Of those familiar patriarchs, Sheni
Ham and Japhet so distinctly that you
look around for the little green trees and
spotted dogs that always stand guard over
the ark
They don't have trains Of cars to play
with, those blue nosed shiverers. They
wouldn't know what to do with them if
.hey had, but they have jolly substitute,
There's a tiny sledge of bone drawn by
four sleuthlike dogs, and there are bold
lorerunners going on before and daring
hunter is walking nOnchalantly behind.
There's toy for you. There's something
sven better than that, though There's a
regular Santa Claus of doll, sitting in
sledge and driving four beautifully snarl.
ng dogs.
When the long winter dark comes on the
boys sit in the low huts and make tiny
boats Of fishskin, eunningly stretched over
! skeleton of firm wood. While they are
away at these pretty boats the
mall sister sits beside them on the bear
kin and makes soft little fur boots for her
ioll.
The mother is close by making nets or
robe with delicate border Of
)orcupine quilts, and she can tell the
Oveliest of fairy tales.-San Francisco Ex-
lminer