The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-01-11
BIG PEOPLES TOYS.

some time back an order from the late
Gar of Russia. 1t is common talk that
this homely man was the biggest of all the
children who annually gather under the
family roof at Fredensborg Few people
know, however, how strong was his love
for plaything. He had in his collection
some of the prettiest models of ironclads
imaginable. One of them cost thous-
and pounds. There is another in solid
silver; and superb wooden model of a
full rugged ship which would be dream
of delight to the dullest boy. His last pur-
chase was the model of an Atlantic steam
er. 1t is a great piece of work, the ship
being yard long and perfect in all its de-
tails. The precise cost of this model was
eleven hundred pounds.
OF all the toys of Windsor Castle-and
they are many-it is said that the Queen
is most fond of beautiful working mod
el of the heavens This ingenious piece of
mechanism shows the whole of our sys-
TEN, with the celestial poles and the sun.
There is tiny model of the moon, which
revolves about the earth and all the
planets. with their satellites, are properly
represented. For the study of astrono-
my, and for right understanding of the
celestial globe, there could be nothing
finer than this model 1t shows our earth
turEidg upon its own axis, and moving
round the sun. 1t gives perfect idea of
relative positions of the primary planets;
and it is worked by clockwork arrange
ment which is perfection of ingenuity.
The Duke of York is yet boyish enough
to collect stamps; and has perhaps the
best collection owned by any amateur in
the kingdom. He has recently spent some
hundreds of pounds adding to this; but
it is not his only weakness. He has also
developed great taste for sculling about
in toy boat on the lake by the cottage at
Sandringham.
In Munich they show you now with an
especial pride the lake upon which the
late King of Bavaria used to be drawn
about in boat towed by swans. Dressed
cap-a-pie as Lohengrin, this-in some
ways-remarkable man spent many hours
of the day aping the Knight of the Swan
and really deluded himself into the belief
that he was person of heroic virtue
When this vagary wearied him, and the
winter days were long and dull, he would
get him into the country, and there flash
through the hills in a sledge of gold, all
lit up with electric lamps, and so curious
ly fashioned that the peasants who saw it
believed that a heavenly apparition had
been vouchsafed to them. This impress
sion the mailman loved to magnify, choos-
tl4g always the hour of midnight for their.
exercise, and rarely returning before
three or four o'clock in the morning.
In Vienna there is at this moment a
minister, standing high in the confidence
of the Kaiser Francis Joseph, who de-
votes the whole of his spare time to a
room full of toy theatres. Many of these
were made in London, and especially sent
over for this eccentric old fellow, who has
enough mimic stages to supply an orphan
age. 1t is said that whenever a new piece
is produced at any of the theatres in the
city the minister Immediately puts it on
one of his little stages, and has set of
characters cut out of paper with which to
play it. He works the whole thing him
self, and being an admirable mimic, he is
the source of large amusement to his
friends, who know that on every other
point he is one of the sanest men in the
Empire.
The German Emperors toys are almost
as numerous as his uniforms. He pos
sesses beautiful working model of IA
railway, with engines, cars, points, sig
nails and stations. This he works ostensi-
bly, for the amusement of his children, in
reality for his own amusement. He has
also purchased for his nursery one of the
finest collections of toy soldiers in the
word SO well are his sons supplied with
tin troops, with cannon, artillery, ammu-
milton wagons, tents and fOrtresses, that
the whole floor of "a great room in the
palace in Berlin can be covered with them,
and a mimic battle fought on European
scale. But perhaps the Emperor's favor
ite toys are his little steam launches, of
which he possesses surprising number
He has resently given an order to a Thames
builder to make him a little electric launch
which when finished will be as pretty as
any toy in the kingdom. 1t is scarce the
size of skiff, yet it is to be shaped like Il
regular steamer, und to be so arranged
that his majesty, sitting in the stern, can
be his on skipper and steersman.
Vastly less interesting than such hob
bies is the hobby of a prominent member
of Parliament who spends his spare time
before large aquarium he has built in his
bathroom The tank is stocked with small
Jack; and it is when Watching these vora-
cious infants consume large supplies of
minnows that the member is most happy.
But he also varies the process by angling
for his pets, and then, when he has caught
them, by replacing them in their not too
happy home.
Mrs Suffrage: Its woman's highest