The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-20

quite so beautiful just now as liIt shopS
1t doesn't make any difference whether
you are rich or poor, indeed, you can DE
beggar they do object to you being
thief, that is, if You are pursuing your
avocation But anybody, that Is, any
honest body, can feast her eyes on ali
the lovely Christmas things, and III one
way she will own them just as much as
the richest lady in the land. There is
something fine in being able to ENJOY
without possessing. | cannot understand
though, how any woman with little
money to spare, can go into the toy shops
and come out without buying some trifie
to make glad somebody's child. There
are dolls of all degrees offered to the
doll-lover-there' the wonderful Erench
doll, whose face has a naughty express
sion. who is so accomplished that she can
cry like a real baby, speak like parrot,
and waltz with the exactness of a ma
chine. 1t is true that, unlike real babies
when she dances, she furnishes her own
music! Whisper it not in Gath, but when
she moves around to the tune of The
Beautiful Blue Danube" the tiny music
box is concealed under her lace-trimmed
petticoat.
DOLLS FOR RICH AND POOR.
Then there are less expensive dolls,
real baby dolls, dressed in long clothes
and reclining in carriages, with doll
nurses. standing beside them; there are
little girl dolls gowned in short frocks,
and having, tennis racquets IN their
hands: and there are lady dolls III long
trained dresses. who loll on easy chairs
Of gilt upholstered in satin. There is
bride doll too. with a Sinking bride
groom and the bride looks so modest and
thNgroom so happy that am certain that
last night while all the world slept, the
dolls came 10 life, and there was Il real
ly and truly wedding formed in the doll
shop. There is everything TO make a
doll happy. A closely curtained brass bed
Of the right size. in which she may
dream: a china bath tub in which she
may take her morning bath, and pre-
serve her complexion. while for this pur-
pose there is special soap warranted
not to injure the most delicate dolls
skin, Surely, the very height of luxury
in dolls has been reached: and yet-and
yet-how often is child happy with an
old MANNED doll, loved not for its beauty,
but for its many sorrows?
There are some
luis l. LA LIN 1l14A&NaAS.
The lovely woolly dog is just as square
at the corners as he was when | was pre-
scented to the first one more years ago
than like to remember. Although science
has progressed. the workings of the wool
" dog are as crude as ever. The same
string is pulled, the pink tongue comes
out, and the "bow-wow" is just as hollow
and artificial as it should be. Noah's Ark
is as absolutely artistic as when you and
/ first counted the animals therein. The
dog and the elephant are the same height
and both are pink. The crocodile and the
camel each have curly tail, and are q
lively purple, and the only way you can
distinguish Shem, Ham and Japhet from
their wives is by their wearing stiff round
hats, not unlike those known as sun
downs. Shem is the joyous brown he al
ways was, Ham is brilliant orange,
while Japhet is a pale blue, and Noah is
delightfully."- notified The dove, with
q leaf in her mouth, is the same color
and size as the COW, but how lovely they
all are! Has anybody ever decided wheth-
er the original family III the ark got III
through the roof as do the wooden fami-
ly? And did they walk to the rack two by
two, as many procession of wooden AMI
mails has been arranged? | think they
did. The ark is too historical toy not
to be correct To what small child are
you going to send an ark? Or was it a
freman's get-up or a soldiers toggery
that you had in mind for some boy?
Somehow the toy shop possesses Won
derful fascination for me. | think it a
good thing that it does-and | will tell
you why. The little time of delight that
comes TO you or me while looking over
the toys that duplicate those we loved in
days gone by, bring before us those old
days and make us remember how easily
we were made happy. Then, as natural
sequence, unless we have become hard
Of heart, which God forbid. we long with
great intensity to give joy TO somebody
else-somebody else who is a little child.
Perhaps it is for some little child who
like you or ME pored over a book, then
away we got out into the fresh air, across
the street, minging with the bustling,
merry crowd, and land at the book shop
Here there is
AN ARISTOCRATIC HAPPINESS.
to be found-there is that delightful scent
that comes from well-boIind books, and,
seeking earnestly for the book that will
delight some child, we get the chance to
dip first in this and then in that new
volume which is a delight to her who
loves books. Here's book for the little
girl who is a good musician-such a sweet
book-some of the lovelieht of the poems
OF Eugene Field set to m1sic and bound
in most delightful way. Think what
it viii mean in the nursery to learn to
sing about 1.-THE Lady from Hushaby
Street" and to raise their yoices-those
voices that squeak bit yet-in praise
OF 1.-THE Dinky Bird" while someone's
voice-a girls voice, l thik-a bit sweet
er than all the rest, will linger with ten
derness over the words as she plays the
accompaniment to the story of Little
Boy Blue" have always been, as you
know a most ardent al mirer of
THE POEMS OF EUGENE FIELD.
the man / never knew, but / think it
specially sweet that these poems of child
life are set to music by the friends of the
dead man, good musicians all of them,
from Dekoyen, up or down, and Offer
Oh Mt this Christina slide