The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-12-13
OLD TOYS AND CANES.
SOME OF THE PAsTTMEs OF Orr
GRANDPARENTS.
quaint Buckskin Dolls of Indian
Aake-Husxffs for 0Id-Tfme Little
1iris-asrace Hoops, Batfledore
and >hEftlecock, and the Baby
Kings Cup-and-BaIl.

The great ard general court OF MassS-
chusstts more than 30 years ago. forbade
tae sale or uss q cakes and buns except
Tor marriages or funerals.
Christmas was not worthy OF beng made
an exception. according 10 the stern creed
or these early lawmakers, for, indeed.
CHRISTMAS found no favor IN thelr eyes.
Nor was il al al likely thai they woula
look win ANY favor upon the making OF
Toys These. were almost unkn0wR IN ear
~ years IN New England. though common
enough in New York and the South.
But human nature is patient. however
severely repre<Sed, and the chlldrea'S chl1-
dTen Of the cary settlers had plenty Of fua
at play. In some respects they even mad
decidedly the advantage % TIE fortunate
youth OF 1896 for their toys We're almost
all homemade. and represented love and
toll and ingenious coutr.vance in the home
circle.
The .'boughteu" sleds that are now made
~ the million. = would seem, and sold N
their cleaning red paint a. 81 cents and
upward" are not, 10 any right minded
younker. half 50 interesting as the home
made affair which grandpapa's grandpa
made In exact imitation OF big ox-sled,
even to the cleft tongue OF hard wood
Grandpa'S sled had bent runners OF oak
or EN-, stod with strips Of hoop iron In
stu earlier times there were no shoes az
al. but the bare wood was polished until
i was as smooth a. glass BY friction on
The snow. The sled vas fastened together
with pegs. The beams, cut away beneath
20 the shape OF fat arches, rested directly
upon the runners, and the raves and
floor directly upon the beams 80 that the
completed sled. no matter how small,
would have borne the weight Of an ele-
plants tread To break Il was simply i'm
possible; and, implanted though il was, u
would outlasE TWO or three generations.
GFandpapa 5 skates We're equally pTiml-
tive. Along IN October his father or grand
father brought acme pair OF ska1e-irons
hammered out and tempered by the near
est blacksmith. a; home, some rainy day
was devoted 70 whiting out wood tops
TO 1T TO them and for fastenings buckskin
thong was used. The simplest SKATE irons
were turned up lightly al the toe, others
had elaborate spiral curves, finished or
with little brass knobs. like those they
used 10 put on COWS horns, only smaller.
OF course. grandpa's skates We're better
than ours. There was a time, % or 80
years ago. when every boy was crazy for
a par OF short club skates. with heel
plates" and other modern fxings. but
you'll notice that crack skaters Ike Dono-
hue and Eden are now using long-run-
nered skates with wooden tops a great
deal Ike grandpapa's; and patent club
skates are on the bargain counter with
weakened painted sseds.
There never was, and there never viii
be- any other doll so nice as a rag doll
The French beauty with waxen cheeks.
the elaborate affair that can cry "wah.
wah. wahr when you pinch II, is all very
wei when il is new. but how does II look
after soaking in a rain barrelg The rag
doll Is simply indestruct.ble. The features
marked On its fat face in Ink can be re-
newsd from time TO time as trey fade, and
the anatomy of the th!ng is tough Most
excellent little rag dolls were made BY
small girls themselves. with the bony
framework OF clothes pin for skeleton.
our ancestors learned q lot from the III
dians-among other things that Ehere 5
nothing ike leather to last. buckskin
don was almost "a much better than a
rag doll as the latter surpasses in real
merit the wax doll with real put-on-and-cff
clothes The hucksktn doll frequently mad
a patch of real horse-haIr sewn cunntngiy
into its scalp, and with its wild eyes and
kalnuk nose IL was thing sufficiently
grotesdue 10 be pass.onately loved
A much greater proportion OF the people
lived on or near the seaCosst and lived
bv seamen's arts. IN early days than now.
Dolls and toys from Caina and India were
common enough on the coast. whether
they had been brought by sea-fsrins men,