The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-19
roYs MAT MEN Bur.
sturdy Protest AGainst Them from nm ApaFe'
mept House Neither.

sturdy Protest Against Them from m ApaEes
ment House Neither.
ct hone none Of the friends OF the family will
DO moved to send Christmas presents to my
children said the apartment house mother.
plaintively. "Men friends, especially. think
it's a civil thing at Christmas to ememoer tho
children of the families where they have dined.
and, OF course. 1t is kind; but dear me. the
things men buyi And it's all the fault OF the
toy shops too"
"For instance y asked her friend.
well" she answered, "some toys, you know.
arc made only for children who have large MUIR
series; they were never in the world meant for
apartment house or boarding house children.
But it's these big snowy toys that attract the
poor lone mans ye whenever he wanders into
the toy shops. He doesn't see the modest little
tin chu chp' cars; he makes straight for some
big ~cast.iron abomination with three or four
yards Of real steel tracks, and that's what he
buys without any regard to where the thing In
to be kept.
"Now, If toy shops would only have depart
m ,nts labelled off. For instance. one departe
ment could be Toys for Flats and Boarding
Houses and in that department there should DO
no toy higher than ten inches or wider than two.
Another department could be Toys for the Sub
urbs,' and there you would find wheeibarrows
and shovels and drums and buckets and all
those outdoor things. Don't you see Win an
arrangement like that IL would be safe for a
man to go into n toy shop ana buy and be quite
Independent of the clerksi Now they have
everything their own way, and as the average
man goes to them without an idea of what ho
wants, as q rule. they palm of something
on him that no mother would buy or
permit her husband to buy-some big-as-ife
mechanical goat, for instance. Yes, they have
such things. One was sent to the baby last
Christmas. 1t kicked out its legs far too ma
turally. The older children were black and blue
from 1t, and the baby was scared into a spaSm
every time he saw 1t. The man who sent 10
didn't know. of course, and the ~saleswoman
probably declared II, was exactly the kind OF
thing a baby would like.
"Then there was a Noah's ark another friendly
of n thing with half a dozen Noahs. and a herd
of every kind of known animals. When II was
unloaded it required two rooms for the animals
to parade through. The children were perfectly
charmed with the extent OF the procession, but
every time 1 stepped / crushed a Noah or an
elephant, and then there were such bowls of
grief from the children. ] was nearly distracted,
until at last, in about a weeks time, the animals
had been trodden down to a respectable minor
ity. guarded by half a Noah.
THAT wasn't the only thing / quarrelled
with. There was a box Of fendish fishes sent to
my youngest, boy, who is croupy. These fishes
fshed for with a pole. ] wish you could have
h ard him cough the night after Christmasi
THE worst toy of all was never presented.
It's in the storeroom now. 1t was an innocent
enough looking. little steamboat, but to make it
go 1t had II real sure enough" The apart.
ment house mother paused, and then added
i with a shudder, Gasoline ~enginei'