The Portland daily press., 1899-11-03
MECHANICAL TOYS.
Wonderfully Attractive Display { OF
Things Ingenious and Beautiful.

Wonderfully Attractive Display tot
Things Ingenious and Beautiful.
Mechanical toys are shown this season
In more marvellous varsity than ever
before and In ereats- beauty; and ut oil
sorts OF prices from twenty five cents up
to sl,o says the New York sun. The last.
athlete who puts up big dumbbell. Tue
figure is about eighteen inches In height
supported upon base foot or mors
sqnare and perhaps SIX inches In length,
which contains the machinery, and a
music tox. Lying upon this base. at the
athletes feet, 10 q great dumb bbell, OF the
kind and weight that strong men put up
Tns athlete is clad in gay -colored silks.
such as he might wsar in m exhibition
on the stage; he makes slightly anu
graceful figure and presently he shows
that he has great strength. as we'll.
When this toy Is started the musi, begins
and plays little first, and then. pre-
sently. the athlete bends over TO pick up
the great dumbbell. Reaching down
with calm deliberation he grasps the
handle, and then, gathering himssf to-
gether, he lifts the dumbbsll clear OF the
ground. thc music. all this time. keeping
on playing.
Str tightening himself up with 1t he
holds the great weight for brief moment
with his arm straight down AID then he
braces himself to. raiss It,. higher He
brings 1t up waist high and then carries
it up to his shoulder. and then after a
moments pause he puts the giant dumb.
tell up, slowly but surely, to the full
he'll xht OF his extencet arm. After hold
Ing IL there for moment he lov e,s 1t
again, and let's II down by his side oncs
morn, and. bending with 1t he places 1t
firmly again on the RIou nd. and then
himself up into hia original
pose and then the m sio ceases. Thsrs
is nothing jerky or olcckworky about the
figures movements. The entire action IL
which. at one or two points In tn, pro-
Rress Of the ieat. IL clos,s its eyes In the
stress of effort. 1t Is wonderful toy,
one that fixes the attention Of everybod
VIII o sees it,
There Is gym nastio bear tnat performs
feats while standing at the top Of a lad
der; and theie are various figures OF tight
rope walkers, that walk from ore end to
the other Of II tight rope and then back
again. There Is q figure Of q pretty little
girl holding Ia one han d tiny cup from
which sne is supposed to drink chocolats,
while In the othsr hand she holds q pisce
of bread. The little girls dog sits up at u
chair close by. looking ut her. When this
figure IL started the little sirl takes a sip
of cho colate from the cup an then the
little dog barks; tie wants some bread
and thsn the kind little girl gives him
some. As the athlete that puts up the big
dunn bells is the most wonderful OF toys.
is found In gilded csge with singing
bird. The cage 10 OF full size round In
form. and with the wires bending Inward
to form q dome shaped top. The base of
the cage, orpamented WITH embossed
figures, and fully Gildad, Is four or tive
inches In height. the cage itself Is an
artistic creation. moss pleasing to the
lovely little bird, robin, that sings most
1t waggies Its little tail,
and throws its head tn one tiie and looks
at you with its bright little eyes, and
sings the robin's notes and high or low
they are clesr. and true and natural.
And this bird Goasn't sing Its song like a
clockwork bird, but like a real bird. 1t
stops entirely aud you think Its song has
and then it starts up again just
as q bird would, With Its clear. bright,
beautiful notes. A most lovely toy, ana
1t 81 us cheap at the price, $54, but, like
many articles of utility In These modern
days, sn these things OF Injury are com-
parativ ely cheaper than they were years
ago; and all these various toys, indeed,
that Ieperesent animals and biris, includ-
ing the teaper ones as woll as the mora
costly, are, besides made nowadays more
and more like nature.
Here is pig that blows soap bubbles;
really and truly soap blhblss 1t stands
up on It's hind legs and holus In front Of
Itself with one OF its fore feet basin
rlied with soapsu6s, whioh osn be rsplen-
.shed as the play full Zig exhausts 1t, In
Its other fors foot, ussd as hand. this
pig hclls pipe. When this figure Is set
In motion toe pig bends over and, hold
Ing one end of the pipe in its mouth, it
dips the other end In the soary water
and draws In sufficient OF 1t fer the pur-
pose. and then straightens up again. In
ulines Its head to one side and blows
bubble; about as big In proportion TO Its
size az the bubble child would blow
would te in proportion to Its. The pig
can't blow away the bul ble from the
pipe itself, but the child that owns 1t
can. and the little bubble will float OF.
aud the zig will keep on blowing them.
curious and humorous toy, the pig
that blows soap bubbles; its cost, s..
There are rabbits that jump up out Of
cabbages, and out OF roses. and chrysau-
theIrums and there 10 q monkey that
losses q ball from side to side, dancing
mean while on the door. There are all
kinds OF animals to be found among these
me chanical toys, bears and rabbits and
dogs and cats and COWS aud sheep and 80
on. covered with the natural skin, and
having either voice or motion, or both, or
having some otner natural oharac terlstic;
IS, tor instance. there are toy COWS that
can be MIXED. These vsriuus nature
like animals are sold at all sorts Of prices.
ranging down to 81 and up to sos. that
being the price Of iife-sizs donkey with
. most natural voice.
Among multitudinous other miscellane-
ous mechanical toys here is little laun-
dry, in which Ave fluffy little dogs ap-
pear. with varied laundry apparatus.
When o crank Is turned on this toy
musio-box sounds, the dogs go to work In
The laundry-some OF them washing,
some ironing and some hanging up
,lothes on CLOTHES rack. There are
many toys that go while you play them.
Here, for instance. IS q gard'n party Of
logs aud cats, some eating, some dane
Ing: here is one dog taking a photograph