The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-02
HOLIDAY Toys IRE HERE
MERCHANTS IN READINESS FOR
THE ANNUAL HOLIDAY
RUSH
MANY QUAINT NOVELTIES
Ingenuity of Manufacturers Taxed
for the Dedication of Amer
lean Boys and GirIk-MiH-
tary Toys Predominant.

Christmas toys and dog days! Queer
combination, isn't 1t? However, it's one
with which wholesale toy men are very
familiar. For every August when swelter-
ing humanity is plying a fan vigorously
the wholesale toy man may be found
wandering up and down the aisles of his
great warehouse, surveying with satis-
faction articles that suggest snow and Ice
and all the other delights Of the holiday
season.
If the year is a story and the holidays
the punctuation marks, Christmas Is Ger
tainly the exclamation point that finish
es the tale. And 1t Is because of this
Christmas. the festival of the children.
that certain big warehouses early in
August are crammed to OVERLOOKING with
everything that can delight a child And
1t is because the warehouses are already
supplied with all these toys while sum
ner is still with US that one can forecast
pretty well along just what grooves
Santa Claus tastes will run this Christ
mas. For over year, now, America has
been at war. Therefore ST. Paul little
boys and girls as well as the little bows
and girls of other cities are going to be
hercely military during the coming holi-
days. They will revel in gun boats. guns
that are made to resemble closely those
OF Uncle Sans that did such good service
In the Spanfsh-American war. They will
spend happy hours drilling quite real
looking soldiers. They will study the re-
markable fntricacies of toy cannons.
Best of all, perhaps, they will be able to
elimb-by the aid of a wonderful game
that famous hill of San Juan. Little girls
who do not care for go bangy'' toys
but most little girls do-need not, how
ever, forsake the truly military alto
gether. Her dolly, perhaps. will come TO
her In the garb of the Red Cross nurse.
or in natty khaki eolored short skirt
and Jacket with Ladysmith hat Then
II the small girl is not too careful Of
her treasure she can add quite a bit Of
realism to the small boys military games
For what could be more real than to have
Red Cross nurse lowering fearfully
but bravely on the outskirts of the I'D
Vancing army? What more life-Hke than
q trfg little feminine scout stealing in adj
vance of that army from cover to cover?
While the wholesale toy man begins the
unpacking and arranging of these Christ
mas toys early In August the buvine
-NS~AA SS'EAOS pace 0oIl Ill JANUARY. MUCH
might be learned of a nation by the toys
1t manufactures. For instance. France
turns out clever, but perishable novel
tles; Germany. wherce the bulk OF our
toys come, gives US cheap but solid af-
fairs; the United States supplies her
children with practical toys only. All
the iron and wooden toys come from this
country. Nearly all the dolls come from
Germany. The very best are made in
France. but these are too expensive for
general trade
In the Thuringian forest of Germany
there is class of peasants who spend
their lives manufacturing the toys that
delight the children of many countries.
They are a simple, kindly people, who
care only to make enough money to save
them from starvation. All their work is
done in their own poor cottages. They
nave steadfastly refused to enter a Fac
tory though the prospect of better paw
was held out to them. The entire family
work at these toys. Perhaps It is a
doll they are making. The father will
fashion the body of the kid and hair.
The mother will fasten the hair on the
head, tint the cheeks. darken the eye
6rows and lashes. A son will carve the
feet and hands, daughter make the
eyes Each one has her appointed task
and she performs 1t to the best of her
ability. Then, very early in the spring.
a fair is held at Leipsic called the Ieip-
sic messe. The peasants come 1ocking
into town, bringing specimens of the TOYS
they have manufactured Perhaps there
is novelty among them. but not often
for those peasants are not very inventive
Agents of wholesale houses visit the fair
and make up their orders, and these or
ders are delivered in the early spring and
summer. So happy do those Thuringian
forest peasants seem that their name has
come to spell content. An American Jour
neying through their homely villages one
summer became possessed OF beautiful
idea. He knew that among his own peo-
pie in the United States such content
was not to be found. So he induced
number of those peasants to eruigrate to
HIS native state. Kentucky. and continue
their manufacture of toys there. The
theory was certainly beautiful The prac-