The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-18

Its Sale Is Worldwide and 1t Comes
Mostly from Snxony, Germany.


New York SUM-
Noah's ark. that universal toy of child
hood, is made mostly in Saxony Germany
and Ii ard all its inmates are made by
hand, in the homes of people who work in
the fields In summer and who, whole fam
lies together, old and young devote their
time in winter to the production of these
toys. Both arks and animals are not, how
ever. produced under the same roof. Some
families make nothing but the arks, while
others make only animals. Arks and ami
malS are subsequently assembled in the
establishment of some toy manufacturer
VINO supplies the people with many, If not
all, or the materials used In making the
tcys' who buys the finished products and
who sorts and packs them and makes them
ready for market.
1t may be that a family for successive
generations has been engaged in making
ark animals from models handed down
from father to son. The whole family
takes part in the work, father, mother and
all the children. Every one does some
thing, what he can; and so a single fam
of labor. 1t is really a little domestic fac
tory, employing, all told. say half a dozen
industrious pairs of hands, and they turn
out a great number of finished animals.
The wood from which the animals are to
be made is first cut into block of such
dimensions that animals of the kind and
size required can be cut from cross Sec
lions or It, Such block might be, for
instance, six inches long. an inch and a
quarter wide and an inch high Suppose
there We're to be made from this block
cows. The solid block is dug out and
gouged out lengthwise and uniformly from
end TO end in such a manner that looking
now at the end there is seen there the out
lines OF a COW; a slice of the right thick
ness cut from the block will be a cow In
the rough; the next slice would be just
the same, and so from the block there
would be sliced off cows until il was used
up. The same method would be followed
IN making horses, goats. pigs and so on.
Then these little animals in the rough
get touch or two with knife to fashion
them further into the likeness of the ami
NAL they are made to resemble Then they
are painted and perhaps vanished, and
Cnce. or maybe twice week, the finished
product of the family is taken to the es-
adjustment OF the manufacturer where
the workers get for the animals cash on
delivery
Noah's arks thus made are produced with
marvellous cheapness; there are, in fact, not
many things made in the world which, con-
siderfng the labor involved, are sold so
cheaply as this toy of worldwide use There
can be bought at wholesale in Germany an
ark six or seven inches in length and con-
tanning ten or a dozen animals, for less
than cent and a half. But even the
statement OF that price must convey to one
unfamiliar with Noah's arks only a faint
notion of how cheap that price really is
There are arkS with animals complete that
can be bought still cheaper, but the ami
mails in these are all alike and rather nom
named is for good ark with good animals,
all different and all we'll finished.
The boat and house of this outfit are
trinity painted in at least three colors. The
house has a gabled roof with one side
hinged so that the roof can be opened to
take the animals out and put them back
The animals are all painted in their natural
colors, many OF them in two colors, as, for
example, If an animal is spotted, and then
every one is vanished. In many of these
low-priced arks the animals are very good
They are small, OF course and by no means
carefully finished, but decidedly lifelike
The expense OF bringing such arks across
the ocean and putting them on the market
here, including the freights and duties and
carriage, amounts to about as much as the
original cost. Such arks cost the importer
in stock here in the neighborhood of so
cents a dozen, but that permits retailers
to sell them at cents. 1t would be diff
cult TO find many things much cheaper
than this.
But while this ark example is thus
remarkable for its cheapness and other
qualities, there are. of course. many other
kinds OF Noah'S arks, including a greater
variety than one might imagine There
are many of larger sizes and considerably
more expensive, containing more and larger
and more deliberately carved anu finished
animals. There are arks that are mounted
not on fiat boards, pointed at the ends for
boats, but on regular boats, and so on
Noah's arks are imported in great variety.
but, perhaps. the only people that ever see
Noah's arks In the greatest variety in
which they are anywhere brought together
are the toy buyers of the world, who see
them at LeipsiZ. where the toy rnanufac-
turers exhibit their samples at fair held
in each year in the first week in March