Evening star., 1901-12-21

| thar its lead "stnker" Is just heavy enough
to keep it floating few inches beneath .he
! surface, and then throws 1t into the water.
| The submarine" sinks to a certain level.
| letting out from its open stern the most
fascinating real-life bubbles. So does the
Gustave Zede in the harbor OF Marseilles.
As Immediately appears. these bubbles come
from the chemical action of the water on
the calcium carbide. They are acetylene
bubbles and smell strong, but the child does
not mind It,. And so the acetylene gas con-
tinues rushing forth from the submarine
boats stern. pushing 1t forward. In the
water in the most natural manner, while
tn bubbles rise and rise, as in the real
thing.
The Walking Men.
AS this is the first salon" of Its kind,
ana as the notice was none too ample, there
were fears that exhibits might be as scarce
as ideas. AS it has turned out, the exhibits
are only too plentiful. There is the walking
clown, at present in litigation, they say, in
France, England and even the United
States. He was invented by a Paris artisan,
an Independent worker managing his fam
lily atelier, where wife, two sons and three
daughters worked cheerfully at the trade
from morning to night in the one cozy over
heated living room. In an evil moment he
attempted to negotiate his invention. An
agent for a Belgian factory examined it,
refused it-and within two weeks the Bel
gian factory was Offering a walking negro
of similar construction. Whatever the rights
of the matter are this walking toy is one
most in evidence on the Paris Boulevard at
the present moment, the navigable balloons
and submarines being reserved for next
week, when the booths open.
There are the walking clown, the walking
policeman (both British and French, who
waves his stick, the walking messenger
boy, the walking waiter with or without
tray of tiny dishes to spill at the proper
momenD, and, most actual the walking
coal miner. on strike and armed with
lei ha 40 Il tn hpG
are crawling seals, engaging little fellows,
very lifelke, who, being wound up, crawl
around in the most eccentric curves ana
circles, suddenly changing direction;
clowns that sit in tin carriages and beat
tin horses prancing mechanically; 1and
those up-tO-date novelties the bicycle rid
ing elephants from Barnum Baileys
circus" which has just opened with eclat
in the gallery of machines of the eXposi-
ton.
1t is a curious thing-and we, observed
it on a dozen different occa sions-tfrat the
children who seemed to enjoy these cheap
and humble toys most were the children
of the richer class: and, furthermore, those
of these humble toys that seemed most fas-
cinating to them were the poor carved
wooden soldiers. milkmaids, farm hands,
farm animals and Noah's ark-like objects
which poor children have a tendency to
disdain.
Kitchen layouts make another important
item. Here the Paris workman often
real strength. For two francs fifty they
make a little kitchen so complete, with it's
tiny coal scuttle, wood box, flour box,
brooms and brushes, crockery, glassware,
tables, chairs and all the rest down to the
spice, salt and pepper boxes, that it might
pose as a working model for the perfect
kitchen.
Roomed the Trade.
Everywhere among the wealthy and mid
die classes people are saying, I'VE ought
to patroniZe the handmade toys" In this
way the trade already has felt boom
Of the most gratifying dimensions and the
little workers are said to be feverishly pill
ing up stock against the Christmas fair,
which opens on the Boulevard next week.
More than fifty medals are to be awarded
to the most ingenious exhibits, not to speak
of divers cash prizes aggregating 81, 400.
Five other and very different prizes also
are on exhibition in places of honor. These
are the so-called artistic toys designed
and offered to the toy salon by the emf
nent artists, Gerome, Mercie, Detaille Cou-
tant and Felix Regamy.
These five curious objects which form
the 'clou of the exhibition have been
much talked about and much praised. 1t Is
to be wondered, however, whether they
would have had the same praise had they
been exhibited over less celebrated names.
None of the five can by any stretch of the
imagination be called a toy. The great
sculptor and painter, Gerome, offers a
painted terra-cotta female figure clothed
in classic drapery.
Queer Toys These.
Mercies idea of a plaything is even more
bizarre. 1t is a terra-cotta sitting gorilla
with plug hat and an expansive smile.
He sits in front of a boiling pot, into which
he thrusts one paw. Detaille's offering is
too fragile to be played with. 1t consists
of piece of glass the size of a window
pane, painted on both sides. On the front
the painting represents a French Alpine
soldier. His reverse (back to back) is a
Russian soldier. The window pane stands
upright and behind it Is a looking-glass
of the same size. Naturally the Russian
soldier is reflected in it, so that behind the
French Alpine soldier stands a kind OF
ghost of the Russians ally. Coutant's idea
is to amuse the child by letting him stand
and look at a pretty statuette represent
ing two young ladies skating while NJ
Felix Regamy's gift is a pretty japanese
doll astride Japanese chmera or trans
cendental pig.
The original thought, when these gifts
from great artists were first promised,
was that they would make doubly valuable
prizes for the lucky winners, in that they
might be reproduced in quantity and sold
to thousands and thousands of eager buy
ers. No doubt the originals will sell for
good prices, If as nothing but curiosities;
but no one having seen them retains any
Illusion as to the intrinsic salableness of
their reproductions. Thus it Is shown once
again that 1t is best for the shoemaker to
stick to his last. STERLING HEILIG.
->OS-