Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-08-19
THE HOME OF WOODEN TOYS
A District In the Tyrol Which Is Wholly
Given Over to Wood Carving.

A District In the Tyrol Which Is Wholly
Given Over to Wood Carving.
Two English girls have been telling
rather an interesting story of life in
the Gordner valley in the Tyrol, which
is the home of wooden toys and is lit
orally given over to wood carving.
"Baedeker" says that st. Ulrich, the
capital of the district. has 2300 wood
carvers and a gool kotel. The Eng
lish girls corroborate the statement
and add that the place is well worth
visit, although, in order to enjoy it,
one must stay there long enough to
tramp up and down hill and make
acquaintances in the little chalets
where everyone, old and young. is
busy with some sort Of wood carving
or toy making.
One lives in good society in st.
Ulrich. so it seems. Saints and he
roes of assorted sizes are ranged COM
fortably outside of the chalets and in
the gardens, drying their halos and
robes. ST. Peter st. Paul, the Virgin
and Andreas Hofer, the Tyrolean hero,
hobnob on one corner; while st. An
thony of Padua, repeated five times,
dozes on bench against the wall,
and st. Florian, eight feet high, smiles
from the steps at st. Sebastian. trun-
died by in a barrow.
Rows of fresh and shining angels
are on every hand and look with be-
nign interest at whole squadrons Of
sr1o hor hat
ing around the grounds, and hundreds
of staring wooden dolls sit stif1ly upon
sunny shelves and envy the angels.
CrucifiXes are scattered everywhere.
Noah's Ark animals stare, panic
stricken, at piles of wooden skulls.
Everywhere there is saving, ham
mering, chipping, painting. At the age
of six the children begin to learn the
carving trade, and they stick at it un-
til they die. The most famous wom-
an carver in the district carves moth
ing but crucifixes and has done moth
ing else for 20 years. All of her work
is ordered long in advance, and as
her prices, though low, are better than
those of most of the carvers she makes
| u ldlT llNluS.
She uses no model. That is true of
almost all of the workmen who have
| learned their craft through long years
of experience. When carver has
evolved 500 ST. Anthonys all of pat
tern, from tree trunks, he learns to
know his saint and has no need of a
| model. Very often worker sticks
to some one figure and attempts moth
| ing else a method which opens up
awful vistas of monotony.
One family turns out brindled COWS
| by the gross. Another has for years
carved nothing but skulls and cross
| bones. The English chronicler doesn't
tell what effect the gruesome monot-
ony has had upon the members Of
| the family, but the situation sounds
| Maeterlinckian.
One woman makes tiny wooden
dolls and each of her children, even
| the five-year-old, has some part in the
| work. One shapes the legs, another
| paints the faces. another fits the parts
| together. Six hundred dozen of the
| dolls were stacked up against the wall
when the English visitors called; and,
for making the lot, the workers ex-
| pected to receive about SO.
In another cottage three genera
tions of family were busy painting
| wooden horses, and said proudly that
| they could turn out 20 dozen a day
None of the toys is sold at retail, all
| being intended for the big wholesale
| depots at st. Ulrieh.
On Saturday every mountain path
is crowded with men, women and
children carrying the wares to the
| iepots. A flood of saints. angels
| crucifixss and toys pours into the de.
pots all day long; and. in the evening
| the peasants turn homeward. ready
| for another wholesale creation week.
New York Sun.