Evening star., 1901-12-21
Exhibition of Ingenious Playthings
at a Paris Salon.
CHIEF OF POLICE OFFERS PRIZES
To Encourage Artisans Who Make
Siaewa k-SeIIing TrifIes.
ODDITIES in COMPETITION
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

PARIS, December IA, 1901
Have you been to the Christmas salon.?
What salon?'
The salon of handmade, homemade,
sidewalk-selling toys, of course, the
Christmas salon of good Monsieur Lepne
prefect of police for the encouragement
of the greatest of the little trades Of
Paris There you will exposed, beside
the ingenious combinations of anaemic
girls and dtft-fiEgered cripple boys turned
out with feverish energy in overcrowded
family workshops. the amiable fancies Of
great artists and sculptors like Gerome,
Niercie and Detanle, who have stopped
In a veritable labor of love-to design toys
of this humble sort, and in so doing affirm
once again, the solidarity of the artistic
touch"
We shall have to take that salon in
Is the invariable answer. Thus every Paris
conver sation, at some moment, turns to
the Partisan playthinS of the hour-le Salon
Cor eoncour9 de Jouets, as they call it
and thus the great hall of the tribunal de
commerce, the commercial court house,
the home of complicated litigation, is
thrOngtd for the moment by mixed, joy
multitude of mamaS of all classes, with
their children, perfumed Parisiennes in
swaSger costumes and accompanied by
chattEg Eidtd youth or golden balditude,
and indept tndent, self-respecting-yes, al
most too self-respe pecting-Paris poor, from
the intelligent and clustering artisan, who
knows il all, TO the shrinking, pale
checked Paris working girl, with her mel
ancholy prettiness and inimitable twO-Sous
chic. come to pick up ideas to use in her
business.
e The object of the salon is to boom and
stimulate really important if humble
branch of Paris trade. The article de
Paris in general and the cheap toy of
actuality'' in particular, while in one sense
inimitable, have been initiated, and dis
astrOusly of late years, and the little Pa
risians who call the trade theirs find it
more and more difficult to compete in
price and rapidity of execution with the
cheap products of rich German. English
and Belgian factories Two weeks before
Christmas time it is the practice to permit
the erection of countless booths along the
long stretch of the boulevard, to form a
brilliant if humble Christmas fair for the
sale of all kinds of useful truck and
these toys and articles de Paris OF late
years the fairs business has been bad
enough for divers reasons, notably the
competition of the great department stores
and "bazaars,' but when the compI amt of
nothing TO selr' began introducing itself
among the others it was seen mat some
thing must be done.
The little trades" are said to be dying
The most ingenious makers and designers
of these trides have become the employees
of factories, and the middlemen who con-
troll selling often find it to their advantage
to transform London success rather than
to introduce native novelty. Thus the
Dying Boer' rubber pig, blown up only
to shrink and fall, uttering plaintive crieS)
became, in Paris, the Dying Englishman,'
and a nondescript English doll of curious
mien became successfully .'Loie Fuller"
Cleo de Merode'' and La Parisienne'' of
the exposition.
vi. Lepine to the Rescue.
Something must be done. because the
Paris artisan is jealous and complaining,
and looks to the government when any
thing goes wrong in his business. Thus
the workers in mems cOllapsible opera hats
recently demanded that parliament should
do something to bring the unfashion-
able article into style again,
The functiOnary TO come to the rescue
of the toy of actuality' was NJ. Lepine,
project of police. month ago the walls
of the capital We're plastered with procla-
nations announcing the Toy Salon. AS
originally ordained, only handmade toys
not factory products. retailing at between
five cents and three francs go cents) might
be exhibited. Then the factory interest
proving strong. second class was ad-
mitted "horS cOncOurs'' (Out of competi-
tom, and composed of the very capitalistic
products against which the salon had been
instituted
Along the river opposite the Palais de
Justice, the Conciergerie and the Sainte-
Chappene tall tourists piIgrimages) the
solid block of the commercial tribunal
rises Behind it Is the flower market be-
side 1t is the prefecture of police, the Off
cial seat of NJ. Lepine, and in front the
Boulevard du Palais, which becomes, a
block further on, the Latin Quarter, stu
dents "Bou1. Miche','' the Boulevard Saint
Michel There are always plenty of po-
ncemen around the prefecture, but during
the past week the neighborhood looks as it
might in times of riot. Squads of '.agens'
control a good-natured multitude Rhat
never ceases forming into line from; the
great doors OF the commercial courts along
the Boulevard, around the corner and
around again to the flower market Sec
uons OF ABOUT 40 each are let in at time,
without charge, to the Toy SALON." 1t
Is an immense success. The policemen
themselves are good-natured. for 1t is the
salon, and the success of their patron"
NJ. Lepine. prefect of police. the friend and
protector of the Paris artisan.
A 10Y of actuality'' is a trifie of the
hour. the exploitation of a passing fad, a
passing popularity, event, invention or per-
sonal!ty- The Boer war for example has
served for hundreds more or less ingeni-
Gus, and continues. to serve-as the salon
shows-tradinS on the popular sympathy
with the Boer and hostility to the Eng
Hshman: AS every one anticipated, the toy
OF the hour at Christmas time is to be
the "Dirigible Balloon of Santos -Dumont
although the French Submarine Torpedo
Boat runs 1t a good second. At least six
Dirigib!e Balloons or ''Navigable Bal.
looms" compete for the first prize that GER
tainly IS destined to go to one of them
One IS a species of soft rubber sausage
casing with a car" attached to it You
blow it up and throw it into the air, where
IL hoats for time. veritable cigar
IT complete. the escaping breath that Won
have blown into 1t turns tiny screw
propeller"
SantOs-du-Monde.N No o.
Another is an aeroplane toy that really
sCuds through the air by means OF mechan-
ism acting on screw propeller third
and, at first view, by far the most wonder
ful-seems 10 be freely navigating in great
circles few feet above the heads of the
crowd. A central space has been given to
this exhibit. and as it sweeps gracefully
around its great circle. almost from one
eide OF the hall to the other, a cry of uni
yersal admiration arises from the multi
tGde- Helas! ii is almost as universally
succeeded by muttered excIamations of
FraGd"' as the good people perceive the
lonS black cord. almost invisible. that sus-
Jams The air ship hanging from the CELL
1ng. The cord being fastened to a central
po.nt in the ceiling. the light tin Santos
du-M0nde, No. o." propelled by clockwork
and strong tin screw fan propeller and ar
once sustained and left free at a ffxe1