The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-01-25
CHILDREN AND TOYS.
PAINTINGS MAY BE TOO BEAUTIFUL
AND TOO TRUE TO NATURE.
Children Do Not Care For Natural
istic TOys-The Horse, the Doll and
Such Things Should Leave some
thing to the Imagination.

er of rice, she conducted me 10 the uurS.
cry. where, as she said. her happicSt DAYS.
had been spent. As to the happicst DAYS.
l did not believe in them Il hit and told
her SO. Personally | look back upon
my nursery experience with more horror
than delight. 1t hulked huge with ghosts.
mysteries of closed doors. porcntous
wailings. Until the clock chimcd mid
night was subject to the powers of
darkness. After that no Spectcr could
have convinced me of its reality.
There was Il vast locker in the nursery
in which Audrey had first acquired her
sense of humor, and from this She pro
duccd an endless variety of discarded
toys. All were more or less damaged.
many more were inchoatc Jumps from
which. after careful examinations there
bcamcd forth some hint of their original
condition. Audrey sat in the midst of
piled confusion, with an air of sumepti
tious happiness. 1t was as though She
said, This is what | want to do all my
life" She Rugged in her arms what |
coniecturcd to have once represented 4
hippopotamus. venturcd tu say that
it had harassed and disturbed appear-
ance.
But it isn't hippo at ALL" she cried
Guess again."
II give it up" said
"Why. it's horse l shook my head
"My dear girl, Your memory must lie
at fault. That was never Il horse"
why, it's Il horse now" She said afce-
tionately.
well. if its horse to you. | suppose
it is Il horse" | said
~ hats just it," she cried. THAT'S OK
actly what | was saying to YOU ycster-
day"
| remembered the discussion. Audrey
had been inveshinS against modern TOYS.
and had taken the opposite view. She
had asserted that children did not care
for naturalistic toys; they left nothing To
the imagination. \ crude representation
of an animal was much dearcr to them
than an accurate model They respected
the elephant which was just like the real
ones they had seen and which waggcd its
head so realistically. but they did not love
it. They didn't want to take ii to bed
with them. 1t was the same. she said.
with dolls. The beautiful creature dress
cd up in Sunday clothes never touched
their hearts all their affection was Law
lShed upon some tattcrlcmalion object
over which they could laugh and cry
without any sense of iucongruity. 1t was
the same, she asserted, with picture
books; everything WAS too accurate
But | said, would you have them
grow up with the wrong models before
them"
Did it do any harm to your sense Of
form to have an impossible wooden horse
10 play with? OF course it didn't. You
knew the horse was wrong. You could
compare it with proper horse by lust
looking out Of the window, but the thing
with body like thick rolling pin left
something to your imagination"
y cure very reactionary young per-
SON said. Our modern cult of the
child has always seemed to me beautiful
ly right"
90 it is in most ways. but not in the
matter of toys. It's just like this: When
people go to buy toys-grown up people,
l mcan-they don't look at them from the
chld's point of view. They see an artistic
piece of modelling, and it appeals to them:
therefore they buy it. Now, that's all
wrong"
81 must admit that" said l. You've
almost convinced me-"
AT that point our conversation had
been Interrupted by the youngest brother,
who always manages to tell me in some
roundabout way what he particularly
wants for a Christmas present. He be-
gan to talk about books out of Difference
to my connection with the writing trade.
lie didn't want a book it appeared {;
partly, | suspect, because he fondly
lmagines | can get any book for moth
ing. But there was a new cricket hand
book with all about bats in it, He could
borrow the handbook from Smithson
major. BY the way, had he told me
that his bat had split clean up the blade?
we shall have to give him a bat.
suppose" Audrey had said. ITS a pity
they so expensive"
Well. as | watched Audrey sitting
among that amazing collection of dilapi-
dated toys | became more and more con-
WINGED that she was right. AT any rate,
the child in her was awake again, and
she even fell into some of the baby talk
which years before had been addressed
to the contents Of the locker. She bonn
barded me with beasts. If her aim had
been a little less infrm, | might have
suffered severely. AS il was, | escaped
with wool stuffed zebra in the eye.
mo toy should be given to young
child" she said, (which it can't fling
about"
Lay down a few more rules" said,
warding off a kangaroo.
mo toy should bc too beautiful"
Not even for girls?'
Least of all for girls" she said,
though she didn't mean it.
"Well. 90 on"
"No toy should be directly educational.
1t makes a child think that it's being inn
posed upon"
1t was apparently to enforce this
statement that the zebra was launched
at my head
'I'm 50 sorry" said Audrey. Did it
hurt z"
"No toy" I replied severely, Should
be hurled Mt a living target. even by
child like you. Pail Mall Gazette.
To Make Patent Leather shoes Enav.
Those with tender feet may be glad to
know that hole punched on either side
of patent leather boots or shoes lust ut
the instcp about one inch from the sole
will in walking pump in the air and
tend to keep the feet cool. This has
been tried with the most beneficial re-