Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-20
BEFORE SANTA CLAUS
Customs of the Days Of the
Cave Dwellers.
ANCIENT PLAY TOYS
AUTOMATIC MOVEMENTS WHEN
MOSES WAS A BOY.
Mechanical Birds Gave Delight to the
Children of Egypt-Roman
Rag Dolls.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
Children's toys In this year of grace are
so elaborate that good old-fashioned folk
are filed with amazement and make up
their minds that the little people of today
are of a brand different from those of the
last generation. On the surface they are
quite right, too. 1t does look as If the
modern child was essentially different from
his brother of years ago, but the difference
is largely superficial.
The toys of today are elaborate, but they
are just the same kind Of toys that have
always delighted children. Every boy and
girl who labors today to indite fine. clear
letter to Santa Claus wants Just about
what every other boy and girl wants. What
is more each wants just the same things
that boys and girls always have wanted.
The idea of the toy remains today essen
TALLY what it was when the first affection
ate cave man took the baby on his knee
and hacked away at a bit of wood for its
edification. There is proof a-penty of this
rescued from the depths of the earth each
year.
The adults life of today is little enough
like that of even one hundred years ago. A
worthy gentleman Of the powdered queue
period would feel utterly at a loss in any
few men of the ''four-bottle' variety. for
hidden to defend his honor with the sword.
wholly out of touch with the conversation
about stocks and bonds and strikes.
But take a child, not of one hundred, or
of one thousand. but Of two, or three. or
four thousand years ago. and there would
be small hiatus between him and the little
ones of the modern nursery. Their games,
their toys. even their fairy stories would
seem to him quite like those that amused
him before the death angel carried him
away from his eastern home centuries ago.
For the child, in a world of change, Is eter-
nal.
Walk through any of the great toy shops
and you see dolls that cost 5000 or 800.
Presumably these are bought by some one,
and perhaps they do not spoil the unfortu-
nate child's imagination, and again perhaps
they do The dolls of the little girls of long
ago were quite as satisfactory to their
young mothers, that is certain; and these
proud creatures of 1902 are only their fash
ionable sisters. The family likeness is
marked.
Sure Enough Sounds.
The animals OF today cry moo" and
''baa" and ''wee wee" in sure-enough
voices. but they are only the old. old toys
become sophisticated. They cost dollars
upon dollars, and If the sun goes down on
Christmas day leaving them unbroken it
will be merely because the children are
more sophisticated still. and prefer the little
automobiles and the performing gentlemen
who cost 500 or $500.
But today's collection Of millionaire live
stock has some reason for putting on airs.
Their family tree is ever many thou
sands of years old. 1t can be traced back
as clearly as need be for forty long CEN
turtles
Never were childrens toys so elaborate
as today. One would think that the light
of fancy had gone out in every childish
brain, and that nothing not absolutely OBJ
vious could by any chance appeal to the
childish mind. The good old-fashioned
brand of infant which sought out stick