The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-12-22

Realistic Playthings Of the Present to
Give Place TO "Dresdeur
Creations.

n VvVhhOnS w hCiVt III tnC CIuI-
acter and making Of children's toys
Is attracting considerable attention in
Germany, and has been given much
sympathy by educators. Those back
BIZ the movement. states the Philadel-
phia Record. have set their faces
against the kind Of toys with which
khe market is flooded at present, real.
istic things, turned out by the thou.
sand, about which there is a halo Of
ptrangeness or romance. and which,
for the most part, are extremely ugly.
The child's imagination has very little
room for play. because the toy aims to
be exact counterpart of the thing in
nature.
II is this that the new Dresden
toys" are designed to remedy; to hold
he child's attention by the beauty and
pimplicity Of design, and by some fan.
tastic deviation from the deal.
"Dresden toys, are the work Of men
strongly Interested in the inculcation
pf an art instinct in the young. As
toys go now, not only is the child's in
herent feeling for beauty and harmony
not fostered, but it is actually marred
and repressed by the uglness and
Btaleness. conventionality and lack Of
o delightful freshness of most toys In
use. Now look at one of the single
figures Of the new Dresden toys
the cat. II is simple and strong, dur
able and inexpensive. It will take a
tremendous knocking before It will
break. The child may seize the cat
by head or tail and wrench 1t into any
position he desires, but pussy will al
ways emerge sound But now look at
the cat, how It speaks to the child in
language most Ineligible of all to
children. It strongly resembles the
native wood carving Of primitive peo-
pies, whose imaginative faculties were
strikingly in accord with those Of chill.
dren of to-day.
All ther toys manufactured on this
plan seem to breathe an atmosphere
foreign to the machine. They posses
freshness or novelty, an individual.
ity, that Is in harmony with the free.
dom and wildness of the child. Be.
sides such single figures. there are
many groups designed on the same
plan-farmers, village or a theatri
cal group, such as is seen here. All
these toys exercise a powerful educat
ing stimulus, influencing the imagna
ton and getting the child's love by
Its beauty.
In each Of the "Dresden toys" the
/ OannraI tha tunfna1 hoo q
with great firmness, and yet the indi
vidual characteristics Of each figur,
or group Is strikingly evident ever
to the youngest mind. Each speaks
and breathes a healthy humor; the
Characterization Of every figure is fine
ly done; the adorning colors are har
moniously arranged. The influence
exerted upon the child is always strik
ing and vivid. but at the same tim,
always harmonious and quiet Every
toy of the series possesses STYLE 1t |.
typical of it's class without ever beini
conventional; 1t always has individual
ity.
Picture village Of Dresden
group. We see farmers, houses, trees
wagon and even an intrusive auto
mobile. We see the stiff strutting o
soldier, the farmer feeding his hoe
the buXom housewife attending to tn
dinner of several tired laborers in thei
shirt sleeves. The healthiness. tn
broad humor. the open.air quality O
country life is strikingly brought hom
to the eager and delighted child
Moreover-and this is one Of the ur
derlying principles in the entire "Dres
den" series-the whole is colored on
simple a1d effective basis of color hal
mony. The child's taste is educate
from the beginning to cherish the sin
pie and the beautiful in color. and t
avoid the loud, the shrieking and tn
tasteless.
The subject of the earliest trainin
of children has received much NOR
attention in Germany than anywher
else. Most prominent as reformer G
chiidren's toys Is, perhaps, the wei
known author. Frank Wederkind, VIII
is also the inventor Of the "Germa
discus" and the bicycle swing" II
tended to develop in older childre
agility, as we'll as control Of the body
movements through will power an
sureness Of eye.