Rock Island Argus., 1905-12-16

| very uCca &i...e IN Iuclr taste. how
| over different in appearance. and tie
| playthncs of infant Asia bear Al strong
| fundamental resemblance To those OF
| young America. Most popular. of
course. are dolls. the parental instinct
| is universal
China ana Korea are great countries
for dolls. but in Japan. that paradise
| OF children. the make believe baby is
! so honorably regarded that ii has q
special holiday. the feast OF dolls"
This comes in February every year at
the time OF the Chinese new year. Tile
dolls are placed on silk covered shelves
in the best room in the house. Often II
takes five or six shelves to hold them
all. The principal participants in the
feast are called the emperor and en-
press of Japan. They are dressed in
court costumes, and the others. named
for famous persons, are arranged
about them. Doubtless at the coming
celebration numerous doll Oyamas. To
gos, Kurokis and Nogis will swell the
crowds at the receptions of the mimic
nikado. Silver bowls are placed be-
fore their maJesties. and the child for
whom the festival is kept puts fresh
food in these dishes every day. At the
end of three days the dolls are laid
away for another year only a few IA
vorites being kept out for common use
or these one Is the lady with the six
cor more) wigs a baldheaded doll whose
many changes of coiffure give her
small owner endless delight
Though this is primarily a girls hol-
day. the small boy OF Japan is not
above playing with dolls and is espe-
ciany fond of the doll 'theater He is as
much addicted TO wooden soldiers and
acrobatic toys as his counterpart in
America. Marionettes are as popular
In China as in Japan. Long before
Punch and Judy began to charm the
hearts of American youth the little
children of China were laughing over
the dilemmas of these two famous
characters. Little booths are set up on
the streets, where travelling companies
present their quaint shows They have
men on horseback. soldiers. lions. IT,
gers. dragons. snakes and curious act
ing frogs, all made 10 go through their
antics 10y means of strings and sticks
managed by the showmeu. Following
lAAf AfdNi VI 'AVit~s AAl' HtAl'diAtNt bOs -
too. have a holiday Of their own. a dis
tinctive feature of which IS the school
1f huge paper fishes tloatiug over ev-
cry house In which there are boys. one
fish for each son. The Japanese. being
great fishermen. admire ccrtG n speci-
mems of The Tn bearers ve-y muciI-for
Instance, The carp. VIII. Il syimS up
stream. a sign of courage and perse-
verance This fish has become with the
Japanese an emblem of the boys. whom
their parents wish To see possessed Of
these qualities.
ON the boys day tie toy baZaars of
the city sre thronscd with children.
Swords. guns. pistols. trumpets. horses
and menag geries sell Ike hot cakes. and
Lrecrackers fill the air with smoke and
noise There Is i'm Tokyo one quarter
consisting of three or four streets
which contains nothing but bazaars for
the sale Of toys. Here for few cop
pcrs one may buy a handful OF bam-
boo rods from the ends Of which dance
the funniest imaginable caricatures on
which the potent sake has worked its
charm. The google eyed nen whose
heads roll on pivots are matched 10y
jovial foxes and badgers which have
also looked upon the sake when IL was
yellow Toy animals Of every sort
lizards. crickets and spiders-make the
streets Of Tokyo look like Broadway
in New York the week before Christ
mas. \ new popular toy is a Russian
soldig with red hair and blue eyeballs,
who performs all kinds OF stunts"
TOPS and kites are always in favor
in the east. and some OF them are yer
liable works Of art. The kites assume
every possible form OF fish. beast aai
hard while the tons which trans form, :