The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-01-03
TOO MANY TOYS,
Naturalist Says Christmas is Become

ing a Curse.
One of the most familiar uracticeO
Of our modern American democratic
life is the way we load our children up,
with toys. A modern house where
there several children is perfect
chaos nf toys, from picture books Of
every description to all types and sizes
of dolls in all stages of decomposition,
and all manner Of mechanical devices.
And still they come, new and ingen-
Gus contrivances to catch and hold the
faded attention Of our offspring and
make them forget for a moment tn
tedinm Of life. 1t is the crime Of the
age; it is a sin against bur children;
it corrupts their simplicity; it stimu-
lates their destructiveness: 1t safes
and blunts their curiosity and hastens
the time Of their general discomfort
with life We try at the outset to
destroy their interest in the plain and
wholesome things Of life by the multi
tude Of strange and startling devices
we shower upln them. We would
have them believe that the world iss
one great toy shop, made simply for
their amusement. We create a false,
taste, a craving for ceaseless novelty
everything new every day, every hour,
The last surprise only sharpens their
appetite for a greater, till they go
J11I ~ "a fIc va
from jumpingrjack to jumping-jack
with utter WEAKNESS and discuiet.
1t is like feeding a child only condi-
ments and sweetmeats. A sane and
killed.We give them milk to drink and
bread to eat Why not provide as few
and as common things for their
amusement? Why sophisticate them?
why foster a craving for novelty and
variety that life cannot satisfy? BY
and by thew will cry for the moon or
the stars. What are we going to do
then?
IT'S a pity the whole army Of toy
inventors and toy makers cannot be
banished from the land.
Lucky is the child that has but few
TOYS and those home made. Let ID
have such things as will help educate
its senses and prepare it for hfe.
Let the boy have his blocks and his
ball and his cart, and let the girl have
her home made rag doll.
Christmas is fast becoming q posi-
tive curse. What between gorging
ourselves with rich foods, bestowing
upon each other useless and senseless
gifts and corrupting our children with
multitude of toys,4the day is Of evil.
omen. 1t is a day of overindulgence
ali around The Christmas tree be-
comes a deadly upas if we are not
careful. Nothing is as salutary with
children as to keep them living on a.
low key and close to common things.
Let them find joy and entertainment,
as they surely will if you give them a
chance. in the simple and near at
hand DO not seek to excite and in
+oxicate them with the strange, the BIZ
zarre. the extraordinary. Let them
| alone. If their craving for novelty is
stimulated there is danger that they
will find life fiat, stale and unpritita-
/ BILE.
doubt if I had one boughten toy
when a child. I had ball when y
got old enough to go to school, but 7
made it myself. I made many balls
out of the yarn of old stockings and
cavered them with leather. had
kites. but 1 made them myself. a
hoy learns many things in making q
kite. had sleds, carts, stills, strings
pin goxes, darts, crossbows, tops, puz-
zle blocks. etc, but made them an
n,vself I made most of my own slate
pencils by cutting them out OF sat
pieces of slate that we used to get
one and a half miles from school.
! earned my piaythings, and they never
s,jrfeited me. They each meant some-
thing. e,g~'i,4l'
Look into any of our wealthy homes
at Christmas time where there are
several children. and see the wicked
extravaganza in the bestowal Of toys.
IT is a. regular toy debauch. The
children become stated and lose their
interest before half the presents are
distributed. In few days most OF
them are discarded the boy contents
himself with some simple thing hHe q
wagon or a cart, and the girl with
something equally simple and COM
monplace. Let us stop this wicked
ecrrupting of the innocents-John
John Burroughs, in The Independents