The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-01
OHILDRENTWO THOUSANDYEARs
AGO.
From the Specidtor.

i Ag1 0lIh NUIIhu HUI WHY Wye HI
the British Museum collection belong only
to the nursery, and that is to an age which
can never be later thar Yesterday. There
is. for instance. only one date to which can
be assigned the leaden chariot with its two
prancing horses, possibly an inch and a
half high. and the leaden horseman cut
out Of a thin sheet Of metal like a biscuit
stamped from pastry. Both Of them be-
long to the same period AZ the Little Tin
Soldier who went sailing down the gutter
in the paper boat Of the German fairy tale.
and the Grenadier whom Stevenson's child
buried and exhumed, lameuting neverthe-
less that after "all that's gone and come.
I shall find my soldier dumb" Nor are
they worse made; nor 10 the tiny chair
more clumsy which. belonging also to the
lead age, would rave brought sudden hap
piness to the owner of a Roman dolls house.
The date, indeed, now and then only an
antiquarian. and an antiquarian who knew
something about soldiers and furniture,
could easily determine. Here, for instance,
is a sofa made Of a brown glazed ware. II
is strong and solid, measures some three or
four inches in length. has a pack and arms
of IN imitation rolled pattern, would seat
two or three dolls, and IL Of an extremely
satisfactory nature. II might nave been
made last week at the Doulton ware factory.
il you can get sofas in Doulton ware.
Here again is a model Of a woman knead-
ing a cake or a roll. She has no legs, for
legs would destroy the balance OF the model
and prevent it being easily set upon the
floor or. the table. But she is cleverly
pinned by the top Of her skirts to her pastry
board. her arms are jointed, and she would
move her rolling pin UNFORTUNATELY lost
up and down the board as ingeniously and
industriously as any saving bear carved
at Brienz in the darkness OF last winter.
The Swiss and the Roman wood carver
know their business. and combine simplicity,
regularity of movement and imitation OF
the doings OF -grownups"-all the essen
tiais of a proper mechanical toy.
In this market. whatever the supply may
be. the demand does not vary. The first
necessity. or nearly the first, Ia a toy capable
of providing a satisfying noise. Such a
desire rs met in the collection exhibited
by two or three different specimens of
~rattles; one Of a rather elegant description.
a mixture between an owl and an amphora.
which would probably do nicely for a girl;
another. heavier and more masculine.
modelled into a hollow pig. At a little
later period comes a demand for mugs 20
hold milk and water. and these, of course.
are painted with figures OF children. gener-
ally crawling for an apple OF an orange on
the floor. and in one case, perhaps designed
for twins. with a picture of q boy and a girl
teaching a neat looking dog to jump through
a hoop. In a year or 70 comes the parting
Of tho ways, when the nursery demand h
divided. 1t was supplied 1000 years ago
ma IN ia alInnllad now hv mndpIR nf aniYnall
n by dolls. In the one division you get
donksys carrying %panniers Of loaves, ne
groes riding mules, a leaden PomerHnian
dog apparently once painted white, a fox
terrier collaned all proper with a fine
long uncut tail and ar incuisitive nose. a
monkey eating a bun, and a handsome
soldier with a round red shield riding a
charger with a really good hogged name.
For the dogs there would naturally he re-
quired a whistle. which modern civilization
has forgotten how to model out cfmud. a.
it used to be modelled, and for an even
later period there was TO he reserved the