The sun., 1908-12-20
THE MECHANICAL TOY vENDERS
street Merchants VINO Are Kept Busy by
Their wares and the Cops.

Street Merchants VINO Are Kept Busy b,
Their wares and the Cops.
How much are the bears?'
So a woman who had Joined q ring ol
people standing around looking at the
mechanical toys displayed by a street
toy vender.
"Thirty-fve cents" says the yender.
well. I'll take one.' says the woman
and the vender hands her a bear in q
pasteboard box.
Many sorts Of mechanical toys he has
here, basketful Of them. and a lot stacked
up in pasteboard boxes alongside. while
in front on the sidewalk he has a lot oi
them which he keeps all the time in mo-
ton; walking bears, automobiles. drum
mer boys. horses that walk on their hind
legs. athletes that swing their arms with
lifelike motion. walking rabbits, and al
fast as one runs down he winds 1t uE
and sets it going again.
II an automobile collidee with some
thing else and upsets he rights 1t again
and IL one Of the walking figures doesn't
seem able to stand on its feet very we'll ht
picks it up and in jiffy spreads it's leg
little. further apart 30 that 1t can wall
all right; and with dozen of these thing
going all at once on the sidewalk In from
Of him be keeps busy winding them uI
and handing them over to buyers and
setting out new toys. There's always 6
ring of people around him. and occasion.
ally somebody buys toy. as for instanct
that woman who has just bought bear.
Now another woman takes a fancy
to the little drummer boy and she buys
one. which the vender hands over to her
from the pile in a pasteboard box. But
this buyer wants to be sure. Maybe she
has bought mechanical toy In a box
before and found when she had got IL home
that it wouldn't work SO when the
vender hands her not the drummer boy
from the sidewalk but one in a box she
Immediately says:
wind IL up, please" 81
Silently he complies: in fact the vender
seems never to speak. he's too busy.
So now silently he takes the cover from
the box and silently he winds the drummer
boy up and IL drums all right, and In a
moment he puts him. still drumming,
back in the box and hands 1t over to the
woman and takes the money
SO the vender keeps very busy.
Seemingly he has no chance to look out
for anything else, but apparently there q
somebody looking out for him.
Here comes q man quietly along the
sidewalk to halt at the edge Of the ring
Of reoDle around the sidewalk toy vender
and lay his hand on the shoulder OF boy
standing looking at.tbe figures and to say
to him. not roughly but gently: "Move
along. now and the bow does move. and
two or three others with him. and that
makes break In the ring. ......
In another moment another man
comes along. this man a little more bustling
in his manner though not loud talking.
and he says to the people around: Move
along. now, the cops coming
The first man who started the boye
away seemed to be a sort Of scout or run
ner, friend OF the vender or working with
him mavbe, and it seemed as IL the second
man might be the vender's boss or pdrt-
ner. as perhaps he might have been the
boss and partner of a string of sidewalk
mechanical toy venders. for whom he was
thus looking out. to see that they were
not disturbed by the police, for IL the COP
came along and found a crowd big enough
to obstruot the sidewalk he would make the
vender move on and 80 lose valuable time
and good place.
AT any rate half the crowd moved on,
prompted apparently by a friendly feeling
for the vender The word cop" may
have started few. but really they seemed
TO move. most Of them, so that the vender
wouldn't have to move.