The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1910-12-15

come from ~
The ancient feudal city, around which cluster
the grim traditions Of the inquisition and the
thrilling epic of the times of Charles ", has for
four hundred years or more been the center of
the children's fairyland. It has been and is the
nucleus of Christmas happiness for the youth
of every place in the Occident, and it's charm
is the perpetual one of joyous creation which de-
lights in planning the amusement of little people.
In the factories they will tell you that 10000
900 marks ($18,000, 0O0) worth of pleasure is
sent out from Nuremberg every year, and that
SIS, 50O,0 900 OF this export is for the benefit of
Young America. Only a few years ago all of the
necessary labor for this immense production was
done by hand, and much of the finishing and fine
last touches are performed by special artists.
Even now in the factories the old spirit Of an
almost consecrated enthusiasm lives and is evil
dent in the interest Of the village artisans for
their craft. Not merely the reason of bread and
butter goes toward the making of those marvel
Gus walking dolls, those phenomenal speaking
picture books, those thousand and one games that
have called for all the imaginative as well as
practical genius of these honest German peasant
folk. Rather has their unique industry called for
and developed in them a romance, a constituencies
Of perception which is remarkable.
Follow the %lurching, worn curves Of the AL
brechtDurerstrasse, and you come to one of the
many homes of this Nuremberg spirit. In a min
iature red-roofed house, wedged in among a hun
dred squat brown huts, live two old men-broth-
ers, of ~sixty-five and seventy-whose white
heads are constantly bent over small circles of
understanding, pairing, carving, painting.
All day they sit there, sometimes all night,
toiling' over the d~elicately ornamented dolls
dishes which perhaps you have bought, as a small
Insignificant thing, just this afternoon for your
small daughters tree.
You looked at them carelessly; they were not
especially original or attractive, and you showed
them into your bag with a Misunderstanding accept
ance, thinking that maybe they would please ca
PRECIOUS Dorothy. How could you know that back
In the village Of Always Christmas old hands had
fashioned those trivial plates and pitchers, old
eyes had strained with loving anxiety over those
fine traceries Of columbine, and old hearts had
warmed over those completed trifes with the
same thrill Of the master painter over his best?
But this was true. Indeed, nearly all of the
simple wooden toys are constructed by hand, in
some humble volkshause which goes to make up
the aggregate creative force of Santa Claus
workshop. Take the tiny sets Of soldiers, the
dolls chairs and tables, the painted wooden ami
mails whose realism is a delight to all children,
actual or grown up. These are fashioned in
homes, sometimes by the efforts of whole fam
lilies, but most often by children themselves.
Sixteen is the age limit for child labor in the
factories, but no young person is prohibited from
assisting his parents at home, provided he spends
the required period Of time at school. So that
many of those playthings which give most hap
piness to the children of America have been
made by the children Of Nuremberg. And II
babies must work, what work could one find for
them more appropriate or more pleasurable than