Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-12-14

greater number Of all the toys manufactured
come from Nuremberg
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 orcident.; and its charm
is the perpetual one of joyous creation which de-
lights In planning the amusement of little people
NJ IN the factories they will tell you that 72,000,
200 marks (s1s so0O,o0O) worth of pleasure Is
sent out from Nuremberg every year, and that
SIS, ,50C,0 ,0005 of this export is for the benefit Oh
Young America Only few years ago all of the
necessary labor for this immense production was
sdonetby hand and much OF the finishing and hne
last touches. are performed by special artists
s 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 we'll as
\ practical genius of these honest German peasant
folk. Rather has their unique industry called for
and developed in them romance. senstiveness
sof perception which is remarkable
Follow the lurching, worn curves of the Al
brecht- t-Ddrerstrasse and you come to one OF the
many homes of this Nuremberg spirit In min
8 iature redToofed house, wedsed in among hun
dred squat brown huts, live two old men-broth-
ers, of sixty-iye and seventy-whose white
heads are constantly bent over small circles of
wood-shaping pairing. carving, painting.
All day they sit there sometimes all night,
g;toiling over the delcately ornamented dolls
dishes which perhaps you have bought, as small
insignificant thing, just this afternoon for your
small daughters tree.
You looked at them carelessiy; they were not
especially original or attractive, and you showed
them into your bag with a half-hesitating accept
ance, thinking that maybe they would please ca
pricious 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 Joys 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
dous chairs and tables the painted wooden ami
mails whose realism is delight to all children,
actual or grown up Thssse are fashioned in
homes, Sometimes by the efforts of whole fam
lies, but most oE,en by children themselves.
M 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
spiness TO the children Of America have been
made by the children Of Nuremberg. And If
babies must work. wbct work could one find for
them more appropriate or more pleasurable than