The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-11-17


The Yuletide season is approach.
ing. The store show windows are
taking on a gift-giving appearance.
In all the stores toys are getting
into their places. Well-groomed
horses are standing in their stalls
eating excelsior and packing; the
walking Dachshund is growing anx.
ious TO move his legs, feat that
few toy dogs can accomplish; the
crying dolls are working themselves
into pink-cheeked excitement in at.
tempts to exercise their lungs with
out first having the hidden buttons
pressed.
Airships of every kind. mono.
planes, biplanes and dirigibles, are
the big display toys Of the year.
Last years airships, say local buy.
ers, were little more than models.
This year, it is said, they have been
so much improved that most of
them can clear the floor for a short
flight.
The latest thing on the top mar
ket that promises to be sensa.
ton is the electrical toy. Santa
Claus has a new electrician in his
North Pole toy shop, explain the
dealers, and the result is something
new and interesting. Electrical
trains, exact models of those used
by the New York Central and Penn
sylvania railroads, are representa-
tive of the progress that is being
made in the toy world. The "choo.
choo" that puffed over the rugs
and carpets when pulled by a string
is as much a thing of the past as
the stage coach in real life. Battle
ships and automobiles are not wound
up with key any more. They run
by steam and have tiny motors.
In the opinion of local buyers
there has never been such a mark
ed improvement in toys in single
year. Never, they say, have there
been so many dolls, and never, they
say, too, have dolls been real chill
dren as they are this year.
The old doll, with impossible
flaxen curls and fixed eyes that
were larger than the mouth, is gone.
Baby Bumps, Kaptain Kiddo and
Gwendoin 'Vangeline May, Smiling
Sue. the Tweed-Deedle doll, the
clown doll, the character doll, the
Mar-seel-ine clown and the Camp.
bell Kid, no longer stiff and ideal,
but almost real flesh and blood ba-
bies, the kind that Little Girl will
hug and kiss without using her
imagination to make it seem real
they are all here, over 100000
strong.
For the first time in the history
of doll making an American prod.
uct has appeared on the market.
of ha d11t f0 to y o1
been imported from Germany. The
new American doll was modelled
from real life. The die cost $4,000.
The doll is entirely of wood and is
absolutely unbreakable. The Amer
lean doll is a real little girl of the
school girl age. She has real laugh.
ing eyes and a mouth that is no
longer an extreme Cupid bow, but
just like the everyday little girls
mouth.
Neither are dolls this year dress
ed in cheap, lace-trimmed garments
as before There is tendency to
follow the prevailing styles. Curly
hair has given way to bobbed hair
with bangs and the little bisque
rolls or braids done low on the
neck and over the ears.
Boy dolls are to be popular this
year for the first time. Kaptain
Kiddo with his dagger in his belt
will lead them all. The rest of them
with close-cropped hair and Nor
folk suits, are so entirely origina
that the doll sales threaten to leave
the beautiful blonde and brunette
ladies in their boxes for next year
There are two rivals of the magic
lantern, that wonderful parlor enter
tainer, on the market-the radiopti
can and the moving picture machine
A shudder went through the ranks
of flaxen beauties yesterday when {