Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-12-10

~ISHS0~ ment Of Christmas?
Christmas as a science! How our
~ grandfathers would have gasped at
l-JA the idea! In their time Christmas
was a spontaneous holiday. Christ
mas eve they hung their stockings on the mantel-
piece in full confidence that Santa Claus could
find his way through a six-inch stovepipe. Then
there was the Christmas tree, with a grandfather
TO distribute the gifts and a strong force of uneles
and aunts to maintain peace among the cousins.
And there was skating in the afternoon with the
choicest sort of melee to give the finishing touch
TO the day.
There was no need of science there; it would,
in fact, have spoiled the whole thing. But now
the spirit Of Christmas has changed. We still
have our Christmas trees, subject to the regula-
tons of the fire department, but we are really
slaves of our Christmas shopping list. From
Thanksgiving to Christmas most of us live in an
atmosphere of deepening gloom. We have con-
gtinually hanging over us that dreadful problem
of what would be the best thing to give Soand-
so, and when We have made a selection our hearts
sink at the awful thought that, perhaps, What's
lhis-name may give the same thing.
1t is to relieve this situation as much as posi-
bic that science has been called in to our aid. or
course, even science has not yet been able to
prevent two people from sending the same gift
to one person. But it has been able to display
unusual gifts and a larger number Of them for
'UuE COuSlu6TdllOn, 80 ludL IL Will uo SdoACl " ~
Yect a present which we may be quite sure anoth-
er person would not think Of. And the greatest
advantage of scientific Christmas shopping is the
increased speed with which the ordeal may be
gone through.
There are two things which have brought about
this result. The first is the establishment Of eX-
hibits of gifts for children in the schools of the
large cities of the country. And the second is
the scientific arrangement of gifts for sale in the
shops and department stores. On one floor we
have a department devoted entirely to toys and
other gifts for children; in another place presents
particularly suited to men; and elsewhere sec
tons for women and boys and girls. 1t is all the
direct result of the card index and the filing cabi-
net. You look under the particular heading you
wish and you find displayed before you a vast
quantity Of suitable gifts to choose from.
The object Of the school exhibits is not so much
to save mothers labor, worthy object though that
might be. Nor is it to display the latest and
most ingenious products of the toy market. Child
welfare is the primary purpose, and there we
have another side of the scientific Christmas. 1t
is to save the children from being deluged at
the Christmas season with %inartistic, unhygien1c
and useless gifts. Esthetic and hygienic are
words that loom up larger in the vocabulary OF
the present than that Of the past.
And so, although Noah's ark will remain Noah's
ark to the end of the world, no twentieth century
NOuuSSltI WAOpV ldhLhJ AIhSNN5 ON
bibits will feel constrained to suck the paint off
Shem. Ham or Japhet. For, 10 and behold, they
are entirely innocent Of the familiar red and
green and blue of that unsanitary century we
have left behind. The sons Of the patriarch and
all the animals that went in two by two" are of
reasonably hygienic white wood.
BY the same token, dolls will be dolls. For here
again the scientific Christmas has produced q
change to a more esthetic and hygienic product.
~ . 1t La n 1An whose fOafnrnC h va
been kissed into obliteration by several genera
lions of children, there is a stockinet successor,
equally unbeatable, far more beautiful, and abb
.~solutely impervious to washing.
For older children one finds marvellous all
wood dolls, again embodying the three important
virtues. They are unbreakable, washable and ar
ftistic. Their naturalness- is evident at a glance,
and the visitor is not surprised to learn that they
are reproductions of American children modelled
by American artists.
And yet, the thought rises, will modern Dorothys
and Naneys love these charming creations one
whit more than their mothers and ~grandmothers
loved the china and wax dollies who preceded
Them? There was Henrietta, a gorgeous Partisan,
you may remember, whose pink and white lowell
ness is still a happy memory. Poor Henrietta!
she died the victim of a bad small brother who
tried the effect of midsummer heat upon her
waxen complexion. Then there was Juliet, she
y real 4DTOWu oil LudI OOhluCo uhu q dAm
brunette complexion, and a host of others who
may have had untold attractions. But you must
put them out Of your mind in this scientific age.
Real hair harbors horrible microbes and complex
ions do not digest well in small stomachs.
Then there are other suggestions which are the
result Of the practically of our time. Housekeep-
ing furnishings, for example. such as tea sets In
pewter, cooking utensils in granite and metal, an
ironing board and iron which can really be used,
- 49, tron a0olrnfoua rnnn which things ran hn
cooked. In the matter of musical toys, science
mas gone even further. The pianos for the child
of today are marvellous instruments. Alas for
the prestige of the tinkly toy Of a generation gone
by. These have from two to three octaves Of the
ichromatic scale and are accurately tuned ito
~rnncert pitch"
But all such marvels cost money and are not
likely to avail much for the household where
I'VE or six must live on a small income. So it is
good to discover a case containing a number Of
toys at q minimum price. Not one exceeds ten