Milford chronicle., 1918-11-29
TOYS FOR CHRISTMAS

New York. Oct. 23-SeYeral
/ thousand cases Of German
made toys arrived here today.
/ Associated Press.
Toys! For whom? For the limo
cents carried down when the "Lusi-
tania" sank? For those tear-eyed
/ Belgian children who stretch forth lit
tie arms from which the hands were
struck of By the swords of German
officers? For those French boys and
girls with pitiful sightless eyes? For
those whose little bodies rest in the
churchyards Of Italy, that died in pain
from poisoned Hun candy? For those
other children slowly starved to death
in Poland OF massacred in Ar
menia?
Toys Toys made by Huns to whom
innocence and childhood are but toys
to be played with and then crushed
and broken? Toys whose very contact
contaminates and leaves upon the
clutch of babyhood invisible clOts of
blood? AS well bring a deadly ser
pent into the home to spew its venom
On the IL dAAt- W lF StdAA " z BEAuul
and taint the purity of American
childhood with reminder of the hend-
ish treatment the Huns have gloried
in ever since that fateful August of
1914? Can one even look upon a
Noahs Ark Made in Germany" and
then put from his mind those hun
dreds of helpless innOcents whose
silken locks are twined with seaweed?
Can one hold a German doll in her
arms and forget the thousands dead
from famine who once made glad
mothers arms? Can a boy find de
light in the cOntOrtions of mechani-
cal Hun clown and forget those brave
young men who writhed in agony when
crucifed on castle walls by those same
Huns? Can a ball colored with the
red of Huns fail to suggest the flame
from bursting grenades hurled by arms
uplifted in the attitude of "kamerad"?
Let those who would invite fearsome
ghosts into the home to hover round
the Christmas tree buy German toys.
If one would hang the boughs with
evil Omens, and bid the wall of agoniZ-
ed spirits float through the branches
and fan the fiickering flames of can
dies, let him buy German toys.
And what OF the rmechant who for
sordid gain would barter these SOU
venirs Of loathsome nation and insult
the loyalty of lisping lips? What
could more delight the cunning Hun.
what more quickly bring the sneerins
smile to cruel faces, or gladden. heart
less hearts, or encourage him to hope
that even now we tolerate his brutal
ity and welcome what he wants to
sell? If now, when as a nation we are
in universal condemnation OF Hun
ism. yet do we hold out our hands to
accept his works, what will he think
and with what measure shall he es-
innate the sincerity of our expressions |
of repugnance and horror at what he
has done since the sun rose this morn |
ing? What mitigation can we claim in
the thought that America was not yet |
overseas when these trinkets we're
fashioned? Even while the gaudY |
paint was yet fresh upon these trim
kets were Belgian girls being dragged |
into slavery worse than death.
We do not lack for toys; toys By |
trainloads made in American factories
by hands which are clean; toys also
by carloads made by our ally in Japan,
where childhood is sacred, and love,
not hate. is taught at mothers breasts.
Even were there none, far better our
boys and girls should go without than
ind pleasure in the handiwork of
nation which made a public holiday
% celebrate the loss of the "Lusitania",
and which in these latter days is
stepped in the glory" of monstros-
ties. Could our little men who sac
'ifice many childish pleasure to buy
war stamps and contribute pennies to
he Red Cross, and our little mothers
who knit so patiently with hands that
,an barely hold the needles, would one
If these knowingly find any pleasure
n any toy Made in Germany"2
H. H. Windsor
(Reprinted by request from the Edi-
- -. I