The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-14
Topeka Designed Christmas
Products in Kan. Ave. Shops.
Purely Domestic Articles Are
Work of Local Women.
REAL WAR DOLLS ON SALE, TOO
They Were Made by French
Soldiers and Widows.
Father Must Dig Deep Into His
Pocket This Year.

The new sentiment of patriotism
that the war has brought to America,
expresses itself even in Christmas toys.
Ut would be practically impossible to
buy in this city any kind of a toy
labeled Made in Germany" and II
such a toy could be located. it would
be a still greater task to find child
that would play with it,
This aversion to enemy-made goods
goes to the extent of emphasizing
what once would have been kept dark.
For one Topeka shop which offers toys
for sale emphatically advertises that II
has nothing but Made in Topeka"
goods. The national spirit has become
the town spirit in this instance. One
is bound to say that the made in To-
peka" toys are far more attractive
than any Vienna or Berlin stock that
ever found it's way to this city. These
TOYS made in the old home town are
designed by two Topeka women artists
who draw the original patterns on
wood. have them cut out and put to-
gether by expert cabinet makers, and
then the women themselves paint the
TOYS in proper colors for the designs
and put on the best of material.
ma king them both attractive and dur
a bile Thus they have a "duckie sled
which bears somewhat the form OF
huge wooden duck on runners Among
the toys is a horse modelled after the
beast of Mutt and Jeff fame, and
whole menagerie in an ark with MI
and Mrs Noah.
They're Real War Dolls.
Across the street in an exclusive
shop for children's clothing are some
foreign made dolls, but they are not
Fohenzollern or Hapsburg produc-
tons The dolls were made py
wounded French soldiers. and they
were dress by the widows or french
poilus. The new national ties between
this country and France make
French article Of commerce. as ac-
ceptabie in a local shop as an Ameri-
can made commodity could be.
A visit to the toyland of the differ
ent stores gives a varying idea OF the
kind of toys the children will play
with in the last days of 1918. In one
kansas avenue fairyland of childish
joy-nakers, loads of toys suggest the
reconstruction period into which the
world is entering. There may be
found endless forms of building ma
terials for boyish hands to work into
bridges, houses, stores, tunnels and
figure Fights. There. too, are all
varieties of electrical devices dear to
the heart OF boyhood. The old-time
"choo-choos' are there, with endless
new Improvements. rods of track, and
4 long string of box cars When fond
father goes deep into his pockets TO
buy a railway for Rudolph and HUI
bert, there will be one line of trans
portaticn that McAdoo won't operate.
Those who take the Ouija Board
seriously will be distressed to know
that one of them hides its uncanny
Intelligence and its prophetic secrets
in the midst of a load of kewpies and
doll cribs.
War Tone Prevails
In another of the large toy shops
the tone of war prevails. There are
to be found many tin soldiers for
come unsung Little Boy Blue" and,
alongside the peaceful game of au-
thors is a great gray tank" with its
long guns menacing the armed
cruiser sailing the same platform. A
tin barricade shelters a group Of
fighters kneeling to take aim thru
space of the fort a tiny galvanized
boy in khaki lies prone as tho his
wounds had been mortal. Above the
scene are suspended numerous imita-
lions of allied aircraft.
The little girls of Topeka have
nothing new for their playroom. In
avery store is a perfect sea of dolls.
doll buggies, cribs, and all the toys
that little women have been playing
with for ten generations. To be sure,
some of the dolls look more like hu-
man babies than they did in the old
days, and the crude. rough. wooden
beds have given place to dainty little
frames of iron and brass, but here's
wager that the up-to-date little sister
who finds a doll and a toy piano in
her stockin will dispoSseSs Brothers
Leonard and Alonzo of their minia-
ture cannon and their man-of-war
sometime before '12 M" on Christ
mas Day.