The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-12-19
IS FULL
OF TOYS, BUT NOT
FOR AVERAGE TOT
Display Is Something Very
Gorgeous, Writer Says, But
Is Beyond Ordinary Purse
to Buy CIoCkWOrk Dogs.
BY MARGARET WALTER.


LONDON, Dec. 10. Reciprocal News
Service There will be lots Of
English children this Christmas who
won't have any toys hanging on their
Christmas trees The toys are there
wonderful toys-but so are the prices
1t looks as if the store people mad
realized that most of the toys worth
having are way beyond the hope Of the
great mass of Riddles, so are trying to
make il up to them They have turned
their toy departments into Veritable
fairylands where tropical groves, ice
gTottoes, jungles and blue caves be
heath the seas rub shoulders with up
to-date doll houses, fully equipped cir
cuses and mechanical clowns, bare
back riders and performing animals
all run by electricity.
The departments are run like a con-
tinuOus show. A constant procession
OF delighted children streams through
al day long. If you want actually to
buy anything you have to fall out Of
line and hunt round for somebody to
attend to you.
In the jungles, mysteriously lighted
with pale green, glimmering phOspho-
resent snakes coil themselves round
Nnotty monkey trees, apes chatter mad
ly, hanging from twisted branches by
their tails, and strange Colored birds
sing Suddenly a panther creeps into
the open. catches sight of young lamb,
crouches back on his launches and
springs right across at the throat of his
victim.
The children shrek with delight. and
then the whole thing begins over again.
OF course all the animals are for sale,
the panther costs S17. the monkeys
come at SO and the snakes at 81 apiece.
The birds can be bought sngly or in
families, a father and mother bird and
nestful of fledglings craning up their
scrawny necks and making realistic
| squeaks at the worm which father holds
| tantalizingly in his beak.
There is a desert scene, too, with
| caravan, camels and gorgeous Arab
Chiefs an oasis and the pyramids paint
ed on the walls behind, The camels
| kneel down, wiggle their humps and
undulate their neCks and the Arabs
| flourish their curved swords
| Camels and trumpeting elephants
| come pretty high, too at $40, but they
are lovely; the camels are made of real
| fur over a real framework; you can
see the muscles moving beneath the
| wrinkly skin. 1t is serious to see the
| difference in these animals. One will
be made so ifeike that it startles even
a grownup, another from the same shelf
| will be like a wooden doll with creak-
ing joints and unnatural angles.
| Most of these Clockwork animals are
made by wounded soldiers, and it all
depends upon the man. Sometimes you
get the work of real genius, some
times you do not. OF course this makes
| Christmas shopping long and intrigu-
ing affair People rush from shop to
| shop, trying to find the work of q
| tavorite, who soon becomes known and
whose output is carefully distributed
so as to give all an equal chance.
| Whole villages, doll houses, wooden
dolls, furniture and marionettes made
| by the Lord Roberts Memorial work
shops are amazingly beautiful. Sets
of doll furniture for sitting rooms, bed
| rooms, dining rooms and kitchens, with
little houses to put them in, which can
be set up in several ways, have their
parts numbered and every joint per
feet. The NINA ture furniture Is lovely
made from original designs, some Of II
Is stained some painted and decorated
by hand or in stencil with bright peas
ant designs
From doll furniture it is but a steT
to nursery and children's room furni-
ture which is almost irresistible. Mos
of the designs for this are very simple
what we would call mission patterns
most of it is enameled and vanished
so that it can be scrubbed without harm
And it is noticeable that there is M
predominance of white, The ground
work is mostly tinted delicately or il
some cases painted bright green, blu,
| or yellow. Gay Colored flowers or con
ventional patterns in bright colors arr
painted on these backgrounds; and tn,
| effect seems exactly what children like
for droves of little boys and girls Gins
gurgling round these Juvenile suite
and beg to be allowed to stop RICH
there and live always.
M with N ~ III
shops has provided bedspreads, cur
tans, and all the necessary llnei
worked in the same patterns. The bed
| spread of one set is particularly al
tractive. 1t is made of the unbleachel
government linen and decorated witt
. lunches of bright green, red and vel
low tomatoes and purple plums done Il
cushion work Of washable colored silk
The whole thiNS can be sent TO tn
wash without harm, the tomatoes an
plums being simply snapped with sna
fasteners on to the linen at the place
, indicated by the flat green leaf EN-
bI oidery
Sheets and pillow cases Of brown line
are novelty, but of course they wi
soon become bleached. and anyhow wit
laundry work what 1t is now in Lon
don it's no use pretending anything |
. | white, for 1t is always drab or frank
| gray
The old favorite building toys sti
hold the loyal allegiance of vast mum
Der of boys. This year the principd
| achievements seem to be coal minin
machinery, house construction and rail
way bridges and equipment SO do tn
interests of children follow close q
| those of the grownups. One shop ha
a coal pit with shaft and cage
galleries and trolleys electrically work
ing complete.
War toys are still to be found
! few out of date tanks, some machin
guns end anti-arcraft cannons Inf
| over from last year, reprinted an
named Russian but they do not max
much of a show and are passed by TO
the new French whistlng toys and tn
performing animals and clowns.