Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-08-28
Do YOU Do AS
THE CHINESE Do?
Are You Giving The Riddles
Toys On Their Birthday To
Make Them Happy?
CHINESE DOLL NOVELTY
ny ELIZA CURTIS

The Chinese do. And so shall here
after, because away out here, thous-
ands OF miles from home in the United
States. / have learned how much hap
piness it gives the Riddles and how
joyfally they look forward 10 their
birthday toys.
There will be a considerable diff
ference in more ways than one.
viii naturally, give American made
toys TO my American children and
while l will give on three different
dates during each year, the Chinese
children get their birthday toys all
on the same day the Chinese New
Year because no matter on what
day OF the year a Chinese child is
born its birthday is celebrated on the
Chinese New Year day. The child's
age is figured from New Year day 70
New Year day and furthermore the
! Chinese child is called one year old
\ on the day OF its birth and one year
older on the first New Year day after
It's birth so that If Chinese baby is
born in August of this year it will
lie considered to be one year old at
that time and on the next Chinese
New Year II will be two years old
even though 1t has actually lived only
few months.
Then again the American toys
which / will give my children win
be very different from the toys which
The Chinese children receive. The
Chinese toys are still like the toys
OF one hundred years ago and would
not be very well liked by our Amer
lean children whereas, the very few
American toys that find their way in
TO China are the very toys that CHI
nese children love best, particularly
the American toys that are mechan-
zeal or self propelling, strong wagons
and dolls that open and close their
eyes and say Mama" when squeezed
Wooden puzzles made in the United
States, sometimes get into the hands
of the older Chinese children through
missionaries and American traders
and are very popular.
/ became very much Interested in
Chinese children and particularly in
their play and playthings. Most OF
their little games are based upon To-
cal conditions and are hard for for
eigner to understand, but their play
things can be bought and studied.
My own children have always kept
me busy since their boyhood in trying
10 discover just what kind of toys
and playthings they wanted most aud
which were best for them.
My mother, who was a kindergar-
ten teacher at one time, has often
said that her experience proved con-
clusively TO her that playthings are
as necessary to child life as food and
that the toys and general playthings
child had in early life had very
great deal to do with the building of
the child's character. Girls learn
housewifery and motherhood from
their toy houses. dishes and dolls
with the dresses and toy irons and
washers that go with them. They al
so learn something of social inter-
course from the child tea parties that
they give and something of the prac-
teal business end of housekeeping
when playing store. Boys learn agsi-
culture from toy shovels, hoes, rakes
and the like or building from toy
blocks and later with hammer saw
and nails. They learn in a like way,
other things from proper playthings
which are equally beneficial in char
acter building. American toys and
playthings constitute a far greater
mower in proper child development
than the playthings OF any other ma
ton as / have been able to prove by
my observation of children and their
playthings in many countries.
Here in China, the toys and play
things have little character and are
therefore. of little value in child de-
velopment, but they serve to keep the
children quiet, amused and out of
mischief which in itself is big point.
II is difficult TO pick out the most
interesting of my experience in study
ing Chinese children and their play
things and habits. but one which
particularly remember was encount-
ering in small crooked. dirty, back
alley of Shanghai a street vender OF
TOYS who blew with the aid of thin
seed pipe and a bowl of soft taffy al
most any kind of candy animal OF
known or unknown variety. boys,
boats. babies, much as glass blower
makes articles of glass at a county
fair. The Chinese children bought
these taffy toys for small fraction of
cent in our money or few cash"
in Chinese money. They played with
them until they grew tired of them
and thon the toys disappeared into
their little stomachs.
While my children and your child
rem at home play with substantially
made toys that are often both artistic
and expensive. the Chinese children
are content with toys that are very
crude in shape and workmanship ana