Pueblo chieftain., 1921-11-23
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

Washington, D. c., Nov. 20.-That
the toy soldier in the nursery is
powerful influence for war is the
opinion of Mrs. Winifred Sackville
Stoner, the well known educator.
Mrs. Stoner holds the opinion that
what the average child in a country
is playing with is an index of the way
the country is heading-whether to-
war. Scrapping battleships, she says,
will not insure peace if the children
of the coming generation grow up with
the belligerent ideas that destructive
toys are bound to instill.
Right now" she points out, Chill
dren are doing terrible things. Some
French children stabbed their mother
to death recently. And from other
countries stories OF children criminals
have been coming. Why? All thru the
war children have seen and heard
about destruction. and, besides. have
had so many destructive toys.
"All thru history the characters and
careers Of men have been shaped by
their playthings. Napoleon played with
toy cannon. Hannibal as little boy.
held sword bigger than himself and
swore vengeance against the Romans.
Frederick the Great had weapons for
toys.
'On the other hand. the boy Mozart
played with violin, and Titan played
in the woods, painting with juice OF
berries"
Further light on the Importance of
the apparently trivial toy soldier was
shed several years before the appear
emily trivial toy soldier was shed sew
eral years before the recent war by
Mrs. F. n. Jackson in her book on
toys.
She quotes many instances of the
toy soldiers of princes of several
centuries ago. Thus. Louis XIV paid
6 u
soldiers finely painted, for His Majesty
the King to give to Monseigneur le
Dauphin. This miniature army con-
sisted Of 20 squadrons of cavalry, 10
battalions of infantry. They were later
on replaced by the little silver army
made by Merlin. the silversmith. in
the seventeenth century, from artistic
models. Not only were the men and
horses made. but also guns and other
machines of war"
These silver men-at-arms and their
toy cannon were later melted for
play with human soldiers and cannon
and needed money for his wars.
ROYAL INFANTS HAD SOLDIER
TOYS
Nearly all kings have played with
soldiers and guns when they were
children1 Now that kings are almost
obsolete. what the modern princeling
plays with is not especially important,
The toys Of the average child are what
count.
Mrs. Stoner thinks that parents are
mainly responsible for a child's in
terests. Children would not be so
eager to play with toy pistols and
soldiers IL their parents did not when
they are very small begin to encourage
them by gifts OF such toys.
Thus the soldier idea is implanted.
ha thn oh IL. .tut.
having gun. And when he grows up
with the desire to exchange the toy
gun for a soldiers bayonet, the dis
tracted mother walls that her boy al
ways seemed to take to weapons.
This is the disastrous effect, We are
told, OF the Obstructive toy. The in
fiuence of the constructive toy is
found by Mrs. Stoner to be as strong
In another direction.
ITO be constructive" she says, "a
toy must be more than merely not de-
structive. 1t should develop the child
in some way, but not necessarily in an
obviously educational way. So simple
a thing as a box OF paints will develop
control of muscles and use of colors
Balls and balloons are construc-
tive toys. My baby played with a
balloon tied TO her wrist in the cradle
She learned to love colors and to
recognize them in these colored balls
Later she learned to remember facts
set to jlngles, bouncing the ball as
she sang them.
Dolls and doll houses, too. arc
constructive. They teach n girl the
elements of housekeeping and sew
Ing. just as the toy soldier teach the
boy the principles of warfare. A new
doll, not yet on the market. has .
phonograph motor inside. This has the
endless possibilities of the ponograph
for teaching the child.
fltr har - l,Io = -.
toy animals is also being planned. The
head of the New York Geological park
is. ! believe, going to make records of
the exact animal cries. so that In
stead of the COW, bird. and lion all
making similar mechanical squalls.
the toy lion will roar and the blue
lkAH nAA1nYTo nNHI1