Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-25


Washington. Nov. 25.---Tbat the
toy colder In the nursery Is a power
ful influence for war is the opinion
Of Mrs. Winlfred Sacbyille Stoner, the
well known educator,
Mrs. Stoner holds the opinion that
what the average child In a country
IN playing with is an index OF the way
/ the country is headlng--whether
toward peaceful progress or another
war. scrspping battleships. she says,
will not insure peace If the children
Of the coming generation grow up with
/ the bollgerent ideas that destructive
toys are bound 10 instill.
Right now she points out, "chil-
dren are doing terrible things. Some
French children stabbed their moth
Ter to death recently. And from other
countries stories Of child criminals
have been coming. WbyY All
through the war children have seen
and heard about destruction, and. be-
sides, have had SO many destructive
!, toys.
"AIl through history the chorae-
: ters and careers Of men have been
shaped by their pluythings. NaDo-
leon played with toy cannon. Han
nibal. as a little boy held a sword
: bigger than himself apd swore ven
geance against the Romans. Freder-
B lex the Great had weapons for toys
"on the other hand. the boy Mozart
E played with violin, and Titan
played In the woods. painting with
juice Of berries"
9 Further light on the Importance
. OF the apparently trivial toy sol.
= der was shed several years before
! The recent war by Mrs. +. ~. Jack
] son in her book on toys.
She quotes many instances OF tht
@ toy soldiers Of princes Of several cen.
n turios ago. Thus, Louis XIV pait
g 6 900 francs for "an army Of card
5 board soldier finely painted, for HI
Majesty tho King to give to Mon
9 seigneur 10 Deuphin. This minia
Z ture army consisted Of 20 squadron
of cavalry, 10 battalions Of infantry
:. They were later on replaced by tn
u little silver army made by Merlin
= tho silyersmith. in the seventeenth
u century. from artistic models. No
u only were the men and horses made
q but also guns and other machines o
l. war "
l. These silver men-at-arrns and thei
Is toy cannon were later melted 70
their silver when the king began {
- play with human soldiers and car
non and needed money for his wars.
~ Royal Infants Had Soldier Toys.
Nearly all kings have played Wit
"a soldiers and guns when they wei
- children. Now that kings are alrno
u : obsolete. what the modern princelir
- plays with Is not especially inpo
Ie tant. The toys OF the average chi
ere what count.
:, Mrs. Stoner thinks that parents o.
~ mainly responsible for a child's Fl
=. ttrests Children would not be
~ eager TO play with toy pistols al
W soldiers II their parents did not wh'
:. they are very small begin to encou
t| age them by gifts Of such toys
~ ~ Thus the soldier idea Is implante
~ TO be a soldier, the child insists
\, having a gun. And when he gro'
-, up with the desire 10 exchange {
toy gun for a soldiers bayonet, {
90 distracted mother walls that her b
always seemed to take to weapol
IL, This Is the disa strous effect,
- are. told, OF the destructive toy. r
he Influence Of the destructive {
,,o is found by Mrs. Stoner 70 be
strong in another direction
ITO be constructive she says,
toy must be more than merely n
ys destructive. II should develop t
~ child in some way. but not necessar
ne in an obviously educational way.
simple a thing as a box of paints y
-- develop control Of muscles and use
colors.
II Balls and balloons are construct
toys My baby played with a ballC
II tied to her wrist In the cradle.
learned to love colors and TO rec
niZe them in these colored ba
Later she learned to remember IA
set 10 jingles. bouncing the ball
she sang them.
H Dolls and doll houses, too. are c
structive. They teach a girl the
ments of housekeeping and sew
/ Just as the toy soldiers teach the
the principles Of warfare. A
doll, not yet on the market. ha,
pnonograph motor inside. This
the endless possibilities OF the p
ograph for teaching the child.
"a further extension Of this
tor toy animals is also being planI
The head Of the New York Zoolog
Fark is, believe, going TO make
ords of the exact animal cries, so
II instead of the COW, bird, and lion
making similar mechanical sIuay
II the toy lion win roar and the b