Evening star., 1926-12-05

Once upon a time there was little
boy and little girl who used to play
together all the year. When the
months rolled round and the winds
blew and the snow fell while the big
bright stove in the parlor seemed to
eat up every bit of coal and wood in
sight, Christmas would come.
Then the little boy and the little
girl would write letters in big timid
hands to their patron, st. Nicholas.
The dear, good man received the let
ters, always a little mysteriously, and
then on Christmas morn a quick pat
ter of little bare feet and the little
boy and the little girl would tumble
excitedly from their chilly rooms to
the -for-the-occasiOn parlor to
squeal their delight amid simple
What a day. Bright tin drums
for the boy; stiff, staring and starched
dolls for the girl; and little wooden
monkeys on sticks for both of them.
Perhaps there'd be a pair of ice
skates with loose, clumsy straps to
fasten them, but happiness-and sat
isfaction.
The little boy and the little girl
have become the collective father and
mother who wonder, perhaps a little
bewildered, through the toy depart
ments of the big and little stores
of Washington today. The good st.
Nicholas is seldom mentioned, for he
has become Santa Claus. The bright
simple wooden and tin toys have
given way to the perfect playing
machines" Of the present day.
That seems to be the lesson mothers
and fathers are learning nowadays
in Washington; everything has
changed SO. There are no more toys,
it appears, but in their stead an
elaborate array Of perfectly machined
and oiled working models of nearly
every big thing that goes" The
one requisite in the so-called toy
manufacture today created by the in
sistent demand of the modern young
sters is that the things "go" and that
they look exactly like the real ma
chimes they represent.
Engineering Toys Numerous.
A tour of the stores indicates that
Washington youngsters are about to
become civil engineers; for on counters
everywhere are to be found perfectly
| operating dredgeS, derricks, motor
trucks, tractors, perfected train sys-
tems-and all modelled in scale and
design with the big fellows that make
the youngsters late getting home from
school when they stop to watch 'em.'
A father and mother can save them
selves tremendous heart-break
| Christmas morning if in selecting
dumping truck, for instance, they
make sure that the wheels steer on
knuckle aXies operated by real steer
ing wheel just like the big ones that
| are banned on Sixteenth street and
other high-hat thoroughfares of Wash
| lngton. If they add a tank truck to
the fleet of their youngsters, they'll
| do we'll to assure themselves that the
| tank is a real water-tight cylinder in
stead of the bent-tin imitation tanks
on the wagons with which they were
delighted not so many years ago.
Yes, and 1t isn't bad idea when con-
sidering tank truck to be sure that
the tank is equipped with a real spigot
and hanging bucket measure like
those that serve dads favorite filling
station. That's the way they come
nowadays and that's the only way
the children will have en- the
storekeepers say so themselves!
Derricks Really Work.
The beam-derricks that youngsters
can have now are controlled exactly
like those that are used by big con-
tractors. There are self-dumping
buckets on them and there are those
that bite into the mud and sand and
look like the real thing. With the
trucks and the derricks the construc-
tlon of regulation railroad systems
can be carried on.
Now the trains-ah! What father
lives who doesn't wait little i'm
patiently for that infant in swad-
ding clothes to grow up to an cleo
trio train? And he'll find dandy
ones this year, too. The little spool
and spindle" wheels that were
| merely pinched between folded box
like tins to form the car tracks are
giving way before the six-wheel
trucks that have imitation journal
boxes on each axle! And a car that
is switched on siding to await an
express to pick it up is no longer
in darkness, for each car of the
| miniature train systems has it's own
third rail shoe" to supply current
for its interior illumination
The thing that will delight the boy
railroad man though is pretty apt to
he the switch house, from which he
can guide his trains through a web
of intersections just like the men out
in the Washington terminal yards
steer the big limited through. In
closed in house that is built to
scale with the rest of the equipment
is an apparatus that will operate as
many as six switches far down the
hne somewhere. No longer will sec