736 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



copies of articles in the home. Plain wood is seen almost 

 exclusively here, with little attempt to ornament or deco- 

 rate. The idea of use prevails. Everything is for a pur- 

 pose. There are coffee mills with which children can 

 pulverize dry bread crumbs, bread boards, rolling pins, 

 biscuit cutters, flour scoops, dough trays, and other 

 utensils for pastry making. Meat pounders, chopping 

 bowls, cream freezers, churns, butter molds, spoons, and 

 paddles fill a large place in the child's domestic science. 

 The more pretentious articles like ice boxes, cupboards, 

 bread boxes, and sideboards, keep up the faithful imi- 

 tation of what is found in well appointed kitchens and 



most of these creatures, the imaginative toy maker exer- 

 cises his genius in designing and producing strange and 

 uncouth caricatures of some of them, and makes others 

 of form and features never seen on sea or land. Wood 

 is the common material of this kind of toys ; few are of 

 metal or rubber. Jointed reptiles, birds, and amphibians, 

 mounted usually on wheels, are so constructed that when 

 trundled along, the body is made to move in all its articu- 

 lations. This style is popular with children, and the toy 

 artist employs abundance of bright paint to heighten the 

 effect. Generally, toy animals of wood do not show 

 much art. If not grotesque, which most of them are, 



NEARING THE JOURNEY'S END 



A few more finishing touches and these toys will be through the factory and ready for the shipping clerk. The stacks of empty and filled 

 boxes indicate that the last stage in the shop has been reached and the hour for going is in sight, and one may imagine they are anxious to 

 be on their way for their mission is a happy one to bring joy to children's hearts. . 



pantries. The child must have its laundry and the toy 

 maker has provided the tubs, wringers, washboards, 

 clotheshorses, mangles, and ironing boards. These arti- 

 cles are generally made in sizes sufficiently large to be of 

 some service in laundrying the soiled linen of dolls. 

 Children are interested in animals and in all harm- 

 less things that run, fly, crawl, creep, swim, or walk, 

 and the makers of toys have done some of their 

 best work in that field. So numerous are the objects 

 represented by toys that a list would supply a rollcall for 

 menageries, zoological gardens, aquariums, aviaries, and 

 barnyards. Not content with true representations of 



they are apt to be crude. This is doubtless owing to the 

 low price at which they must be sold, for the purchaser 

 of toys is seldom willing to pay the price necessary to 

 procure a piece of respectable wood carving. Therefore, 

 the animals are the product of jigsaws, gimlets, pegs, and 

 paint brushes, or of a turning lathe and an auger. One 

 popular style of animal toys consists of six pieces for 

 each individual head, body, legs. These are fitted to- 

 gether with auger holes and sockets, and the minor 

 appendages, such as ears and tail, are tacked on. An 

 attempt to paint these to show the animal's natural colors, 

 gives them more educational value than some of the 



