Q Wi, N a “- Santa Claus Assistants PVERWOOC 8. UOT DOC Phetos ~~ _s By LOUISE M. COMSTOCK IME was when the job of fanta Claus ing was a snap. Twelve months super. vising the joliiest of elves in the mane ufacture of a standardized line of toys, and then a romantle evening whirling a picturesque whip over willing Don- ner and Blitzen, visiting friendly cote tages with wide, welcoming chimneys and capacious fireplaces, stuffing sturdy, handknit stockings with wooden dolls, rubber balls and sugar plums to fill in toe, heel and extra corners. A mere nothing In those golden days even the responsibility of distin. guishing between the neatly darned sock of good brother Ben and the ragged one of that rascally Willie: very few little boys but were good, and deserving of sugar pl , and easily pleased, when father was a boy! But changing times, ushering In steam heat, kitchenettes with only two windows on a courts yard and a ventilator on the corridor to accome modate the rotund Saint, and a universal slavery to the great god Style, have put Santa In the big business executive class, Today we make him annually responsible for designing, constructing and distributing some £400,000000 worth of toys, all with a nice dis crimination between the good and the poor, a careful consideration for childish tastes, and correct application of changing styles, Children’s playthings, always imitating the pos- sessions and tools of their elders, have thus nat- urally from the earliest times followed elosely upon mankind's changing whims and fancies. The dolls unearthed in Egyptian tombs are made of wood and sometimes have movable arms and legs: but they all show that stiffness and emphasis upon the proflle view character istic of Egyptian art. Early African dolls with. out heads were given to children of the Moham- medan faith, for their religion forbade the re production of the human features, Among the toys of early Persian children we are not sur. prised to find many animals, tigers with movable heads, crocodiles whose lower jaws work up and down, lions of limestone on wooden wagons for the owner to pull about, or & carved hedgehog on wheels, loman children played with two- wheeled carts like the chariots In which their public heroes raced. Toys during the Middle ages, if we are to judge from the few pre- served for us, included knights mounted on horses modeled in clay, and slender ladies of terra cotta modeled in the elaborate costumes of the period painted in gold and brightest hues, It Is the mechanical toy, perhaps, which shows most emphatically the influence of present-day tendencies on children's playthings, From the tiniest tin automobile that winds up and darts furiously a few feet across the floor, to the $1,000 mechanical wonder which succeeds by means of springs and electricity to simulate exactly a real cat or a whole circus parade in action—the pur- chiise, usually, so toy dealers tell us, of rich grandparents and uncles who wish to wind up the cat and watch the circus themselves—these toys employ every invention of modern science, And they keep pace also with current interests, Toy counters today are crowded with minia- ture motion picture cameras and projectors, some of them capable of carrying 500 feet of film and all of them, so they are advertised, easily managed by a twelveyear old. A few seasons azo, when a transatlantic flight was still novel enough to commend a streamer head- line in all the newspapers, the mechanical alr- plane was in high demand, and toy golf equip- ment or indoor golf games dominated in the toy store at the same time that miniature golf greens began appearing in every vacant lot. To day mechanical racing automobiles and toy zep- pelins are supplanting the airplane in popu- larity, and automobile or horse racing games, and football, are crowding out golf in indoor games. Carry-car trucks with a detachable trailer eapable of transporting four small models, and delivery wagons stocked with popular trade- marked wares keep this type of toy up-to-date, gle real mothers must be content with Lies upon whom current styles In curly or straight hair, blue eyes or brown, have no influ ence, one to ten-year-old mothers can be much more porticular, For styles In dolls change year. Iy it seems, In grandmother's day all dolls were quite grown up, the youngest of them being prim young iadies in pantalettes and artificial curls, The baby-doll, simulating a real baby, is a com- parative newcomer, and even it has suffered periods of more and less popularity with chang- ing juvenile tastes. In 1920 the flaxen haired beauty with the baby face languished unwanted on the toy counter, while the “flapper” doll, with dark bobbed halr, natty clothes and a complexion ofttimes modishly sun-tanned found a happy home, This year, thanks to the Empress Eugenie or whoever It was who revived In us a taste chiffon hose very old-fashioned and sweetly feminine curls, lashes and frilly wardro are in again. And baby dolis! Little daughter has apparently given up dreams of a career and requests of Santa Claus for this Christmas noth- Ing more modern than a doll’s house to keep in order and a realistic baby doll to be loved and nursed and dressed and redressed. Her dreams of miniature domesticity are also, it seems, more elaborate and thorough-going than those of grandmother, to whom the doll itself was all- sufficient, They Include a ready-made ward. robe, for what up-to-date little girl Is going to slave over a toy sewing machine, even an elec- tric one, or prick her fingers with a grown-up needle, what with the grand styles and the bar- gain prices of read-to-wear dolls’ clothes, And they include also electric ranges that really cook, carpet sweepers, or better yet, vacuum cleaners that really clean. A very different type of doll, but indicating the influence of current tastes even on children's toys, is the caricature doll, stuffed and painted to represent characters already fa. miliar through the talking pictures, popular Juvenile books, or widely read comic strips an for things 4 1 i rr dimples, long one nlso LIL ml t-te. Pen TLE eh FF va Ew Ta Te eT rw TT SOMEBODY'S COMING Kris Kringle is coming, : Kris Kringle is coming, Kris Kringle is coming to town! He wears a big pack On the top of his back, And looks like a funny old clown. Fak — SA ERE Fo wv Now wait just a minute: I'H tell what ia in 12 Then won't your eyes sparkle with joy! There's something with curls For good little girls, And something as nice for each boy. - ¥ RRP RIT There are flaxom haired dollies And all sorts of follies To please little folks Christmas day; There are gay horses prancing, And Daudy Jacks dancing, And everything fitted for play. From Kris Kringle's chin Hangs a plenty of tine Tin trumpets and watches and drums; Noah's ark painted red, A little doll's bed, And soldiers with very big drums, RRR From out of his pockets He'll take sugar lockets And candies, all red, white and blue; And there will be kisses For mice little misses, And sweetmeats in plenty for you. (Aunt Clara, in the Nursery, January, 1870.) Sunday supplement “funnies” Mickey Mouse, a foot high and true to the original to the last whisker, may not inspire & young owner with spasms of mother-love, but who would refuse a celebrated movie star warm welcome into the doll family circle? Thus Mickey Mouse, and Krazy Kat, and the rollicking Bimbo, as well as the entire Aesop's Fables gang, done up neatly in black velvet, and nine members of Our Gang, modeled in bisque and waiting for thelr owner to paint them as they should be painted, are important newcomers in the doll world. Orphan Annie and Skeezix and Smithy are among a number of comic strip celebrities reproduced as dolls this year. Rose O'Neill's “Kewpies” done up in flesh pink plush, make a cuddly com. panion for baby's crib; end from juvenile litera. ture have been borrowed A. A. Milnes funny little bear, Winnie the Pooh, featured in a num- ber of toys this year, and the whole Raggedy family, from Raggedy Ann down, Ask anybody who has outgrown childhood just which toy he remembers with the greatest satis. faction, and you wiil find, nine eases out of ten, that It was something very simple, a set of TTETRTY en a : " hi - gee N 8d 3 The Toy Maker blocks, a rag doll, or even something which he made himself, out of spools, or tin cans. The real pleasure afforded by this type of toy persists in spite of mechanical wonders and layettes In which everything from nursing bottle to safely pins is provided, Psychologists, however, have brought it up to date, and now present us w th the term “activity i the eternal value of the playthi ‘hild the actor demands youl toys,” and point ng whic he ( which infant imaginatic muscle, Thus we games and pl and ball to a mecl that it takes only teeter deliciously of a sudden bump when the partner at Thus al y paints and block end disembarks, o the perman of tod pencil boxes, moc i boxes, %« of cl any of the elab which the youthful and skyscraj the demane boots, or t belt, by whi morphosed from & hero of the western plains Modern child psych impetus this year to “educational ™ Instroctd ment, like a sugar-coate antly i When the Ir sducator durable unde absolutely hygienic the Justy Infant wil ita first e« more which the bright colors may agressive baby, tal toys with sh or cutting edges. There Is of educational advantage in giving a delicat of mechanism care be taken to care and use, gtalic be s or r For the chile ciently developed to be evid shopper may choose from cu posed of hundreds of fascinatin cut out with a Jig-saw, which one together and lo, is rewarded by a lovely map, a famous masterpiece of painting! There are gets of chemicals done up in small vials and boxes, with directions for combining them to produce some of phenomena : and construction sets by which the boy is taught the principles of the cantilever bridge or of modern step-back architecture: and electric transformers which urge their possessor to make his own electric toys, Games, whether they profess, as many of the newer games do, to be of educational value, or merely claim to amuse, all a certain tendency to quicken the mind and eve, to train the muscles In Moreover, games have this year attained a cer. tain definite appeal through the present popularity of “adult " The fact that grown-ups are playing them has this year lent new attraction to many of the simplest of chil. dren's games, and wade gameplaying in itself a sophisticated and interesting thing to do, Just when and why the current rage for adult games commenced nobody seems to know, Some says It is the result of the vast Interest people as a whole take today In outdoor sports: when the baseball and football season Is over and it Is impossible to take the weekly work-out at golf or tennis, what more natural than that peo. ple should resort to their own indoor games, in their own homes? Perhaps officials of the large steamship companies, who have popularized their cruises by filling In the long days of “water, water everywhere” with deck tennis, shuffle board and table games in the smoking rooms, are responsible. At any rate, last winter people in search of amusement broke away from standard auction bridge through contract, backgammon became a dangerous rival, and, first thing we knew, pool tables appeared in the basement, tennis tables In the attic, guests were given their choice between bridge and club parchesi, and the larger department and sporilng goods stores Installed flourishing adult game sections This consequently will be a Christmas of many games, Children and elders alike will drag out such old-time favorites as Flinch and Authors, or amuse themselves with the faniiliar electric questioner, They will familiarize thom. selves with famous events in history by a new game bared on the History of Mankind of Van Loon, and go into convulsions, excellent to offset 8 heavy Christmas dioner, over an imported game called Sorry. (® by Western Newsprper Union.) our chemical commonest nevertheless have automatic response, givie games Depths Duford ‘Janne O88 MERVIN paused a mo- ment before he went up the rickety stairs the room where dumb “Soupy" Sam would rent him a bed for the night for the sum of ten cents, He caught sight of a slight, girlish figure stagger- ing along the street toward him. She stopped suddenly with groping hands. “Something wrong?” he asked gently. “l1 guess—I'm blind! My eyes—" were the whispered words he caught, Her wide eyes did seem si him, He took her arm quickly under his. “Perhaps it {8 just for the mo. ment. I'll be glad to take you home if You tell me where to go.” She was a slight thing, and pretty under other circumstances, Ross though He learned in that brief but eventful walk that she had been study- ing art in the city, but success had not come her way, The Christmas itiess to rush in the stores had given her an opportunity te earn The lights had bothered her after the strain her eyes had been under in her studying and that her wa home darkness deeper than the nigh had come ove em, He sugges money. night on y t t getting in touch with ut she begged him not to, ¥ rent paid until Sunday if 1 rest tomorrow my be all right fter that— " i faced landlady came to the oment Ross glimpsed the » woman heard the ex. scowl: and he de. until he had to her room, geen the Then he after her paid.” ns her room pald until Suan. iny night. After that the take care of her—uniess she has the night, You lke nu but » me, but if you get the money, well, and I will yOu are city will cash Sunday look the woman said shortly, have my num. ber; but I'll have the money. Be good to her. She's a mere kid and up against it." loss smiled “You “So am 1" she The next morning early he was at an agency. He stepped to the desk Just in time to hear a man say, “That's no job for me!” and go on “TI take it,” Ross agreed The clerk smiled. “This job is driv- truck for the construction com. Millburg. The truck carries ef for their dynamiting.™ replied sharply. ing a pany at expliosiy For two days Ross drove the truck. Raturday night he received his two pay and hurried to 30 East street, paid the grim landlady rent for another week, and talked for one long happy hour with the girl he had vowed to aid. Her eves had improved a little, and under his quiet determination she greed to rest during the coming week, “I—1 don't see why you are so good to me,” she sald hesitatingly at parting. Her hand sought his, *“But-—your voice out of the darkness—I know! 0, I know The next week, the fates seemed to take a8 hand in remolding his life, and one event followed another speedily. days’ 1 He looked up from his engine to see his father's fur-coated figure and hear him say: “Lad, one of my engineer friends here spotted you and told me. It's al- most Christmas, [ feel that T have been unjust to you—-but won't you come home?” Ross’ mind lingered on the word “Christmas,” and he sald simply, “I will—-if I can bring some one with he. No, not my wife, but a girl | hope to make my wife” Bo it eame about that one eventful evening Ross bent over a pale, flower. like face and looked Into dark eyes to which a great city physician had brought the blessing of sight; and she sald: “Dear, what a dream it seems! This beautiful home—and you with me! And just a few weeks ago, you ang 1 down" “In the depths, sweetheart. I began to climb out the moment I saw you that right,” “And you took me with you-—* the chime of faraway bells broke into her words with distant music—“what sare those bells?” she asked wonderingly. He touched her lips with his “Christmas bells, little girl, ringing sut the old for us-forever!™ 1131. MeClure Newspaper Syndionts. “ 'WNU Service) 3 “Clears head instantly. Stops cold spreading. . 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers