Kitabı oku: «Christmas-Tide»
A little boy in Miss Harrison's kindergarten heard the story of the legend of the Christ Child, told just prior to his going to Europe for a three months trip with his father and mother. While there his mother took him one day with her to see a collection of art photographs. He looked at them quietly and thoughtfully for a time, and then picking up a copy of the above picture he said, "Mamma, you told me I might take a present home to Miss Harrison, and I would like to take her this picture, because it looks just as I think the little Christ Child that she read us about must have looked."
So beautiful was the thought embodied in the story that it left the same impression upon the mind of the child that the great artist Murillo had left upon canvas. This is but one instance that great thoughts do make impressions upon the mind of the child.
I.
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
Many mothers are sorely perplexed as the Christmas-tide approaches by the problem of how to select such presents for their children as will help them rather than hinder them in their much-needed self-activity. Let the toys be simple, strong, and durable, that your child may not gain habits of reckless extravagance and destruction which flimsy toys always engender. Remember a few good toys, like a few good books, are far better than many poor toys. Toys in which the child's own creative power has full play are far better than the finished toys from the French manufacturers. In fact, too complex a toy is like too highly seasoned food, too elaborately written books, too old society, or any other mature thing forced upon the immature mind. Your choice should be based, not so much on what the toy is, as on what the child can do with it. The instinctive delight of putting their own thought into their play-things instead of accepting the thought of the manufacturer explains why simple toys are often more pleasing to children than expensive ones.
The following list has been compiled from such toys as have delighted as well as have helped the children of kindergarten-trained mothers.
TOYS FOR CHILDREN FROM ONE TO TWO YEARS OF AGE
Linen picture-books, rubber animals, cotton-flannel animals, rubber rings, worsted balls, strings of spools, knit dolls, rag dolls, rubber dolls, wooden animals (unpainted), new silver dollars.
The kindergarten materials helpful at this period of the child's development are the soft worsted balls of the first gift. When the child begins to listen to sounds and to attempt to articulate, the sphere, cube, and cylinder of the second gift may be given to him. These two gifts, when rightly used, assist the clear, distinct, and normal growth of the powers of observation and aid the little one in expressing himself, even before he has language at his command. Songs and games illustrative of the various ways in which these gifts can be used with a young child, are to be found in the Kindergarten Guides now published. Some very good ones are included in the first year's course of study for mothers of the Kindergarten College. However, almost any mother can invent plays with them for her child.
TOYS FOR CHILDREN FROM TWO TO FOUR YEARS OF AGE
Blocks, dolls, balls uncolored (also six of red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple), woolly lamb, cradle, chair, picture-book of families of birds, cats, dogs, cows, etc., anchor stone, blocks, furniture for dolls' houses, express cart (iron or steel), spade, rake, or hoe, biscuit-board and rolling-pin, a churn, a wooden case with a six-inch rule and pencil in it, a box of non-poisonous paints – water-color – pair of blunt scissors, paper windmill.
The kindergarten materials found most helpful for this period of the average child's growth are the second gift and the divided cubes of the third gift. With the latter the child can early be trained into habits of constructive play, rather than destructive play. As all children like to transform and rearrange their toys, this gift is particularly adapted to that purpose. It is simple and easy to handle. Much logical training can be given the child by teaching him to change one form made with his blocks into another, without scattering, or entirely destroying the first form. Many suggestive forms may also be found in the various Kindergarten Guides already published. A series of these are now being prepared by the College for general sale. However, the child himself will oftentimes name the forms made by some name of his own, which should be accepted by the mother. The wooden tablets, sticks, rings, and points of the kindergarten can also be used with a child from three to four years of age though they are, as a rule, less satisfactory than the blocks. The second gift beads furnish an almost exhaustless amusement for some children at this stage of their growth. A long linen shoe-string with a firm knot tied at one end has been found to be the most serviceable kind of a string on which to string the beads. Knowledge of color, form, and number are also incidentally taught the child by these beads.
Low sand tables are an almost endless pleasure to small children, as sand is one of the most easily mastered of the materials of nature, and can serve as a surface for the first efforts at drawing, or can be the beginning of the childish attempts to mold the solid forms about him. When lightly dampened it serves as an excellent substance on which to leave the impress of various objects of interest. In fact, there is scarcely any play in which the sand may not take part. The child should be taught from the very beginning that he must not spill the sand upon the floor nor throw it at any one. In case he violates these laws of neatness and safety, the sand table may be removed for a time.
A blackboard and chalk are usually a source of much keen and innocent enjoyment to three and four year old children, especially if the mother sometimes enters into the making of pictures, or story-telling by means of pictures, no matter how crudely drawn. Various other kindergarten "occupations" may be used by the trained mother – but the untrained mother often finds them confusing and of little use.
Whenever it is possible the back yard should have a sand pile, a load of kindling, and a swing in it, that the child in his instinctive desire to master material, to construct, and to be free, may find these convenient friends to help him in his laudable aspirations. The street has less temptations for children thus provided for.
TOYS FOR CHILDREN FROM THREE TO FIVE YEARS OF AGE
Blackboard and crayon, building blocks, balls, train of cars, doll and cradle, wooden beads to string, small glass beads to string, rocking-chair, doll's carriage, books with pictures of trade life, flowers, vegetables, etc., tracing cards and paper dolls, toy poultry yard with fences, trees, a woman, and a dozen ducks and chickens.
The more advanced gifts of the kindergarten now interest the child. Clay modeling and paper folding can easily be taught him, and many of the simpler formulas for the mat weaving, also some of the sewing. A good kindergarten is the best play ground for a child at this stage of his development, as he needs comrades of his own age and ability. If a kindergarten cannot be had the mother must be as nearly a child herself as she knows how to be. Good, simple, wholesome stories now become a part of the child's life. They form the door by which he is later to be led into the great world of literature. Therefore, story-books may be numbered among the suitable toys for four and five year old children, though stories told to the child are better. Almost any mother who has her child's best interests at heart can simplify the old Greek myths as retold by Hawthorne in his "Wonder Book," or the Norse legends as given us by Hamilton Mabie in "Norse Stories," or the rich, pithy experience of the Teutonic peoples as collected in Grimm's "Fairy Tales." All of these contain the seeds of wisdom which the early child races stored away in childish forms, and therefore, they delight the heart of the child of to-day and aid materially in cultivating his imagination in the right way.
TOYS FOR CHILDREN FROM FIVE TO SIX YEARS OF AGE
Kitchen, laundry and baking sets, balls, building blocks, picture puzzles, dissecting maps, historical story-books, outline picture-books to color with paint or crayon, trumpet, music-box, desk, blackboard, wagon, whip, sled, kite, pipe for soap bubbles, train of cars, carpenter tools, jackstraws, hobby-horses, substantial cook-stove, sand table, skates, rubber boots, broom, Richter's stone blocks, shovel, spade, rake and hoe, marbles, tops, swing and see-saw, strong milk-wagon equipped with cylinder cans, substantial churn, a few bottles filled with water, spices, coffee, sugar, etc., for a drug store.
Ordinarily children of this age still love their kindergarten tools, and can be led to do really pretty work with their mats, folding, pasting, etc. The fifth and sixth gifts1 now come into use and aid the child in more definite expression of his ideas. More stories should be told, and the beginning made of collections of pictures for scrap-books, also collections of stones, leaves, curios for his own little cabinet. Many references may from time to time be made to the books to be read by and by, which will tell him wonderful things about these treasures. In this way a desire to learn to read is awakened, and soon the world of nature and of books takes the place of toys, except of course, those by means of which bodily skill is gained and tested. These later belong in general to the period of boyhood and girlhood.
To this list of Christmas toys is added a list of books suitable for Christmas gifts. Very handsome books are to be avoided, as the child delights in handling his own books almost as much as his own toys. The value of the right kind of books cannot be too much emphasized. Is not the food which you give to your child's mind of as much importance as that which you give to his body?
When your boy stops questioning you, he has not stopped questioning concerning life and its problems; he has turned to those silent companions which you have placed upon his bookshelf or on the library table. Shall heroes and prophets be his counselors, or shall "Peck's Bad Boy" and the villain of the dime novel teach him how to look at life? It rests with you.
There is a great difference between books which are to be read to children, those which are to be read with children, and those which are to be read by children.
The second kind, which are more profitable than the first, require the mother's sympathetic and genuine interest in the subject-matter in hand; and frequent stops for little talks about what has been read are necessary.
The third class are books for older children who can read well enough to peruse them alone; but, if the mother will take time to read them before giving them to the child, she will strengthen the bonds of intellectual sympathy between herself and him.
LIST No. 1
FOR CHILDREN UNDER SIX YEARS OF AGE
Mother-play and Nursery Song, by Frederick Froebel.
Nursery Finger Plays, by Emile Poulsson.
Mother Goose, in one syllable.
Songs for Little Ones, by Eleanor Smith.
Æsop's Fables, in one syllable, by Mary Mapes Dodge.
Boley's Own Æsop; illustrated by Walter Crane.
Baby World, by Mary Mapes Dodge.
Rhymes and Jingles.
Little People of the Air, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Nonsense Book, by Edward Sears.
LIST No. 2
FOR CHILDREN FROM SIX TO EIGHT YEARS OF AGE
Doll World, by Mrs. O. Reilly.
Sparrow the Tramp, by Wesselhoeft.
The Joyous Story of Toto, by L. E. Richards.
Doings of the Bodley Family, by H. E. Scudder.
Bodleys Telling Stories, by H. E. Scudder.
The Bird's Christmas Carol, by K. D. Wiggin.
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, translated by H. S. Brackstad.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.
Bible Stories from the Old Testament, by Richard G. Moulton.
Moon Folks, by Jane Austin.
Mopsa the Fairy, by Ingelow.
Evenings at Home, by Barbould and Aiken.
Posies for Children, by Anna Lowell.
Shanny and Light House.
LIST No. 3
STORY-BOOKS. – FOR CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF EIGHT AND FOURTEEN
Seven Little Sisters, by Miss Jane Andrews.
Each and All, by Miss Jane Andrews.
Ten Little Boys on the Way from Long Ago to Now, by Miss Jane Andrews.
Story of a Short Life, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.
Mary's Meadow, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.
Jackanapes, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.
Dandelion Clocks, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.
The Wonder Book, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; illustrated by Howard Pyle.
Tanglewood Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; illustrated by Howard Pyle.
True Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Fairy Tales, by Jean Macé.
Grimm's Household Tales.
Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen.
Two Grey Girls, by Ellen Haile.
Three Brown Boys, by Ellen Haile.
Chivalric Days.
Robinson Crusoe, by De Foe.
Hans Brinker, by Mary Mapes Dodge.
Arabian Nights; illustrated by A. H. Houghton.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; illustrated by John Flaxman.
Shakespeare's Tempest and Two Gentlemen of Verona; illustrated by Walter Crane.
Gulliver's Travels, by Dean Swift; illustrated by Gordon Browne.
Legends of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving; illustrated by A. H. Houghton.
Christmas Stories, by Dickens; illustrated by E. A. Abbey.
Child's Dream of a Star, by Dickens.
Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley.
A Child Garden of Verse, by Robert Louis Stevenson; illustrated by Charles Robinson.
The Boy with an Idea, Putnam & Sons, publishers.
Young Merchants, Putnam & Sons, publishers.
Boy Engineer, Putnam & Sons, publishers.
Story of the Nations (8 vols.), Putnam & Sons, publishers.
Adventures of Ulysses, by Charles Lamb.
Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles Lamb.
Stories from Greek Tragedians, by Rev. A. J. Church.
The Golden Age, by James Baldwin.
The Vision of Dante, by Elizabeth Harrison; illustrated by Walter Crane.
Æsop's Fables (without the moral explanations attached).
Swiss Family Robinson.
The Lame Prince, by Miss Mulock.
Parables from Nature, by Margaret Gattey.
Child Life, by J. G. Whittier.
Child's History of England, by Charles Dickens.
In Storyland, by Elizabeth Harrison.
Bible Stories from the New Testament, by Richard G. Moulton.
Nonsense Books, by Edward Lear.
The Monkey that Would Not Kill, by Henry Drummond.
The Heroes, by Charles Kingsley.
At the Back of the North Wind, by George MacDonald.
Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris.
Tom Brown at Rugby, by Thomas Hughes.
Nehe, by Anna Pierpont Siviter; illustrated by Chase Emerson.
The Princess Story Book.
The Cruise of the Cachalot, by Frank Bullen.
The American Boys' Handy Book, by D. C. Beard.
The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling.
Boyhood is pre-eminently the period of perception. Hence all books on scientific subjects are helpful, if they are simple enough to aid the child in seeing nature and her marvels. The mother should be careful that the child does not rest in mere perception of the objects of nature, but that he compares and classifies them, and above all, that he is led to trace a purpose in created things, in order that he may learn "to look through nature up to nature's God."
LIST OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS
The Story Mother Nature Told, by Jane Andrews.
Child's Book of Nature (3 vols.), by Worthington Hooper.
Among the Stars, by Agnes Giberne.
History of a Mouthful of Bread, by Jean Macé.
Overhead, by Laura and Anna Moore.
Life and Her Children, by Arabella Buckley.
Winners in Life's Race, by Arabella Buckley.
Fairyland of Science, by Arabella Buckley.
Little Folks in Feathers and Furs, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Queer Pets.
Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe, by Charlotte M. Yonge.
Four Feet, Two Feet, and No Feet.
Odd Folks at Home, by C. L. Mateaux.
Tenants of an Old Farm Yard, by McCook.
Home Studies in Nature, by Mary Treat.
Many other valuable books might be added to this list. However, a few good books are better than many less good ones. It is well to lead a child to the world's great books as soon as possible. Enough have been given to show the kinds of books which are not hurtful to children. Each book on the above list has been personally inspected.
After all, it is not so important what your child reads as what you read. If the father reads nothing but the newspapers and the mother nothing but novels, what then? Children are taught as much by the general tone of conversation of their parents as by the books they are given to read.
A LIST OF BOOKS HELPFUL TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS IN THEIR STUDY OF CHILD NATURE
Mother-play and Nursery Song, by Frederick Froebel.
Letters to a Mother, by Susan E. Blow.
Symbolic Education, by Susan E. Blow.
Commentaries of Froebel's Mother-play Songs, by Denton J. Snider.
A Study of Child Nature, by Elizabeth Harrison.
The Child, by Madam Marenholtz von Bulow.
Household Education, by Harriet Martineau.
Levana, by Jean Paul Richter.
Christian Nurture, by Horace Bushnell.
Conscious Motherhood, by Emma Marwedel.
Bits of Talk about Home Matters, by H. H.
Reminiscences of Froebel, by Madam Marenholtz von Bulow.
The Children for Christ, by Rev. Andrew Murray.
From the Cradle to the School, by Bertha Meyer.
Gentle Measures in Training the Young, by Jacob Abbott.
Emil, by Jean Paul Rousseau.
Leonard and Gertrude, by Pestalozzi.
Hints on Early Education, Anonymous.
For Boys, a Special Physiology, by Mrs. E. R. Shepherd.
For Girls, a Special Physiology, by Mrs. E. R. Shepherd.
LIST OF BOOKS HELPFUL TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS IN SCIENCE
Steps in Scientific Knowledge, by Paul Bert.
History of a Mouthful of Bread, by Jean Macé.
Ministry of Nature, by Hugh Macmillan.
Bible Teachings in Nature, by Hugh Macmillan.
Sabbath in the Fields, by Hugh Macmillan.
Elementary Book of Zoölogy, by Packard.
Little Folks in Feathers and Furs, by Olive Thorne Miller.
The Geological Story Briefly Told, by Dana.
Science Primer – Geology, by Archibald Geikie.
Science Primer – Botany, by F. D. Hooker.
Science Primer – Chemistry, by H. E. Roscoe.
Madam How and Lady Why, by Charles Kingsley.
Principles of Geology, by Lyell.
How Plants Grow, by Gray.
How Plants Behave, by Gray.
Child's Book of Nature, by Hooker.
Elementary Botany, by Bessey.
Revised Manual of Botany, by Gray.
Plant Relations, by John M. Coulter.
II.
THE PLACE OF TOYS IN THE EDUCATION OF A CHILD
As Christmas is peculiarly the season for toy-giving and toy-receiving, it may be well for the mother to consider this subject.
Old Homer, back in the past ages, shows us a charming picture of Nausicaa and her maidens, after a hard day's washing, resting themselves with a game of ball. Thus we see this most free and graceful plaything connected with that free and beautifully developed nation which has been the admiration of the world ever since. Plato has said, "The plays of children have the mightiest influence on the maintenance or non-maintenance of laws"; and again, "During earliest childhood, the soul of the nursling should be made cheerful and kind, by keeping away from him sorrow and fear and pain, by soothing him with sound of the pipe and of rhythmical movement." He still further advised that the children should be brought to the temples, and allowed to play under the supervision of nurses, presumably trained for that purpose. Here we see plainly foreshadowed the Kindergarten, whose foundation is "education by play"; as the study of the Kindergarten system leads to the earnest, thoughtful consideration of the office of play, and the exact value which the plaything or toy has in the development of the child, when this is once understood, the choice of what toys to give to children is easily made.
In the world of nature, we find the blossom comes before the fruit; in history, art arose long before science was possible; in the human race, the emotions are developed sooner than the reason. With the individual child it is the same; the childish heart opens spontaneously in play, the barriers are down, and the loving mother or the wise teacher can find entrance into the inner court as in no other way. The child's sympathies can be attracted towards an object, person, or line of conduct much earlier than his reason can grasp any one of them. His emotional nature can and does receive impressions long before his intellectual nature is ready for them; in other words, he can love before he can understand.
One of the mistakes of our age is, that we begin by educating our children's intellects rather than their emotions. We leave these all-powerful factors, which give to life its coloring of light or darkness, to the oftentimes insufficient training of the ordinary family life – insufficient, owing to its thousand interruptions and pre-occupations. The results are, that many children grow up cold, hard, matter-of-fact, with little of poetry, sympathy, or ideality to enrich their lives – mere Gradgrinds in God's world of beauty. We starve the healthful emotions of children in order that we may overfeed their intellects. Is not this doing them a great wrong? When the sneering tone is heard, and the question "Will it pay?" is the all-important one, do we not see the result of such training? Possibly the unwise training of the emotional nature may give it undue preponderance, producing morbid sentimentalists, who think that the New Testament would be greatly improved if the account of Christ driving the money-changers from the temple, or his denunciation of the Pharisees, could be omitted. Such people feed every able-bodied tramp brought by chance to their doors, and yet make no effort to lighten the burden of the poor sewing-woman of our great cities, who is working at almost starvation prices. This is a minor danger, however. The education of the heart must advance along with that of the head, if well-balanced character is to be developed.
Pedagogy tells us that "the science of education is the science of interesting"; and yet, but few pedagogues have realized the importance of educating the interest of the child. In other words, little or no value has been attached to the likes and dislikes of children; but in reality they are very important.
A child can be given any quantity of information, he can be made to get his lessons, he can even be crowded through a series of examinations, but that is not educating him. Unless his interest in the subject has been awakened, the process has been a failure. Once get him thoroughly interested and he can educate himself, along that line, at least.
Hence the value of toys; they are not only promoters of play, but they appeal to the sympathies and give exercise to the emotions; in this way a hold is gotten upon the child, by interesting him before more intellectual training can make much impression. The two next great obstacles to the exercise of the right emotions are fear and pity; these do not come into the toy-world, hence we can see how toys, according to their own tendencies, help in the healthful education of the child's emotions, through his emotions the education of his thoughts, through his thoughts the education of his will, and hence his character. One can readily see how this is so. By means of their dolls, wagons, drums, or other toys, children's thoughts are turned in certain directions. They play that they are mothers and fathers, or shop-keepers, or soldiers, as the case may be. Through their dramatic play, they become interested more and more in those phases of life which they have imitated, and that which they watch and imitate they become like.
The toy-shops of any great city are to him who can read the signs of the times, prophecies of the future of that city. They not only predict the future career of a people, but they tell us of national tendencies. Seguin, in his report on the educational exhibit at Vienna a few years ago, said: "The nations which had the most toys had, too, more individuality, ideality, and heroism." And again: "The nations which have been made famous by their artists, artisans, and idealists supplied their infants with toys." It needs but a moment's thought to recognize the truth of this statement. Children who have toys exercise their own imagination, put into action their own ideals. Ah me, how much that means! What ideals have been strangled in the breasts of most of us because others did not think as we did! With the toy, an outline only is drawn; the child must fill in the details. On the other hand, in story-books the details are given. Both kinds of training are needed: individual development, and participation in the development of others – of the world, of the past, of the All. With this thought of the influence of toys upon the life of nations, a visit to any large toy-shop becomes an interesting and curious study. The following is the testimony, unconsciously given, by the shelves and counters in one of the large importing establishments which gather together and send out the playthings of the world. The French toys include nearly all the pewter soldiers, all guns and swords; surely, such would be the toys of the nation which produced a Napoleon. All Punch and Judy shows are of French manufacture; almost all miniature theaters; all doll tea-sets which have wine-glasses and finger-bowls attached. The French dolls mirror the fashionable world, with all its finery and unneeded luxury, and hand it down to the little child. No wonder Frances Willard made a protest against dolls, if she had in mind the French doll.
"You see," said the guileless saleswoman, as she handed me first one and then another of these dolls, thinking doubtless that she had a slow purchaser whom she had to assist in making a selection, "you can dress one of these dolls as a lady, or as a little girl, just as you like." And sure enough, the very baby dolls had upon their faces the smile of the society flirt, or the deep, passionate look of the woman who had seen the world. I beheld the French Salons of the eighteenth century still lingering in the nineteenth-century dolls. All their toys are dainty, artistic, exquisitely put together, but lack strength and power of endurance, are low or shallow in aim, and are oftentimes inappropriate in the extreme. For instance, I was shown a Noah's Ark with a rose-window of stained glass in one end of it. Do we not see the same thing in French literature? Racine's Orestes, bowing and complimenting his Iphigenia, is the same French adornment of the strong, simple, Greek story that the pretty window was of the Hebrew Ark.
The German toys take another tone. They are heavier, stronger, and not so artistic, and largely represent the home and the more primitive forms of trade-life. From Germany we get all our ready-made doll-houses, with their clean tile floors and clumsy porcelain stoves, their parlors with round iron center-tables, and stiff, ugly chairs with the inevitable lace tidies. Here and there in these miniature houses we see a tiny pot of artificial flowers. All such playthings tend to draw the child's thoughts to the home life. Next come the countless number of toy butcher shops, bakers, blacksmiths, and other representations of the small, thrifty, healthful trade-life which one sees all over Germany. Nor is the child's love attracted toward the home and the shops alone. Almost all of the better class of toy horses and carts are of German manufacture. The "woolly sheep," so dear to childish heart, is of the same origin. Thus a love for simple, wholesome out-of-door activities is instilled.
And then the German dolls! One would know from the dolls alone that Germany was the land of Froebel and the birthplace of the Kindergarten, that it was the country where even the beer-gardens are softened and refined by the family presence. All the regulation ornaments for Christmas trees come from this nation, bringing with them memories of Luther; of his breaking away from the celibacy enjoined by the church; of his entering into the joyous family life, and trying to bring with him into the home life all that was sacred in the church – Christmas festivals along with the rest. Very few firearms come from this nation, but among them I saw some strong cast-iron cannons from Berlin; they looked as if Bismarck himself might have ordered their manufacture.
The Swiss toys are largely the bluntly carved wooden cattle, sheep and goats, with equally blunt shepherds and shepherdesses, reminding one forcibly of the dull faces of those much-enduring beasts of burden called Swiss peasants. I once saw a Swiss girl who had sold to an American woman, for a few francs, three handkerchiefs, the embroidering of which had occupied the evenings of her entire winter; there was no look of discontent or disgust as the American tossed them into her trunk with a lot of other trinkets, utterly oblivious of the amount of human life which had been patiently worked into them. What kind of toys could come from a people among whom such scenes are accepted as a matter of course?
The English rag doll is particularly national in its placidity of countenance. The British people stand pre-eminent in the matter of story-books for children, but, so far as I have been able to observe, are somewhat lacking in originality as to toys; possibly this is due to the out-of-door life encouraged among them.
When I asked to see the American toys, my guide turned, and with a sweep of her hand, said: "These trunks are American. All doll-trunks are manufactured in this country." Surely our Emerson was right when he said that "the tape-worm of travel was in every American." Here we see the beginning of the restless, migratory spirit of our people; even these children's toys suggest, "How nice it would be to pack up and go somewhere!" All tool-chests are of domestic origin. Seemingly, all the inventions of the Yankee mind are reproduced in miniature form to stimulate the young genius of our country.
The Japanese and Chinese toys are a curious study, telling of national traits as clearly as do their laws or their religion. They are endurable, made to last unchanged a long time; no flimsy tinsel is used which can be admired for the hour, then cast aside. If "the hand of Confucius reaches down through twenty-four centuries of time still governing his people," so, too, can the carved ivory or inlaid wooden toy be used without injury or change by at least one or two successive generations of children.
