Toyman

“ Just then the Toyman came by, with coils of wire and clippers in his hand. He was on his way to mend the fence in the North Pasture.
"'Llo Toyman!" said Marmaduke. "Howdy, little fellow!" replied the Toyman, "what are you doing there? Settin' on the top of the world and enjoyin' yourself?"
"I was wondering what those men over there were doing." And the boy waved his hand towards the little black figures on the hill.
"Why, that's the hunt," explained the Toyman. "The rich folks, having nothing better to do, are killin' time." ”

“ He was falling, falling, like a stone—just like Jim Crow.
"The Toyman's a good shot," exclaimed Jehosophat. "My, how I wish I could shoot like that!"
Mother Green came to the back door.
She called to the Toyman:
"He's fallen on the barn, Frank."
"Roof, roof, roof!" barked little Wienerwurst to explain it more clearly.
Sure enough, Robber Hawk dropped on the roof of the barn, right by the Gold Rooster who swung on the weather-vane.
The Toyman scratched his head.
"Quite a climb for these stiff legs," said he. ”

“ He looked at the Toyman:
"Frank," he said, "I've got to go over to the Miller farm to buy some yearling steers. You'll have to take the youngsters to that circus."
The Toyman didn't seem worried about that. He looked just "tickled," "like a boy himself," Mother said.
So, after dinner, old Methuselah was hitched up, and away they drove,—the Toyman, Jehosophat, Hepzebiah, and Marmaduke, with little Wienerwurst, as usual, in back. He was very happy, barking at all the carriages hurrying up the road to the circus. ”

“ His knife is like a fairy's wand. With it he whittles boats for Jehosophat, kites for Marmaduke, and dolls for Hepzebiah. He paints them pretty colours too. So I think they gave him the right sort of nickname when they called him "the Toyman."
He hasn't many clothes and no house of his own and no relatives of any sort. He isn't exactly a handsome man. But the three happy children love the Toyman very much.
Yesterday he sat by the edge of the pond. On one side sat Jehosophat, Marmaduke, and big Rover. On the other side sat Hepzebiah, Brownie, and little yellow Wienerwurst. ”

“ Not long after this the Toyman came out from Trennery's and climbed on the seat; and he and Marmaduke and Old Methusaleh jogged along towards home. All the way, Marmaduke couldn't help thinking of the three little men in their blue pajamas and their black pigtails; and he asked the Toyman a lot of questions, even more than you will find in his arithmetic, I guess, all about what those letters on the packages of shirts meant, and if the Chinamen braided their pigtails every night and morning just like girls, and if they really did eat "ole rats," and bird's-nest puddings, and all that. ”

“ When the second child returns he must try at one guess to say which of the toys was sold during his absence. If he guesses successfully he may be the next toyman. To make the game more difficult two or more toys may be hidden. Another and slightly more difficult way of playing the bargain-counter game is to have the toyman change the positions of the toys while the child is out of the room. The child on returning must rearrange them, if he can, in exactly the same positions. They may be scraps of color instead of toys. ”

“ And Wienerwurst licked the Toyman's hand to show how thankful he was.
They made him a little bed, but he didn't stay in that long. The Toyman was such a good doctor that Wienerwurst felt better already. Still he didn't play very much that day.
Mother sent the Toyman over to the Cricket farm to ask Johnny's mother to let her boy stay for the night. ”

“ The Toyman was quite sure there were, and Father added,--
"And that baseball glove, that big catcher's mitt that Marmaduke always wanted--do you 'spouse that's still in the store?"
Again the Toyman seemed rather hopeful, and the promise was fulfilled on the following Saturday. And many a time the hard Rocket ball and lots of other balls, too, thumped in that big leather mitt.
VII THE FAIRY LAMP
Once in about every so often, it seems, little boys just have to get sick. Sometimes it is their own fault; sometimes the fault of the weather ”

“ This was followed by a satirical farce called The Toyshop (Covent Garden, 1735) , in which the toyman indulges in moral observations on his wares, a hint which was probably taken from Thomas Randolph’s Conceited Pedlar. ”

“ And, for a few moments, all that could be heard in Toy Town was the faint sound of the marching feet of the tin soldiers, the rumble of the Rocking Horse and the tinkle of the Calico Clown’s cymbals.
It was close to midnight now—the time [10] when all toys are allowed to do as they please, provided no one sees them. No one must ever look at, or watch, the toys at their play. In fact, no one has ever seen them having fun after dark in the big stores. ”

“ Nothing else is real. Toys of tenderness—toys of mirth—toys that sail a man back to childhood—toys that sweep a man into manhood—and beyond." He held the color-bearer passionately close. "A hero!" he said. "Thank God for the man who knows our hearts. The world is his toy-shop and men and women are his toys. He can use everybody—it makes no difference how ugly a toy may be. He loves them even when they are naughty—just like a little girl when she spanks her dolly." Joseph smiled at his own thoughts with tenderness.... ”

“ We can’t afford to have a boy and girl ruling in Toyville. Do I speak the truth, now?”
“Aye, aye, aye!” answered the three Buccaneers.
“’Tis well,” said Red Beard. “I see you are listening, and I say, ’tis well.” As he spoke, he tapped with his knuckles the butt of a pistol that was sticking out of his belt. “No, we can’t afford to let those Toy people have a boy and girl for their King and Queen. They will teach them too much skill and too many tricks, and soon make them so clever that it will mean the end of Grumbletown. Do I speak the truth, my bonny babies?” ”

“ Poodle?” asked Tommy.
“Fun!” How Mr. Poodle did laugh when he repeated that word. “Yes, indeed, they have fun,” he said. “Of course, the older people have work to do; like flower gardens to plant; and orchards and such things to tend; but the little Toy people have more fun than I can ever find words to tell about. Why, everybody can sing and laugh and have ever and ever so much sport. Nobody in Toyville cares one single mite how much noise is made. They all think it the finest kind of fun to see the little Toy people have a good time. ”

“ So great that it kept her silent.
"You seem rather surprised," said the little Marionette. "Why?"
"Why, I never knew you could talk!" she exclaimed, recovering a little from her surprise. "Or any other toy, either," she added.
"Life is full of surprises," remarked the little Marionette; "especially in the toy-shop."
"I wish you would tell me all about it," said the little girl, becoming bolder. "If toys can walk and talk, why don't children know it?"
"Because, although they have known many toys, yet they are very ignorant regarding their habits," she answered. "That is the reason. ”

“ The child soon tires of mechanical toys, talking dolls or elaborate doll-houses with which there is nothing he can do. Illustrating this point Joseph Lee says: “Toys, things of convenient size and shape to play with, are indeed essential. But it is what you can do with or imagine about them, not what they themselves can do, that is important.... It is the child’s own achievement, not that of the clever man who made the toy, that counts.” ”

“ A toy yourself, you look forth from your window upon many ladies that are also toys, though they walk and speak, and upon a crowd in pursuit of toys, though they wear grave visages. Oh, with your never-closing eyes, had you but an intellect to moralize on all that flits before them, what a wise doll would you be! Come, little Annie, we shall find toys enough, go where we may. ”

“ He noticed fine private carriages drawn up round corners, waiting for prosperous tradesmen; young men with tennis-bats in their hands, taking prodigiously long strides, eager to get a game of play before dusk; girls who went by twos and threes, chattering, laughing, making funny short quick steps of it, like as if on the dance to reach sweethearts and green lanes. A man selling a mechanical toy—sort of a tin frog that jumped so soon as you put it down—made him smile indulgently. ”

“ A little girl, who had come to stay there with her aunt--the owner of the shop--and her little cousin, was always to be found amongst the toys; she was forever picking up and admiring this one, stroking that one, nursing another. All her spare moments were spent in the shop.
It so happened one evening that she wandered in after the shutters were put up, and the place was deserted. She paused before the spot where she was accustomed to find her favorite doll, a little lady Marionette, who, when wound up, danced gayly in company with her partner, a very fine gentleman. ”

“ They wait patiently for perhaps almost a year, hoping every day to hear the children call for them; but the children have forgotten all about their old playmates. Then, one day, when it is raining and nobody can go out of doors, somebody thinks about the Toy people and goes to search, first, in the drawer, then in the attic. Alas, it is too late! the Toy people have gone, gone for ever. Gone through the Hills of Troubleland into the Valley of Happiness, where they are now living peacefully in their beautiful city of Toyville.”
“Do the Toy people play and have fun in Toyville, Mr. ”

“ And there was not to be found a book In the whole city, but the houses were crammed with toys from the top to the bottom,—tops, hoops, balls, battle-doors, bows and arrows, guns, peep-shows, drums and trumpets, marbles, ninepins, tumblers, kites, and hundreds upon hundreds more, for there you found every toy that ever was made in the world, besides thousands of large wax dolls, all in different court-dresses. And directly Joujou began to reign, he said to himself,—
"What are all these toys for? They must mean that we are to play always, that we may be always happy. ”

“ The great plate-glass windows stretch down the side of a street, and if you go inside the shop you walk through room after room of beautiful things, all arranged to show to the best advantage. The toy department would be enough to make any little girl or boy happy even to look at it. There are toys large and toys small; engines that can be wound up to run by themselves; horses large enough to ride upon; balls of all colours and sizes; and dolls—oh, the dolls! Dolls black-eyed and brown-eyed and blue-eyed, dolls fair-haired and brown-haired, dolls dressed and undressed. ”

“ The two little Marionette dolls had just finished their dance before an admiring throng of Toys, and the curtain had, that moment, fallen upon their last performance.
"So now," sighed the little lady Marionette to her partner; "so now the play is over. We shall never act together again. I heard the woman who owned the shop say that she was going to separate us, and sell us as ordinary Toys. ”

“ THE LAND OF LOST TOYS.
"I suppose people who have children transfer their childish follies and fancies to them, and become properly sedate and grown-up. Perhaps it is because I am an old maid, and have none, that some of my nursery whims stick to me, and I find myself liking things, and wanting things, quite out of keeping with my cap and time of life. For instance. Anything in the shape of a toy-shop (from a London bazaar to a village window, with Dutch dolls, leather balls, and wooden battledores) quite unnerves me, so to speak. ”

“ You sell us when you can catch us, and we sell you when we catch you—and, what is more, the boy who is kind to his toys in your country finds his toy master in Toyland kind to him. I am told that you [Pg 167] are very good to your toys and keep them very carefully, so you needn't be afraid that you will be given to one of our rough toys, who will drag you around by one leg and leave you standing on your head in the closet all night."
"But I don't want to be sold," said Jimmieboy. ”

“ In the epochs of play development interest in these larger scale toys precedes that in more complicated schemes with smaller ones. Mr. Wells' stress on the desirability of a toy soldier population really reflects an adult view. For play on the toy soldier and paper doll scale develops latest of all, and because of the opportunities it affords for schemes of correspondingly greater mental content makes special appeal to the adult imagination. ”

“ For them, too, are the comprehensive toys of the centuries, the kite, the top, the ball. As the boy gets old enough to play the games that require skill, he enters the world-lists, and the little sister, left inside, with her everlasting dolls, learns that she is "only a girl," and "mustn't play with boys—boys are so rough!" She has her doll and her tea set. She "plays house." If very active she may jump rope, in solitary enthusiasm, or in combination of from two to four. Her brother is playing games. From this time on he plays the games of the world. ”

“ The crusty King of Grumbletown does not like the people of Toyville very well; he is always threatening to make war on them and keeps his ruffians and bandits spying around to see what is happening in Toyville. I suppose when he hears that visitors are on the road, he will be more angry than ever, for he will not want a boy and girl to go to Toyville and teach the Toy people new tricks. ”

“ Toy-making incorporates this method, with several vital elements added. It takes into account the child's view-point, his proclivities and his emotions. It is a form of activity that appeals strongly to his fancy, has a direct relation to his environments, and is within the range of his mental grasp and constructive ability. His wonderful imagination endows the creatures of his handiwork with life, individuality and cunning. The toy problem is in harmony with the child's resourcefulness, his powers and his interests. ”

“ I thought, my wife, that the end of life had come for me when I knew that I should have to sit here in the shop the rest of the days of my life and make toys for children. Now I know that it was but the beginning. He taught me. There could be nothing greater. The toys will live in the homes of the children. They will find them, too, the toys he bought for his boy—after he has gone. But not every one will know the work that they have done. Nor will all the toys the President left be so easily discovered.... ”