Show DolI From Dolls Fro From An Ancient Ancient- Egypt to Modern America Family Tre Tree Traced Forty Centuries Rattles Also Used I 1 rL I i a I er d doil yr W A j The k Chil ren m J a y Editors Editor's Note Note William William Thompson Thomp Thomp- son on fellow of f the Royal Roya Geog Geographic society and now living in Sauger Sauger- tics cs N. N Y has has' made a long study of f ancient toys toy He is familiar the he earU earliest t playthings children n used sed he Iras has ras examined dolls dos tops arid and nd other playthings that date back thousands of or years In this feature he be ie traces the development rit of toys from rom the dawn of history to the pres present nt da day I By WILLIAM THOMPSON Fellow of the Royal Georgr Society Written Especially lly for The Telegram Telegram Tele Tele gr gram m and N NEA EA Service Service- Thousands of ot years ears ago a a little bab baby aby fell asleep aseer in a dark c cave v clutching a small object In its Us tiny fist st st. The object was the first toy Perhaps It fl was a weathered bone or r tIre the tooth of some animal the aby's abys father fathe had killed or it might have lave been a bright pebble or 01 a a. shell Certainly It was was n nothing pretentious pretentious preten- preten lous but bt the baby bab like all children tr treasured its plaything GIRLS GIRLS INVENTED DOLLS These primitive toys toS developed deve as I centuries passed sma small bows bows' and nd a arrows Tows arrows little spears and dubs clubs mod models ls of the weapons the men used used sed In hunting and fighting And the ho little girls watching their moth moths ers era rs take care of ot the babies doubtless doubtless doubt doubt- less less' ess were were r responsible for fOl tire tiro invention In In- of the first dolls All of this h happened many thousands thousands thou- thou sands ands of years ago for by the time cIvilIzatIon had nad advanced d to the earliest stag stages s of ot which we now have lave records there thera was quito quite a variety of or t toys ys tot for children And there were were d dc dolls dolls Js dolls os not so tremendously unlike those which American merican children n play with today The oldest odest toys In existence are those iose used by tire children of an- an dent Egypt and ane Gree Greece e. e In the British musei-m musei are playthings tha were rere in use 2000 years year before the Christian era Among them is an Egyptian doll don a stiff awk awkward awkward- Yard Yard- looking coking of ot wo wood d. d which doubtless was vas dressed In In gay clothes cothes I and fondled tenderly by some some dusky dusk child chUd In the days When the Nile river ver was the center of ot civilization A number of toys toya of ancient Greece reece exist The rhe Greeks made beter better better bet- bet ter er dolls dolls' than th the tiE Egyptians ns there are are re rag dolls dons dolls of ivory and andone bone one wooden dolls dons with Jointed arms and legs some of them fully dressed These latter tatter were ably bly too costly to be played with every very day consequently they they- ell es- aped rough usage as most dolls doll undergo and have base survived for our our Inspection BOYS HAD THEIR MARBLES Greek boys had their playthings too oo They had marbles marbes just j st as modern boys have and an ancient lead ead ad chariot charlot with a a. little hittl lead horse- horse lan an Inch and a a. half high Is s still in lii existence e. e Th There re also als Is Isi isa isa a i little lead soldier mounted ona on a horse orse and carrying a a. spear and ind shield i There There- e were svere also aso rattles for for the very small babies Toy dogs mon mon- moneys keys eys donkeys and other Bother animals till still exist and hall Il hoops nd tops pave have ave ave- peon been en found in Greek iu Roman Ro- Ro man ruins 4 In Africa children of th the Jungle pIa play ay with model animals ls which they make themselves wi with considerable considerable consid consid- erable skI skill Similarly in Java and Ceylon the children spend s-pend hours making Baking elaborate Tag rag dolls dons Unfortunately Unfortunately Unfortunately Un Un- fortunately these dolls are prized so highly by tourists that rat the children children children chil chil- dren seldom play with them being driven by y poverty ovel y to sell seU them the at docks dock and railway stations The most famous famous' don dolt In the world worM was Pandora a sizable manulkin mannikin mannikin man- man nikin that existed About the tho time lIme of the American Revolution Pandora was dressed in the latest st Parisian styles and sent across across the Atlantic I Iso so that the women of the the- colonies could know what to wear Her coming was awaited awalt eagerness and md it Is reported that the ship that carried her was given a safe passage In time of ot f war Toys became elaborate as civilization tion advanced The little Dauphin t I I Ji q 1 r H. H J French dc 1 h 2 1927 1921 oon olli of ot France whose father Louis Louis' XVI r perished in the French revolution had a little bureau reau with blue bue porcelain porcelain lain aln pAnes panels with a concealed bird that app appeared and sang when a a. hidden spring was touched Similarly little son soi the young king of Rome Home had a device of or balls which were were to be I tossed Into an opening beneath the outstretched wings of an eagle agle During the last ast twenty five twenty years ears toys have changed more snore than titan Inmany in inmany inmany many centuries preceding The Th Introduction in introduction introduction In- In of ot electricity has been largely argey responsible toys are mechanical mechanical mechanical me me- and complicated now with elaborate miniature railroad I derricks boats engin engines s and the like Uke But dolls haven't changed greatly Tire dolls of today have soft hair hall eyes dyes eyes that open and shut natural complexions and filmy flinTy dresses but they are after all very much like the stiff stitt wooden dolls which the lit littie little little lit lit- tle tie children of ancient Egypt paye played 1 with back in the days when Rome itself was was only a 8 swamp and England England Eng Eng- land and and America were undiscovered undiscovered undiscovered ered wildernesses For the doll is a universal toy It probably will exist unchanged except for minor details to to- the end of time Copyright 1927 NEA Service Inc mc |