life of the
children who play with them. They are often looked upon as nothing more
than "playthings for children." This is a very narrow view of their
uses and relationships. There is a philosophy underlying the production
of toys as old as the world and as broad as life, a philosophy which,
until recent years, has been little studied and cultivated.

Playthings are as necessary a constituent of human life as food or
medicine, and contribute in a like manner to the health and development
of the race. Like the science of cooking and healing, the business of
toy-making has been driven by the stern teacher, necessity, to a rapid
self-development for the general good of the little men and women in
whose interests they are made.

They are the tools with which children ply their trades; the
instruments with which they carry on their professions; the goods which
they buy and sell in their business, and the paraphernalia with which
they conduct their toy society. They are more than this. They are the
animals which serve them, the associates who entertain them, the
children who comfort them and bring joy to the mimic home.

Toys are nature's first teachers. The child with his little shovels,
spades and hoes, learns his first lessons in agriculture; with his
hammer and nails, he gets his first lessons in the various trades; and
the bias of the life of many a child of larger growth has come from the
toys with which he played. Into his flower garden the father of
Linnaeus introduced his son during his infancy, and "this little garden
undoubtedly created that taste in the child which afterwards made him
the first botanist and naturalist of his age, if not of his race."

No experiments in any chemical laboratory will excite more wonder or be
carried on with more interest, than those which the boy performs with
his pipe and basin of soapy water. The little girl's mud pies and other
sham confectionery furnish her first lessons in the art of preparing
food. Her toy dinners and playhouse teas offer her the first
experiences in the entertainment of guests. With her dolls, the
domestic relations and affections.

No science has ever originated and been carried to any degree of
perfection in Asia. There is no reason why this statement should cause
the noses of Europeans and Americans to twitch in derision and pride,
for there is another fact equally momentous in favor of the
Asiatics,--viz., no religion that originated outside of Asi