THE SUNDAY -OBEGONIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER- IS,
WHERE SANTA CLAUS REALLY GETS HIS TOYS
Sonneberg", Germany, in the Heart of the Thuringian
Forest, Furnishes the World's Supply
y" T tliis season of the year the typi-
ia cal American child must often won-
dcr from what monster workshop
Santa Claus geta the immense stock of
toys with which he supplies the juvenile
world. Evon inquiring elders. Ions since
deprived of the joy or an Implicit faith
in the existence of a patron saint whoso
one aim was to cheer the children, find
themselves speculating on the origin of
the millions of toys and dolls, big and
little, cheap and expensive, which line
counters, fill shelves and even overflow
the streets.
Sonneberg Is the real home of Santa
Claus, the magic realm from which the
jolly, white-bearded old philanthropist
fills his Inexhaustible pack. Iiocated In
Germany In the heart of the Thuringian
forest, storied region from which so many
legends of giants, dwarfs and fairies have
emanated. It is the toymaking center of
the world.
Here every year from January to De
cember all through the sultry days of
July and August, when Christmas is the
thing farthest fronrthe thoughts of the
rest of creation. 12.000 people are working
like beavers to meet the great holiday
rusbT The. town has 50 other Industry and
the -entire population finds its subsistence,
its sole source of revenue, in the manu
facture of dolls and toys of all varletlea
Of one kind-of dolls alone 2,000,000 are
made annually and the total cash value of
the Christmas trade to Sonneberg
amounts to over $6,000,000.
The goods manufactured in Sonneberg
consist of two general classes those of
the less expensive grades intended -for
home consumption and the more elaborate
and valuable ones Intended for exportation
to England, France and the United States.'
There are dolls with bisque, china and
metal heads, dolls which can talk and cry,
walk unaided, and perform almost all the
functions of a normally constituted child;
toys of every conceivable size, shape and
variety, soldiers, wagons, locomotives,
ships, etc., music boxes, Christmas tree
ornaments and marvellous Ingenious ani
mals, .some of them life size and which by
means of clever mechanism can imitate
with wonderful fidelity the sound of the
animals they are supposed to represent.
The lambs bleat, the Hons roar, the cats
mew. the dogs bark, the horses neigh and
the uninitiated visitor suddenly entering
one of these workrooms when the artisans
were fixing In each animal Its proper vocal
cords might Imagine animals In a. menag
erie where bedlam had suddenly broken
loose.
Nationality of Dolls.
Every civilized country of the world re
ceives Its quota of toys from Sonneberg
and this year even such far-off places as
South Africa. India, Russia, Australia and
Egypt were included. Dolls will fell -where
the product of everything else but the
bakeshop goes begging. The natural in
stinct in the little girl is universal and
dolls of all toys are Infinitely the most
popular. Tha youthful maidens arc pa
trlotic, however, .and with a fine sense of
consistency demand that their dolls be of
the- same color and nationality as them
selves. So dainty little French dolls, arrayed in
the very latest of Parisian styles, go to
tho youthful compatriots of President
Loubet, tho German, English and Amer
ican baby mothers each have their pre
ferred type of beauty, colored babies arc
made for the little black damsels of South
Africa, gayly decorated Japanese dolls for
living Japs and almond-eyed celestials for
Chinaland, which keeps out as many Occi
dental products as possible, but which
cannot stop the triumphant march of tho
all-conquering doll.
A very Interesting feature of the toy
making Industry In Sonneberg is 'the fact
that a considerable percentage of the doll
making Is done in the homes of the In
habitants. Each family has its particular
share. In one house the feet are made, in
one adjoining, perhaps 'the bodies. After
each family has made its quota of parts
they are brought to the factory and the
dolls arc put together. All work is paid
for by the piece,, and as to hours, these
people are their own masters.
A Complicated Organism.
Simple as thedolI appears in the hands,
of Its proud baby owner, it Is, like most
simple-appearing things, a very compli
cated organism. Many havo a hand in
the process of its formation. T,ho arms
and legs, for example, usually made of
papier mache or ofchlna, arc the work of
one separate department which does noth
ing else, just as the trunks aro the spe
cial feature of another. The heads, at
first mere hairless pates as bare as the
infantile cranium, are naturally the ob
jects of especial care and necessitate the
attention of many different artisans. One
man paints the eyebrows, another the
lips, one dips the face into wax to give it
the liken era of flesh and still others at
tend to its eyes and the hair! Most of
the blonde dolls wo see In this country
owe their attractiveness to their mohair
wigs, the material for which is imported
to Thuringia from England. This, how
ever, is not all that goes 'to tho making of
the really stylish Viola, the kind that be
cause she is most beautiful and dainty
can be the easiest scalped by the rough
little brothers. If she Is bqrn in the pur
ple sho must have glass eyes. These lus
trous orbs are as carefully blown over gas
as hot as goes to the manufacture of the
finest of BOhemlan glass. They arc then
connected by wire and If the lady Is to
be one that has the charming ability to go
to sleep, the wire Is weighted by a bit of
lead.
If to all these graces there Is tp be
added a voice that can call for Its parents
.or otherwise articulate Its woe a great
deal more labor and cunning is brought
into play.
In Sonneberg over 2000 women and girls
act as dressmakers and attend to the
robing of the dolls. Some o the toilettes
are very elaborate and the prevailing
styles must be just as carefully followed
as If the costumes were designed for
reigning queens of society.
Toymaking Supremacy.
Sonnebergs toymaking supremacy dates
back to the beginning of the 17th century
and has been maintained for nearly 300
years.
The Industry did not really have its
origin there, or as early as 1400, almost
a century before Columbus started on his
history-making voyage, doll-making was
a profitable Industry In Nuremberg and
Augsburg. Then, In the 16th century, the
art was Introduced Into the little Milage
of Judenbach. '
By reason of its favorable situation near
the'Nurnberg-SachsIsche Geleltsstrasse, a
road much frequented, ever since the 13th
century and the only means of communi
cating with Lelpslc and Nuremberg, the
village could always readily dispose of Its
crude wooden house and kitchen utensils,
and later of its little chairs, tables, ani
mals, cros3-bows, swords, guns and musi
cal instruments.
Even long after the art of making wood
enware had been Introduced into Sonne
berge, Nuremberg was still tho market for
those peasant products and continued to
make the most by tha transaction. Not
without reason did they call Sonneberg Its
Goldtochterleln (little gold daughter). Not
until 30 years' war had destroyed all the
trade communication did the Sonneberg
tradesmen themselves begin to travel
about with their wares. The inhabitants
of Judenbach, on the other hand, could
never conclude to leave their native vil
lage in order to sell their products. While
In Judenbach -the toy Industry did not at
tain great proportions. In Sonneberg the
trade as early as the 17th century had
grown to such an extent that when public
markets wore established In Frankfort-on-the-Maln,
the merchants of Sonneberg
were granted equal exemption from taxes
and duties with the merchants of Nurem
berg. Papier Mache Introduced.
Till the ISth century toys were colored
with poisonous bismuth paints. An im
portant step in the development of the in
dustry was the endeavor to make those
parts which were with difficulty carved of
some doughy substance (rye flour mixed
with lime water). But this substance soft
ened and mildewed when moistened. A
decided advance can therefore be recorded
only when Friedrich Muller, a citizen of
Sonneberg, began to use papier mache, a
substance of which he had heard from a
French soldier. The figures were no
longer modelled as before, but tho plastic
mass was now pressed Into shape by
moulds. By means of this new substance
Sonneberg produced Its ware3 with al
most mechanical rapidity. The cost of
this new ware was, moreover, consider
ably reduced a most significant factor in
the manufacture of toys.
Sonneberg citizens are very proud of the
fact that it was in their town that jointed
dolls were first made. Strangely enough
It was from far-off China that the Idea
first came and although these Oriental
dolls with, the movable limbs strung to
gether by cords drawn through tho joints
were rough and crude they were tho fore
runners of one of the greatest advances
which the doll trade has ever known.
The new jointed dolls became instantly
popular all over the world and reflected
new glory for Sonneberg.
. In coloring the faces of these dolls
white lead, a poisonous paint, was long
employed until, by legislative action, its
use was prohibited. Nowadays tho inno
cous zinc oxide and similar harmless col
ors are used. The hair of dolls after
many failures with other material is now
made of mohair and the fur of the An
gora goat.
In this manner the toy industry slowly
developed to its present state. How nu
merous are the varieties of toys now
made may be inferred whea It is consid
ered that the, design room of a Sonneberg
factory contains from 12.000 to 18.000 de
signs. In order to maintain the position which
they have reached toy-makers are con
stantly compelled to bring forth new mod
els and adapt their products to the tastes
and peculiarities of foreign purchasers.
Years ago the chairman of the Sonneberg
Chamber of Commerce and Industry pro
posed the collection of toys made by
manufacturers, in order that Sonneberg
toy-makers might thus be able to acquaint
themselves with the wants and peculiari
ties of foreign markets. Such, a collection
of models has now been made and doea
good service for the manufacturers as
well as for the Btudents at the various In
dustrial schools of Thuringia.
Besides Sonneberg, the towns and vil
lages of "Watterhausen, Frledrichsroda,
Ohrdruf, Bmenau, Hildburghausen, Schlel
uslngen and Coburg are engaged In this
Industry. Toy factories are now scattered
moro or less over half of Germany. They
are distributed from the Black Forest and
tho palatinate to the Sudette Mountains
and the province of Brandenburg.
Christmas means a great deal more to
the little German lad than to his American
prototype far across the sea. This seems
a pretty strong statement to make, for
the average young American Is thorough
ly interested in the Importance of the day,
but the difference Is in this, that -to tha
one It means a great festival, a train of
unlimited extravagances and endless
amusements, whereas to the other It
means bread and butter. Christmas la
merely a pleasure to the American lad to
the Sonneberg boy a necessity.
PECK'S BAD BOY ABROAD
The Old Man Has an Interview With King Edward on the Irish Question.
By Hon. "George TV. Peck, ex-Goveraor of
Wisconsin, formerly publisher of Peek's
Surf, author of "Peck's Bad Boy," etc
Copyright. 1804. by Joseph B. Bowles.
LONDON. irengland. Dear Uncle
Ezra: The worst is over, and dad
and I have both touched a King.
Not tho way you think, touching a King
for a hand-out, or borrowing his loose
change, the way you used to touch dad
when you had to pay for your goods, but
just taking hold of .his hand, and shaking
it in good old United States fashion.
Tho American Minister arranged It for
lis;. He told somebody 'that Peck's Bad
Boy and his dad were In town, and just
wanted to size up a King, and see bow ho
averaged up with United Vfi'tates politi
cians, and tha King set an hour for us
W call.
"Well, you'd llde to see dad fix up.
Everybody said, when We showed our
card at the hotel notifying us that we
were expected at Marlboro House at such
a time, that we would be expected to
put on plenty of dog. That is what an
American from Kalamazoo, who sells
breakfast food. said, and the hotel people
fiald wo would be obliged to wear knee
breeches and dancing pumps, and silk
socks, and all that kind of rot, and men's
furnishers began to call upon us to take
our measure for clothes, but when they
told us how much it would cost, dad
.kicked. He said he had a golf suit he had
made in pchkosh at the" time of the tour
nament, that everyone In Oshkosh said
was out of sight, and was good enough l
for any King, and 20 he rigged up in it,
and I hired a suit at a masquerade place,
and dad hired a coat, kind of red, to go
with his golfants, and sodks, and he
wore canvas tennis shoes. I looked like
a picture out of a 14th century book, but
dad looked like a clown in a circus. One
of dad's calves made him look as though
he had a milk leg, cause tho padding
would not stay around -where the calf
ought .to be, but worked around towards
his shin. We wont to Marlboro House
in a hansom cab, and all the way there
the driver kept looking down from the
hurricane deck, through the scuttle hole,
to see if we were there yet, and "he must
have talked with other cab drivers in
sign language about us, for every driver
kept along with us, looked at us and
laughed, as though wc wero a wild west
show.
- On the way to the King's residence It
was all I could do to keep dad braced up
to go through the ordeal. He was brave
enough before we got the invitation, and
told what he was going to say to the
King, and you would think he wasn't
afraid of anybody, but when wc got near
er to the house, and dad thought of go
ing up to the throne,-and seeing a King
in all his glory, surrounded by his hun
dreds of Lords and Dukes and things, a
crown on his head, and an rmlne cloak
trimmed with red velvet, and a six-quart
milk pan full of diamonds, some of them
as big, as a chunk of alum, dad weakened,
and wanted to givethe whole thing up
and, go to .a matlnte, oat I wouldn't have
It, and told him If he didn't get into
the King row now that I would shake
him right there in London and start In
business as a Claude. Duval highwayman
and hold up stago coaches, and be hung
on Tyburn Tree, as I used to read about
in my history of Slxteen-Stxlng Jack and
other English highwaymen. Dad didn't
want to sec the family disgraced, so ho
let the cab man drive on, but he said
if we got out of this visit to royalty
alive, it was the last tommyrot he would
indulge me in.
Well, old man, it is like having an op
eration for appendicitis; you feel better
when you como out from under the influ
ence of -the chloroform, and the doctor
shows you what they took out of you,
and you feej that you are going to live,
unless you grow another vermiform ap
pendix. Wo were driven into a sort of
Central Park, and up to a building that
was as big as a lot of exposition build
ings, and the servants took us in charge
and walked us through long rooms cov
ered with pictures as big as sideshow pic
tures at a circus, but instead of snake
charmers and snakes and wild men of
Borneo, and sword-swallowers, the King's
pictures were about war, and women
without much clothes on from the belt up.
Gosh, hut some of those pictures made
you think you could hear the roar of bat
tle and emell gunpowder, and dad acted
as though he wanted to git right down on
the marble -floor and dig a rifle pit big
enough to git Into".
'They walked" us around like they do
when you are being initiated into a secret
society, only they didn't sing "Here Comes
the Lobster" and hit you with a dried
bladder. The servants that were conduct
ing us laffed. I had never seen an Eng
lishman laff before, and it was the most
Interesting thing I saw In London. Most
Englishmen look sorry- about something,
as though some dear frierid died even
day, and their faces seem to have grown
that way. So when they laff It seems as
though the wrinkles would stay there,
unless they treated their faces with mas
sage. They wero laughing at dad's dis
located calf, and hl3 scared appearance,
as though he was going to receive the
32d degree, and' didn't know whether they
were going to throw him over a precipice
or pull hlra'up to the roof by the hind
legs. We passed a big hall clock, and it
struck just when we were near It, and of
all the "bark frm tho tomb" sounds I
ever heard, that clock took the cake. Dad
thought it sounded like a death knell, and
ho would have welcomed the turning In of
a Hre alarm as a sound that meant life
everlasting, beside that doleful sound.
After we had marched abdut three mile
heats and passed the chairs of the noble
grand and the senior warden and the ex
alted "ruler, we came to a bronze door as
big as the gate to a cemetery," and the
grand conductor gave U3 a few instruc
tions about how to back out fifteen feet
from the presence of the King, when we
were dismissed, and then he turned usrj
over to a little man who was- a grand
chambermaid, I understood tho fellow to
say. The door opened and we went in,
and dad's misplaced calf was wobbling as
though ho had locomotor attacks-ye.
Well, there were a dozen or so fellows
standing around, and they all had on
some kind of uniforms, with gold badges
on their breasts, and in the midst of them
'was a little, sawed-off fat fellow, not
taller than five feet six, hut a perfect
picture of the" cigar advertisements of
America fer a cigar named after the King.
I expected to see a King as big as Long
John Wentworth, of Chicago, a great big
fellow that, could take a small man by
the collar and throw 'him over a ' house,
and I felt hurt at the small size, of the
King of Great Britain, but. gosh, he is
just like a Yankee, when you get tho
formality shook off.
We bowed and dad made a courtesy,
Uko an old woman, and the King, came
forward with a smile that ought to be
Imitated by every Englishman. They all
Imitate his clothes and bis hats and his
shoes, but he seems to be the only Eng
lishman that smiles. May be It is pat
ented, and nobody has a right to smile
without paying a royalty, but tho good
natured smile of King Edward is worth
more than stomach bitters, and tho Eng
lish ough to bo allowed to copy it. There
Is no more solemn thing than a party of
Englishmen together In America, unless
it is a party of speculators that are short
on wheat, or a gathering of defeated poli
ticians when the election returns come in.
But the'Klng is as Jolly as though he had
no a note coming due at the bank, and
you would think he was a good, common
citizen, after working hours, at a round
beer table, with two schooner loads in the
hold, and another schooner on the way,
frothing over the top of the stein. That
Is tho feeling I had for the King when
he came up to us and greeted dad as tho
father of the bad" boy, and patted me on
the shoulder, and raid: "And so you are
the boy that has made more trouble than
any boy in the world," and had moro fun
than anybody, and made them all stand
around and wonder what was coming
next. You're a wonder. Strange the
American people never thought of killing
you." I said yesslr, and tried to -look In
nocent, and then the King told ,dad to sit
ddwn, and .for me to como- and stand by
his knee, and., by ginger, when he patted
me on the cheek, and hl3 soft hand
squeezed my hand, and he looked Into my
oyes with tho most winning expression, I
did not wonder that all the women were
In' love with him, and that all English
men would die for him.
He asked dad all about America,- its in
stitutions, the President and everything,
and dad just was so flustered that he
couldn't say much, until the King said
something about the war between the
states. In which the Southern States
achieved a victory. I don't know whether
the King said that just to wake dad up,
'cause dad had a Grand Army button on
his coat, but dad choked up a little, and
then began, to explode, a little at a time,
like a bunch of firecrackers, and finally
ho went oft all In a bunch. Dad said:
"Look a here-, Mr. King, some one has got
you all balled up about that war. I
know, because I was in It, and now the
North and the 3outh are united, and can
whip any country that wants to fight a
champion, and will go out and get a repu
tation, by gosh!"
The King laughed at touching dad off,
and asked dad what was the matter of
America and Great Britain' getting to
gether and making all nations know when
they had better keep their places, and
quit talking about fighting. Dad said he
never would consent to American and
Greats Britain getting together to fight
any country until Ireland got justice and
wa3 ready to come Into camp on an
equality, and the King said he would an
swer for the Irishmen of Ireland if dad
would pledge the Irishmen of America,
cause we had about as many Irishmen in
America as he had in Ireland, and dad
said if the King would give Ireland what
she asked for. he would see that the
Irishmen In America would sing God
Save the King. I guess dad and the
King would have settled the Irish ques
tion in about fifteen minutes, and signed
a .treaty, only a servant brought in a
two-quart bottle of champagne, and dad
and the King hadn't drank a quart apiece
before dad started to sing "My Country,
'TIs of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty,"
and the King sang "God. Save the King."
and, by thunder, It was the same tune,
and tears came into dad'3 eyes, and the
King took out his handkerchief and wiped
his nose, and I bellered right out, and
tho King rose and offered a toast to
America and everybody in it, and they
swallered it, and dad said there was
enough juice left in the bottle for one
more round, and he proposed a toast to
all tho people of Great Britain, including
the Irish, and the King, who loved them,
and down she went, and they were stand
ing up. And I told dad It was time to go.
Say, it was great. Uncle Ezra, and I
wish you could have been there, and
there had? been another bottle. The only
thing that happened to mar the reunion
of dad and the King was, when we were
going out backwards, bowing. There was
a little hassock back of me, and I kicked
lt back of dad, and when dad's heels
struck It. he went over backwards and
struck on his golf pants, and dad said:
"EI, 'Ennery. I'ave broken my bloomlnk
back, but who cares." and when the ser
vants picked dad up and took him out in
the hall, and marched us to the entrance,
dad got in the cab, gave the grand hail
ing sign of distress, started to sing God
save something or other, and went to
sleep in the cab, and I took him to the
hotel. Yours, HENNERY.
Bottom of What?
Judge.
The Japanese Emperor smiled upon the
court. "And what," he asked, "what
news of the war?"
"There are, your majesty' answered
the Prime Minister, "reports of a .battle
off the coast."
"I am convinced." observed the Em
peror, with a twinkle; "I am convinced
that If there has be,en any trouble on the
ocean the Russians are at the bottom
of it."