THE TOYS OF LONG AGO

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 9, 5 October 1940, Page 18

THE TOYS OF LONG AGO

TTAVB you ever wondered how all the ingenious mechanical toys we see X 1 on display in the toy sections of the larger shops were invented? Small

dolls have only to be wound by a tiny side-screw and they immediately run round and round in a complete circle; miniature aeroplanes require a mere push.of the propeller and they are whirring and crashing along on the air—-for all the world like real ’planes! There are dozens of these mechanical playthings, each with a screw or spring which only needs winding and away it will buzz in an amazing fashion. Then there is the rocking-horse. Many small boys go straight to the corner of the shop where he is on display and gaze longingly at his dappled coat and flying mane. Perhaps you have often wondered where all these mechanical ideas came from. Would yon be surprised if yon knew that boys

and girls 4000 years ago experienced almost the same delight with their animated toys? You probably find this difficult to credit, and yet it is true. Toys are by no means a modern idea. There are in the British Museum Egyptian toys which date back some 4500 years; among them are toy animals and a doll which looks like any modern doll. The rocking-horse was familiar to the children of ancient Greece and some of the Greek vases which have been recovered from old ruins show drawings of children seated on rocking-horses! Many of the ancient toy animals in the British Museum can be made to dance' and nod their heads by pulling strings.