I
The Omajha Sunday Bee Magazine Fa
whMEEAM
How Your
CHILD'S TOYS
AFFECT
HIS HEALTH
SCIKNCR him discovered that children's toys are
not men playthings, but are Instruments for the
forming of mind and character. They react,
according to the scientists, not only upon the physical
being, but upon mental and spiritual sides of the
nature. The Society for Ethical Culture In New
York recenlly irate recognition to this newly dis
covered truth by giving an exhibition of toys that
nhonld survive. Those which should vanish, becaune
useless or detrimental to the child who plays with
them, were carefully eliminated. They were ren
dered conspicuous only by their absence.
That the minds of Intelligent parents were at work
jpon the problem was shown by the letters sent by
those whoso children attended the Epical Culture
School. The Parents' and Teachers Conference sent
out letters of Inquiry to parents. The questionnaire
resulted In surprising unanimity In the expression
of needs. Without exception tho parents desired to
Know what toys were best for their children, and re
quested that an exhibition should bo given of such
toys. The parents generally responded that not only
were some toys foolish and useless, but that they
were harmful
' The Society for Ethical Culture appointed a com
mittee to endeavor to solve the problem of right and
wrong toys and directed it to confer with scientists
and toymakers to that end. The findings of the com
mittee were to appear in concrete form at the exhi
bition. The exhibition, given at the Ethical Culture So
ciety's Building In New York, set for all who saw a
new standard in toys. Only those toys that educa
tors and psychologists were convinced were genuinely
helpful to the children were exhibited. Only those
games were shown which the experts had determined
would develop the child's faculties.
An object which attracted general and studious at
tention was a model of a playground. It was such a
playground as could be arranged on the roof or at
Jie rear of almost any home. It contained swings,
sliding ropes, bars for "chinning" and rings by which
the children lifted themselves above the ground. A
Children Better MENTALLY, MORALLY and PHYSICALLY If They Are Allowed Only the
RIGHT KIND of
PLAYTHINGS
device by which children swung
down an Inclined rope was vouched
for as one that had cured a little
girl of what had seemed hopeless
Umldity.
There were numerous dolls, but
It was observable that among them
was not one monstrosity. Not one
was out of drawing. Some were
beautiful. All were normal. They
were not dolls that did things un
less aided by the child's strength
and Imagination. There were
among them no crying or talking
dolls, nor dolls that walked or
danced by pressing a button, nor
by any other mechanical means.
In the collection were toy
animals, but none of the mechan
ical sort, noae that could be wound
up and would "go of themselves."
A large, perfectly formed camel, a
fine specimen of the nearly extinct
buffalo, a bear and an elephant
were exhlbltedamong the useful
toys.
An aeroplane was a central
figure f the toy exhibition, and be
side it were shown all the parts
needed to enable nn Ingenious child
4Wlth some direction at the begin
ning, to make his own airship. Ac
curacy was necessary, for if one
part were omitted the aeroplane
would collapse.
There was a doll house, but one
not completely furnished. Many
articles were left to the ingenuity
of the child to supply. ,
One of the most interesting of
the exhibits was a derrick, crudely
built. It Is true, but operative,
which Is the essential thing. Every
thing In the assemblage was either
useful or beautiful. Whenever pos
sible both qualities were combined.
On the whole the exhibition de
pended for its success on what was
eliminated. Conspicuous for their
absence were all articles of a
freakish nature. All objects in
trinsically ugly were banished.
There were no animals with
horrible heads on natural bodies,
nor natural heads on horrible
bodies. Certain Japanese toy anl-
mmmmammm
1
Toys and Games Which Science Finds Espec ially Suitable for Children at Certain Ages.
A Four months, celluloid dumbbell. B One to two years, large rubber ball. C Two to four years, un
breakable dolls. D Four to 6 years, picture puzzles. E Six to nine years, dominoes.
mals were discarded, the remark of the three-year-old
daughter of one of the committee
being quoted In support of their action
banishing a Japanese cat with hideous, grinning head:
"Please take It away. I don't like it. I never saw
anything like that."
Practically ' all mechanical toys were swept from
the table. Trains that moved on circular tracks, ar
riving nowhere and going nowhere, were discarded,
as were automobiles that ran on a set track. Only
those toys which permitted the play of the child's
imagination, as a train that could be directed from
and to different points at the exercise of the child's
will and Imagination, were allowed to remain. A doll
house, already furnished, was barred for the same
reason. They removed the personal equation. They
gave the child nothing to do.
Summed up, the exhibition by the School for Ethical
Culture avoided all toys that stultify- a child and
displayed all that would promote his mental, moral
and physical growth. Toys should be useful or
beautiful, or both. They should stimulate his imag
ination or should train him to do something. If they
performed neither of these offices they were useless,
and because useless were harmful. There should be
no toys that made the child a mere spectator, as a
doll house that left the little owner nothing to do In
fitting or caring for it, or a balloon that went of
itself.
The committee of the School for Ethical Culture
and Its scientific associates deduced that there are
but two results for the children who' do nothing for
themselves. If society continues to pamper them,
they will become paupers or join the antl-soclal class
'become criminals. For the sake of society it asks
that all useless toys must go.
Miss Mary L. Read. B. S., director of the School of
Mothercraft of New York City, in her book, "The
Mothercraft Manual," issued by Little, Brown & Co.,
ONE SUPERSTITION That OUGHT to Be BURIED
THE habit of promiscuous ex
pectoration is an uncleanly
and disgusting one, and yet,
strange to say, it is surrounded by
much superstition. In days of an
tiquity spitting was resorted to In
order to ward off danger, and up
to the present time luck is wooed
and misfortune avoided by tho
process of spitting.
Newborn children are treated to
a lavish expectoration in some
countries; fishermen spit upon their
hooks after baiting them.
In Sweden a great deal of super
stitious spitting still takes place.
Persons spit Into their beds before
retiring; playing cards are spat
upon when luck is bad, and ,every
new suit of clothes Is made the ob-
ject of a salivary demonstration.
The widespread belief In the won
derful powers possessed by saliva
I, however, not always allied to
Imaginative superstition, but often
seems to savor of empiricism. In
parts of Scotland warts on the
hand are supposed to vanish with
great celerity should they he
anointed each morning with the
first spittle formed by their owner's
salivary glands after awaking. The
,
Diagram Showing the Location of
the Three Separate Sets of Sali
vary Glands the Sublingual (A)
Under the Tongue; the Submax
illary (B) Along the Side of the
, Tongue, and the Parotid (C) at
the Angle of the Jaw.
most extraordinary part of the
story is that there seems to be a
degree of truth in it
In America the curative power of
spittle is vouched for by many of
the intelligent classes. The wounds
of dogs are said to heal best if
treated solely with the injured ani
mal's tongue.
The Gaelic race has ever been
deeply absorbed in legendary fan
cies and mythical creations, many
of which are connected with spit
ting. Ireland Is noted for its many
"evil-minded" people. In many
cases the evil-minded person is com-
pelled by the injured man, on pain S
of bodily damage, to spit upon the
object of his pretended admiration,
and at the same time to invoke a
blessing on it Admiration from an
evil-minded person is always re
garded as of ill omen.
In Connemara a bowl is some
times sent around the neighborhood,
and each person to whom it is pre
sented is expected to spit into it
The bowl is then taken home, and
the person or animal overlooked Is
anointed with spittle. The object of
this is to obtain the spittle of the
person responsible for the Injury
without giving him offense or awak
ening his suspicion, as a direct ap
peal to him would be certain to do.
Superstitions ru said to die hard;
and It would seem from the fore
going facts that the one .under dis
cussion has been endowed with a
phenomenal vitality. Despite its
absurdity, fllthlness and unhygienic
character, the salivary superstition
has still survived; whereas, on sani
tary grounds, It should, without fur
ther loss of time, be burled and
never he revived.
urges the forming of early tastes In play. She ad
vises placing In the nursery "large, colored and ar
tistic pictures of babies, cats and dogs," because
their presence develops the social sense toward other
children and a protective sense toward anlmal3. Mrs.
Read counsels the presence in the nursery of "a
variety of forms and toys, harmonious, gay colors, at
tractive forms and features." She insists upon "the
exclusion of ugly, vulgar, rude pictures and toys."
Miss Read, in an exceptionally interesting and In
formative chapter on "The Toy Age," says: "When
the baby first begins to grasp objects and stare at
them, the toy age begins. That is at about four
weeks. It increases rapidly in force during the first
year, and Is at its height from two to about ten years.
. By twelve it is devoted chief to apparatus for
games. It wanes with, the di ..ie of Imaginative
plays and gives way to interest in reading and in
industries.
"Toys, a the child's constant, most intimate com
panions, and most used Implements during these im
pressionable years, inevitably have a marked influ
ence upon his character and development.
"How far are the child's expressions of desire for
toys an index to the value of the toys or permanent
Interest In them at home? Relatively slight. It Is
necessary to distinguish between his passing whim
and vital interest. Children are momentarily at
tracted by the gorgeous, the vivid colored. This ex
plains their interest while in the toy Bhop in the
realistic French doll with wonderful clothes and a
speaking voice; in the mechanical toys and the flimsy
nonentities. At home, in the play room, they are soon
broken and cast away without more than a ripple of
emotion, and the realistic French doll languishes
alone in her glory, while plain Mary Jane
receives the daily ministrations of affection and com
radshlp. "It is these factors of glitter, noise, rhythm, imita
tion, physical activity, combined with the possibilites
of movement and counter-movement, augmented by
the attitude and remarks of their elders, who, assum
ing the reasonableness of war, praise military activi
ties, that explain the chHd's interest in military toys.
Any other toys that have these same qualities will
hold the child's enthusiasm as well. Engines, trains
and their crews, fire engines and firemen, steam
boats and sailors, life-savers, fishermen, policemen,
mines and miners, steeplejacks, divers, painters, car
penters, farmers there is a great range of possibili
ties. "It is true that not many of these are found in the
i
toy shops, but they will be found
there as soon as the demand Is
sufficient. It should be noted in
passing that the military toys are
imiwrted from foreign countries,
where was has been considered the ,
climax of virtue, and where little
children, especially in the royal
families, were Imbued with a spirit
of military prowess. The conse
cuences are written so large that
'the wayfaring man, though a fool, cannot err thereby.'
International peace will begin in the nursery, in the
training to ideals of activity and heroism that
are constructive and helpful, not destructive."
Miss Read applies to toys these tests of value:
Are they lovable?
Are they durable in composition and workmanship?
Are they stimulating to imagination, analysis, in
vention, initiative, activity, workmanship?
Are they adapted to experimentation, investigation
or constructive purposes?
Are they adapted to the child's stage of development
that is, to his motor ability, his Interests, his mental
development?
Are they sanitary, washable, without inaccessible
corners to hair or dirt and germs?
Are they artistic in form, color, expression that
is, simple in design, harmonious in color, genuine,
without either thorough realism or sentimentality?
Among harmful toys Miss Read cites these as
threatening the physical nature of the child:
Dangerous toys as those that have sharp edges,
corners or points. Unhygienic, those not washable,
made in an unsanitary factory; having paint or dye
that runs; too small for the child's development.
Inartislc those giving harsh, metallic, jingling j
sounds; ugly, ill-proportioned shapes; harsh or inhar
monious colors; ugly, simpering or unwholesome ex
pressions in dolls or animals.
Those: toys that are in psychological sense harmful
Mrs. Read classifies:
First Mechanical, which merely amuse the child,
making him only a spectator, instead of providing him
means for his own creative activity.
Second Military toys, demoralizing for these rea
sons: They cultivate the spirit of destructivene-ca -la- '
stead of constructiveness; they foster callousness
toward the value of human life; they give a wholly
wrong Impression of the meaning of war, omitting its
destructive social and industrial effects, over-emphasizing
the joy of its enthusiasm and rhythm.
In the class of Jia.mful toys sh( places "the
over-realistic and the super-refined, especially in
dolls."
George Thomas White Patrick, professor of philos
ophy in the State University of Iowa, says in his
work on "The Psychology of Relaxation" that the '
love of conflict In play is evidence of "a child's
dreams that throw back to the cave and camp, the
hunting ground and battlefield of his primitive ances
tors," and is by no means laudable, nor to be encouraged.
Just Why HIGH PLACES Make You FEEL GIDDY
THAT peculiar sensation known
as "giddiness," which we ex-
high buildings 16oklng Earthward,
has recently been interestingly ex
plained by science.
According to this explanation
whenever 6ur normal vision of
moving objects is suddenly im
paired, or the sense of sight is
shocked by some unusual catas
trophe, we are affected like a young
colt suddenly blindfolded. There Is
a constriction of the heart muscle
and a sensation of fullness in the
throat which makes us feel that
we are choking or fainting.
Far-sighted people are less prone
to a giddy sensation at great
How Parallel Light Rays Are Fo
cussed by a Far-Sighted Eye at a
Point (X) Behind the Retina In
stead of in Front Where They Do
iiv a Normal Eye as Indicated by
the Dotted- Lines. Far-Sighted
People Are Seldom Giddy.
heights than those near-sighted.
This is because objects moving and
passing beneath them are less
blurred by distance, air currents
and heat waves. It has long been
SAVE YOUR CIGAR
ASHES-
They Are WORTH MILLIONS
THE war is teaching the na
tions of the earth how much
they have been throwing
away. Germany was supplying the
world with potash, and as the sup
ply has ieei) cut off there France,
Xsglasd and the United States have
been pot to it to supply the great
seed of this Important product
The latest discovery of a large
source of potash, which has been
overlooked, was made by Professor
B. JL BorrelL of London, who shows
that England la throwing away tons
of potash la a very usable form.
He has made a spoclal study of the
ashes derived from burning tobacco,
a pipe, cigar and cigarette, and he
has proved that 3D per cent of the
tobacco Is preserved as ashes, and
that from these ashes may be ex
tracted SO per cent of potash and
I to I pr cent of anhydrous phos
phorus. 10
He found that a cigar weighing
two ounces left more than one-half
ounce of ash, which yielded 1 per
cent of potash. Twenty cigarettes
weighing a little more than one
ounce yielded one-third of an ounce
of ash and one-twentieth of an
ounce of potash, and a pipe stuffed
with tobacco gave a similar per
centage of ash and potash.
lie claims that it would be well
worth while to collect tobacco
ashes, especially where much smok
ing is done, as in the clnbs and
hotels and restaurants. On ono
day Professor Burrell collected
nearly three onnces In a hotel
lobby, over three ounces in a res
taurant and nearly fourteen ounces
from a theatre where smoking was
permitted. He figured that as Eng
land smokes 43,241 tons of tobacco
a year, they would get 13,573 tons
of ashes, and 2.715 tons of potash
by saving the ashes.
In the United States the consump
tion of tobacco is far greater. We
produce more than a billion pounds,
we import over forty-five million
pounds from Cuba and Porto Rico,
besides imported cigars costing
more than 14.000,000 a year. We
export over 300,000,000 pounds, and
18,000,000 worth of manufactured
tobacco and cigars, but our con
sumption is more than seven hun
dred million pounds a year.
This would yield over 220,000,000
pounds of ashes from which we
would secure more than 44,000,000
pounds of potash and some 10,000,
000 pounds of anhydrous phos
phorus. The value of both of theso
products has increased so enor-
mouslv slnrn the war hocan that S
it is" easy to see how we are flicking
away something like $50,000,000,
which could easily be saved by
gathering the ashes from all the
ash-receivers and selling them to
the chemists who are equipped to
extract the potash and phosphorus.
the practice to recommend looking
at nearby objects to steady one's
nerves when feeling giddy.
The optic and aural sense of
balance are somewhat Interlocked
in their action on the nervous
system. To many people the sight
of blood produces exactly the same
sinking sensation and faintness
which is known as giddiness tinder
other circumstances. Sea-sickness
is another phase of the same affec
tion. The mechanism of the middle ear
is believed to provide a sense of
balance to human beings and, when
this very delicate organ becomes de
ranged while we are on shies toss
ing in a heavy sea, the much-
dreaded sea-sickness takes hold of
us. In some people this sense of
balance Is super-acute and they are
never able to become so accustomed
to sea travel as to eliminate the
ailment.
Famous steeple-climbers often
complain that certain sights or
sounds make them "lose their
nerve" when they are working at
great heights. Some assert that
the sound of music absolutely un
nerves them if they can hear it at
all clearly; others that a Budden
Diagrammatic View of the , Ear
Showing (A) the External Ear;
(B) the Middle Ear, and (C) the
Inner Ear. It Is the Mechanism
of the Middle Ear, Science Be
lieves, That Helps Provide Va
With a Sense of Balance.
noise, such as the dropping of a
hammer on a steel girder, causes
them to lose their grip.
" Air these apparent supersititions
may be traced to very logical causes
when one comprehends the delicate
structure of the nervous system In
volved in our sense of balancef '
Why WEDDING RINGS Are So Often VERY ANNOYING
ONE of the greatest annoy
ances experienced by Jewel
ers is the oft-repeated com
plaint that their gold ornaments
cannot be pure gold because they
blacken the skin. Many Jewelers
have been accused of adding lead to
the gold. Wedding rings are the
source of greatest complaint
This blackening of the skin which
comes in contact with gold is in-Copyrlg-ht
1917,
variably explained hy one of two
chemical reactions. It is caused
either by oil compounds or by sul
phur. The oil of the skin, which nature
provides for the sake of pliability,
contains more or less oleic acid.
When gold is rubbed over this Bub
stance a chemical reaction pro
duces oleate of gold, Which is black
In color.
This same reaction often takes
place as a result of oils In soap or
cold cream and ointments. If a
handkerchief is moistened with a
drop of oil and rubbed briskly over
pure gold, the same black oleate of
gold is deposited on the cloth.
To a lesser degree, an excess of
sulphur in the air or In the body
produces a similar blackening of
the skin when it comes in contact
with gold. A gold watch carried in
the same pocket with a box of sul-
by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved.
phur matches will very soon be
come a3 black as gunmetaL
Matches kept In a bureau drawer
will blacken all the gold and silver
ornaments in the surrounding draw
ers. The yolks of eggs contain a large
sulphur component and silver or
gold plated spoons are immediately
blackened when used in eating
eggs. Certain people have an over
abundance of sulphur In the system,
and gold jewelry will tarnish un
usually fast when in contact witli
their skins.
Thepurer the gold used in Jew.
elry the more of the black gold de
posit will be left on the skin. Four
teen, eighteen and twenty-two karat
golds register their purity by the
amount of their deposit. This Is
why purer gold is less durable and
wears away faster than gold con
talnlng a large percentage of alloy
i