Ark, the hornless cow, the tailless dog, and the elephant that won't
stand up, these play their allotted parts in his innocent comedies,
and meanwhile he grows steadily in sympathy and in comprehension
of the ever-widening circle of human relationships. "When we have
restored playthings to their place in education--a place which assigns
them the principal part in the development of human sympathies, we can
later on put in the hands of children objects whose impressions will
reach their minds more particularly."

Dr. E. Seguin, our Commissioner of Education to the Universal
Exhibition at Vienna, philosophizes most charmingly on children's toys
in his Report (chapter on the Training of Special Senses). He says the
vast array of playthings (separated by nationalities) left at first
sight an impression of silly sameness; but that a second look
"discovered in them particular characters, as of national
idiosyncrasies; and a closer examination showed that these puerilities
had sense enough in them, not only to disclose the movements of the
mind, but to predict what is to follow."

He classifies the toys exhibited, and in so doing gives us delightful
and valuable generalizations, some of which I will quote:--

"Chinese and Japanese toys innumerable, as was to have been expected.
Japanese toys much brighter, the dolls relieved in gold and gaudy
colors, absolutely saucy. The application of the natural and
mechanical forces in their toys cannot fail to determine the taste of
the next generation towards physical sciences.

"Chinese dolls are sober in color, meek in demeanor, and comprehensive
in mien.... The favorite Chinese toy remains the theatrical scene