CHILDREN: Toys of the Times

After 20 years in disgrace, this Christmas the toy soldier is marching home in triumph. On display at the annual Manhattan exhibition of the Toy Manufacturers’ Association were tanks, airplanes, antiaircraft guns, battle cruisers, submarines —a11 reproductions of Army & Navy equipment, accurate down to the insignia.

One toy set inspired by Lieut. General Lear has a group of Red Cross nurses standing beside soldiers who roll their eyes and whistle. Other toys of the times:

> A target range where a good shot can bring down a parachutist.

> A “Thumbs Up, the Victory Game,” where the winning card combination is three dots, a dash and a V.*

> A game where players advance when a spinner stops at Aluminum, retreat at Bottleneck or Fire in Oil Fields; its banker is called Chief of Priority.

One of Saki’s short stories, written in World War I, concerns an idealist named Harvey Bope who followed a peace-council suggestion, bought his nephews toys representing municipal buildings, Economist John Stuart Mill, other greats of civil life. A half-hour later he found that the boys had punched holes in the buildings for imaginary cannon, had dyed John Stuart Mill to make him look like a French marshal. Said saddened Harvey Bope: “The experiment has failed.”

* In World War I, the best-selling game board was called “Kop the Kaiser.”