文档介绍：The Toys of Peace
The Toys of Peace
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The Toys of Peace
THE TOYS OF PEACE
"Harvey," said Eleanor Bope, handing her brother a cutting from a
London morning paper of the 19th of March, "just read this about
children's toys, please; it exactly carries out some of our ideas about
influence and upbringing."
"In the view of the National Peace Council," ran the extract, "there are
grave objections to presenting our boys with regiments of fighting men,
batteries of guns, and squadrons of 'Dreadnoughts.' Boys, the Council
admits, naturally love fighting and all the panoply of war . . . but that is no
reason for encouraging, and perhaps giving permanent form to, their
primitive instincts. At the Children's Welfare Exhibition, which opens at
Olympia in three weeks' time, the Peace Council will make an alternative
suggestion to parents in the shape of an exhibition of 'peace toys.' In
front of a specially-painted representation of the Peace Palace at The
Hague will be grouped, not miniature soldiers but miniature civilians, not
guns but ploughs and the tools of industry . . . It is hoped that
manufacturers may take a hint from the exhibit, which will bear fruit in the
toy shops."
"The idea is certainly an interesting and very well-meaning one," said
Harvey; "whether it would eed well in practice--"
"We must try," interrupted his sister; "you ing down to us at
Easter, and you always bring the boys some toys, so that will be an
excellent opportunity for you to inaugurate the new experiment. Go
about in the shops and buy any little toys and models that have special
bearing on civilian life in its more peaceful aspects. Of course you must
explain the toys to the children and interest them in the new idea. I regret
to say that the 'Siege of Adrianople' toy, that their Aunt Susan sent them,
didn't need any explanation; they knew all the uniforms and flags, and
even the names of the manders, and when I heard them one
day using what seemed to be t