Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1890 — Toys of the Olden Time. [ARTICLE]

Toys of the Olden Time.

A thoughtful-looking little gentleman sat in the Girard House, of Philadelpliia, one evening watching th«_ people pass in and out and listening te snatches of conversation which wer* wafted to his ears. He sat alone in s corner, smoking a pipe with a long slender stem. His black coat wa» ornamented with braid, and his grej hair was topped by a black skull cap. The gentleman is Ahguste Blare, ol Paris, an inventor of mechanical toys. He has spent his life in this work, and each year brings him additional interest in it. Mr. Blare has a marvelous fund of anecdote, especially aboul the wonders of automata, and takei great pleasure in talking about th« latter. “Puppets and marionette were patronized,” he said, “both by the Greek* and the Romans, and automata, which are the inventions now principally dealt in, also go back to a remote period. Vulcan's tripod on wheels has the authority of Homer; Daedalus made moving statues; Arehytas of Threntum, in 400 B. C.. invented a wooden pigeon that could fly in the air. In the sixteenth century Regiomantamons made an iron fly which moved through the atmosphere, and afterward an automatic eagle, which on the arrival of the Emperor Maximilian at Nuremburg, flew forth to meet him. “But one of the most wonderful oi such inventions of which we have record was a group of automata constructed by Philip Canluz for Louie * XIV. This consisted of a coach and four horses that started off at the crack of a whip, the horses prancing, trotting and galloping in turn. It ran along until it got in front of the King, when it stopped. Then a toy footman descended, and opening the carriage door, handed out a lady ‘with born grace,’ as the records tell U 3. The lady made a courtesy, presented a petition to the Emperor, re-entered her carriage and was driven rapidly away. Such is the description of the most wonderful automaton,” concluded Mr. Blare. “I never saw the toy itself, ol course, but the description just given to you tallies almost word for word with an authentic record. I memorized the latter at one time, so marvelous did it seem to me.”