The Lamar register. [volume], November 13, 1912, Image 6

About The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952

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THE TOY
MAN
By VIRGINIA BLAIR
Peggy told her mother about him. |
“Are you sure you are telling me ;
the truth r* Mra. Danforth asked. “O! .
course I do not want to doubt your .
word, Peggy, but you know you do
weave fairy tales sometimes, and this
sounds like one."
"No, this Is a really and truly man,**
Peggy Insisted, “and he lives In a big
house on top of a hill, and you go In
by a little gate and there Is a walk
with holly trees on each side of It,
and at the end there Is a door, with
a brass knocker with a funny face,
and you knock, and the man opens the
door, and shows you Into a long room
that Is almost dark except at one end
where there Is a window with a lot
of oolored glass la It, and all around
the room are toys, and the man wears
a velvet coat and he has a lovely
smile, mother."
“But how," Mrs. Danforth demand
ed, “did you happen to go there,
Peggy T"
"All the children do," Peggy de
dared. "When we go home from
school we run up the path and bang
with the knocker and see the toys,
and he never soolds, but Just seems
glad to have us."
“Well, don’t you go again," Mrs.
Danforth said, “until I find out about
him. Peggy. It Is a strange kind of
man that wanted to bother with all
the small boys and girls from your
school."
“They don't all go, mother," said
Josephine, who was Peggy’s sister,
nineteen, and very pretty. “I went ,
to meet Peggy yesterday and there 1*
a oolored porter who stands at the
gate and he does not let all the chll
dren In, Just the Uttlest ones like
P*ggy”
“Yes, Just the llttlest ones like
me," said Peggy, complacently, "and 1
asked him who the toys were for and
he said he was making them for good
children for Christmas."
Josephine laughed. “Do you think
you’re going to get someT”
Peggy nodded.
"I am going to be as good as good,"
she said.
When Peggy had left the room Mrs.
Danforth asked. "Is It the new tenant
at the Oaks that she Is talking about,
Josephine T’
"Yes. He moved in a week ago, and
It Is a funny household, mother. There
Is Just the toy man with two old
servants, two wolf-hounds and a white
cat"
“Does he make the toys?" Mrs. Dan
forth asked.
Josephine nodded. "Yes, he carves
all day. so the teacher told me. 1
met her the other day when I went
for Peggy."
The next afternoon Peggy did not
get home on time. Her apologies
when she did return were profuse.
“The Toy Man was waiting for me
and 1 Just had to go."
“But I told you not to." Mrs. Dan
forth said.
“He asked me and asked me. moth
er,” Peggy said, “and you wouldn't
want me to be not polite, would you?”
“The next time you must tell him
that mother does not want you to go
In. Now, remember, Peggy.”
The next day Peggy came home
with a rueful countenance.
“He came out and asked me to go
ln, she stated, “and I did not feel
very nice to tell him you wouldn’t let
me.
“I wonder why he wants Peggy
more than the other children?” Mrs
Danforth asked Josephine.
“Goodness only knows,” said Jo
sephine, and that afternoon, moved
by curiosity, she made her walk take
her In the roadway that led to the
Oaks.
Thus it happened that she met the
gentleman with the nice smile and
the velveteen coat face to face He
was standing at the gate, and as the
children passed he asked them to
come In, selecting, as Peggy had said,
the llttlest ones. Josephine joined
Peggy as the little maid said, regret
fully, “I mustn’t come In. Mother
won’t let me.” Then she questioned
Josephine. “Don’t you think I could,
Josey?”
Josephine hesitated. "Maybe If 1
went, too.”
“Would you?” asked the Toy Man
eagerly. "I should be so glad to have
you.”
He led the way to the big door
with the brass knocker and Josephine
and a group of little folks followed.
Josephine found that Peggy had not
half told of the beauty and charm of
the big room where the toys stood In
shadowy corners, and the stained
glass window gave a mysterious light.
They were strange toys, some of
them little green gods with yellow
eyes, little Ivory elephants, whose
heads nodded, Chinese mandarins,
bronze Hons.
"Surely you do not make these,"
Josephine said.
He shook his head. “These are what
I make," he said, and brought down
from a high shelf a little figure at the
The Rexall Store
sight of which Josephine exclaimed.
“Why. it's Peggy!"
It was only In the rough clay, and
a tiny thing, but It was Peggy to the
life, poised on tip-toe, curls flying,
eyes wide with mystery of childhood.
“They do not know,” he said, “when
they play with my lions and my little
old gods that they are my models. I
work briskly, and tell them I am mak
ing toys; otherwise they would be
self-conscious."
"Do you use only children for mod
els?" Josephine asked.
"I like them best —yet I hare
thought that my masterpiece will bs
the figure of a girl, half child, half
woman, ’Where the brook and river
meet.'"
“Yon should have a very beautiful
model," Josephine said. "Won't It be
bard to flndT"
He smiled down at her. T have
found my model," he said.
But Josephine did not understand
the significance of hla tons.
"1 wish I might watch you work."
she said.
"I hope you will watch me many
times," he said. He hesitated, and
then asked, "Do you think your moth
er would let you sit for me? I should
like to do you as you are now with
that big muff and fur, and with that
three-cornered hat on top of your
curls. You seem the very spirit of
youth; your vividness almost lights
up this dull room."
Josephine had never been called
pretty, and there was something In
this man’s tone that made her feel
that he meant what he said. It was
not flattery, but rather the satisfied
estimate of one who baa found what
he wants.
“I am afraid mother wouldn't let
me come here," she said, "but If you
could work at our house."
“1 will ask her," he told her.
That night be pleaded so eloquently
that Mrs. Danforth consented, and ev
ery day after that Josephine sat for
him, with Peggy and the little folks,
and the status grew under his dsft
fingers.
It seemed to Josephine In these
days that life took on new meanings
This man, with the slender, white
fingers and the kind smile, became so
much a part of her thoughts and her
dally life that when one morning be
announced that the statue was fin
lshed and his sojourn at the Oaks end
ed, she gave a little gasp of dismay
“Are you going to leave us?” she
asked.
He did not look at her as he said,
slowly, "I must. I cannot stay here
any longer; I must not."
She didn’t dare ask him why; some
instinct told her that It was because '
of her that he was going. Because
she was a woman she must let him
leave In silence. The children ex
pressed their regrets; they did not
know how they were to get along
without their dear Toy Man.
"Aren’t we ever going to come and
knock at the knocker and see the
mandarin and the lions?" Peggy
walled.
“Josephine shall have the key,” he
said. “Perhaps she will come here
sometimes and let you play. Will
you?” he asked and Josephine said.
“Yes."
After he had gone, however, she
found that It was not easy to visit the
big empty room. The spirit of the man
who had presided was lacking, the
children were restless without his
quick suggestion and tactful planning
It gradually came about, therefore. •
that the boys were left alone in the
big room, and the children played out
of doors In the winter sunshine.
Josephine droopped and lost her
brightness, and at last Mrs. Danforth
sent her to visit an aunt In the city
Then a round of sight-seeing and of
excitement began for Josephine.
YOU CAN’T LOSE US!
Warm Weather or Cold Weather
PLUMBING A SPECIALTY
C. C. HUDDLESTON
HARDWARE, IMPLEMENTS, HARNESS
One day she came to an art exblblf
and was startled to find her oounter
part in white marble In the center ol
the room. It was a beautiful figure
and was surrounded by an admiring
crowd. Josephine, gazing at it, forgot
her surroundings. Then some one said,
“Hush! here comes tbe sculptor," and
she turned and faced the Toy Man.
“You—at last," he said, and drew
her away from the crowd. In a se
cluded corner of the room he asked
her many questions.
"Did you think me cruel to leavs
you ?"
Josephine’s face flamed. "I didn't j
dare think," she said. •
"If I had not seen you here," he
told her, "I was going back tomorrow j,
to the Oaks to find you, and you know
why I want you Josephine?’’
“I am not Bure,” she faltered. <
, “There were things that kept me *
from you,” he explained. j
“I had had great money failures,
and the old furniture In that house (
was the extent of my possesslona f
Everything depended upon my ability
:o make good with this statue. I was
to receive a contract for larger work.
If I could produce something besides .
the tiny figures over which I had I
wasted so many years. If m y ztatus I
of you had failed I would have had I
no right to ask you to marry me for I
ruin would have faced me, but now |
aow I can go baok, and we will work ■
together.”
The children In the little town wel
comed back their Toy Man with en- |
thuslasm. He was too busy now to !
have them every day, but once a week
they were welcome, and Just before
Christmas he and Josephine were
married. After the wedding there
was a strange departure from the
usual custom, for Instead of a recep
tion at the bride’s house, there was a
house warming In the big living room
at the Oaks. Only children were In
vited, and each child as It went away j
received a toy, and Peggy rapturous
l and smiling assisted In the dlstrlbu
_
Ispecial!
Every Day is a Special Day with Us
11. ■ ■■ i ■ i .i ■ ns
We always make a Special Effort
to please our Customers
jy BIG, NEW. BRIGHT LINE OF
I HIGH GRADE
I MERCHANDISE
j 1 GEO. A. EVERETT]
I Phone I error 3* Lamar, e«lo. I
Hardware, Furniture,
Tinware Harness, etc
Wf carry the largest a'-, k in our line ever carried
in eastern Colorado ar. can sell to yon al lowest
prices ever known in . Arkansan valley
THE LAMAR HARDWARE CO.