lA 
 
 THE TOY SHOP 
 
 A STORY, OF LINC04-N"^ 
 
 MARGARITA 3PALniNG GE^RRV 
 
r 
 
"Qhe TOY 
 SHOP 
 
 A Romantic Story 
 OF Lincoln the Man 
 
 BY 
 
 MARGARITA SPALDING GERRY 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS 
 
 new YORK AND LONDON 
 
 \'^SlS.'^ 
 
.9 ' 
 
 .G38 
 
 Books by 
 MAEGAEITA SPALDING GERRY 
 
 THE FLOWERS. 8vo. 
 THE TOY-SHOP. Illustrated. 16mo. 
 PHILIPPA'S FORTUNE. Post 8vo. 
 PHILIPPA AT THE CHATEAU. Post 8vo. 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK 
 
 -h -x ^3 2.<i 
 
 Copyright, 1908, by Harper & Brothers 
 Published September, 1908 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 B. X. 
 
The child is eternal^ and so are toys and tears 
 and laughter. When the house is put in order 
 by strange men, 'when the clothes that 'were 
 'Worn and the toots that 'were used are put 
 a<zvay, there <wilt be found an upper room full 
 of toys. These remain. 
 
THE TOY^SHOP 
 
THE TOY- SHOP 
 
 tri-ri. 
 
 HE Man was leaving his own front 
 door. On the steps he paused and 
 looked sombrely back. The white 
 pillars of the facade rose before 
 him in stately fashion. They re- 
 minded him of the care he was evading for 
 the moment, and he sighed. Though he shat 
 his eyes determinedly, he knew that another 
 grim bwilding jttst beyond, the tisaal end of 
 his journeying, demanded him, and he sighed 
 again. This time there was something more 
 than weariness in the sound. 
 
 From around the corner of the house, 
 which almost hid from view the white tents 
 3 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 of the Home Guard, ran a child. He was 
 bright-faced, and magnificent in a minia- 
 ture officer's tmiform. 
 
 ** Oh, papa-day!** he cried. ** Never mind 
 the curtains for my stage. You are always 
 too busy now to see my plays, anyway — !*' 
 He interrupted himself to fling this in petu- 
 lantly: ** But get lots of soIdiet*s — ^and one 
 company of cavalry. I can't get him sur- 
 rounded without two more companies — and 
 
 SIX cannon 
 
 The child lisped so in his eagerness that 
 no one but his father could have under- 
 stood him, and his father was so lost in 
 his gloomy thought that he did not know 
 the child had spoken. When the expected 
 reply did not come, the boy looked his 
 wonder. 
 
 ** Papa-day — papa-day!" he cried, giving 
 the man a little push. ** I want some 
 soldiers!*' 
 
 4 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 Startled oat of his sadness, the father 
 looked at the child. 
 
 ** Soldiers? Alt right, son; I'm off for a 
 walk now. I saw a shop the other day.** 
 
 He walked off. It was not a beatrtifttl 
 street down which he turned. Even the 
 fine width of it stiggested an inflated sense 
 of its own importance. There were some 
 good lines in the strtjctare at the first corner, 
 bat the bailding was unfinished, and droop- 
 ed sadly, like an eagle without its wings. 
 Beyond that corner the paving of the street 
 ended. Looking at the mad, the Man wish- 
 ed vagaely that he had worn his boots. 
 
 He swang down the row of dingy busi- 
 ness houses, his eye on the ragged sky-line. 
 His ungainly strides covered the ground 
 rapidly, even though in abstraction he 
 stumbled over the uneven brick sidewalk. 
 The Man's face fell again into lines of mel- 
 ancholy thought. 
 
 » 5 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 ** There is no hope for it/' he told himself. 
 ** I will have to sign the warrant* I can't 
 find the shadow of an excase. It is a clear 
 case of desertion/' His thoughts drifted to 
 the armies facing each other in the cheer- 
 less, raw December weather — his army sod- 
 den with fogs, stjilen with inaction. **The 
 poor yoong fellow must be punished." 
 The Man's heart ached with comprehen- 
 sion. He tmderstood so well the wave of 
 homesickness, for which he had the more 
 tender sympathy because of the absence of 
 it in his own cheerless boyhood. "After 
 all, he is a soldier, and he must be punished 
 for the good of the others. And that boy 
 — like so many other boys — would have 
 been a hero, not a deserter, at another turn 
 of the wheel. It is idleness that makes 
 traitors of them. Where can I find a man 
 who will end all this?" 
 
 He passed the comfortable portico o/ a 
 6 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 church which carried with it a breath of 
 thrifty village life. He had been there the 
 Sunday before, and the minister had prayed 
 for peace. ** Peace!" The word smote 
 him, for he had ordained war, ** Peace! 
 How can I compass it? Somewhere in the 
 Eternal Consciousness most rest the knowl- 
 edge. Bttt how can I discover it? * Such 
 knowledge is too high; I cannot attain to 
 it,* '* groaned the Man. 
 
 "With the thought he raised his eyes. He 
 was opposite a young ladies' boarding- 
 school. It was a decorous place, sedately 
 retired on a terrace. A group of young 
 women in billowing crinolines were return- 
 ing from the daily walk. There was a 
 lively ripple of subdued comment as he 
 looked up. 
 
 ** Did you ever see such awkwardness?** 
 asked of her companion a girl from Virginia. 
 **And the creases in his coat!** There was 
 7 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 m«ch mirth, in the midst of which a yotmg 
 lady from Maryland laughed oat: 
 
 ** Did yoa ever see him try to bow to a 
 ladyr' 
 
 Qtiite ignorant of these girlish strictures, 
 the Man caught the eye of the youngest 
 boarder, who, kept in the house with a sore 
 throat, was flattening her nose hopelessly 
 against the window-pane. Something in 
 the face of the sad-looking man made her 
 throw him a shy little appeal for sympathy 
 from two red and swollen eyes. He an- 
 swered it. Then: 
 
 ** That child, too, I may have made father- 
 less even now,** he thought, and shuddered. 
 
 **How to end it?" His mind kept him 
 
 remorselessly at work. "I have failed. 
 
 Another man might know — so many claim 
 
 to know. If a better man were in my 
 
 place, perhaps he could stop the killing and 
 
 the sorrow.*' 
 
 8 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 He was approaching a poorer part of the 
 city, where modest homes and small in- 
 dtfstries botind abotrt the lives of simple 
 folk, quite apart from the square, dignified 
 old houses where the aristocrats lived. 
 The houses seemed to press in upon him 
 like the sorrows of the world. He thought 
 of those who had gone out from them. 
 
 " My hand sent them out — the bright 
 youth. North and South— to kill and to be 
 killed. And my hand cannot bring them 
 back. Had I the right to do it? How 
 could I have thought that any good could 
 come from such as I? I thought I saw 
 clearly — I, sprung out of such darkness^ 
 having seen such sin. What right had I 
 to think that I could lead ? It was a crime !*' 
 
 He came to a group of tiny two-story 
 shops — cobblers* rooms, dingy groceries. 
 
 ** Would it not be less a sin to end it all — 
 to make way for some man who was not 
 9 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 carscd before he was born? Surely it woald 
 not be a sin to lay it all down — no matter 
 the way — to end it all — to make way — ** 
 
 A little child, taming to go into one of 
 the shops, brtished lightly against him, and 
 he started* When he looked tip his face 
 was tragic. Through the daze came a 
 recollection. Surely it was here, the fifth 
 door from the comer, that he was going. 
 It was a toy-shop he was looking for. Yes, 
 that was the name — Schotz. For the son 
 had said he wanted toys. The father en- 
 tered the shop, though he saw but dimly. 
 His mind was turned in on its own sorrows, 
 and he went in, muttering to his own ears: 
 ** To end it all — to make way.** 
 
 He had to wait for a moment while the 
 
 mite who had ushered him in made a 
 
 purchase. It was a girl child. She was 
 
 too awe-struck by the glories laid before her 
 
 to talk; but she managed to point with a 
 10 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 fat forefinger to the penny doll she desired. 
 The gesture with which she seized it brought 
 — strangely enough — a smile to the deep-set 
 eyes of the stranger who stood watching her. 
 His face was quite different when he smiled. 
 Lines which had seemed nothing but deep- 
 graven channels for sorrow became paths 
 for tenderness. Outside he heard her break 
 into excitedt high-voiced triumph, which 
 was mingled with the chatter of her mates. 
 The little shop was a modest place. On 
 one side was a counter where, safe under 
 glass, were home-made candies and cakes, 
 with a rosy-cheeked apple or two. But, 
 lining the walls, tumbling over shelves, 
 crowded into old-fashioned presses, were 
 the toys. There were dolls, of course, 
 patrician wax dolls with delicate eyebrows 
 of real hair, hearty, wooden-jointed dolls 
 that were a real comfort to little mothers. 
 
 There were wheels of fortune where one 
 n 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 cottld see a stceple-chase if he sptin hard 
 enoagh to make the horses vaalt the hardies. 
 There was a fascinating confusion of sapple- 
 jackst hotfse farnitare, hotjses of Oriental 
 magnificence, little imported German toys 
 — horses, trees, dogs. As the Man's mel- 
 ancholy eyes comprehended all that the 
 place contained to ministei' to childish de- 
 light, something of the bitterness left them. 
 In its place was a carious inertness. One 
 woald have said that the man's being was 
 paralyzed with doabt. 
 
 The next instant he had seen something 
 that brought grief back again — something 
 that reminded him of his burden. For, 
 marching valiantly over the shelves, storm- 
 ing wooden boxes flanked with cannon, 
 were toy soldiers. There were, too, all the 
 necessary trappings of combat — swords, 
 guns, soldier suits, arrayed in which youth- 
 ful generals could marshal their forces and 
 12 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 sweep the enemy's army before them — while 
 their fathers elsewhere learned the tragedy 
 of war. 
 
 Behind the cotmter was a pretty, young- 
 faced woman, who looked her fifty years 
 only from the softness sometimes brought 
 by the records of many days. She smiled at 
 him in friendly fashion and, tmharried, wait- 
 ed his request. While she reached for the 
 toys the son had asked for, the Man, bent 
 over the counter, fingered the dolls left 
 lying there from the last small purchaser 
 with clumsy, gentle fingers. 
 
 ''Who makes that Molly' furniture?'' 
 he asked, idly. ** I wish I could get any one 
 to work for me one-half so well. Carved, 
 too. I didn't know there were tools fine 
 enough to make those tiny wreaths." 
 
 Mrs. Schotz shook her head at him good- 
 humoredly. 
 
 "My man, he speak English. I — not — 
 13 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 can." Following her gesttire, the stranger 
 saw, in the back part of the shop, a patient 
 figure at work. 
 
 Joseph Schotz was sitting in an invalid- 
 chair, a table littered with tools and bits of 
 wood by his side. One leg, bandaged and 
 swathed, rested on a cushion. His strong 
 peasant face was seamed and drawn with 
 pain. 
 
 The Man was beside him in an instant. 
 
 " Yes, I make the doUs* houses and carve 
 the furniture — great work, that, for a man, 
 sir? I used to be a cabinet-maker at An- 
 napolis — ^before my leg got so bad. No, 
 sir, I did not learn my trade there. I was 
 apprenticed to Cadieux, who was cabinet- 
 maker to Napoleon. Yes, the Emperor. 
 Who else could it have been? But that 
 was after those pigs of Russians shot me 
 in the leg. It was their ball that brought 
 me here,*' with a contemptuous glance at 
 14 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 his bandaged leg* ** I was color-bearer — 
 yotj see, I was too yoting to go in any other 
 way. I was sixteen when I was wotinded/* 
 
 The Man fotfnd himself a chair. 
 
 ** Why, no, sir, it isn't mtich of a story. 
 It is only that I could never stay still. I 
 don't believe men were ever meant to. 
 That's why it's — " He checked himself 
 with a glance at his wife. ** I was bom 
 in the Tyrol, bat the name of Buonaparte 
 palled me to France. "Why, sir, I don't 
 know what it was, bat he is the only great 
 man I have ever known. He made yoa 
 drop everything and go with him, that is 
 all. Ve never stopped to ask what it was, 
 bat — ^he knew his soldiers, he didn't know 
 what it was to be afraid — ^and where he 
 wanted to go he went." 
 
 The Man, who had been listening thas 
 far with sympathy, started — at these last 
 words — into tenseness. 
 15 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 "Did your Napoleon never — doabt?*' he 
 asked, with rather a breathless voice. 
 
 ** If he did, no one ever saw him/* chtick- 
 led the cabinet-maker, indulgently. **That 
 was why we followed him. It sounds like 
 very little, but — if he could call me to-day, 
 I'd jump up and hop on one leg after htm." 
 
 Had Joseph Schotz not been lost in the 
 one story that never failed to thrill him — 
 of his shattered dreams and his hero — he 
 would have noticed that the face of the 
 tall man who sat before him had lapsed 
 into hopelessness. This time there was 
 even something desperate in the eyes. 
 But Napoleon's color-bearer went on: 
 
 **But you see — instead of that I'm here." 
 
 He glanced at his leg again with a repressed 
 
 passion of bitterness, which made him in 
 
 some dark way kin to the man who listened. 
 
 "It was when I couldn't fight for him that 
 
 I learned to carve the wreaths on the chairs 
 16 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 at the Twilerics — after all, that was near 
 the end. * . . It is never as the Emperor on 
 his throne that I think of him — I have seen 
 him so — or as the general on horseback; 
 but as the soldier in his gray overcoat going 
 about among tis. He had a way of stand- 
 ing, sir, as if yo« couldn't dislodge him — 
 that was Buonaparte/' 
 
 Mrs. Schotz had gone back to the counter 
 with the toys the stranger sought. With 
 an irresolute effort he moved listlessly 
 toward them. There was a whole regi- 
 ment of little men in blue, and with them 
 a gorgeous officer in gold-decked uniform 
 waving his sword above a prancing steed. 
 The Man laid his hand upon the toy and 
 moved it absently into position at the head 
 of the men. The brave general toppled 
 spinelessly over when the great gnarled 
 hand was removed. The woman shook her 
 head. 
 
 17 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 "He not — can — stand/* she said, in her 
 hesitating English. ** Too heavy — of the 
 — head. This ** — substittrting a plain little 
 captain with modest sword held at atten- 
 tion — ** this stand so yoa — not — can — dis — 
 lodge him.*' 
 
 The Man raised his head alertly as the 
 woman echoed so wnconsciotisly her hus- 
 band's words. The movement was a quick- 
 er one than cowld have been expected from 
 the languor of the whole figure. He gave 
 a quick glance from the man to the woman 
 and then at the toy soldiers. Then he 
 squared his shoulders. His hand closed 
 again upon the top-heavy little general 
 and, half- absently, swept him aside. The 
 plain little officer was moved into position. 
 The officer stood. A light that was half 
 humor and half inspiration broke upon the 
 rugged face of the Man who bent over them 
 
 both. 
 
 18 
 
THE TOY-SHOP ^ 
 
 " No more generals on horseback," he 
 mattered. ** My man may ride vJma. it is 
 necessary, btft he most know how to walk, 
 too. I want one — 1 wonder if I know him 
 — who * stands so yoa can't dislodge him * 
 and who * knows his men.* Perhaps they 
 have given me the answer to it all. Per- 
 haps, after all, I can find him. Per- 
 haps. And * where he wants to go * — was 
 that the word?*' He pored over the toys. 
 The woman went back to her knitting. 
 The click of needles or the noise of a tool 
 raised or laid down was the only sotmd 
 heard in the shop. 
 
 "Are yoti baying the soldiers for yoar 
 boys? It's wonderfal how they take to 
 them these days." The voice of the cab- 
 inet-maker broke the stiUness. He repeated 
 the question before the Man heard. And 
 even then the answer was slow in coming. 
 
 " I have bat one boy to bay toys for— 
 J9 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 now,'* said the man, at length. ** The other 
 one — that is left — is too old. And, in spite 
 of all, the child must be made happy.*' 
 ji» He tarned again to the soldiers as if 
 they contained the answer to some ques- 
 tion. His eyes fell again «pon the cap- 
 tain. He nodded as though he recognized 
 some one. ** I believe I — know," he 
 thought, half-fearftflly. ** He * stands so 
 yoa can't dislodge him ' — he * doesn't know 
 what it is to be afraid ' — he * walks abotrt 
 among his men ' — ^he * knows them.' " The 
 man seized the officer aknost fiercely and 
 held it in his big hand. 
 
 " I will put him there. He will stand. 
 And " — his face lit op with sadden fire — 
 ** and * where he wants to go ' he shall go, 
 please God I" 
 
 He swept the soldiers into a heap and 
 pushed them from him, waiting impatiently 
 while Mrs. Schotz deftly made them up into 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 a parcel. But when that was done he still 
 lingered. Suddenly he turned to Joseph 
 Schotz with a sort of desperation. 
 
 ** Did he never — waver — your Napoleon 
 — even when he watched thousands of you 
 — even men with children — diz^ and diz 
 because he placed you there — bound in the 
 shambles?" 
 
 The cabinet-maker raised his head from 
 his work in surprise. The inexplicable agony 
 in the face of the other man brought an 
 unusual thoughtfuhiess into the peasant's 
 face. 
 
 ** I do not know ** — he hesitated — ** I 
 
 am not sure. He must have felt — but no 
 
 one ever saw him. He could not stop. 
 
 There was not a moment when, if he had 
 
 halted — even to pity — all the great Thing 
 
 he was building would not have fallen about 
 
 his ears — and carried all France down with 
 
 it. No, he could not stop. If he had been 
 » 21 
 
THE TOY- SHOP 
 
 of those who falter ** — here Schotz shrtjggsd 
 his shoulders with the gesture of the French- 
 men he had fought among — ** Buonaparte 
 should not have played the game of war/* 
 
 The tall man winced. He looked for a 
 moment as if the cabinet-maker had taunt- 
 ed him — knowing. Then he straightened 
 his shoulders. His face hardened into lines 
 of steadfastness and determination. Tak- 
 ing up his parcel — 
 
 "Thank you/' he said, with a deeper 
 intonation than one would have expected 
 in return for so slight a dzzd — ** thank 
 you," he said to Joseph Schotz, and wrung 
 his hand with a grasp that hurt. Then he 
 hurried out. 
 
 When they had watched the great figure 
 out of sight — 
 
 **Who is he — ^that tall man? Do you 
 
 know, my wife?** asked Joseph Schotz, in 
 
 their own tongue. 
 
 22 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 ** Some American/' replied his wife, with 
 democratic anconcern. Then when her htis- 
 band continued to gaze earnestly at the door 
 from which their gtiest had departed* ** h 
 sad-looking man, I think/* 
 
 *' Yes, he is one that carries with him the 
 sorrows of the world. When he came into 
 the world he had already known what it 
 was to sorrow. Men like that mtjst learn 
 to laagh or they cannot live/' 
 
 ** "What does it matter?*' she said, rally- 
 ing him. ** He is not thy Napoleon.** 
 
 **No, he is not Napoleon,** replied the 
 man, qtfickly, looking down at his hand, 
 still red from the pressure of the bony 
 fingers. ** No — ^Napoleon never played — 
 with toys.** 
 
 Joseph Schotz was weaker in the stimmer 
 heat when the Man next came to the toy- 
 shop. The wife was at market, so there 
 23 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 was nobody in the place save Joseph and 
 the little neighbor girl who was being tattght 
 to take in pennies like a woman grown. 
 She was not an altogether profitable clerk, 
 however, for she otrtdid Mrs* Schotz in giv- 
 ing too good measure for the pennies. Btrt 
 there was need for her help, and soon there 
 would be — more. 
 
 The Man entered the shop eagerly. From 
 his remembering glance that comprehended 
 the place to its farthest shelf one would 
 have said that he had just left it. He was 
 stooping and careworn, but his eyes sought 
 the toys with expectation. And as he 
 dwelt upon this spot which ministered to 
 pure delight — a territory consecrated to 
 those flowerings of grown-up fancy which 
 the children call toys — ^his bent shoulders 
 straightened and his deep eyes began to 
 smile. For a few moments he said nothing. 
 He was like a man who was drinking great 
 24 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 draughts of water, a parched man, new 
 from desert sands. At last he crossed to 
 where Joseph waited. 
 
 " I found my man," he began, with otrt- 
 stretched hand. Then he checked himself, 
 realizing that Joseph could not know. In 
 that moment he saw the ravages tliat suffer- 
 ing had Wrought upon the sick man's face, 
 and a new look came into his eyes. 
 
 "How is it with you, my friend?*^ he 
 asked. His voice would have been tender 
 had he not taken care to make it merely 
 frank — as from one man to another who 
 was bearing pain without words. Then 
 Joseph saw that he was changed from the 
 man who had sought the shop the Decem- 
 ber gone by. There was sorrow in the eyes, 
 but there was no more despair. 
 
 ** Some toy soldiers, please," the stranger 
 
 said to the little girl who waited behind 
 
 the counter. His tone had both firmness 
 25 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 anci purpose in It, btit it had changed into 
 mere kindness when he turned again to 
 Joseph. 
 
 ** What do yo« think of out new general, 
 friend Schotz?*' he asked, 
 
 **He knows how to win victories/* re- 
 plied Joseph, " bat — ** 
 
 ** It is long, is it not, too long? Wotild 
 your Napoleon have ended it sooner?** 
 The glance of the deep-set eyes was keen* 
 At last he answered the uncertainty on the 
 peasant's face with a great sigh. 
 
 ** Yes, it is long — oh, more than that,** 
 he interrupted himself to say to the little 
 clerk — "more soldiers than that.** He 
 crossed the room to give her a gentle pat 
 on the cheek, a caress which somehow 
 made her feel his impatience to be at play. 
 ** We need all you can get, all you have* 
 We must reach the end quickly, no matter 
 
 how many lives it may cost. That is the 
 26 
 
THE TOY-SHOF 
 
 only way to be merciful/' He was talking 
 now to himself. The child made round 
 eyes, but she brought the legions out. Be- 
 fore they were all there the Man was back 
 at the counter. 
 
 ** Cannon, too — lots of them." His voice 
 was absent, for he was arranging the sol- 
 diers into opposing camps. ** There must 
 be some plan which will end it. This box 
 will do for a fort. This for another. This 
 chap is making faces, but we'll use him, too. 
 Into your shell, sir. It's the rampart we 
 need." The jack-in-the-box was cut short 
 in the midst of a horrible grimace. 
 
 **Was the boy pleased with his toys?" 
 asked Joseph Schotz from his end of the 
 room. His voice was wistful; he had never 
 needed to use his skill for the delight of 
 children of his own. 
 ** Yes, my friend." 
 "Yes, there is inde^rd a change in the 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 Man since his first visit/* thotjght Joseph. 
 The smile with which the gtiest looked tfp 
 from his toys warmed the sick man's heart, 
 abotrt which a chill had been gathering. 
 
 ** But he wants more. He always does.*' 
 There was the purest delight in the father's 
 face as he spoke. ** Jast the other day I 
 came across an upper chamber in our house 
 which was full of toys. They were all for- 
 gotten; but each one had made him happy 
 for a day. That's the thing. He doesn't 
 even have to learn his lessons from them 
 as I do." He smiled whimsically. **I am 
 trying to give him all the toys I — didn't 
 have. And " — his voice died away, and he 
 forced the words with difficulty — ** he must 
 have all that I meant to give the boy who 
 — ^went away." 
 
 ** You mustn't spoil him/' said Schotz, 
 after a moment, with the peifunctory mo- 
 rality of the childless man. 
 28 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 The smile broke out again. ** Bless y^^, 
 yois can't spoil children with love. Why, 
 my boy plays with his soldiers, b«t he 
 doesn't know that war is anything btrt a 
 game. I wish his father could win battles 
 with toy soldiers and tin swords.'' His 
 eyes were drawn back to the counter. The 
 next moment he was lost to every sight and 
 sound. 
 
 Marvellous operations were soon in prog- 
 ress on the counter. One set of men was 
 intrenched behind all the boxes within 
 sight. Advance and retreat — shifting to 
 right and to left — both sides alert, one 
 would have said — they seemed so under 
 the great hands that hovered over them — 
 the besieged army handled with the same 
 cool intelligence — ^both sides manoeuvred 
 for position. 
 
 The cuckoo-clock in the comer struck 
 eleven. The little clerk stared with mouth 
 29 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 open at the big man who played with 
 toys. Schotz watched him with qaestion- 
 ing eyes as the stranger knitted shaggy 
 brows over some problem that baffled 
 him. 
 
 Creeping over nearer^ closing in arotind 
 by patient degrees, came the army mar- 
 shalled by the plain little officer, with 
 sword at attention, marching on foot at 
 the head of his men. 
 
 " I have it!" cried the Man, in heart-felt 
 tritimph. He looked tip. There was a 
 dawning realization of his atfdience. 
 
 " A queer thing for an old man like me 
 to be playing with toy soldiers,*' he latighed, 
 sweeping the late combatants into an un- 
 dignified heap. 
 
 ** So have I seen the officers at home in 
 the ^cote de auetre. Such play would aid 
 you were you a soldier." 
 
 The tall man shot a quick glance at 
 30 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 Joseph, in which there was much htimor 
 and some suspicion. 
 
 ** Tell me — *' he began. Etrt he did not 
 finish his sentence. He was feverishly anx- 
 ious to be gone. There was so much to be 
 done; the child's fingers were cltimsy as she 
 wrapped «p the soldiers. Btit he found 
 time for a smile at the little maid and a 
 sympathetic pressure of Joseph's hand be- 
 fore he crossed the threshold and was gone. 
 
 At the same moment there was a bustle 
 at the door. Mrs. Schotz hurried in, mar- 
 ket-basket in hand. She had not laid it 
 down before she was at her husband's side, 
 her anxious eyes searching his face to find 
 how he had fared. 
 
 ** Qara, the tall man has been . here 
 again." 
 
 ** Yes," she said, ** I met him. Do you 
 know yet who he is?" 
 
 ** I have thought that I have somewhere 
 31 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 seen a face like that/' replied Joseph, slowly. 
 ** Something made me feel — his playing 
 with the soldiers, which yet seemed more 
 than play — ^he might be in the army — ^he 
 might even be an officer — and yet he had 
 not the air. Still, they are not all drilled 
 in schools, these officers in this war." 
 
 ** Btrt listen,'* said his wife, as she seated 
 herself by him, with joy that there was 
 something to tell that he would be glad to 
 hear. ** I have something to tell yoa. 
 This morning, on my way to market, every- 
 where there were soldiers — dirty, lean as 
 from htmger, faces black with powder stains. 
 At first I was afraid — ** 
 
 ** But, my wife," said Joseph, indulgent- 
 ly, ** what was there to be feared?" 
 
 " I will tell yotf. A crowd of soldiers 
 
 came swaggering into Schmidt's. They 
 
 ordered him to wait on them, and when he 
 
 asked for money for the food, they shook 
 
 32 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 their fists at him with «gly words, and 
 called for all to come and take what they 
 woald. Two officers hurried wp and ordered 
 them to retam to their ranks, btrt they 
 laughed at the officers/* 
 
 ** Mutiny!'* whispered Napoleon's soldier, 
 his face pale with excitement. 
 
 ** They swore oaths and said that they 
 would fight no more battles for men who 
 were old women and stayed at home while 
 they sweated and bled and were starving/' 
 
 ** Without doubt their officers ordered 
 them into arrest?" demanded Joseph, 
 fiercely. 
 
 **Who was there to arrest them? The 
 officers looked white, and I was trembling. 
 More soldiers came into the square, until 
 everywhere there were angry faces and 
 bodies swaying this way and that, while 
 the men were thinking what evil they should 
 do. At that moment a carriage drove op 
 33 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 at ftill speed* There was one man in it. 
 He stood tfp; he was a tall man, A hesitat- 
 ing sort of shoat went up from the soldiers* 
 Then there was a great muttering, and every 
 one rushed toward him, and some were 
 shaking their fists, 
 
 ** The man stood still. He said no word. 
 Bat little by little the mattering stopped 
 and there was silence* Then the crowd 
 began backing away from him. There was 
 a break in the mass, and through it I saw 
 his face* He was smiling with — well, the 
 way fathers look at their children that have 
 hurt themselves because they were naughty 
 and are yet not very bad* Still there was 
 silence*" 
 
 ** He held them so?" broke in Joseph. 
 " But then he was a great man* But who ?" 
 
 '*Wait* He began talking to them* I 
 
 couldn't hear what he said, for all the men 
 
 began crowding up around him* But one 
 34 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 moment they laaghedt and the next they 
 were wiping their eyes with the back of 
 their hands/' 
 
 Joseph was listening with shining eyes. 
 
 " When he had driven off again the sol- 
 diers went back to their camp* Some of 
 them looked downcast and ashamed, btrt 
 most of them were j«st boyish and good- 
 natared, as if they had forgotten how they 
 felt before. One boy laughed as he passed 
 me: 
 
 ** * Say, that was a good one about the 
 tin soldier. I felt like a toy soldier myself 
 when he turned those eyes of his on me!* *' 
 
 " "Who was it T* asked Joseph Schotz, 
 eagerly. ** Have they such a man? Was it 
 the new general? I have thought he might 
 be such a man — to win such victories. And 
 yet ** — his face fell — ** that one is a short 
 man, and this, you said, was very tall.** 
 
 "The general? No!*' said Mrs. Schotz, 
 35 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 contempttfotjsly* ** It was not the general. 
 As he drove off, some boys shouted, * Hurrah 
 for the Presidentr " 
 
 ** The President!" Joseph echoed* 
 
 " The President. And, Joseph, when I 
 saw his face I knew him.** She paused to 
 make sure of the effect upon her petted in- 
 valid of what she had to say. " It was he 
 who came to us to buy toy soldiers!*' 
 
 She fell back triumphantly when she had 
 fired this bolt of wonder. But Joseph was 
 looking at her with eyes in which there was 
 no wonder — only comprehension. 
 
 ** So,** he said, slowly — ** so — that was 
 the President. So Napoleon would Iiave 
 done.*' 
 
 The doctor had told Joseph that he must 
 
 go to his bed. The old soldier winced. A 
 
 man may be brave before bullets and yet 
 
 quail before the doctor. The bed was 
 36 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 bfotight down into the little kitchen back 
 of the shop, Joseph insisted on it. 
 
 ** It is that I may be able to help yoa tend 
 the shop," he said. Btrt the real reason was 
 that he might not be banished from the 
 children's domain. He coald still see Minna 
 and Rosa and Bennie come for their toys. 
 
 Thos it happened that one morning 
 Joseph sat propped «p in his narrow wood- 
 en bed. Mrs. Schotz bustled, with much 
 demonstration of activity, about her work. 
 Joseph almost wished that she would go 
 up-stairs. He was forced to keep up an 
 appearance of much cheerfulness — if he 
 screwed xs'p his face when the pain came, 
 she wept. 
 
 ** I wonder if the President will come 
 to-day," he thought. ** He said he would 
 as soon as he got back. I want to see how 
 he looks since the surrender. Strange that 
 it should have been on Pahn Sunday." His 
 4 37 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 eyes strayed to the mantel-piece, where a 
 spray of palm waved from a gilt vase. The 
 wife had had it in her hand when she came 
 in from the street with the news the day 
 before. 
 
 ** If he wotild come, it wowld be easier/* 
 thought Joseph, ** He wotild take my hand 
 and look deep into my eyes — it would be as 
 if he took some of the pain away from me — 
 into his own heart.'* And then, because 
 some childishness is permitted to the sick, 
 he moved peevishly in his bed and thumped 
 his pillow. 
 
 Suddenly the door opened. It was the 
 President. Still, a different President — al- 
 most a new one. His shoulders were straight 
 and held well back. He walked with a sort 
 of joyous impatience, as though he brushed 
 aside palms of victory. His eyes glowed. 
 He spoke as he entered, and his voice broke 
 into a boyish laugh. "When he looked into 
 38 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 the room and saw Joseph, the fall meaning 
 of the change stf«ck him and his face fell. 
 For a moment he looked almost abashed. 
 Then, shaking his head with decision, he 
 strode through the shop to where the sick 
 man lay* He took Joseph's hand with 
 resoltite happiness and held it, looking f«II 
 into the other man's eyes. There was no 
 need of words between them. A heartening 
 and a tonic influence went from one man 
 to the other. 
 
 ** It is over, friend Schotz,'* he said, buoy- 
 antly. **The nightmare is over; we are 
 awake.** He paused and added, under his 
 breath, with humble, halting reverence, 
 '* Thank Godr 
 
 ** They have surrendered." Joseph Schotz 
 raised himself on his eIbows« 
 
 *^ It was the meeting of two great men,*' 
 said the President. ** Mine and the other. 
 He*s a general after our own hearts — eh, 
 39 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 Schotz — the modest man you helped me to 
 choose!'* 
 
 The sick man*s face was every mintrte 
 taking on the lines of hope and manly force. 
 The other man watched him with tender 
 eyeSj, in which the pity was carefully veiled. 
 
 ** Yes, we chose him well, my President,** 
 said Joseph, with almost a swagger. 
 
 ** YotJ will never know how great is 
 my gratitude, Schotz,**^ suggested the Presi- 
 dent, " because you can never know from 
 what you saved me — you and the toy-shop. 
 The day when first I came here I had fallen 
 into a pit digged by my own nature. You 
 showed me the way out." His eyes were 
 on the sick man, and he chose the words 
 that would hearten most. ** It was a great 
 service you did me — and, through me, this 
 great land of ours.** 
 
 There was a light in Joseph*s eyes that 
 had been absent for many days. 
 40 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 ** And now it is over/' The President 
 drew a breath so great that his gatint frame 
 expanded. He settled into a chair near the 
 bed with a sigh of restfulness. ** The boys 
 will come home. Their mothers will meet 
 them. Their fathers will grip their hands. 
 No, I will not think of those who will be 
 missing — the time for that has passed. The 
 children will hang about their father's neck. 
 And they will be together.*' The light grew 
 in the President's eyes, until it seemed they 
 blazed with a love which was that of child 
 and father in one and contained the passion 
 and tenderness of the tmiversal lover. 
 
 Then the President rose, shaking himself 
 like a great spaniel and lattghing from de- 
 light in living. 
 
 ** There are things to be done — oh, the 
 
 fight is not over. Perhaps it is only began. 
 
 But to-day is my perfect moment — the first 
 
 perfect moment of my life, God knows." 
 41 
 
THE TOY^SHOP 
 
 He patised and raised himself to his fttll 
 stature — challenging his fate* ** It is enough 
 to have lived for. I am content I" 
 
 He turned to Schotz again, and his face 
 was radiant with steadfast brightness. 
 
 '* There will be a future, my friend. We 
 are ready for it, are we not? I know the 
 path will be clear. I have begun — ^the 
 first thing to be done is to heal. Beyond 
 that ** — he paused, and his forehead con- 
 tracted slightly as if from doubt — ** all 
 is in the shadow.*' A veil made vague the 
 joyousness of his eyes. It seemed to Joseph 
 that his great friend was looking upon some- 
 thing that he himself could not see. The 
 face brightened — the eyes opened wide — 
 became luminous. ♦ . . The President took 
 up his words in an altered tone. ** Beyond 
 that — ^I cannot see," he ended, happily. 
 
 Joseph watched him for a moment. 
 
 Then, uneasy, he put out his hand and 
 42 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 touched him timidly on the sleeve. The 
 President smiled at him again. There 
 seemed to be no transition, and yet — they 
 were back again in the world where things 
 were to be done and — borne. 
 
 ** And nowt friend Joseph ** (the Presi- 
 dent took up again the task he had set 
 himself in the shadowed toy-shop), ** when 
 we were in the conquered city I fottnd a 
 toy — ** He interrupted himself to laugh. 
 ** It was the only loot I permitted myself." 
 
 Joseph stared at him with puzzled ex- 
 pectation. 
 
 ** For, after all, toys are the only things 
 that are worth the consideration of wise 
 folks like you and me.*' He was busily 
 extricating a package from his pocket. 
 It was done up in many wrappings. He 
 watched while the sick man pulled off the 
 papers, one after another. Joseph became 
 
 angry with them — they seemed endless. 
 43 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 Then the President chtjckled gleefully, for 
 he saw the color coming into Joseph's face. 
 At last the toy stood in Joseph's hand re- 
 vealed — a little tin soldier. Joseph looked 
 at it in wonder. 
 
 " Bat what— r he began. Then/* Why, 
 it is the old wniform — ^he carries the tri- 
 color. "Where did yoti find Napoleon's 
 soldier, my President?" 
 
 The President watched him tenderly. 
 
 ** That is my secret, friend Joseph. Does 
 
 he look to yoa like the little color-bearer, 
 
 my friend, that marched gayly otit, in the 
 
 sparkling sunshine? But see — he is no 
 
 child — his hair is gray." He bent forward. 
 
 He saw a spasm of pain contract the worn 
 
 face. He saw the involuntary movement 
 
 of muscles when tortured nerves cry out. 
 
 He saw the stark will of the man who sternly 
 
 commanded his anguish to be decent and 
 
 to make no moan. 
 
 44 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 ** He is a soldier, my Joseph, one of my 
 soldiers, and in the evening he is doing 
 the greatest deed of all/* The President's 
 
 S/i 
 
 voice had sank into a cadence which was/I 
 melodious with all the pain the world has! 
 known — and all the joy. He held with his 
 own the sufferer's eyes so that he could not 
 fail to understand. 
 
 ** He is a hero—!'' 
 
 The President sat with the sick man in 
 a pregnant silence, while the color came 
 back into the face of the man on the hed* 
 At last there came a smile. When he was 
 satisfied that his work was done, the Presi- 
 dent rose. For a moment his hand touched 
 Joseph's brow as the sculptor does his clay, 
 with that touch which is a caress. 
 
 ** And now, friend Joseph, good-bye." 
 
 After he had gone, Joseph looked at the 
 
 toy the President had left. He put it to 
 
 his lips. He held it to his meagre chest. 
 45 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 And thas they lay, the man and the toy, 
 antil the extiltation on Joseph's face soft- 
 ened into perfect peace* 
 
 " Toys — toys — ** So his thoughts sang 
 themselves. ** Toys. Nothing else is real. 
 Toys of tenderness — toys of mirth — toys 
 that sail a man back to childhood — toys 
 that sweep a man into manhood — and be- 
 yond.*' He held the color-bearer passion- 
 ately close. ** A hero!'' he said. " Thank 
 God for the man who knows oar hearts. 
 The world is his toy-shop and men and 
 women are his toys. He can tjse everybody 
 — it makes no difference how «gly a toy 
 may be. He loves them even when they 
 are naaghty — j«st like a little girl when 
 she spanks her dolly." Joseph smiled at 
 his own thoughts with tenderness. . . . 
 ** Jtist like the Christ who suffers tJS to 
 come to Him." 
 
 ** I wonder ... is it because he loves 
 46 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 people or becatise he plays with them that 
 he is so far above them? — I believe he is 
 very far off — looking on. He is really 
 neither smiling nor looking sad — j«st see- 
 mg. 
 
 The room was qtiiet. The pain had 
 ceased. Joseph clasped his toy and slept. 
 
 Into the damp night air drifted suddenly 
 a wave of sound. It startled Mrs. Schotz, 
 who sat at work by the lamp, watching late 
 into the night. Even as she lifted her 
 head to listen it swelled into a distant growl 
 of thtmder, threatening, stjilen. A startled 
 voice came from her husband's bed asking 
 what the noise might be. Before she had 
 time to answer, the door burst open, and 
 their neighbor, the cobbler's wife, ran into 
 the shop. 
 
 ** Have you heard," she shrieked — '* have 
 you heard? They have killed him, the 
 47 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 good President r* With the last word she 
 was out of the door. 
 
 Joseph fell back and lay still. His hands 
 were clinched and his lips were locked. He 
 tried to lock his heart, too. He did not dare 
 to feel. . . . 
 
 "*A hero/'' he thought. "'He called 
 me that.'* The sotmd of his wife's sob- 
 bing filled the room. . . . No, it would never 
 do to weep. ** Ah-h!" A pang greater 
 than he had ever known shattered him. 
 He held that down, too. It was then that 
 a great thought came to him — ^the pain 
 taught him. 
 
 ** The same future, then, for him and for 
 me. 
 
 He lay very still while the thought grew 
 and filled fiim. The sound of his wife's 
 sobbing sank lower and lower. She crept 
 close to her husband and laid her hand on 
 his. He took it gently in his weak fingers, 
 48 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 and thas they remained* The room seemed 
 empty. 
 
 ** They killed him^ too, thy Napoleon/' 
 at last his wife said, timidly. Joseph 
 started. The name of the old god made 
 him know how far he had gone. For a 
 moment he felt shame, as though he, too, 
 had betrayed. Then he spoke: 
 
 ** If the Emperor, too, had had — toys — 
 and if he had played with them; if he had 
 been able to laugh at the world and — yes — 
 a little at himself; if he had been able to 
 lawgh at himself — and cry over other people 
 — ^he would not have stayed at St. Helena. 
 And ... he would have been almost as great 
 as the President.** 
 
 Mrs. Schotz started forward and put her 
 face close to that of her husband. She 
 spoke with her eyes on his eyes. 
 
 ** You say — that — my Joseph?" 
 
 He nodded his head weakly but with 
 49 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 meaning. And both were silent with that 
 silence which follows trath proclaimed. 
 
 After a few mintrtes he took ap his thought 
 again. 
 
 ** I thought, my wife, that the end of 
 life had come for me when I knew that I 
 should have to sit here in the shop the rest 
 of the days of my life and make toys for 
 children. Now I know that it was but the 
 beginning. He taught me* There could 
 be nothing greater. The toys will live in 
 the homes of the children. They will find 
 them, too, the toys he bought for his boy — 
 after he has gone. But not every one will 
 know the work that they have done. Nor 
 will all the toys the President left be 
 so easily discovered. • • • I, too, am his 
 toy." 
 
 He stopped, for he was weak. After a 
 
 time, when he had Iain gazing at the wall 
 
 with a look that was new to fiis face, an 
 50 
 
THE TOY-SHOP 
 
 eager look that made his wife break into 
 hopeless bat silent sobbing, he said: 
 
 ** It is enough to have made him smile/' 
 
 When the President had been carried to his rest 
 it came to pass that men whom the dead man had 
 not known were called into the house to make ready 
 for those who were to come. Through the long 
 hours of the day they toiled. The garments that 
 the President had worn and those things which he 
 had used in his labor were placed aside. When it 
 was evening they came upon an upper chamber full 
 of toys. The men closed the door hastily and came 
 away. But at night when they drew near to their 
 own homes they kissed more tenderly the children 
 who ran to meet them from their open doors.