6 NOVEMBER 1920, Page 13

TOY SOLDIERS.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sle,—May I call tho attention of your readers to a very serious state of affairs? British toymakers are teaching our sons to look upon civil war, or war with some one of our Allies, as a necessary and natural thing. My small son has a fine army of British and Allied troops, with several guns and even an air- plane or two. But it is impossible to make use of this army without an enemy against whom to array it. Ile has, therefore, asked me for some German soldiers. Let your readers, then, imagine my horror when I find that no Germans, Russians (whom we could assume to be Bolsheviks), Turks, Dervishes, or other suitable soldiers are to be had. I have visited several shops in vain. As a rule, when I explain the difficulty of staging a mimic battle properly with the existing stock, I am offered Bengal Lancers, a suggestion no unfortunate at the present time that I am inclined to suspect that enemy propa- ganda is at the bottom of it. My son, refusing to accept any excuses, desires me to get some from Germany. I suppose I 1'S.—I have been offered some Arabs, who might. I suppose, be Senussi; but, with emissaries from our Arab allies no often to be seen in the park, this, too, is an unfortunate choice.