My Life in the Little Brown House, part 15: Paper dolls, Erector sets and electric trains

Sometimes the bedrooms also served as playrooms. I have mentioned the use of the window seats as storage places for toys. Even at this early stage in our lives, toys were sometimes things that were devised from materials at hand. One example of this was the cut-out paper dolls that both I and my sisters played with. I really don’t know if this play project extended to Vincent and the younger brothers or not. The dolls, and any appurtenances such as furniture, playthings for the dolls and anything else, were cut from out-of-date catalogs from Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward or National Bellas Hess.
























Bellas Hess catalog, spring/summer 1931

Each of these mail order companies would send out at least two catalogs every year (winter and summer) and perhaps there were actually four, with editions for spring and fall as well. My mother did a fair amount of shopping from these catalogs. I think this reflected a lack of availability in the stores in Gowrie, the relative cost of the items (tending to be cheaper in the catalogs) and the infrequency of any shopping trips to Fort Dodge, the nearest town of any size. Other families in town might even travel to Des Moines for shopping but we did not.

My mother favored Sears over the other two with National Bellas Hess as the least desired alternative — they also did not offer as wide a selection of items as the other two companies. The arrivals of new catalogs were also happenings of interest to us children. Looking into the newest “wish” book, particularly the winter catalog with its expanded toy section (for the Christmas season), was always an anticipated event. And of course the arrival of the new editions provided us with fresh material to add to, replace or augment our existing collections of paper dolls. Actually for me at least, the paper doll game consisted mostly in the cutting out etc. I don’t even recall playing with them very much once they had been prepared.

For me the toy section of the catalogs was a dream that was never fulfilled. I was attracted for example to the display of Erector sets and my parents did provide me with some of the smaller sets, but I never had the largest set with its little electric motor that ran off dry cells as I recall. Another toy that caught my eye was the electric train items. I was always entranced by the train that the Lennarson & Johnson hardware store set up in their store window before Christmas. As I remember it, it was a green Lionel passenger train and often they would have it running round and round on its long oval track. I don’t remember what they were asking for itm but apparently it didn’t sell at the price they had put on it, as it reappeared year after year. There was another store, a drug store, that would have an electric train display before Christmas, but it wasn’t on the same scale as the one at Lennarson & Johnson.

During my young years I did have a subscription to the American Boy magazine, whether my parents paid for it, or whether it came out of my allowance I’m not sure. The magazine would carry ads for Lionel and American Flyer trains, and you could write in and get their free catalogs. I did this and I spent a lot of time poring over the trains shown in these brochures. Most of them were far beyond any possibility but I recall one of the smaller sets for $13.00. I calculated that by saving my 25¢ weekly allowance for a year I could reach this goal but of course I never did. As it was, the weekly allowance was already committed in part for certain things (such as the weekly Sunday School 5¢ offering) and whatever my goal I’m sure that I could never have kept it in mind for a whole year. So I treasured the catalogs and dreamt my dreams.

























American Boy magazine, August 1930

Though I had these longings for a larger Erector set and an electric train, I can’t say that I was really envious of those of my young friends who had them, and I feel that I was happy with my lot. I recall playing at the home of one of my friends — one Clare Johnson. He had a large Erector set with the small electric motor and seeing it certainly increased my desire for such a set. In retrospect though I consider myself much more fortunate that Clare. His father was a postal mail carrier who started speculating on the Board of Trade in Fort Dodge, and managed to lose the farm they had and their home; he ended up shooting himself. Clare, his mother and his sister had to move into their grandparents’ home.