Margaret Coulson Walker

“ Had it not been for the little Wests, the Irish woman might have been blind all her life. With an ordinary lead pencil an operation was performed on her face which gave her a beautiful round eye just opposite the afflicted one.
This so pleased her that a broad smile spread over her face—a smile that she wore as long as she lived—and that was reflected in the faces of all of her family.
If you had asked her how it happened that they were always smiling, she would have said, “Sure, smiles are catching, just like measles.” When one in a family has them, they all do. ”

“ You, too, can be your own fairy godmother, and if you wish to have a great ball, at which all of Lady Hollyhock’s visitors may appear, not through the touch of a wand, but through the touch of the hand—and all of them will be so real that they will not fade away when the Princess goes. ”

“ Some who appeared bravest and strongest were the weakest. For instance, who would have thought, to look at the fierce appearing Straw Indian, in all the bravery of war-bonnet and blanket, that he was one of the weakest of them all? ”

“ Those in whom the sense of humor is strong make every face a comic one, while others put into the faces drawn by them the demure, trivial, or rugged features and expressions harmonizing with their ideas. ”

“ In the garden at the back were beds of tender radishes and rows of tomatoes, cabbages, potatoes, corn and other vegetables, while over the fence grew vines bearing green and yellow gourds.
In the city the children had never seen these things growing; here they could not only see them, but could help them to grow, by watering them and stirring up the ground about their roots. ”

“ Would it not be best, after all, for every one of us to be our own fairy godmothers, so that when we want very much to have anything happen we can set things going to bring it about? Then the things wished for will not vanish away at the stroke of a clock, but will be ours always. ”

“ Cinderella’s Coach
“I wish a fairy godmother would come and make a Cinderella’s coach for us out of this squash,” said Baby Bunnie one day.
“We can be our own fairy godmother,” said little Florence, as she set to work to make the wish come true. Soon there stood before them a wonderful coach made of that very squash—drawn by handsome peanut horses—and in it rode a beautiful peanut Princess, while a little dark raisin footman with toothpick arms and legs rode at the back on a seat cut out for him. A hairpin was the axle which held the pasteboard wheels in place. ”

“ Children throw aside as uninteresting the finished toys from the shops when they have once learned to make playthings for themselves. To an imaginative child the possibilities of green things growing, of other materials provided by the changing seasons, and of the apparently useless trifles to be found in any home, are endless, and far surpass in permanent interest the realm of magic. ”

“ The Kelp Maiden IN August Uncle John came all the way from California to make a visit at Hollyhock Place. The little Wests never tired of hearing him tell of the wonderful things that grew in that western land—of trees higher than church spires—of sea-gulls and pelicans—and of the queer California Woodpecker that bores holes in the trunks of dead trees and pounds an acorn into each hole for future use.
As the family sat out under the trees this jolly old uncle of theirs seemed to take as much interest in the funny home-made dolls as the children themselves did. ”

“ The whole nature of a child cries out for self activity. Producing by his own efforts something that satisfies his [12] own needs gives him the keenest possible pleasure, and puts into him that energy which results in love of work.
There is no more interesting study for grown ups than that of children at play with dolls and animals of their own making. ”

“ Then the lady was dressed in the most elaborate garments. She wore a gathered waist, large sleeves, and a very full skirt. On her head was a bonnet, wonderful to behold. Like her gown and parasol, it, too, was made entirely of corn husks.
A letter that came with the doll said that it had been made by a little crippled girl living on a Nebraska farm and who had made the husk dolls for amusement at first, but that since she had learned to make them so well many of her dolls had been sold. What she had begun for mere pleasure was now a source of profit to her. ”

“ THE CORN BABY
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[35]
Pansies
“I am thinking of you” is what pansies say
When they come to you from a friend;
And “I am thinking of you” is what they say
When you the blossoms send.
No need of words when pansies are near
To carry the message for you—
Just send a bunch of the blossoms fair,
They’ll speak plainly as you could do.
All over the world in their simple way,
No matter where they go,
“I am thinking of you” is what they say,
And all people their language know.
[36]
Pansy Ladies
Pansy dolls were made in several ways—and pansy verses with them. ”

“ Gourd Men NONE of the Gourd men ever had the appearance of being either sensible or well behaved. But one ought not to expect sense and dignity from any of their race, for, all over the world, those who have neither are said to be as “green as a gourd.” ”

“ Exercise, which makes others grow strong, only made the poor Straw Indian weaker, and while he was yet young his constitution gave way and he was laid to rest by the little Wests, who loved him in spite of his weakness, beside others of his tribe.
After the manner of real Indians he was buried in a sitting position, down in the orchard, near the clothes-pin Indian village. ”

“ Some of these gourd children were made by using the large part for a head and putting a deep frill about the neck for a gown. This was held in place by a pin run through both gown and baby.
Others were made by using the slender part for a head and putting the same kind of a frill about the neck for a dress. The last kind could sit up as well as any real child.
It was the easiest thing in the world to make rhymes about these dolls—indeed the rhymes seemed to almost make themselves. ”

“ Its aim is to aid parents in furnishing not only entertainment but profitable employment as well, for their little ones—profitable, in that work under the guise of play, makes for character. The value of the things made is not in their finish, but in the training which they afford—a value ethical rather than intrinsic. ”

“ A long potato was the body, four matches the legs, two pins the eyes, while a curled dandelion stem made the most natural pig tail imaginable.
AN IRISH PIG
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Creatures of Clay HAVE you ever made men and animals of mud? You can do almost anything with it when it is just soft enough. If it is too dry it is sure to crack. Clay is best, but any kind of mud will do.
The little Wests spent hours and hours making people and villages of clay—for there was a most delightfully damp bank by the brookside, where the clay seemed made for young artists. ”

“ This does not seem so strange after all, when one stops to think, for in the whole rag world, everything grows smaller as it grows older.
Some of these were just ordinary white babies while others belonged to the colored race. The Topsies were made of brown cotton or silk, with faces done in water colors, and hair of French knots.
But no matter what their color, or how they were made, the rag babies probably got more real love from their owners than any other dolls in the whole collection. ”

“ Paper Dolls THE paper dolls were more like real people than any of the others. They were made by cutting heads from colored picture cards or from magazines and pasting them on cardboard bodies. Then double dress patterns were folded and cut to slip over the heads of the dolls, and on these patterns were pasted gowns of tissue paper in all colors and styles. ”

“ She was fifteen and knew how to do many things to help children enjoy themselves. The little Wests thought it was because [22] she had always lived in the beautiful country. Perhaps it was.
She knew how to make the most wonderful dolls out of almost anything and could make rhymes and stories about them. The first doll she made for them Eugenie had named Lady Hollyhock. Eugenie had always liked stories of lords and ladies and knights and other great folk so the others were not at all surprised that their new visitor was a Lady. ”

“ Then there had to be Indians to live in the wigwams and these were made of clothes-pins. Nothing could be easier to make than a clothes-pin Indian.
First the features are marked out on the head of the pin, then a band of paper pasted round the top and a feather stuck in at the back for a war-bonnet; and a square of stiff paper folded around the clothes-pin, for a blanket, and the Indian is finished.
The little Wests made whole villages of burdock wigwams with clothes-pin braves standing guard at the doors.
Tom always liked stories of enchantment, so he made up one about these wooden Indians. ”

“ Hickory-Nut People HICKORY nuts were rather hard to make into dolls, for it was almost impossible to make their heads stay on. But by putting close fitting caps on them under their bonnets, and bringing the cloth down and tying it at the neck with a string, this extended cap made a very good foundation for a body. ”

“ The little Wests each fancied a different style of doll. Eugenie liked dressed up visiting dolls, Florence played mother to baby dolls in long dresses, Tom liked what he called “funny fellows” and Indians, while baby Bunnie always insisted on her children keeping house. ”

“ I will always greet this boy.
The world looks so funny through apple-seed eyes,
To laugh is all I can do;
And when I go, “Greet your friends with a smile”
Is the message I leave to you.
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The Peanut Man THE Peanut Chinese man was made of eight peanuts—one for the head, one for the body, one for each arm and two for each leg. All had double kernels, except the one forming the head.
These peanuts were fastened together by heavy thread. The needle was run crosswise through the end of one nut; then through the end of the nut joining it, and the thread tied in a hard knot. ”

“ While cunning caps rest on their long yellow hair,” quoted Mamma when she was invited out to see a row of these visitors of Lady Hollyhock’s. [37]
PANSY LADIES
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Poppy Maids GREAT beds of poppies grew at the end of the cottage at Hollyhock Place. To make poppy blossoms into dolls is the easiest thing in the world. All you have to do is to turn down the soft, silky petals, tie a blade of grass round them, and there you have a poppy maid, all finished and growing on a stem—a real flower fairy. There is a small green seed pod inside, you know, and that is the poppy maid’s head. ”

“ After much examination of the fair Cornelia’s form and style of dress the little Wests were able to make quite respectable looking husk dolls. Of course, the first ones were a trifle clumsy, but after a while these children were able to make and dress lady dolls as fine as Cornelia Shucks herself. [63]
CORNELIA SHUCKS
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The Corn Cob Baby THE corn cob doll is a hardy little thing, able to endure the hardest usage.
It has no features, to speak of, and a dreadfully pock-marked face—yet no play baby is dearer to the heart of its owner than the corn cob baby. ”

“ In making use of these apparently inappropriate materials in the construction of their own toys resourcefulness is engendered, practical intelligence stimulated, the inventive faculty cultivated, sympathetic acquaintance with nature broadened, and manual dexterity increased—all of which will later in life prove of inestimable value. ”

“ Wires covered with dark tissue paper were then put through the holes and bent into shape for arms and legs.
If light-weight hair pins are used, two or three may be twisted together for legs and spread at the ends to form feet. These dolls can stand alone. ”