Mary White

“ Any little girl who is looking for a home for a family of paper dolls will find a book the very best kind of a house for them. And then such fun as it will be to furnish it! First comes the house hunting. A large new blank book with unruled pages would be best of all, and that is what we want if we can get it, but of course all doll families cannot live in such luxury. An old account book with most of its pages unused will make an excellent house. ”

“ We hear it wherever children are kept indoors—from whatever cause. All of us are concerned with the answer—mothers, fathers, teachers, big brothers and sisters—even maiden aunts. We all know what is coming when Jack turns from the rain-splashed window with a listless face and Dorothy, none too gently, thrusts her favourite doll into the corner with its face to the wall. ”

“ Hooked rugs such as our grandmothers used to make are great fun to do. Why should not a little girl make one of finer materials for the floor of her doll's house? Either an empty slate frame or a wooden frame such as is sold by dealers in kindergarten supplies for chair caning will do very well to hold the canvas of which the rug is made. Instead of strips of woolen we shall use worsted of various colours, and a strong steel crochet needle will be needed for "hooking." ”

“ When you are ready to play the game hang the cardboard sheet where all can see it; give each player a pencil and a piece of paper, on the left side of which numbers from 1 to 18 have been marked. Each child tries in the time allowed—about twenty minutes—to guess the names of the flowers and plants on the sheet or cardboard, and write each opposite its number on his piece of paper. The correct names are then read from the key and the players check off their guesses. The one who has guessed the greatest number correctly is of course the winner. ”

“ Nowadays there are of course many more kinds of beads—beads of glass, china, gold and silver, [76] and even of semi-precious stones. After all, though, the child who lives in the country or by the sea can gather the most interesting kind of all—such as were strung by those children who lived so long ago—seeds, berries, shells and seaweed. Gather them on a sunshiny day and store them away for use in the dull hours when you are obliged to be indoors.
The seeds of muskmelons are soft enough to pierce; watermelon seeds will take more effort and a stronger needle. ”

“ When you have decided upon the size of the rug you wish to make cut a piece of canvas an inch wider and longer than it is to be, and make a hem a quarter of an inch wide all around it. With a needleful of white linen thread sew the rug into the frame, taking the stitches through the edge of the canvas and around the frame until it is securely fastened in. Suppose a green rug is planned, with a group of white stripes at each end. It will be well to mark on the canvas where the stripes are to run before beginning the work. The worsted should be wound into balls. ”

“ Each one should have several old magazines and a sheet of cardboard, as well as scissors and a tube of paste. The leader, who may be one of the children or an older person, explains the game as follows: Each child is expected to make a picture on his sheet of cardboard to illustrate some fairy tale. It is not necessary to draw it; he can cut from the magazines people and properties and scenery and paste them upon the card. He must be sure not to tell anyone the story he has chosen. ”

“ Run the needle up through the third bead, string two more, make another stitch, run the needle up through the last bead strung, and so on. When you have gone all the way around the double edge, continue the stitch across the top of the smaller piece and around the rounded top of the larger. Next a loop must be made to fasten the case. Hold a small pencil at the top of the larger piece of chamois close to the rounded edge, and, starting about an eighth of an inch from the centre of this end, fasten an end of a needleful of sewing silk ”

“ There is such a fascination about cutting and pasting that a game like this is one of the best you [204] can choose for a dull day. Each child has an old magazine, a piece of cardboard and a pair of scissors, while tubes of paste lie conveniently near. When the children are seated around a table the game begins. It is played in this way: Each player cuts from his magazine a picture (which must be smaller than his card) , pastes it upon his piece of cardboard, and when it is dry and firm cuts it in pieces with six straight cuts of the scissors, so as to make a puzzle. ”

“ A lamp mat will be a welcome gift to mamma or even to your big brother for his room at college. The simplest one to make is of braided raffia. Take six pieces of raffia and tie them together at one end. Fasten this end to a nail or chair back, at a convenient height. If the raffia is dampened a little it will work more smoothly. Now braid it into a three-stranded plait, using two pieces for each strand. When a new piece is needed lay it above the end of the old one and continue. The ends are cut close after the braid is finished. ”

“ Each child in turn pulls a petal from the daisy and tries to guess the name of the flower, which is the answer to the conundrum written on the under side of the petal. Five minutes is the time allowed, and if the player has not guessed the flower in that time he must pass the petal to the child on his left, who also has five minutes in which to guess it. If he guesses correctly the petal belongs to him, and at the end of the game the player having the most petals has won. ”

“ All summer long the out-of-door gardens kept us busy, planting, weeding and watering. When we had had a week or two of sunshiny weather we began to wish a cloud would sail over the blue sky and bring the rain our thirsty flowers needed. ”

“ As a sequel the children will enjoy colouring the puzzles. If they are pretty and neatly made they may be given to a child's hospital, to amuse some other little children in the long days of convalescence. ”

“ A boy or girl who has made the mat and basket and doll's furniture will have no difficulty in weaving one of these nests. Then there will be the delight of hanging it in a tree (not too near the house) and watching to see what bird will choose it when nesting time comes.
Fig. 20
Let us weave a nest that shall be light and yet firm. ”

“ Take a strong but slender piece of string about a foot long and lay it around the hole [172] in the centre of one of the pieces of cardboard, with the ends coming together below the outer edge (see Fig. 81) . Lay the other piece of cardboard directly over the first one and hold them firmly together (see Fig. 82) while with a needle threaded with worsted you sew around and around the cardboard rings, bringing the needle each time through the hole in the centre and around the outer edge of both rings. When a needleful of worsted is finished leave the end hanging and start another. ”

“ If they have no cracks or holes for drainage, bore some and partly cover them with pieces of an old flower pot, rounded side up. Put pebbles or other rough material in the bottom of the box. Now you are ready for the soil. Get good, rich loam from the garden and sift it into the boxes. You can then begin planting. The large seeds should be planted about half an inch deep, medium sized ones as deep as four times their own width; the very small ones are just pressed into the earth, and the smallest should have a piece of glass placed over the box so that they will not dry out entirely. ”

“ Cut out the different pieces of furniture as carefully as possible, paste them in as neatly as you can, and you will have a book house to be proud of.
Flowered papers will be the best for the bedrooms, or plain wall papers in light colours; and with brass bedsteads, pretty little dressing tables and curtains made of thin white tissue paper (which looks so like white muslin) , they will be as dainty as can be. ”

“ Packages of what is called India tape are sold at many of the dry goods shops for five or ten cents. They contain bunches of tape of different widths, a yard or two in each bunch. Pieces of pretty cotton, one figured or flowered, the other plain, will do quite as well as silk to make the case. Then you will need a simple metal or bone bodkin and three-quarters of a yard of narrow ribbon or silk braid. That is all except a spool of cotton, needle and scissors. ”

“ The Chinese lily bulbs are put into a dishful of tepid water which has a few small pieces of charcoal in it. A number of small stones are fitted around the bulbs to keep them upright and steady, and then they are put near a window where the sun comes. Hyacinths may be grown in the glasses or in flower pots, just as one chooses. A mixture of good soil from the garden and sand is best if they are to be grown in pots. Be careful in taking the garden soil to sift it through your fingers, making sure that no worms are lurking in it, to trouble the bulbs later on. ”

“ Some of the old potters—like the Catawba Indians—baked their vessels before the fire, and as the clay they used was very good they found it made them hard enough. In other tribes the potters made a bed of bark, set fire to it and baked the pot until when it came out it was red hot. At first the clay workers used the clay just as they found it, but when they began to make large pots and cauldrons to cook in they found that powdered shell or sand mixed with the clay made them stronger and less liable to crack in baking. ”

“ Each child in turn takes one thing at a time, from the stand where the various articles are piled, and carries it to the table at the opposite side of the room. It is done as quickly as possible, for the object is to move everything from one place to the other in the least possible time. ”

“ Where shall we place it now that it is made? A green mountain side is a good location for a castle, and it can be made quite easily. Bend a piece of pasteboard about a foot square (an old box cover will do) into dents that will almost break it, these look quite like hills and valleys and sharp crags, especially when they have been covered with green tissue paper. To do this spread a layer of paste or glue all over the pasteboard and then press the paper upon it. If it wrinkles, so much the better, for it will look more like grass and growing things.
[21]
A Doll's Shaker Bonnet
Fig. ”

“ Beads were also made of clay, and so [109] were tobacco pipes in many shapes. One would have the face of a man on the bowl, another a goat with open mouth, or a bird with its neck outstretched and bill parted, and on another the bowl would be formed by a natural-looking snake coiled up for a spring.
Fig. 59
In time men learned more about clays and how to mix and form and bake them, until now, as you know, pottery that is beautiful and serviceable is made all over the world, and in great factories china and porcelain made of the finest clays are moulded, decorated and fired for our use. ”

“ The daintiest little Shaker bonnet may be easily made by a little girl to fit one of her dolls. From the brim of an old leghorn, or other fine straw hat, cut two pieces, the shapes shown in Figs. 7 and 8. For a doll six or eight inches long the front piece will need to be about five inches long by an inch and a half wide. Bind the curved edge of the front piece with the straw-coloured ribbon, sewing it through and through with small stitches, using straw-coloured sewing [22] silk. ”

“ When they are all done bend a long wire stem at one end and run the other end through the centre of the petal-edged pieces, which should be laid one above the other, the darker ones on top. Put a touch of paste between them, slip on the green calyx, wind the stem with strips of green tissue paper, laying in a chrysanthemum leaf from time to time, and the flower is complete. ”

“ You can have all the fun of making a costume yourself, you can learn how to do it in the Indian way, and after it is finished it will be far more like the dress worn by Western Indians than those that are sold ready made. ”

“ In joining a new weaver lay it across the end of the old one, back of a spoke (see Fig. 19) .
The weaver at first should not be drawn too tight, but allowed to go easily, though it must be pressed closely down upon the row beneath it. When about three-quarters of an inch has been woven up the sides, the spokes are drawn gradually closer together by a slight tightening of the weaver, and this should be continued until an inch more has been woven. ”

“ Why not keep a gift box or drawer, where you can pack away the pretty things you take such pleasure in making on dull days all the year round? There are ever so many things—games, toys, baskets and beadwork—which you will find in other chapters—that will help to fill this gift box, and I am going to tell you about some others. ”

“ Roman hyacinths, which have beautiful white flowers, cost only four or five cents. Chinese lily bulbs are more expensive; one can be bought for ten cents or three for twenty-five cents, but they are large and the blossoms are so fragrant and beautiful [129] that they are well worth it. These are grown among pebbles in a dish of water. They will look well in a glass dish or in a shallow pottery bowl—such as you can buy for ten or fifteen cents at a Japanese store. For hyacinths, tall, slender glasses are to be had at the florist's for fifteen cents. ”