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Lady Hollyhock and Her Friends: A Book of Nature Dolls and Others cover

Lady Hollyhock and Her Friends: A Book of Nature Dolls and Others

Chapter 6: Radishes and Corn
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About This Book

This book presents a collection of craft projects, short sketches, and songs guiding children and caregivers to make dolls, figures, and toy animals from flowers, fruits, seeds, nuts, corn husks, clay, paper, and common household odds and ends. Clear instructions, patterns, jingles, and plentiful illustrations accompany step-by-step plans and brief vignettes that suggest play scenarios. Emphasizing imagination, thrift, and hands-on skill-building, the selections encourage observational acquaintance with plants and seasons while promoting creativity, resourcefulness, and simple domestic arts suitable for young makers.

Radishes and Corn

The beautiful red radishes from the garden made the most charming of babies, with their leaves turned down for clothes and tied around with blades of grass. These and the corn babies were Florence’s favorites.

When the tender roasting ears were brought in from the garden the children all agreed that they were such dainty babies, just as they were, that it would spoil them to change them in any way.

All they needed to do was just to open the green husk a little and there lay the most beautiful creamy white Corn Baby wrapped in the daintiest of silken garments.

Florence hugged the Corn Baby close in her arms and as she rocked it to sleep sang to it a soft crooning little lullaby which she and the others had made up. Charlotte—and Mamma, too, had helped them a little with both the tune and words. As Florence sang to the baby in her arms the others joined her, singing softly always, and letting the song fade away almost to a whisper at the end that the baby might not miss the music when it was heard no more.

Then the Corn Baby was tenderly laid in a cradle Tom had made by gluing two semi-circles of wood for rockers to a pasteboard spool box. The wooden circle which he had cut in two had once had a bolt of ribbon wrapped around it in a store.