This is not a toy, but you will like to make it just the same, and afterward, perhaps, you will want to try another design all by yourself. If you can draw at all, with a soft pencil make some curves on a piece of white paper like Fig. 181, only ever so much larger, then a straight line up from the centre. The distance between the two largest curves at their widest part should be about eight inches. If you cannot draw these curves, ask some older person to do it for you.
Lay your paper with the pattern drawn on it flat on the table before you, shell some peas and carefully place them on the pencil lines of the curves. Begin with the largest peas at the centre of the design and finish with the smallest at the ends of the curves. Fig. 182 shows how this is done. Put the first pea on the curve at the place shown by the arrow in Fig. 181.
You won't be able to keep the peas in place unless you stick them to the paper with paste. Hold the tube of paste in your left hand, squeeze out a very little, take it off the tube with one of the peas and push the pea, paste side down, onto the paper where it belongs.
When the peas are all placed on the curves open two pea-pods as you did for the greenies' tent, slide one pod between the two halves of the other, and with a little paste on the stem ends and the tips, fasten them in the middle above the curves of peas as they are shown in Fig. 182. The two halves of each pod are not opened wide but are like Fig. 183. Above the pods, on the straight, upright line, place four more peas, beginning at the bottom with a large pea and ending with one much smaller.
The success of this design will depend upon making one side just like the other and in keeping it equally balanced. That is, one side must not sag down below the other and the pods at the top must fit exactly on the line, half on one side, half on the other.
The peas, you see, do not touch each other, but are separated by little spaces, and the spaces are all of the same length.
CHAPTER XXV
CORN-HUSKS AND CORN-COBS
How to Make American History Seem Real—Our First Thanksgiving
Let us play that we are really celebrating America's first Thanksgiving!
You can see one of our long, rude puncheon tables spread out in the mild, sweet air of Indian summer, laden with delectable dishes of clam chowder, oysters, fish, turkey, duck, goose, venison pasties, turnips, dumplings of barley flour, corn bread, wheat cakes, pumpkin pies, grapes, plums, great flagons of cider, and "all manner of tasty eats."
William Bradford, our good governor, with his old flintlock in hand, is just returning from a successful hunt for additional wild turkey. We shall need these, as ninety friendly Indians are to be our guests for three days and nights. Later they, too, will hunt and bring us wild deer.
Elder Brewster, in his festive doublet and hose, has stopped a moment to speak to Master Bradford. Sitting at table, you can see Captain Miles Standish with arms outstretched in glad welcome as he calls more Indians to join the feast, while Massasoit, the mighty chief, stands at the table signalling with his arrow for the braves to approach.
Already Quadquina and Hobomok are at the festive board, seated between Captain Miles Standish and John Alden. Squanto, who tells the boys how to trap game and teaches settlers how to plant corn, is resting on the ground with his feather-bedecked shield in one hand, and the calumet, or pipe of peace, in the other.
Now winsome Priscilla Alden comes, bearing on a pewter platter one of her savory hot baked turkeys, and her friend, Mary Chilton, is watching the delicious stew which simmers in the big iron pot over the outdoor fire.
Mistress Brewster, on her way to cut pumpkin pie, must needs stay her steps a moment to give ear to Governor Bradford's remarks, and Desire Minter is hurrying forward, ahead of the other young women, to serve the men at the feast.
All this would be told you by one of the little corn-husk pioneers shown in the photograph if only they could speak.
At all events, they can stand alone. They can be made to sit down, too, and their arms can be bent in any position. You may lift and place them in various parts of the grounds at pleasure. You might even imagine them to be the real characters they represent, and so live over again that Thanksgiving of 1621.
The making of these little people is most interesting. Use the rather soft between-layers of corn-husks; about two husks for each pioneer. If the husks seem brittle, soak them in water and make them pliable. Lay one husk partially over the top of the other (Fig. 184), bend them across the centre (Fig. 185), and let the smoothest side be the front of the doll. Fold each side of the front to the back until the front somewhat resembles Fig. 186; then wind slender, soft string around to form the neck and head of the doll. Wind another soft string around lower down for the belt-line (Fig. 187).
Make the arms of soft corn-husk (Fig. 188) by turning the lengthwise edges of the husk inward again and again, until the roll is of the desired size. Cut off the ends evenly and wind the arms with string at the centre and near each end.
Run the small blade of a penknife through the shoulders of the doll from side to side. Turn the blade flat side uppermost and allow it to remain in this position while you slide in the arms and screw them through the opening, pushing them along on top of the flat side of the blade. When in place, withdraw the knife and your little woman will be ready for her costume.
To make the man, cut Fig. 187 up from the bottom to within a short distance of the belt, thus dividing the husk skirts into two equal parts. Wind each half with string at the top, middle, and near the end to form the legs (Fig. 189).
Use black tissue-paper for the loose knee-trousers. Cut
two strips of the paper, fit one strip over a leg (Fig. 190), push the paper up on the inside until it resembles Fig. 191, then fasten in place with strong paste. Make the other trouser leg in the same way (Fig. 191).
Cut the coat from a folded piece of dull-green tissue-paper, and just at the neck make a hole large enough for the man's head to slip through (Fig. 191). Paste the front edges of the sleeves over the back edges and lay the front edges of the coat over those of the back. Fit the coat in at the belt-line with your fingers. Cut a black belt of tissue-paper, fold it lengthwise, and belt in the fulness of the coat, then paste the belt ends together. Be careful to make the belt loose, for men's waists are large. Make the collar (Fig. 192) of white paper and fasten it around the man's neck with a drop of paste in front.
From black, brown, or drab-yellow tissue-paper cut a strip of fine fringe and paste it on the man's head for hair (Fig. 193). Then make his hat. To do this, roll a small square of stiff black paper into a cornucopia to fit the man's head, paste the edges together, and trim off the corner which hangs down at the bottom (Fig. 194). Glue the hat-crown on the man's head, cut off the sharp top peak, and tilt the crown back a little (Fig. 195).
Now cut a disk of the black paper for the hat-brim, slash it across the centre into four points (Fig. 196), but only just far enough to make the opening fit over the hat-crown. Slide the brim on the crown, allowing the slashed central points to lie up against it, and fasten them there with paste (Fig. 197). Glue the pioneer's feet into holes cut part-way through a small piece of the corrugated flat pasteboard used for packing purposes. In this way the little man becomes independent and able to stand alone (Fig. 197).
The corn-husk women also wear tissue-paper clothes. The waists are made in the same manner as the men's coats, only shorter and confined at the belt-line with paste. Straight dress skirts are slipped over the waists, and held in place at the belt by winding string around the pinched-up gathers. Long, severely plain white aprons, minus strings, are pasted to the waist-line, and white-bordered black caps and large white three-cornered neckerchiefs complete the costume.
The cap is a straight piece of black tissue-paper with a narrow strip of white folded over the front edge. When ready, the white-bordered black strip is laid over the head, smoothly brought down on the sides, puckered together at the back and tied around the neck with a string. You have only to clip loose the outside layer of white close to the string at the neck-line to give the flare to the cap's white border.
The crisp dress skirt forms sufficient support to enable the little women to stand alone.
With the exception of Squanto, whose manly chest, back, and arms have no covering, the Indians wear suits of tan tissue-paper made on the same principle as the white men's costume, only the trouser-legs are narrow, long, and have the seam cut in fringe and run up on the outside. The bottom edge of the coat and the sleeve seams are also fringed. The coat is not wide and no belt is worn.
Pieces of colored tissue-paper adjusted blanket fashion over the Indians, and fastened here and there with bits of paste to hold them in place, form the Indian blankets.
The Indians' hair is merely a strip of black tissue-paper pasted over the top, back, and sides of the head with the ends loosely twisted and allowed to hang down in front on either side.
The war-bonnet is cut from a strip of white writing-paper, the tips of the feathers are inked, and one end of the strip is then pasted around Massasoit's head, as shown in the picture.
It is best to make a number of corn-husk people at one time. Put the two husks together for each pioneer and Indian, then wind a string around the neck of each to form the head (Fig. 186). Again tie a string around each at the belt-line (Fig. 187). Continue making the people in this way, step by step, until all are finished at the same time. Have ready as many arms as you have people, and run the arms through each, one after another.
When bending the arms or legs of the little people do it slowly and gently. If they are inclined to spring back, tie them in position overnight and they will stay bent.
When dressing the dolls, cut out all the men's collars at one time. You can do this by cutting through as many layers of paper as there are men. Adopt the same plan with the other parts of clothing for the men, women, and Indians, and your work will be rapid.
With ink draw features on all. The women must have ink hair, parted in the middle.
Remember when making Miles Standish to cut his hair of red paper, for he had auburn hair.
The "sad" colors worn by the pioneers were really the cheerful autumn hues, rich, dull reds, greens, browns, and yellows. These will give you quite a variety of colors for the costumes of both men and women.
Make the puncheon table of a flat, narrow piece of wood. With a gimlet bore holes through the board, slanting them toward the centre, one hole near each corner. Any kind of round sticks will do for the legs. Cut them all of the same length and glue one in each hole.
The pewter dishes are made from one of the collapsible lead tubes used for oil-paints and various other things. Cut open the empty tube and smooth it out flat, then cut out round pieces for plates, mould the plates over the tops of wooden spools, and the flagons over a pen-handle or other round stick. Make the flagon-handles of slender strips of the tube bent into rings, and slip one end of the strip over the edge of the flagon.
A piece of yellow paper pasted over the cover of a very small baking-powder can makes a pumpkin pie. The turkey is merely pinched-up paper with brown tissue-paper laid smoothly over the breast. Its wings and legs are of bits of lighter-colored paper rolled and bent into shape, then pasted on the turkey.
Fresh, green, uncooked corn-cobs from which the corn has been cut and scraped make delightful pioneer log-houses. Cooked cobs are too hard to cut. Choose slender cobs, long ones for the front and back of the house, shorter ones for the sides. Cut a notch, or saw it, if the cobs are dry and hard, on the tops of the ends of each of the two foundation logs (Fig. 198). Cut a notch on both top and bottom of each remaining log as indicated by the black lines in Fig. 198.
Always make a larger notch in the small end of the cob than in the large end, so that the large end of another cob may fit in it; for, when building, it is necessary to place small ends and large ends together, and never two large ends or two small ends, or the house will be unevenly balanced.
Lay the two foundation cobs down parallel to each other and a short distance apart; then bridge across the ends with shorter cobs, fitting the notches into each other. Continue building in this log-cabin fashion until the house is of sufficient height.
On the front of the house draw two straight lines down across the cobs, one for each side of the doorway. Then take your house apart and cut the doorway out from the marked cobs. Rebuild the house, gluing layer upon layer. Make the doorway jambs of straight pieces of corn-stalk, and glue them on each side of the open doorway.
Before the roof can be added, corn-cobs, graduated in length and without notches, must be laid at each end of the house to support the roof and give it its gable ends. These graduated cobs are the "trap-logs." They rest upon long strips of corn-stalk, called "ribs," which are placed across from one end of the house to the other. Build the roof log-cabin fashion as you built the body of the house, laying a rib between the ends of each layer of graduated cobs, and as you build, fasten the parts together with glue.
Cut enough clapboards of corn-stalk to cover both sides of the roof. Make them all of the same length and long enough to reach from the top of the roof to a trifle beyond its lower edge.
The clapboards must be held down by means of "weight-poles" laid across, and to keep the weight-poles from rolling off use pegs called "knees."
Make the knee-pegs of corn-stalk. Cut a hole near both ends of four of the clapboards and glue in pegs, slanting them upward. You will then have two pegged clapboards for the front of the roof and two for the back. Place them near the ends of the roof and glue all the clapboards in place. Cut four slender lengths of corn-stalk for weight-poles, and lay them across the roof, resting against the knee-pegs. Glue them to the roof only where they buck the knee-pegs. When finished, set the house aside until the glue is entirely dry. It may then be moved.
Corn-tassels standing in empty spools make fine trees.
It is fitting that the story of our country's first Thanksgiving should be retold this year by means of corn. You remember, of course, that friendly Indians showed the pioneers how to plant and cultivate corn, which, to them, was a new grain. Later, when a wonderful harvest had been gathered, our forefathers decided to set aside a day to thank God for His goodness. That was the first Thanksgiving.
PART VII
FRUIT
CHAPTER XXVI
THE FUNNY ORANGE HEAD
You will hardly believe it is only an ordinary, everyday orange when you have made it into the head that I am going to tell you about.
Select a small, firm, perfect orange and with a pencil mark features on it, first the eyes like Fig. 199. Carefully cut out the little spaces of skin between the lines, then mark the nose (Fig. 200); cut this and mark the mouth (Fig. 201); cut this and at each side of the head draw the ears like Fig. 202. You will see that the line of the ear does not continue all the way around; that means that you are simply to run your knife along the line, cutting through the skin so that the ears may be lifted up and peeled forward to stand out from the head; the front part remains attached (Fig. 203).
Make the neck of a slender, strong, round stick sharpened to a point at one end. Push the point up into the under part of the orange, where the neck should be, by twisting the stick around as it goes in (Fig. 204).
The orange is the head, but your hand and fingers are to be the body and arms to go with it. Look at Fig. 204. That will show you how to hold the stick firmly and at the same time leave your first finger and thumb free to use as arms.
Pin a handkerchief, or other soft cloth, around Mr. Orange's neck, bring it around to cover your hand and then pretend he is talking while you move his arms and say as many funny things as you can think of. By moving the stick while you hold it in your hand, you can make the orange head turn in various ways (Figs. 205 and 206), and a little paper hat fitted on it will make it still funnier (Fig. 207).
The orange need not always be a man. You can play it is a little girl and make a cunning little wreath of flowers for her small head; or pretend it is a baby and have it wear a baby's cap made of paper. If you want to turn it into a young lady, pierce the ears and fit in earrings made of violets. You do this simply by threading the flower-stems through the holes you have pierced, and drawing the blossoms up close to them. Then, you can make believe the orange is an old man and put a pipe in his mouth. Make the pipe of an acorn with a twig for the stem. If you want the baby to cry, squeeze the orange a little and tears of orange-juice will roll from its eyes and stream down its face. Little holes must first be punctured in the eyes to let the tears run out.
Things You Can Make of Orange-Skins
A TOY JAPANESE STOOL
The soft, golden orange-skin, lined with silvery white, is fine material for moulding and making into different kinds of things to play with. Bring your orange and we will begin by making a toy stool for your doll-house (Fig. 208). It will look very much like the real stools which the Japanese make for real people to sit on, though nothing is used for it but the orange-skin.
First cut the orange across from side to side, making two halves, and after you have taken out the pieces of juicy fruit and enjoyed eating them, examine the two pretty yellow orange-skin bowls that are left. See how soft and pliable they are. Now take one of the bowls and pinch the edges of two opposite sides toward each other; hold them steady while, with your other hand, you pinch the other two sides toward each other. Hold all four sides bent inward for a moment, then let go of them and the sides will stay bent while you wind string across, first one way then the other, between the curved stool legs you have just made by bending the sides of the bowl inward.
Set the stool away to dry and stiffen into shape; then, when it has become hard, take off the string and you will have a little Japanese stool quite as strong as if made of wood.
A CANDY-BOX
A candy-box can be made in the same way of the other half of the orange-skin, but you must curve the sides in only a little for this; not nearly as much as for the stool. Stand the candy-box, with open part up, ready to be filled with candy.
A BASKET
An orange-skin basket is a substantial little affair when finished, and will hold almost anything you want to put in it. It looks like Fig. 209. For this you will again need half of an orange-skin. Bend in two opposite sides after first cutting a short slit in each side near the edge. Make the handle of strong paper, cutting it like Fig. 210, with a tongue at each end. Bend over the two side points of each tongue, and slide one tongue through the slit in one side of the basket, the other tongue through the slit in the other side, then open out the points again and they will make secure fastenings for the handle. You will see from the illustration that the tongues are put through the basket from the inside and show on the outside.
Before setting away to dry, tie a string around the bent-in sides of the basket, and stuff the open part with crushed paper to keep it in shape.
ORANGE-SKIN BOWLS
When you have another orange save the two halves of the skin, pack each full of crumpled, clean, blank paper, flatten the bottom of the bowls so that they will stand firmly, then set them away to dry.
If you do all this carefully the bowls will harden in good shape and you can use them to eat and to drink from.
Other Things Made of Orange-Skins
Cunning little toy summer-houses may be made from an orange-skin in a moment's time (Fig. 211). Take half of an orange-skin and stick the sharp ends of four wooden toothpicks into the edge of its rim. Place the toothpicks upright, at equal distances apart, and they will form the pillars to support the golden, dome-shaped roof. Stand the little summer-house on the table, and you will think it charming.
By slicing an orange you can have a number of little, yellow hoops for your dolls, made of the rind around each slice. When the hoops are carefully dried in perfect circles, you can roll them on top of a table or on the floor, and play the dolls are having great fun racing with their orange-skin hoops.
CHAPTER XXVII
APPLES AND APPLE FUN
When the apple-trees are in bloom, stand under one and look up through the wonderful tent of flowers at the little bits of blue sky peeping down at you between the blossoms. Isn't it delightful to see so many, many apple-blossoms all at once? How beautiful they are and how sweet they smell!
Now, pick one little blossom and examine it carefully. Count the pretty pink-and-white petals. Five petals? Yes. Look again, see how they grow from the centre and notice their shape. Be very particular, so that you will remember exactly how the blossom looks; make sure you know, for I am going to tell you about the flower you can find inside the big, ripe apple after all the other apple-blossoms are gone.
Apple-Blossom in Apple
Cut the apple into thin slices from side to side through the core. Take one of the slices from near the middle of the apple and hold it up to the light, so that the light will shine through it, then look carefully and you will see in the centre a perfect pattern of the apple-blossom you gathered from the tree (Fig. 212). Apple-seeds form the centre of the flower. The petals, five in number, are of the flesh of the fruit. They are of the same shape and size as the real blossom. Isn't it wonderful?
Now, take the seeds from their hard, glossy cases, again hold the slice up to the light and lo, in the centre of the slice, you will find a five-pointed star which twinkles as the light shines through.
You can add to this and make a pretty, shining pattern in this way: Take a wooden toothpick, and with its pointed end pierce little holes all along the edge of the flower pattern; then make a loop of little holes above one of the petals (Q, Fig. 213), and still another above that one (R, Fig. 213). Pierce the edges of all the petals and make the same kind of double loops above them also, then the design will be like Fig. 214. Hold it up to the light, turn it this way and that and your slice of apple will look as if spangled with glittering diamonds. Fig. 215 shows a wheel design which you can make of another slice.
Apple Candle in its Candlestick
When I was a little girl I used to make apple candles that stood up in their own candlesticks. I always ate the fresh, juicy slices as I cut them off. Fig. 216 shows how the candles look when finished. The stem is the wick, and as it is usually dark at the end, it is a very good imitation of a candlewick that is partially burnt. The dotted lines on Fig. 217 show how to cut away the apple to leave the candle and its holder.
First cut off a slice at the blossom end, so that the candle-stick will stand without tipping. The dotted line at the bottom of Fig. 217 indicates where this cut is to be made. Then run your knife around the apple without cutting all the way through to the core, where you see the middle dotted line on Fig. 217. After that, begin at the sides and gradually shave down the upper part little by little, being careful not to cut below the slit you have made around the apple. When the middle part standing up around the core is the size of a real candle it is time to stop cutting. Because of the core inside you cannot make your candle very slender, but you can cut off the sharp edges and make it round.
A Roasted Apple
Another thing I used to love to do with my apple when I was a little girl was to tie a long string to the stem and hang it before an open fire to roast. I think you will enjoy it too.
Tie one end of the string securely to the stem of your apple, and don't break the stem off in doing it (Fig. 218); then tie the other end to something heavy on the mantel-shelf that will hold it securely. The apple should hang in front of a grate of glowing coals, or near the red-hot coals of a wood-fire.
As soon as cooking begins, twist the string and make the apple spin round and round so that it may be roasted evenly on all sides; it is fun to do that. When the juice begins to run and drop from the apple, set a saucer under to catch the hot, sweet syrup. It is good poured over the apple when that is thoroughly cooked. Add sugar to the juice while it is hot if it is not sweet enough.
The Spice Apple
In New England, many years ago, there was always to be found in every household at least one spice apple. It sounds good to eat, doesn't it? But they were not made for eating, they were used for sweet-smelling ornaments, and for keeping away moths and other troublesome insects. Perhaps you will like to make a spice apple to give away; it will be a pretty and very sweet gift and will last for years.
Choose a small, perfectly sound apple and have ready a lot of cloves. Stick the cloves into the apple as you would stick pins into a cushion, only the cloves must be put in very close together, touching each other and making the apple look like a large, prickly, brown nut. That is all, unless you want to hang the apple up. In that case run a wooden toothpick through one raised side at the top, across the little hollow where the stem grows, and out through the raised side opposite, after first breaking off the stem. Cross this toothpick with another pushed through the apple and also bridging the hollow. This will make a low handle in the form of a cross. At the middle, where the toothpicks touch, tie a bright ribbon, leaving a loop by which to hang it.
Other Things to Make of an Apple
When an apple is cut across into round slices, you can make a doll's table of the largest slice by using four wooden toothpicks for legs, pushing them into the apple at equal distances apart. Half of a slice, with halves of toothpicks for legs, makes a very suitable seat for this remarkable table.
If you cut a thick flat slice from a small apple you can make it into a top that will spin by pushing a toothpick through the centre, leaving a long end on one side and a shorter end on the other. The short end is the peg upon which the top spins. Take the long, upper end of the toothpick between your thumb and first finger, give it a hard, quick twist and drop the top on a table having a hard, smooth finish, where it will spin merrily. The little fruit-top will not spin on a carpet or any rough, uneven surface.