The Project Gutenberg eBook of Recreations for Girls, by Lina Beard and Adelia Beard.

As you say the last line raise the right finger up and back over your right shoulder; while there, quickly bend down the right finger with Jack on it and stiffen out the second finger in its place. Bring your right hand down with Jack hidden and put the empty second finger on the chair instead of the first. The bird will be gone and lonesome little Jill will perch on the hill with no playmate, so you must let her go too. Repeat these words, "Fly away, Jill," and make her disappear as you did Jack, bringing down the empty second finger of your left hand and your father will find that both birds have gone; but you may make them return by saying, "Come back, Jack," as you raise your right hand and close down the second finger while you straighten out the first and bring it again to the chair with Jack upon it. Call Jill also that Jack may have some one to sing to, and as you say, "Come back, Jill," bend down the second finger and straighten out the first one with Jill on it, and let her fly down to Jack. You may repeat the lines again and again, making the pets come and go.

with your sister, but you must be careful and touch her face very lightly. As you say "Knock at the door," softly tap her forehead, and at "Peep in," gently raise the outside of her eyelid by pushing the top of your finger upward on her temple near the eye, but not too near, as you might accidentally strike the eye. "Lift up the latch" by slightly raising the tip of her nose with the end of your finger. At "Walk in" gently place your finger between her lips; end the play by saying "Chin Chopper Chin" as you lightly tap several times under her chin.

I would place my right hand down flat on my lap with the back of the hand uppermost, and say to you, "Lay your right hand out flat on top of mine;" then I would place my left hand over yours, and you would cover mine with your left hand. That would make four hands all piled up in a tower; but the moment your left hand came down on top of mine I would pull my right hand out from under the tower and lay it on top, covering your left hand; then you would hurry to take your right hand from under the pile and place it on top. So we would continue to play, always drawing the hand out from the bottom of the pile and placing it on top until we were able to build the tower very rapidly, and, when either of us took too long a time to draw her hand out from under the pile, a forfeit would have to be given to the other.

(Figs. 477, 478, 479, 480, 481) on unruled white writing-paper and cut them out. The strip of paper extending from one side of each little pig must be made into a ring (Fig. 482) to fit the end of one of the five fingers on your right hand (Fig. 476). Begin with "This little pig went to market" (Fig. 477) for the thumb, next, "This little pig stayed at home" (Fig. 478) for the first finger, then "This little pig had roast beef" (Fig. 479) for the second finger, and "This little pig had none" (Fig. 480) for the third finger; to the little finger belongs (Fig. 481) "This little pig said wee, wee, all the way home." Adjust the bands until they fit perfectly, then paste the end of each band under the free side of the attached pig. If the bands are too long they can be cut to proper length. Fig. 482 gives the wrong side of a pig with band curled around and pasted on back of pig, and Fig. 476 shows how the Five Little Pigs will look when on your fingers. If you can give each little pig a flat wash of pink water-color paint, and when dry ink the outlines, they will appear more real. After you have played with the wee pigs, try

(Figs. 483, 484, 485, 486, 487), and ask some one to fold paper into hats for your finger-heads, as shown in Figs. 488, 489, 490, 491, 492. You might ask to have the various children's heads painted, giving each girl and boy different colored hair—black, brown, red, deep yellow, and pale yellow. If the hats are of colored tissue-paper the effect will be fine, especially if a bit of gay cloth be wound around each finger for clothing. Then the five alive little dolls can bow to each other and dance.

Fig. 483.—"I am sleepy."	Fig. 488.—Sleepy boy's hat.
Fig. 484.—"Where is my hat?"	Fig. 489.—Crying boy's hat.
Fig. 485.—"I think you are funny."	Fig. 491.—Laughing boy's hat.
Fig. 486.—"Will you play with me?"	Fig. 490.—Hat for little girl who wants to play.
Fig. 487.—"I'll give you a good time."	Fig. 492.—Little girl's hat.

CHAPTER XXV

I THINK one must really love the flowers in order to arrange them perfectly. If you love them you will feel in sympathy with them, and that alone will help you to understand what is needed to bring out and emphasize their exquisite beauty. Yet some knowledge of the rules that govern the best arrangement of flowers is necessary also, for it saves many experiments and makes the pretty task much more enjoyable and satisfactory.

You may crowd a room with the rarest and most expensive flowers, but so arrange them that more than half of the effect of their beauty is lost; and you may have only one flower, but if it be the right kind of flower in the right kind of vase, and placed in just the right spot, your room will appear abundantly decorated and be filled with the beauty and sweetness of the one blossom.

In a house where good taste always prevailed there stood, one day, on the uncovered top of a grand piano a tall, colorless, transparent vase which held just one long-stemmed American Beauty rose. The queenly flower with its stem showing through the glass and the few green leaves attached were all reflected in the highly polished piano, and the effect of the colors reproduced in deepened, darkened tones by the rich rosewood was indescribably lovely. There were no other flowers and, though the room was a large one, none were needed. One's eyes fell immediately upon the rose when entering, and lingered there with no wish to be drawn away by lesser attractions.

It was not merely a happy accident that placed the one flower in its prominent and effective position, but the experience and unerring taste of the daughter of the house.

with no green leaves to relieve them, packed tightly into the neck of a brightly colored porcelain vase, and set primly on a stiff mantel-piece amid other prim ornaments. Then think of a clear glass rose-bowl standing on a table, where lie the newest magazines or books, filled and running over in riotous beauty with the same nasturtiums in their free, untrammelled state. The viney stems with leaf, bud, and blossom drooping to the table or hanging over its edge, and the other blossoms standing up in sweet liberty with room to move about if they will. Can you hesitate between the two arrangements? Yet I found the first in a flower-lover's home.

Few flowers look well packed tightly together and all are better for loosening up a trifle. Purple violets are almost the only flowers that will bear crowding, though many think wild daisies adapted to this arrangement, and spoil their beauty by making them into hard, tight bunches. A good rule is to follow Nature as far as possible in this direction. Flowers that grow singly and far apart, should not be crowded, but those which grow thickly clustered may be more closely massed.

although there are some that do not need this relief. Closely packed flowers should have no foliage; chrysanthemums, one species of the brilliant poppy and the sweet-pea need none, but there are few others that do not show better amid green leaves.

While flowers of different varieties seldom look well together, you may sometimes add much to its beauty by giving a flower the foliage of another plant, and a trailing green vine will often be just the touch needed to soften a stiff arrangement.

Asparagus fern is an airy and feathery green, but you must use it with discretion, as it is suitable only for fragile, delicate flowers in very loose arrangements. Other ferns, though often used, do not really combine well with any flowers, they are too distinctly another species of plant and hold themselves aloof in their separateness. The wild oxalis, wood-sorrel, or, as the children call it, sour grass, has pretty delicate leaves that look well with sweet-peas and other small flowers. As a rule, a flower's own foliage suits it best, however, and you may be certain not to offend good taste by keeping to it.

that are different in kind or color, it can seldom be done successfully. To be sure, a mass of sweet-peas in all their variety of color is very lovely, but even they are more effective when separated into bunches each of one color. White flowers sometimes are the better for a touch of color, and white and yellow roses make a pretty combination, or white and delicate pink, but the strong contrast of white and dark red is not pleasing. Lilies should always have a vase to themselves, and the Ascension lily must under all circumstances stand alone. Neither the quality of the flower nor the associations connected with it permit of its being grouped with any other.

In the careful arrangement of flowers your object should always be to bring out their whole beauty, and let all else be secondary to that. One vase, though beautiful in itself, may not be at all suitable for holding flowers, while another, of no value as an ornament, will display them to their best advantage.

are always safe and in many cases absolutely necessary. Give your roses transparent vases or bowls whenever possible. If they have long stems, tall, slender vases, if their stems are short the clear glass rose-bowls are more suitable. Short-stemmed flowers do not look well in tall vases, and a flower should always stand some distance above the top of the vase. Someone gives as a rule that the height of long-stemmed flowers should be one and one-half times the height of the vase, but when the vase contains several, of course the height must vary.

need not be expensive, for they are now in the market at extremely low prices. Knowing what to choose you can find for a very moderate sum tall, slender vases with almost no markings, that will show the long stem and so display the entire loveliness of the rose. Fig. 493 is one of the least expensive of these vases. Even the colorless glass olive-bottle, shaped like Fig. 494, makes a pretty and suitable vase, and an ordinary fish-globe displays the rose-stems to far greater advantage than a cut-glass rose-bowl. A clear glass water-pitcher without tracing of any kind is another appropriate receptacle for these lovely blossoms. When the stems of any flowers have beauty of their own, they should never be hidden in opaque vases. So it is not for roses alone these transparent vases are suitable.

will sometimes enhance the brilliancy of flowers of contrasting or complementary colors. A pale-yellow jar will intensify the richness of the purple of the violet, and a soft green will harmonize with it most delightfully. The neutral gray often found in Japanese ware will not clash with any color, and is especially suited to brilliant red flowers; yellow flowers in a dark-blue jar are quite effective.

Do not use ornate or highly decorated vases. No design should conflict with the natural flowers, and the shape of the vase should also be simple.

Cylindrical jars, like Fig. 495, are suited to heavy clustering flowers like the lilac and also to the large chrysanthemums. Fig. 496 is another good shape; but avoid vases like Fig. 497 with a neck so small it will admit only one or two stems, while the bowl is much too large for the few flowers standing stiffly erect.

Place short-stemmed flowers, like the pansy and violet, in low jars or bowls, and it is not necessary to have them lie flat on the water. A friend of mine has invented for her own use this little

which holds the flowers above the water while allowing nearly the whole of their short stems to be immersed.

With an old pair of shears, or a wire-cutter, snip off a dozen or more pieces of copper wire of varying lengths between ten inches for the longest and five for the shortest piece. At each end of every wire make a loop like Fig. 498; bend the loops over (Fig. 499), then fasten all the pieces to a brass curtain-ring by twisting each piece once around the ring at the centre of the wire (Fig. 500). Bunch the wires together and stand the lifter in a bowl of water; put your flower-stems through the wire loops, as in Fig. 501, and the wires under water will look like the flower-stems, the loops being hidden by the blossoms.

is pleasing and necessary in many things, but not in the grouping of flowers. You must strive for apparent carelessness in effect while taking the utmost care, and for irregularity and naturalness rather than stiff, formal arrangement. A bowl of flowers need not look, as it sometimes does, like a dish for the table, served with the confectioner's symmetrical decorations; it should rather seem as if the sweet blossoms were growing in a bed of their own.

up in a clump, roots and all; they will look far better than the cut flowers arranged in vases, and the roots may afterward be planted in your wild-flower garden.

Bloodroot will keep a long while if the roots are not disturbed, and one of the loveliest flower-pieces we ever had in the house was a gray-green Japanese bowl filled with the growing bloodroot. The blossoms stand closely together and a small bowl will hold quite a number.

Wood anemones, hepaticas, and wild violets are all adapted to this temporary transplanting. I have kept ferns in this way for several weeks and the centre-piece for the table in our mountain camp was at one time a clump of maiden-hair fern in a small china bowl, which lasted fresh and perfect many days. As there can be comparatively little soil with the roots of these wild flowers, they must be kept very damp all the while, and ferns, especially, will do best when set in a pan or bowl of water.

CHAPTER XXVI

many places in the South the children have most beautiful material with which to build out-of-door playhouses. Large green palm-leaves grow close to the ground and point their slender fingers out in many directions as though holding up their outstretched hands, asking the girls and boys to come and take them. These palms, together with small, full-leaved live-oak twigs, Cherokee roses, trailing vines, and long gray moss, are fashioned into bouquets and tied in great bunches to the trees with strings made of strips of palms. Four trees growing near together are usually selected as the boundary lines of the

their branches overhead serving as a roof. The walls are open, allowing a free passage of air and plenty of light (Fig. 502).

Similar playhouses may be built by children in any spot where trees grow within a short distance of each other. In place of tropical decorations the young builders can use the most ornamental bouquets within reach, selecting foliage and flowers which will keep fresh at least for a few hours.

Tie a strong piece of twine securely to the end of each of the ribs and tie the loose end of each piece of twine around the notch cut in a pointed wooden peg a short distance from its top. This will give an umbrella with a fringe of dangling pegs. Open the umbrella and fasten the handle securely to a long, sharp-pointed stick, binding the two together with strong twine. First run one end of the twine down the length you intend binding, allowing enough to tie at the bottom; then commence binding at the top over all three—the umbrella handle, the twine, and the stick. Wind the string around very tight, and when you reach the bottom, tie the twine you hold to the loose end of the length under the wrappings. Examine carefully and be sure the handle does not slide or twist on the stick; then push the point of the stick down into the ground at the place decided upon for the playhouse. If you are not strong enough to erect the house by yourself, ask some companions to lend a hand and help sink the stick firmly in the earth. When this is accomplished stretch out each length of twine in turn and drive the peg in the ground (Fig. 503). You will need a wide ruffle on the edge of the umbrella of some kind of material full enough to reach around the outer circle of pegs on the ground beneath its lower edge. The stretched twine will hold the ruffle out, forming an odd little playhouse with a smooth, round roof and drapery walls. Plait the ruffle and pin it on the umbrella with safety-pins; also fasten it at the bottom to each peg (Fig. 504). Newspapers pasted together and made of double thickness may be used for the ruffle, if more convenient, but be careful in handling the paper, as it tears readily. The longer the pole the higher and larger will be your house, for the strings also must be longer.

When you want to play Indian and pretend you live in the Wild West, your home must be

Get a dozen slender poles about as large around as a broom-stick, and twice and one-half as tall as yourself. Tie three poles securely together near the tops and stack the others around the first three as a foundation or framework for the house. Settle each pole firmly in the ground, forming a circle, and bring the tops together at the centre, where each pole should form a support for the others, and all should lean against and across each other; then bind all the poles together at the top of the framework (Fig. 505). Covers of real wigwams are usually cut to fit the framework and often decorated in savage fashion. Sometimes they are composed of skins of wild beasts. If you can make yours in Indian style, it will be very realistic and lots of fun. Find some inexpensive dull-brown or gray outing cloth or Canton flannel and sew several lengths together. Fig. 506 gives the pattern of a wigwam covering, and the dotted lines enclosing B-B-B-B show how the breadths are sewed together. C is the chimney-opening where the poles come through at the top. O is one of the flaps held back with an extra pole; D, one of the lower front sides folded over for the door-way. The dotted line A indicates the slit to be cut for the chimney-flap. The two chimney-flaps can be brought together for protection when necessary. Along the curved edge of the blank side of the diagram (Fig. 506) holes are shown for the wooden stakes to be used in pinning the wigwam to the ground. The holes must be continued along the entire edge of the covering.

similar to diagram (Fig. 506), making an immense cape-like affair. Try the covering over the framework of poles; if it fits fairly well, hem the raw edges and bind the small, round holes cut at intervals in the lower edge, to prevent them from tearing. When finished tie each of the two top points to a separate pole. Ask someone to assist you and let the two poles be raised at the same time to the top of the Wigwam framework; in this way the entire upper part of the covering may be hoisted in place; then the sides can be spread out and adjusted. Indians, having no chimneys, always leave quite a large opening at the top of their wigwams to serve this purpose; the space also admits light into their houses. Commence near the top at the place where the flaps are cut, and pin the fronts together with large thorns or sharp-pointed slender sticks. Fasten the fronts to within a few feet of the ground. The opening left at the bottom takes the place of a door. Sharpen as many wooden pegs as there are holes in the bottom of the covering and push a peg through each hole into the ground, bending the pegs outward a little in order to keep the tent-like covering from slipping off the tops of the pegs. The two poles attached to the chimney points must now be carried backward on each side of the wigwam, to be brought forward again when desired (Fig. 507). When other material is lacking, shawls, bedspreads, or sheets pinned together may be used for your wigwam-cover.

With a large-sized Japanese umbrella, a breadth of cloth, a stick, and some straw you can make an

Take the straw or hay and divide some of it into bunches twelve inches in length. Tie these all together in a long row, forming a straw fringe. Sew the fringe around the edge of the umbrella with a coarse needle and thread, allowing it to hang over and down. Overlap the first row with another straw fringe and continue to sew on row after row until the top is reached and the umbrella entirely covered; then fasten the handle securely to a sharp-pointed stick and plant it firmly in the ground. Measure the distance around the outer edge of the umbrella, not including the straw thatch, and cut the cloth long enough to reach around, leaving an open space for the door-way. Use more straw to cover the cloth completely and sew the straw on in overlapping layers lengthwise of the material. With safety-pins fasten the wall around the inner edge of the umbrella, pinning the cloth to little loops of tape you have tied at intervals over the ribs of the umbrella (Fig. 508).

is easy to erect. Push two forked sticks into the ground and on one bind an upright slender branch (Fig. 509); then lay a pole across from one crotch to another (Figs. 510 and 511). On the upright branch tie flowers and grasses, twisting a wreath of the same around the forked stick. Procure some bright-colored flowered material, or cloth of any kind and hang it over the central pole. Stretch out the four corners and peg them to the ground (Fig. 512).

CHAPTER XXVII

by placing a board across from one empty barrel to another (Fig. 513). Turn the barrels upside down, bringing the covered side uppermost that there may be no possibility of losing articles down through the open barrel heads. Large, strong wooden boxes or two chairs may serve to support the ends of the counter if barrels are not at hand.

On each end of the counter nail an empty wooden box. Stand the box on one end and let the open part face backward; put your hand inside and drive a few nails through box and counter to fasten the box securely in place. Do the same with the second box and your counter will be ready for

These are very necessary in weighing different articles. They can be made of the round covers of two large-sized baking-powder or cracker cans (Fig. 514). Have the covers exactly the same size, and punch three holes in the rim of each at equal distances apart (Fig. 515). To obtain the exact measurements for placing the holes, take a strip of paper and wrap it smoothly and tightly around the outside of the rim of the cover. Let the paper be a trifle narrower than the rim of the lid, and be sure to fold over the long end exactly where it meets the first end (Fig. 516, A). Remove the paper, cut off the fold, and again try the strip on the cover. See that the measurement is perfectly correct, then take the paper off and fold it into three equal sections, making two folds and two ends (Fig. 517), and for the third time wrap the strip of paper around the cover rim. Mark the tin at the point where the ends meet, and where the two creases in the paper strike the tin; this will give three marks on the rim equally distant from each other. Drive a wire nail through the tin rim at the three marked places to make the necessary holes (Fig. 515); then tie knots in the ends of six pieces of string of equal length, and thread a string through each of the three holes in each of the lids. Fasten the three strings on each lid together at the top (Fig. 518). Cut a notch at each end of a stick and tie the scales in place (Fig. 519). Make two notches in the centre of the stick, one on the top, the other on the bottom, and tie a string around the stick at the centre notches by which to suspend the scales. This centre string may be fastened to an overhanging tree-branch, or you can make a support for it. Nail an upright stick to the end of the counter and box, allowing it to come a little below the board; then nail another upright stick in the same way to the other end of the counter. Notch the tops of the uprights, lay a long, slender stick across from one to the other and tie the centre string of the scales on the cross-stick (Fig. 520). Fig. 521 gives an end view and shows exactly how to nail the upright on the box and end of board. Use different-sized stones as weights; a small one for a quarter of a pound, one twice as large for a half pound, and another twice the size of the last for a whole pound.

and stand them in a row on another counter back of the first (Fig. 522). Fill each box a little more than half full of sand, earth, pebbles, or dried leaves, which you must pretend is flour, sugar, coffee, tea, or other things in stock. Find a large shell, a piece of shingle, or anything else that will answer the purpose, for a scoop to use in handling many of the groceries. Label each box with the name of the article you intend it to contain; then look up your vegetables and nuts.

Acorns make fine nuts. Gather a quantity of them, and for cabbage tie a number of corn-husks together, or grape-vine or hollyhock leaves; any kind of large leaves will answer the purpose. Take a small, short stick and with a string wind the ends of the leaves, one leaf at a time, on the stick, folding the first leaf opposite to and inside the second, the second in the third, and so on, always allowing each succeeding leaf to overlap the last until the cabbage-head is large enough; the resemblance to the real cabbage will be remarkable. Spinach may be made of small leaves. For asparagus pick a number of long, slender seed stems of the plantain. Short, slender sticks placed in a glass jar may serve as sticks of candy, licorice, or licorice root. You can utilize various grasses, leaves, roots, and seeds in many ways.