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

The sides of the house are supposed to be formed of paper-covered screens which slide in grooves and may be removed entirely when desired. The interior of a real Japanese house is divided into rooms merely by the use of sliding paper screens, and the entire floor may readily be thrown into one large apartment, there being no solid partitions as in our houses. Cut out flat round paper lanterns, paint them with the gayest of colors and make the small top and bottom bands black; then with needle and thread fasten the lanterns along the top front of the large opening of the small room (Fig. 282).

You need not be concerned in the least about furnishing the little house: it does not need any furniture, for the Japanese have no stoves, chairs, tables, knives or forks, carpets, bedsteads, washstands, bookcases, desks, framed pictures, nor any comforts like ours.

are covered with clean, thick, soft matting rugs and are just the place for girls and boys to play, and have a good time running about in their stocking feet, for in Japan people always take off their shoes before entering a house and everyone goes either stocking-footed or barefooted when indoors, so the floor-mats are kept free from dust.

the floor is set instead of a table, and each person receives his own little lacquer tray placed on the floor, or on a low wooden stool, with the individual portion of rice in a delicate china bowl, pale tea in dainty teacups and shredded or diced raw fish in china a queen might envy. On the tray are also a pair of ivory chopsticks, which even a little child can manage skilfully, in place of the spoon, knife, or fork that our girls or boys would use. The Japanese do not have bread, butter, milk, or coffee, and never any meat, but they cultivate a mammoth radish which is cut up, pickled and eaten with relish. For dinner they take pale tea, rice, and fish, and for supper fish, pale tea, and rice. Often the fish is cooked, sweetmeats are served and pickled radish also, but frequently the breakfast consists of merely a bowl of cold rice. These unique people do not seem to think or care much about their food; many times they deny themselves a meal that they may spend the money on a feast of flowers in some garden where they can enjoy gazing upon masses of exquisite cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums, or other flowers. No nation in the world loves flowers more than the Japanese, and none can rival them in the beautiful arrangement of their blossoms.

for there are no beds. Soft silk or cotton comforts are brought to each person, and the people roll themselves up in the comforts and sleep any place they wish on the floor, using little wooden or lacquer benches for pillows; usually these have a roll of soft paper on the top, making them a little more comfortable. Take a comfort and try sleeping on the floor with some books under your head and you will know how it feels to sleep in Japanese style.

Make your fence of paper cut according to Fig. 287, and mark the pattern (Fig. 288) on it with two tones of yellow paint. Paint the convex top of the gate-way a bright red with narrow black border, and mark the white gate-posts with black Japanese lettering like Fig. 289. Paint the remaining portions of the gate-way yellow, the edges black. Fig. 282 will help you to grasp the idea of the fence and gate-way. The names of the streets are not on the corners as in our cities, so a panel of white wood is nailed to the gate-posts with both the name of the street and householder on it, and often a charm sign is added.

Put up the fence by slipping the upper tongues on each end through the slit on the outside front edge of each room, then sliding the lower tongues of the fence through the lower outside edges of rooms and porches (Fig. 282).

Both boys and girls have fine times in Japan, and they are as happy as the day is long. On the fifth day of the fifth month the boys reign supreme, and their relatives and friends vie with each other in their endeavors to render the day a happy one for the little fellows. All Japan is alive and anxious to celebrate the occasion. Quaint flags in the shape of enormous fish swim in the air and float over the towns, forming bright masses of color. Every home that is blessed with one or more boys displays a fish banner for each son, the younger the child the larger the fish, and the proudest house is the one that can boast of the greatest number of fish flying from its bamboo pole. Every Japanese boy's birthday is celebrated on this day with great rejoicing, no matter at what time of the year he was born.

for the pole to be placed in front of the little paper house; they look very comical, bobbing and swinging high in air with their wide-open mouths. Cut Fig. 290 of white tissue-paper, also Fig. 291, which is a trifle larger than the first and is slashed along three edges. Lay Fig. 290 on top of Fig. 291; bend the flaps over and paste them on Fig. 290. Form a little hoop of a strip of stiff paper with the ends pasted together; blow the fish open, then paste the hoop on the inside of the open edge of the head to form its immense mouth. When dry mark the fish with red paint like Fig. 292. Tie a thread on the two opposite sides of the mouth and with another thread attach the loop to a slender stick on the end of which you have fastened a gold disk made of two pieces of gilt paper. This is intended to represent the rice ball with which the real fish are fed. The fish banners are hollow so that the wind may fill them, causing the fish to rise and fall as the breeze comes and goes. Push the end of your fish-pole through the centre of a small box-lid or button mould (Fig. 293) and stand the decoration outside the gate-way of the little house. The fish used on this eventful day are the famous carp, which the natives call koi, the unconquerable. The Japanese carp stands for good cheer, indomitable will, perseverance and fortitude, and it is used to impress these virtues upon the boys, but all the good qualities named are fully as necessary for girls even though the Japanese do not mention the fact, but girls are not forgotten. The nation gives them the third day of the third month for their festival. It is called the

and is a gala day for little girls. Dolls and gorgeously dressed images, representing the Mikado, nobles, and ladies, are brought out and placed on exhibition, along with beautiful jars containing queer little trees and rare vases filled with flowers. The day is made a joyous one and a day long to be remembered by the little girls.

There are no sidewalks in Japan, the pavements being laid lengthwise through the centre of the streets, and on this path people stroll or hurry along. Mingled with the others are the Japanese laboring men, called coolies, carrying between them

which swings from a pole the ends of which rest on the men's shoulders. The kago is a sort of canopied hammock chair. You can easily fashion a tiny one from paper and straw. Cut Fig. 294 of stiff paper, make it three inches long and at the broadest part an inch and a quarter wide. Paint the kago yellow, and to form the framework sew on each end a piece of heavy broom straw, jointed grass, or straw which has been limbered by soaking, and cut a piece six and three-quarter inches long for each side. Bring the side straws together beyond each end and bind them (Fig. 295). Then hunt up a slender round stick six inches long and sew the kago on it by means of thread loops at each end (Fig. 296). Make the canopy of a piece of stiff paper three and one-half inches long and two and one-quarter inches wide, paint it yellow, and with stitches only at each end sew it firmly on the pole over the seat of the kago (Fig. 297).

or make one of a disk of green tissue-paper folded and crimped from centre to edge. Use a heavy broom straw for the handle and lighter ones for the ribs; stick them in, gluing them only to the centre, which is now the top of the umbrella; wind the top of the umbrella, the ribs, and the handle firmly together with black thread. The umbrella will not open but looks well closed. Place a tied bundle of red tissue-paper and the green umbrella on top of the yellow kago and fasten them securely in place with black thread (Fig. 298). Fold a piece of soft, lavender-colored material on the seat of the kago as a comfort for the doll to sit on; then fit in a little Japanese doll or any kind of doll dressed and painted to resemble a little Jap. The doll's head should reach up, or almost up, to the canopy. Pull part of the comfort over the doll and fasten her snugly up in a sitting position. Make a gay paper fan and attach it to one of the doll's hands, and the little lady will be ready to go on her journey.

CHAPTER XV

IN his own country the Czar is almost worshipped by the people, and when his coronation takes place, crowds of loyal Russians flock to Moscow, the former in hopes of obtaining a glimpse of their beloved ruler, or at least of seeing portions of the grand procession, the beautiful decorations and the gay festivities which always form part of the jubilant occasion.

which, though not large, is magnificent, and is the most important building in all Russia. The structure stands, surrounded by many other sacred edifices, in an enclosure known as the Kremlin, situated in the centre of the city of Moscow. Its white walls support a vaulted roof of soft, dull green crowned with golden cupolas, each cupola surmounted by a shining golden cross. The interior is resplendent almost beyond description with its rich coloring, its jewel-framed paintings, its sculptures, its gold, silver, and precious stones, its priceless robes and holy relics.

To give a true conception of the wonderful interior of the sacred cathedral to one who has never seen it, is impossible, but we can gain an idea of the general appearance of the exterior by making a miniature Cathedral of the Assumption (Fig. 299). Find, or make, a firm white pasteboard box seven inches long, five and one-quarter inches wide, and four and one-half inches high; this is for the body of the building. Fold a strip of paper seven inches in length, crosswise, through the centre, and bring the ends together, making another fold crosswise through the centre of the doubled strip, which will give four layers of paper of equal length. Cut this into a scallop three-quarters of an inch deep, open out the strip and you will have four scallops, each one and three-quarters inch wide, at its base. Lay the strip in turn along each of the top edges of the sides of the box, and mark the box around the edges of the scallops, drawing four scallops on the two long sides of the box, and three on each of the short sides. Cut out the scallops on top of the box; then take the cover of the box, which must form the roof of the structure, and remove the bent-down sides; trim off with scissors the extreme edge of one long side and one short side, until the cover forms a tight fit in the top of the box, but may, with gentle pressure, be made to slide down one inch. Fasten the roof in place at each corner by running a strong pin from the outside wall through into the roof, until the pin is embedded its full length in the roof.

(Fig. 300) of light reddish-brown paper; make it three inches high and one and one-half inch wide. Let the door proper (Fig. 301) be of inked paper an inch and a half high by an inch and a quarter wide, the door-window (Fig. 302) one inch and a quarter high by three-quarters of an inch wide. Cut the upper row of windows like Fig. 303 and the lower front windows according to Fig. 304. Make the lower side windows double (Fig. 305). The door-arch (Fig. 306) must be a trifle over two and one-quarter inches long. Curve the arch by drawing it across a blade of the scissors, paint it green on both sides, bend down the slashed portion, and paste the arch over the door-way, as in Fig. 299.

of white writing-paper. For each cupola, cut a piece of paper five inches long. Let the first be three inches wide and the remaining four two and one-quarter inches wide; slash up the bottom edge of each cupola one-quarter of an inch; then half an inch below the top edge of each cupola paste a row of narrow, three-quarter-inch high windows cut from inked paper (Fig. 303). When the windows are on, paste the two ends of each cupola together, lapping them one-quarter of an inch. Bend out the lower slashed edge and glue the highest cupola on top of the centre of the roof; fasten the other four on the roof near the corners and at equal distances from the centre (Fig. 299). Have ready five half egg-shells and glue one on the top of each cupola. Then cut five paper crosses (Fig. 307), each measuring about two inches in height, including the lower slashed portion. Fasten a cross on top of each egg-shell (Fig. 308). Gild all the crosses and shells, bringing the gilt down into a narrow band on the paper below the shells. On the edge of each shell paste a narrow black-painted paper strip (Fig. 309), adjusting it so that the gilt on the white paper will show below the points.

fasten a five-eighths-inch wide strip of paper along and over the scalloped top edge of the four sides of the building, using strong paste or glue for the purpose (Fig. 310); be sure that the strip is on even and firm; then let it dry. Paint the entire flat roof and flat top surface of the scallops green, using the same paint selected for the door-arch. Oil paint is best. Be careful not to spatter green on the white and gold cupolas.

When finished, place your little cathedral up high on a level with your eyes, turn it until you have the view which is given in Fig. 299, and you can very easily imagine just how the real Cathedral of the Assumption appears.

every night during the long winter months. How strange it would seem to be away up on top of a great warm stove, built of brick and nearly as high as the ceiling! The Russians do not bother about making the bed, or rather the stove, for they have no sheets, blankets, or bedspreads. When it is time to retire, the inmates climb up on top of the great whitewashed stove and sleep just as they are, in the clothing they wear during the day.

(Fig. 311). Cut two halves of a muslin cap (Fig. 312) and sew them together (Fig. 313). Sew in strands of tan-colored darning cotton on a line around the cap, midway from top and bottom (A-B, Fig. 312), and also sew a line of tan-colored strands on each side of the middle stitching of the white cap, until the lower fringe is reached. Fig. 314 shows the fringe of hair partially sewed on the cap. Glue this cap on the doll's head, smooth down the hair and cut it off straight around, making the hair a trifle shorter at the back than the front.

Cut another piece of cloth (Fig. 315), and sew in a fringe of the tan-colored cotton (Fig. 316); glue this on the doll to form the beard, and trim off the edges. Paint the moustache on the face, making it the color of the hair. Russians, as a rule, are blonds, having either red or lighter-colored hair.

Make the trousers loose and bind them to the doll below the knees. The Russian leather boots which the natives wear always reach up over the trousers, and you can make such boots by painting the doll's feet black and sewing straight pieces of black material on the doll for boot-legs, allowing the cloth to be long enough to wrinkle around the ankle.

Try to make the boots appear as if laced up the front, for many wear them so in Russia. The blouse should be loose and belted in at the waist, hanging straight and square around the bottom. In case your doll has real hair, omit the wig and cut the real hair in Russian style.

These people never use their immense stove for heating a teakettle, though they drink tea upon all occasions. To make tea they resort to a samovar, which is a curious brass or copper vessel, shaped something like an urn. When the tea is ready, it is poured into tall glasses, a slice of lemon is put in each glass, and the tea drunk scalding hot. The beverage is called chai, and the Russians enjoy it so much that they often take twenty glasses in succession. When one desires sugar, it is not put in the tea, but held in one hand, and a portion bitten off from time to time between the swallows of tea.

If you will empty an egg-shell of its contents and get a sheet of white writing-paper, a small square box, a piece of yellow sealing-wax, some liquid gilt, and five gilt beads, four about the size of large peas, and the fifth a trifle larger, we can manufacture

like Fig. 317. Should you have no box, make one of pasteboard one inch square and half an inch high; if you cannot get the beads, use small, round buttons. The four beads or buttons are feet for the samovar. Fasten one on each corner of the bottom of the box with sealing-wax, then glue the broken centre of the large end of the egg-shell on the middle of the top of the box. Cut the handles from paper according to Fig. 318, making each handle one inch and a half long and half an inch wide. Run the half of one handle over the edge of a blade of the scissors; this will cause the paper to curl. Turn the handle over and curl the other half in the opposite direction; bend the handle at the dotted line, one-quarter of an inch from the lower edge, and paste it on one side of the samovar, midway between top and bottom. Make the other handle in the same way, and fasten it on the opposite side.

Cut the faucet (Fig. 319) of paper one inch wide; roll the paper up from the bottom, bringing the handle on top; bend the handle straight up, and bend the spout down in front of the handle. Glue the other end of the faucet to the front of the samovar with sealing-wax, placing it near the bottom, half-way between the two handles.

Make the top chimney of a roll of paper a generous inch in width. Paste the loose edge of the paper down on the roll, and pierce a hole in the roll one-quarter inch from the bottom, making it large enough to admit the end of a match. Glue a burned match in this hole, allowing the main part to extend out one-quarter of an inch from the chimney. Fasten a small, round, flat button on the end, and attach a round paper disk three-quarters of an inch in diameter to the top of the chimney, crowning the disk with the large bead.

Fig. 320 gives all the different parts of the samovar and shows as nearly as possible how they should be put together. When the samovar is finished, gild it all over, and you will have a unique little creation that would delight the heart of a Russian.

CHAPTER XVI

ALMOST every girl at one time in her life has loved dearly to make mud-pies, and it is not strange, for her mother, grandmother, and many, many times great-great-grandmother before her delighted in making mud-pies. The last, the primitive women of our race, made them to some purpose, for they were the inventors of pottery. The home-making, house-keeping instinct was strong even in these women, who had no houses to keep, and they did their best with the material at hand.

First they wove rude baskets for holding and carrying food; then they learned that cooked food was better than uncooked and could be preserved much longer, so they made baskets of a closer weave and cooked in them by means of water heated by hot stones; finally, they tried cooking over the fire in shallow baskets lined with clay. The clay came out of the basket baked and hard, and behold, they had a new kind of vessel—fire-proof and water-proof.

We may imagine with what joy they welcomed this addition to their meagre store of home-making utensils and with what patient industry they strove to improve upon this discovery.

They used their baskets as moulds to hold the soft clay, and they fashioned the clay without moulds into shapes suggested by natural objects. The sea-shells furnished inspiration and many vessels were made in their beautiful forms.

The first potter was a woman, even as the first basket-maker was a woman, and, coming down to our own times, the important discovery of the production of exquisite colors and blending of colors in the Rookwood pottery was made by a woman.

Discovered, developed, and still, in many cases, carried on by women, surely pottery is a woman's art, and as a girl inheriting the old instincts, you may find it the simplest and most natural means of expressing your individuality and love of the beautiful. Beginning as these gentle savages began, using their primitive method, you may be inspired to study deeper into the art, and perhaps become the discoverer of some new process that will give to the world a still more beautiful pottery.

for it is very simple and easy at first, growing more difficult only as one grows ambitious to attempt more intricate forms.

ready for use you will find at any pottery. If it is dry break into small pieces, put it in a large stone jar, and cover with cold water; let it stand until thoroughly soaked through and then stir with a stick until well mixed, and work with your hands—squeezing and kneading until free from lumps and perfectly smooth. When it is dry enough not to be muddy, and is of the consistency of dough, it is in good working condition.

Keep the clay always in the jar and closely covered that it may not again become too dry.

Besides the clay you will need a table to work on, a pastry-board, a thin block of wood about twelve inches square, a wet sponge for cleaning and moistening your fingers, and several simple tools.

If you stand at your work, a tall office stool with rotating seat will be just the thing you want, for by turning the seat this way and that you may look at your work from all sides without disturbing its position. Any kind of ordinary table will answer the purpose, however. On top of the table or stool place your pastry-board, and at the right-hand side the sponge, which must be kept quite damp.

as most of the work is done by the fingers alone. A short, flat stick, sharpened on one side like the blade of a knife (Fig. 321), an old penknife, a piece of round stick sharpened at each end like Fig. 322, and some emery-paper are all you will need at first.

On the pastry-board place a large lump of clay, then take a handful of the clay and begin to make

by turning it lightly between your hands (Fig. 323). When the clay lengthens out lay it on the board, and roll under your hands, as perhaps you have done when making dough snakes. Keep your clay snake of an even size its entire length, be careful not to flatten any part, and continue to roll it with a light touch until it is about the thickness of your little finger. Place your square block on the stand before you, and in the centre begin

(Fig. 324). When you have made a disk about two and one-half inches in diameter, lift the roll and build up the sides, coiling slowly round and round, pinching it slightly as you go, with the last row always resting on the one just beneath (Fig. 325).

Unless you have made a very long roll, which is not easy to handle at first, you will soon have to stop coiling for lack of material. Do not use all of the first roll, but allow the end to rest on the table, where it can be joined to the new roll you are to make. Pinch the end of the new roll to that of the old and round the joint between your hands.

Continue coiling until you have made a cup-shaped vessel three inches high, then break off the roll and flatten the end to meet the surface of the brim. Moisten your fingers on the sponge, and smooth the inside of the cup, holding the walls in place with your left hand curved around the outside (Fig. 326). Do not press too hard with either hand, but slide your fingers gently round and round over the inner surface. When the coils on the inside have become well flattened mix a little clay and water into a paste, and spread it on, filling any cracks that may still be left between the coils, constantly smoothing all the time.

You will find that this process has, at first, the effect of broadening the base and lowering the sides of the cup, and until you have quite mastered the method you must allow for the broadening and flattening of your work. Your cup, with a base of two and one-half inches and sides three inches in height, will now probably be a saucer measuring about four inches across the bottom, and not more than one inch and a half in height. It matters little, though, at this stage what shapes you turn out. Do your best with each piece, and if the work flattens turn it into a pretty dish by pinching the edge to form a little lip, and adding a handle like Fig. 327.

As you are working without a wheel the symmetry of your pottery must depend entirely upon your eye and hand, therefore keep turning the block upon which it stands that no irregularity may be overlooked.

When you add ornaments or handles see that the roll of clay from which you make them adheres closely to the vessel. Add soft clay to the joints and smooth until the whole seems to be of one piece.

In your first attempts leave the outside of the pottery corrugated by the coils (Fig. 328); later work you may smooth, making a surface equal to that turned on a wheel. Do not try to finish a piece in one day; it is much better to allow it to harden a little and become set, then make it as smooth as you can with your tools, levelling the edges and taking away extra thicknesses. If this cannot be done at one time, set the work away once more covered with a damp cloth and it will keep in good working condition for any length of time, but remember, the cloth must be kept damp, otherwise the clay will harden.

When you have perfected your piece of pottery to your satisfaction put it away to dry, not in the sun. Several days later, after it has become quite hard, go over the surface again with knife and emery-paper, scraping and rubbing down until it is entirely smooth and free from flaws. The work will then be ready to take to the potter for firing.

The color of clay changes in firing, and your little piece of pottery will probably come back to you almost the color of old ivory. One cannot be very positive about the color, however, for clays vary, and perhaps yours may be of a kind that will fire another color. The potter will glaze your work for you if you wish, or leave it in the bisque. Nothing has been said about what

Fig. 300.—The Door-way.	Fig. 301. The door.	Fig. 302.—Door window.
Fig. 303.—Upper window.	Fig. 304.—Lower front windows.	Fig. 305.—Lower side windows