The Child's Rainy Day Book

Copyright, 1905, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
Published, October, 1905

All rights reserved,
including that of translation into foreign languages
including the Scandinavian.

To My Sister

Anna White Sherman

AND HER CHILDREN

Roger, Herbert, Elizabeth, Rosamond and Anna

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

LIST OF FIGURES

A Foreword to Mothers

CHILD'S RAINY DAY BOOK

CHAPTER I
A FOREWORD TO MOTHERS

How shall we answer the ever recurring rainy day question, "What shall I do?" 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.

One might suppose that, with the hosts of mechanical toys, of costly French dolls, each with a wardrobe as much in keeping with fashion as that of a society woman, the small sons and daughters would be content for a year of rainy days. But that proves how little one knows about it. Such toys are too perfect, too complete, and very soon they are pushed into the background.

The boy's real treasures are the willow whistle that Uncle Tom taught him to make last summer, the boat that he is building and the game he invented—a favourite one with all the children. Bedtime and getting-up time for the French doll may come and go, while she lies forgotten in the corner, for is there not a dress to be made for the clothespin doll?

We need only to look back about twenty years to realise how natural all this is. What do we remember? Not the toys that were brought us when father and mother went on a journey. They are very hazy—these visions of a doll in silk and lace, and a donkey with real hair and a nodding head. What became of them afterward? We forget. But the games we "made up," the paper dolls we cut from fashion papers, the target we laboured to make of coiled straw—these are as fresh in our memories as if we had played with them yesterday.

Shall we not answer the question by giving the children something to do, not by entertaining them but by helping them to entertain themselves.

Simple Home Made Toys and
Games

CHAPTER II
SIMPLE HOME MADE TOYS AND GAMES

A Bean Bag Game

Very many good games can be played with bean bags. The following is a simple one to prepare.

Cut from blue gingham three pieces, each five inches wide by twelve long. Other pieces of the same size are cut from red, yellow and green gingham—three of each colour. These pieces are made up into bags by doubling them and stitching up the sides with strong thread; leaving one end of each open. This will give a small girl something to do for more than one rainy day.

When they have all been stitched, fill each bag half full of small, white beans, turn in the edges of the open end and sew it up, over and over, with strong thread. Be very careful to sew the seams securely, for if you do you will have a good, durable bag instead of one from which the beans are always dropping.

The other part of the game is a large ring of rattan ten inches across, which is made as follows:

Soak a piece of No. 6 rattan in water for a few minutes. While you are waiting for it to get pliable thread a tapestry or darning needle with red raffia. Whittle an end of the rattan into a long point. Next coil the rattan into a ring, ten inches across; lay the end of your raffia, with its tip turned to the right, on the rattan ring and bring the needle, threaded with raffia, around and over the ring. The raffia is then brought under the long end of rattan, around it and down under the ring, binding the second coil of rattan to the first with what is called a "Figure Eight" stitch (see Fig. 1). Hold the ring firmly in your left hand while you sew with the right. First under and around the lower coil, then up, under and around the upper one. It is pretty work, besides making such a firm, light ring.

When you have bound the second coil to the first almost all the way round the ring, cut the rattan so that it will overlap the beginning of the ring about an inch, and whittle it to a long, flat point. Continue the Figure Eight stitch as far as you can, then bind the raffia round and round the ring, and sew back and forth through the raffia covering till it is secure. You can then cut it close to the ring.

Fasten a screw eye at the top of the frame of the playroom door and one on each side of the doorway, on the edge of the frame, four feet and a half from the floor.

Tie a piece of strong twine, about a yard long, at the top of the ring and another, three-quarters of a yard, on each side. Fasten the upper string to the screw eye above the doorway so that the ring will hang with its lower edge about four feet from the floor. Tie the other strings through the screw eyes to right and left of the doorway. The game is now complete. From two to four children can play it. Each has three bean bags of one colour and takes his turn at throwing them through the ring, standing on a mark eight feet from the doorway. One player keeps the score, and whenever a bean bag is sent through the ring the child who threw it is credited with five points. The one who first succeeds in making fifty points is the winner.

A Book House for Paper Dolls

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. I have even known a family of dolls to be cheerful and happy in an old city directory.

It will be easy to find furniture in the advertising pages of magazines, rugs can be cut from pictures in the same magazines and bits of wall paper are used for the walls of the book house. Tissue paper of different colours and papers with a lace edge make charming window curtains, while thicker fancy papers may be used for portieres. On the cover of the book a picture of the house, or just the doorway, may be pasted. The first two pages are of course the hall. For this you will need a broad staircase, hall seat, hardwood floor and rugs, with perhaps an open fireplace or a cushioned window seat to make it look hospitable. Try to find furniture all about the same size, or if you cannot do this put the smaller pieces at the back of the room and the larger ones toward the front.

Next there will be the drawing room to furnish, then the library, the dining room and pantry, not forgetting the kitchen and laundry. Use two pages for each room, leaving several between the different rooms, so that the book shall not be too full at the front and empty at the back. If it does not close easily remove some of the blank pages. 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. Now and then through the book it is interesting to have a page with just a bay window and a broad window seat with cushions and pillows—as if it were a part of a long hall. Hang curtains of coloured or figured paper in front of it so that they will have to be lifted if anyone wants to peep in. When you have finished the bathroom, playroom, maids' rooms and attic there will still be the piazza, the garden, the stables and the golf course (covering several pages), to arrange. If you have a paint box and can colour tastefully you will be able to make your book house even more attractive than it is already.

United States Mail

This is a fine game for rainy days. Any boy can make it and if he likes to use pencil and paint brush he will find it as interesting to make as to play with. Get a small pasteboard box about six inches long by three wide and an inch deep—such as spools of cotton come in. Cover it with white paper, pasting it neatly and securely. Then draw and colour on the lid a mail bag, which should almost cover it—either a brown leather sack or a white canvas one with "United States Mail" on it in large blue letters. Do not forget to draw the holes at the top of the bag and the rope which passes through them to close it. You have now something to hold the counters for the game. These are made to look like letters and postal cards. To make the letters, rule a set of lines three-quarters of an inch apart, across a box or cover of shiny white cardboard. Then another set, crossing the others at right angles. These should be an inch and a quarter apart. The postal cards are ruled in the same way (on real, unused postal cards), so as to make oblong spaces. Cut these out with a sharp pair of scissors. There should be thirty cardboard pieces and at least twenty-five of the postal cards. Now draw on the cards, with a fine pen and black ink, marks like those on a postal card—the stamp in the corner, the lettering and the address. Make pen lines on all of the pasteboard letters like Fig. 2 and paint a tiny red dot on each to look like sealing-wax. On the reverse side of one write something to look like an address, and paint in large letters "D.L.O.," (to stand for Dead Letter Office) in the corner. Six other letters are also addressed in the same way, but have instead of "D.L.O." a red stamp and a blue one, the latter wider than it is high, to represent a Special Delivery stamp. Nine pieces should also be cut from brown cardboard in the shape shown in Fig. 3 to represent packages. Paint three red stamps in the corner of each of these.

Rules for Playing United States Mail

Two or more persons can play this game. When the pieces are equally divided among the players, the one on the right of the dealer throws a piece on the table, saying as he does so, "I send a letter to B——," for example, and then counts five, not running the numbers in together, but as deliberately as a clock ticks. Before he has stopped counting, the player on his right must name a city or town beginning with B. If he succeeds in doing this he wins the piece, otherwise it goes to the player who threw it. When all the pieces have been played each player counts his score.

The value of the pieces is as follows: Each postal card counts one, each letter two, each package six. The Special Delivery letters are worth ten points each, and the person who is so unfortunate as to have the letter with "D.L.O." upon it loses ten points from his score.

Flying Rings

Boys and girls will enjoy this game, and both can help in making it. The materials are simple and easily obtained, which is also an advantage. First of all we shall need a flour-barrel top. This should be covered with yellow cheesecloth drawn smooth and tight and tacked in place along the outer edge. Measure with a rule to find the exact centre and make a pencil mark on the cheesecloth at that point. Another mark is made above this one, half way between it and the edge. A third mark is placed at the right of the middle one and half way between it and the edge, as well as one to the left and one below it at the same distance from the centre. A large nail is driven into the barrel top at each of the five marks (see Fig. 4). Two screw eyes are then put in at the top, about a foot apart, so that it can be easily hung. Next draw on note paper that is not too stiff the figures 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50. Make them about an inch high and quite thick and go over them with ink. With a small pair of scissors cut out these numbers and paste each under a nail, as shown in Fig. 4.

Next there are the rings to be made. Follow the directions given on pages 6 and 7, using No. 4 rattan instead of No. 6, and these rings should only be two and a half inches across. Make three rings of each colour, green, red and yellow, and the game is complete.

To Play It:

Hang the barrel top on the wall or against a screen and see who can throw the most rings on the nails standing six feet away. Each player has three rings of a different colour, and each in turn throws his rings at the mark. When he succeeds in tossing a ring on one of the nails he scores as many points as the number under the nail indicates.

How to Make a Cork Castle

Such fascinating castles can be made from old corks—or if you live near a cork factory you can get plenty of odds and ends of cork bark that will be even better for the purpose. With a penknife cut small bricks, half an inch long by quarter of an inch wide and an eighth of an inch thick. If you are planning a round tower, such as is shown in Fig. 5, make the bricks in the wedge shape shown in Fig. 6. Cut them as nearly alike as possible, but it will do no harm if they are not perfectly regular; the castle will only look more ancient and interesting. It is wonderful how much the bits of cork look like stone.