To calculate how much you will need of each color, remember that it requires about two pounds of woollen rags to the yard; therefore, if you want half a yard of one color, one pound will be required; for a quarter of a yard, one-half pound. Do not make your calculations too closely, with a little over-weight in each case no harm is done and it is better than falling short of the required amount. The narrow, or once-across, stripes require an inch or two over the yard for each stripe.

Cut your rags in strips one-half an inch wide unless the material is very thin or loosely woven, in which case make them wider; very heavy cloth should be even narrower than the half-inch. Cotton rags should be one inch wide. As the rags are pinched together when woven it is the thickness that counts, and the object is to keep them of an even bulk so that the rug may not have an uneven, lumpy surface. Perhaps you will be told by the weaver not to sew your rags too securely, for they cannot be jerked apart readily when it is necessary to break off one color to begin weaving the next; but do not act on such advice. You must sew the strips together with care so that the ends may not stand out and give a ragged look to the finished rug. The accompanying diagram shows the best manner of joining the pieces. You see that one piece is laid over the end of the other, then both are folded lengthwise and sewed securely in the fold. This gives smooth joints and an even surface.

Wind your different colors into balls, having, as a rule, one pound in each, and put them in a bag to send to the loom.

For piazza rugs, or for summer cottage use, cotton may be mixed with the wool; indeed, some hold that it is unnecessary to have all-wool for any purpose, though the writer thinks differently. The temptation is great, however, to use the pretty bits of gingham and lawn left from summer gowns, and they do give a certain, if not lasting, brilliancy to the rug. That much of the cotton is apt to fade and grow shiny with use is of little consequence when the rugs are not subjected to hard and constant use. Rugs of this class should be as bright and gay as possible; the combination of even the crudest colors looks well on a vine-shaded piazza and in the gayly decked summer cottage.

For bedroom and bathroom all-cotton rugs are exceedingly pretty and appropriate, and when they are made of fast-colored material they may be washed with ease and kept always fresh and clean.

White should predominate in these washable rugs, and the best as well as the simplest effect is produced by combining it with but one other color. Indigo blue and turkey red are safe and useful colors; brown and green gingham also look well with the white. Of cotton rags allow one and one-half pounds to the yard. When you are in doubt as to the permanency of your colors soak the rug, before washing, in a strong solution of salt and water; this will “set” almost any color. These cotton rugs may be woven in alternate strips of color and white, or the white be used for the centre and the colors for the border, or the centre may have dashes of color through it as shown in diagram.

Bathroom rugs can be entirely of white or, towel-fashion, have a narrow colored strip at each end. Any white cotton may be used in these bathroom rugs, old being better for this purpose than new, as it is much softer.

Gray linen is undoubtedly the best-wearing warp and harmonizes with all colors, therefore for all-wool rugs it is the best. It gives, of course, a gray fringe, but that is not undesirable. When a colored fringe is wanted the cotton warp will have to be used. This comes in red, blue, purple, yellow, and white. Use cotton warp for cotton rugs, and where the filling is largely white the warp should be white also. When red warp is used with white filling a pink tone is the result, while blue and purple with white filling produce a gray effect.

At each end of the rug the warp should be woven with self-filling to the depth of one inch. This makes a heading for the fringe and prevents the rag filling from ravelling. It is, in fact, a selvage. You may knot the fringe, using six strands to a knot, or plat it and then knot as in diagram, or it may be stitched at the top and left to flow freely.

Those who make a business of manufacturing rag rugs scorn to use the dyes that come ready prepared and think it well worth the extra trouble to make their dyes themselves. So it is, perhaps, when one has plenty of time to devote to the work, but a girl’s life is so full of interests and occupation she generally chooses quick methods, though the results may not always be as lasting.

In case your heart yearns toward the old-fashioned process and you want to go into the work thoroughly, read the recipes given here and follow them carefully. They are taken from an old manuscript recipe-book, yellow with age and worn by use, which has descended to the writer from an ancestress famous for her good housekeeping and housewifely arts. The dye appears to have been prepared in large quantities, usually enough for sixteen pounds of wool, but you can easily regulate the proportion of the ingredients and make as much or as little as you want.

Navy Blue.—"Boil in a sufficient quantity of water twelve ounces of copperas, three ounces of alum, one and one-half ounces of verdigris, one and one-half ounces of cream-tartar. Run^[A] your cloth in it for four hours, then air. Empty out that liquor and fill up with clear water; add four and one-half pounds of logwood, boil it for one hour and a half, then add six ounces of madder and boil for half an hour, then run your cloth for half an hour. Air it (the cloth), then add six ounces of blue vitriol and three ounces of pearl-ash. Mix it well and run your cloth in it for twenty minutes, then air and rinse it.

Silver Gray.—"On one pound of woollen: Take two ounces of sumac and three ounces of logwood and boil for one hour in four gallons of water, then add one-half ounce of cream-tartar. Put in your woollen for one hour, then take out and air. Refresh your dye with water and add one-half ounce of copperas, bring it to a boil and run your woollen for half an hour, then air, rinse, and dry it.

Yellow.—"On woollen for one pound: Dissolve in four gallons of boiling water three ounces of alum and one ounce of cream-tartar, then run your cloth for one hour and a half at boiling heat. Take out, cool, and rinse, then boil one pound of fustic chips for five hours, run your cloth, while boiling, for one hour, then cool, rinse, and dry it.

Madder Red.—"On one pound of woollen: Boil five gallons of water in a kettle, add three ounces of powdered alum and one ounce of cream-tartar, then run your woollen in it for two hours, rinse and air it. Put five gallons of fresh water in a kettle, add eight ounces of madder, mix it well and bring it to the boil, then run your woollen for one hour, but it must boil only five minutes. Take it out, air and rinse it. Add to the dye one-half pint of clear lime-water, then run your woollen for ten minutes, then take it out and rinse it immediately.

Brown.—"On cotton for five pounds: Bring eight gallons of water to the boil and add four ounces of pearl-ash, dip your yarn (or cloth) for half an hour and then wring out. Take twenty gallons of water and one bushel of maple or white-oak bark, boil it two hours, then take out the bark and strain the liquor and add one pound of copperas; stir it until it is dissolved and let your liquor cool to lukewarm. Dip your yarn for five minutes, wring and air it; dip again for fifteen minutes, wring and dip again until you have it dark enough.

Purple.—“On cotton for two pounds: Boil four ounces of sumac in four gallons of water, then dip your yarn for half an hour; wring, air, and put it in again over night, then take out and wring. Boil in seven gallons of water one pound four ounces of logwood for one hour; take three gallons of the logwood liquor and dip your yarn in it for twenty minutes, then add three quarts of the logwood liquor and dip for twenty minutes, then put in the remainder and dip for twenty minutes, then wring out and dry your yarn.”

The wringing process given in the last two recipes is for cotton yarn; cotton cloth or woollen cloth should never be wrung out; simply lift it from the dye with two sticks, immerse it in clear cold water, if you are to rinse it, then hang it up and let it drip. All material must be perfectly clean and thoroughly soaked before being put in the dye.

Note.—“In boiling, all drugs and barks that will not dissolve ought to be put in a thin, coarse bag and taken out before you dip, and the liquor should be settled. Dip only in clear liquor.”

Changing one thing into another is always interesting, and the most charming part of a Peanut Noah’s Ark is that you can transform these ground-nuts into any and every kind of wild creature. At your command they will come trooping from all parts of the tangled jungle, the elephants leading and tigers, lions, bears, wolves, kangaroos, giraffes, and others following. Ever so many insects, too-the curious peanut spider, actually as large as one of those mammoth Southern tarantulas which often travel North on bunches of bananas, and the enormous hard-shelled hornet, whose sting will not hurt half as badly as its smaller cousins who are alive and whose nests are large and round, dark gray in color and appear as if made of paper. In addition to these you can have beetles of different kinds, grasshoppers, and various sorts of moths.

With the help of bits of paper and some wooden toothpicks the ground-nuts may be transformed into

First we will catch the terrible hornet, but to get him you must select a peanut as near like Fig. 312 as you can find. This is for the thorax or chest; choose a longer nut, resembling Fig. 313, for the abdomen or body. Take six common wooden toothpicks for the legs (Fig. 314), and bend each stick until it fractures near the centre without breaking (Fig. 315). For the waist use a short piece of toothpick (Fig. 316). For the sting take a pin (Fig. 317). To insert the sting in the body make a small hole on the lower side and thrust in the pin so that the point will project from the tail; push the head of the pin into the nut until it is out of sight, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 317, 2A. This diagram gives the point of the pin as it stands out from the nut. Join the chest and body by thrusting one end of Fig. 316 into Fig. 312 and the other end into Fig. 313, leaving a small length of Fig. 316 exposed to represent the slender waist of the hornet, as shown in Fig. 318. This done, put three legs on each side of the insect by forcing the toothpicks into the thorax or chest peanut (Fig. 318).

Now we have a huge ant, and as ants are practically wingless hornets, some of them even having stings like the bee tribe, it is only necessary to add a pair of wings to complete the terrible peanut hornet. If you have any tracing-paper or the waxed paper from a candy-box, the semi-transparent material will form wonderfully natural wings; but any kind of paper will make

With a pencil draw the pattern (Fig. 319) upon a bit of paper, fold at the dotted line and you will have Fig. 320. With the scissors cut around the outline through both leaves of the folded paper; the result will be Fig. 321, the two wings joined together. Paste them on the back of the thorax, and you will have Fig. 322. To make it look still more lifelike, ink stripes across its back and head, and stick in the front of the head two fine, small black pins for the antennæ. To prove that this is a live hornet, let anyone who doubts the fact press the end of his finger on the point of the sting and he will be satisfied. Should he still claim that the thing is not alive, dip your finger in a glass of water and allow a drop of the fluid to fall on each joint of the legs where the wood is fractured; the swelling of the wet wood will cause the legs to move in a manner sufficiently lifelike to satisfy the most critical.

It is not commonly known that

but the newly discovered specimen known as the Peanuticus spiderencus is one which the most dainty little girl may eat without feeling at all nervous as to consequences. Spiders differ in many respects from true insects, but we need only observe the most obvious points of divergence.

First, they have no waist; that is, their body is jammed upon their thorax (Fig. 323). Next, their heads are driven into their shoulders, so to speak, so that they not only have no neck, but there is not even a line to indicate where the head ends and the thorax or chest begins.

From the quart of peanuts select one which looks most like Fig. 323. Spiders have more legs than beetles or wasps. Garden spiders have eight well-defined legs, and our Peanuticus belongs to the garden spider family. Therefore, take eight toothpicks and, bending them as before described, make eight legs. Push two legs into each side of the large part of the nut—the abdomen—inclining them backward, and two more into each side of the small part of the nut—the thorax—slanting them forward, as in Fig. 324. Make the antennæ of two black pins, bent according to Fig. 325; push the pins well into the head of the spider (Fig. 324). If you thread a fine piece of black elastic through the spider’s back, allowing a length of about a half yard, and weight the body by fastening a little flattened piece of lead or a small stone on the under part with melted sealing-wax, the Peanuticus can be made to dance up and down in the air like a natural spider running on its web. The black elastic will not be noticeable. Tie the end of the elastic on a stick; then you can hold it out from you and have a better view of the curious creature.

Pick up another peanut and see what it suggests. Imagine it with long ears. What would it look like?

Cut two ears from white paper and a tail from the same paper; paste one ear on each side of Bunny’s head and fasten the little stumpy tail in place. Then stick two short pieces of toothpicks in the nut for the front legs; bend the back legs at the centre and push the upright part into position so that the lower horizontal portion will be bent forward and rest on the ground. Ink round spots for eyes and a line partially across the front for the mouth.

are curious creatures, always carrying a little mountain on their backs, and chewing as if they had an inexhaustible supply of chewing-gum tucked away in some invisible pocket. Think of the mountain’s back when selecting a Fig. 326.
Fig. 326. Fig. 327.
Fig. 327. peanut for this animal and find one with a high hump. Cut the head and neck (Fig. 326) of stiff paper or card-board; ink the eyes and mouth, and slide the head into a slit cut in the nut. Make the tail of heavy black thread or darning-cotton and fasten it on by simply sewing the thread in the nut. Tassel out the end. For the two hind and one of the front legs use three stiff, straight toothpicks; bend the other toothpick for the front left leg so that the camel will appear to be walking. The little animal will stand on three legs, holding the fourth up, as in Fig. 327.

Find a nut shaped something like

with part of it inclining upward for the head. Stick two short, bent toothpicks in for feet; if properly adjusted the chick rests on them. Cut paper wings and paste one on each side of the chicken. Make the beak also of paper and insert it in the front of the head. The eyes can be marked with ink.

When among the jungle folks, off in the tangled wild woods,

grows to an immense size, but things are very different in Peanut Land. There the big-eared creature is a wee thing not much larger than the chicken you have just made. Fig. 328.    Fig. 329.
Fig. 328.    Fig. 329. Fig. 330.    Fig. 331.
Fig. 330.    Fig. 331. It is a veritable midget of an elephant and not at all dangerous. Look over all your nuts and choose the one most closely resembling the body and head of an elephant; then make two pasteboard front legs like Fig. 328, and two more like Fig. Fig. 332.
Fig. 332. 329 for the hind legs. Cut two ears (Fig. 330) and a trunk (Fig. 331). The tail should be comparatively slender and a trifle bushy at the end. Paste ears, tail, and trunk in their proper places and cut four slits in the lower part of the nut for the four legs, which you may then slide into place (Fig. 332). The tusks are two toothpicks stuck into the lower part of the head. By the diagrams it may be plainly seen just how the work is done.

is fashioned from a nut without the joint-like extension. Ink the eyes, beak, and wings, and with heavy thread or darning-cotton sew the wise bird to a twig or toothpick. Divide the stitches forming each foot into two portions or two toes, as a real owl shows only two when in the same position (Fig. 333).

In the queer Peanut Land

hold an important position. They are very proud and carry their heads high as they stand perched upon their long stilt-like legs. Their Holland relatives delight in Fig. 334.
Fig. 334. Fig. 335.
Fig. 335.

building nests on the tops of chimneys, and it is always considered a sign of good luck for the occupants of the house when Mr. and Mrs. Stork favor them with their presence. Your stork will not have to remain on the outside of the house, because, not being as large as the others of his family, you can find room for him in almost any place. Make the bird’s body of the most common-shaped peanut, his legs of two stiff wooden toothpicks, and his head (Fig. 334) of stiff paper. Mark eyes on the head and put the different parts of the bird together. He will stand up straight if you punch his feet into a piece of patented paper used in packing bottles (Fig. 335). If you have no such paper, use anything you can find that will answer the purpose.

which will not pinch also live in Peanut Land. They have eight bent toothpick legs, a tail of paper (Fig. 336), and Fig. 336.
Fig. 336. Fig. 337.
Fig. 337. paper claws (Fig. 337). The antennæ are toothpicks. Real lobsters have one front claw larger than the other, but on peanut lobsters these are of the same size. When you have made the lobster (Fig. 338) you might boil him by dipping the funny little thing in red ink, for lobsters are always red after being boiled.

Fig. 338.
Fig. 338.

All these animals need a

to keep them in order in the Ark. Make Noah entirely of peanuts; a small one for the head, a large one for the body, two for the arms, two for each leg, and two small nuts for the feet. String the nuts together with strong, coarse thread. Make the hair of a number of strands of black thread tied together in the centre. Pin this wig on the peanut head, part the hair and spread it out to meet in the back and gum it in place. Mark the face with ink and dress the doll with loose trousers and loose sack coat. Cut the hat of common wrapping-paper. First make the brim of a circular piece of paper, with a round hole in the middle; then the crown of a strip of paper slashed on each side. Fasten the ends of this together, turn out the slashes on one side and slide the brim over the crown down on the turned-out slashed portion. Paste it on tight. Next turn in the slashes on the top edge of the crown, fit a disk of paper over them as you would put a lid on a pan, and gum the top of the crown in place. You will find Mr. Noah rather loose-jointed, but that does not matter; he is better so, for he is not too stiff to run about and attend to his collection of animals. Make Mrs. Noah of peanuts as you did Noah, and dress her in bright colors with a gay little hat fastened firmly on her head.

may be an ordinary pasteboard box, with a gabled roof pasted on the lid. Take a box like that shown in Fig. 339, bend a piece of stiff paper (Fig. 340), paste the sides of Fig. 340 on the lid (Fig. 341), and over the two open ends gum triangular paper cut as in Fig. 342. Paint windows and a door on the sides of the Ark; then paste the Ark on a piece of another larger box-lid cut like Fig. 343. Put Noah and his wife in the box with all the animals, and tie a string through a hole pierced in the front of the stand of the Ark, so that the Ark with its entire cargo of peanut animals may be dragged from one place to another (Fig. 344).

Fig. 342.
Fig. 342.

Noah’s Ark and all its animals has ever had a great attraction for young folks, and it is not an uncommon sight to see baby grab Noah, Mrs. Noah, or some of the gorgeously painted animals, and put the Fig. 343.
Fig. 343. toy in its mouth. Many of the colors used in painting the shop toys contain poison, but the present Mr. and Mrs. Noah and all the zoölogical collection described in this article are healthy, wholesome food. So when you tire of playing with them you may eat them, with no danger of ill consequences. Fig. 344.
Fig. 344. Just think! Elephant and camel for first course, stork and lobster second, and dessert of spiders, wasps, and small birds. What a novel bill of fare! One little girl may eat a couple of elephants, several giraffes, a rhinoceros or two, and still have a good appetite for her regular dinner.

Should you think of some favorite animal not here described, which would be an addition to your collection, put your wits to work and hunt up a peanut suitable for the purpose; then find a photograph or printed picture of the animal, that you may be sure to have it as perfect as the materials will allow. In this way almost

for after working out the given examples you will have gained sufficient knowledge of the governing principles of the work and enough skill to enable you to continue the manufacturing of peanut toys alone or with the help of other girls and boys.

can also be formed from the nut. Break open one with only a slight indenture at the centre and make the two halves into fairylike little sailing vessels by the addition of a sail and mast cut all in one from white writing-paper, and gummed to the bottom of the boat near the large end. It requires but a moment to make these tiny crafts, and they will sail across a basin of water as if they were in reality large affairs on the salt sea, their white wings gleaming out in the most charming manner. Stir the water slightly with a stick and see how the boats dance; blow gently on the sails and off the two will race for the opposite side of the basin. If you are near any small stream or pond you may launch your tiny boat and watch it bravely breast the little ripples.

This dinner party will be great fun, especially as there need be no worry about cooking, for the sun, with the assistance of the rain and air, has attended to that part of the preparation.

We shall have to provide some sort of a dining-table. An ordinary letter-paper box about eight inches long and five inches wide will answer the purpose. Spread over the table a fresh, white table-cloth of paper, and for a centre-piece choose

made of a cone one and one-half Fig. 349.
Fig. 349. or two inches high (Fig. 345), cutting it off flat at the stem (Fig. 346) so that it will stand firmly on the table (Fig. 347). On the top of the fruit pin a small bunch of coarse grass tips tied together with thread (Figs. 348 and 349) and use the petals of a bright-colored flower, Fig. 350.
i_176-fig350-351.jpg Fig. 350.
Fig. 351. which will lie flat when the lower portion is cut off, as an ornamental mat to place under the pineapple; a nasturtium blossom (Fig. 350) will look well.

Almost everyone is fond of

for dinner, so we will select one which is sound and perfect. Carefully open a large-size milk-weed pod in the seam which you will find on the rounded side (Fig. 351) and take out the beautiful white fish composed of the seeds clinging to their downy wings, the seeds forming the fish’s scales (Fig. 352) and the down its body. Cut out a piece of white paper (Fig. 353) and with a drop of paste fasten it on the fish to form the tail (Fig. 354); also gum a small, round piece of inked paper in position for the eye; place the fish on a dish made from a long, green leaf (Fig. Fig. 352.
i_176-fig352-354.jpg Fig. 352.
Fig. 354. 355). Hollyhock seeds, which are Fig. 353.
Fig. 353. packed together in rounded forms, must furnish cheeses, the resemblance Fig. 355.
Fig. 355. being very marked (Fig. 356). Two will be required and should be placed on the opposite sides of the table.

(Fig. 357) which come from the rose-bush are the seed-vessel of the flowers, and so closely do they imitate little apples, when detached from the bush they might easily be mistaken for such. Select a leaf plate, fill it with the apples and place them on the table between the pineapple and the salad. They give a bright note of color, which helps the decoration.

The

shall be dainty enough for a fairy queen. We will mix shredded orange from the petals of a full, fresh young dandelion blossom (Fig. 358 shows one of the petals magnified) with shredded strawberries produced from the common red-clover blossom (Fig. 359 represents an enlarged petal), and shredded cocoanut made from the ordinary white-clover petals (Fig. 360 also magnified). When these are well mixed serve them on a pretty, green leaf plate, and the dish will give another bit of mingled color with its pink, white, green, and yellow.

are furnished by the oak-tree and made of acorns. The lower part (Fig. 361) forms the saucer; the upper (Fig. 362) Fig. 361
i_178-fig361-362.jpg Fig. 361
Fig. 362 the cup. Cut off the top, then remove the kernel and the cup is ready for use (Fig. 363). It is better to select a large-sized acorn for the saucer and a smaller one for the cup, in order that the Fig. 363        Fig. 364
i_178-fig363-364-365-366.jpg Fig. 363        Fig. 364
Fig. 365        Fig. 366 cup may have more space in the saucer and not fit too closely (Fig. 364). Miniature dippers can be fashioned of acorn cups by piercing a hole in one side near the top and pushing a slender stick through until it rests against the opposite side (Fig. 365).

Odd little baskets are also made of acorns (Fig. 366) by cutting away all of the top of the acorn except a band through its centre; this forms the handle. The acorn is Fig. 368.
Fig. 368. left in its rough saucer, which gives the outer surface of the basket, the inner surface being the interior of the acorn proper. Make several cups and saucers, and the feast will be ready for others to see (Fig. 367). Of course, it is only intended to give pleasure in this way and not really to serve as food.

Rose petals make an excellent substitute for the common

such as are usually served at parties with the refreshments. Choose Fig. 369.
Fig. 369. Fig. 370.
Fig. 370. the largest and best petals (Fig. 368) and gather up the edge of one all the way around, holding the folds securely; a little, bag-like object is thus formed (Fig. 369), which, when held firmly with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and struck against the out-stretched palm of the other, snaps with a loud noise. If any opening is allowed when gathering up the edges of the petal, the air will not be confined and consequently the bag will not snap, and you must try another.

Of the thorns covering the stems of the roses you can make chains by sticking the point of one thorn into the base of another and continuing in this manner until the chain is as long as you desire (Fig. 370).

The party being over we will make some

They are pretty and rustic and can be shaped into almost any style; each bur is provided with little hooked fingers (Fig. 371) that lock when the two burs are pressed against each other, enabling them to stick fast together—not so tight, however, that they cannot be separated when desired. Be sure the burs are young and fresh; they will then be free from all dryness and perfectly safe to work with; if too old they will be difficult to handle and apt to drop the small, thorny particles. Before commencing the work spread a newspaper out in front of you, then, placing your burs on that, take one bur and with several others form a circular row around it; another row around completes the bottom of the basket (Fig. 372). Build up the sides on the top of this last row and form the handle with a row of burs long enough to reach easily from side to side Fig. 371.
i_181-fig371-372-373.jpg Fig. 371.
Fig 372.                   Fig. 373. of the basket (Fig. 373). You can experiment and make all sorts of things—vases, bowls, plates, chairs, tables, and houses—of burs, and the work is very interesting and easy.

Beside contributing to the salad, the dandelion furnishes

You have only to hold its golden head up under your chin to learn if you are fond of butter. With one hand hold the flower (Fig. 374), with the other hand a mirror. If you see a yellow reflection cast upon your chin by the blossom underneath, you enjoy using plenty of butter on your bread. Take the grandfather dandelion with his round, white head (Fig. 375) and blow once, then again and again, three times in all; the number of downy seeds left on the head denotes the time of day. For instance, should all be blown away except three (Fig. 376), it would mean that it was three o’clock; if two are left it would say two o’clock, and so on.

Select another nice

and he will tell you when you are fortunate enough to obtain a certain wish. First make a wish, then say aloud “yes” and give a single blow; next say “no” and blow again. Proceed in this way, repeating the two words alternately, giving one blow at each, until all the seeds are detached from the head. If the word “yes” comes at the last blow your wish will be granted; if “no” comes last it Fig. 375.               Fig. 377.
i_182-fig375-376-377.jpg Fig. 375.               Fig. 377.
Fig. 376. will be denied. With stems of this same flower, which, you know, are hollow and much smaller at the top than at the bottom, you can make pretty green rings by pushing the smaller into the larger end of the stem (Fig. 377). To make a chain, join a number of rings together by first passing one end of the second stem through the first ring before the two ends of the second stem are fastened together, doing likewise with the third, fourth, and fifth stems (Fig. 378).

To make an odd little ornament, split the dandelion stem about two inches down lengthwise through the centre (Fig. 379) and draw one side strip through your lips several times—it is perfectly harmless—until it curls Fig. 379.
Fig. 379. up (Fig. 380). Treat the other side in the same way and it will also curl (Fig. 381).

gives us some of the most fragile flowers of which we have knowledge; they are so delicate and fine of texture not many artists are able to render perfectly the peculiar charm of the blossom. Fig. 381.
Fig. 381. Beautiful in their varied colors, they blossom until killed by frost, and growing as they do almost anywhere, even along the dusty roadside, their cheerful faces sing out a bright “Good-morning” if one is there in time to find them open. Usually they begin to close early in the day, and when they close they change into twisted elongated affairs which are eagerly sought by children bent on having a little sport. If you will gather a few of these floral cornucopiæ you can make them pop so loud they will rival the torpedo. Hold tight the opening end of the closed blossom with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand and fill it with air by gently blowing in the wee stem end; grasp this securely with the left hand; then suddenly push the two ends together, and snap! will go the flower.

In and out, in and out; under and over, under and over; around and around, again and yet again; widening and narrowing, and, lo! a basket is woven. A child of eight can learn it, a woman will find the work a charming pastime; so this is written for girls of all ages.

Dye your reeds, put all the bright colors you like into your baskets, and see if they are not much prettier and more substantial than the so-called “Indian work.” Red, blue, green, yellow, black, purple—a butterfly’s wing need not be gayer nor an old-time work-basket more useful. Large, small, medium-sized, deep or shallow—only one’s desire need determine the question.