We had a number of rainy-day playhouses. When it did not rain very hard,
Myra and I would scamper out to our little playhouse made of boards, and
listen to the patter of the drops.
It was not a very costly playhouse. It was built in a corner made by the
shed and the orchard fence. One side of our playhouse was the shed.
Another side was the fence; this open side we used to call our
bay-window. A creeping hop vine twined around the rough fence-boards and
made a green lace curtain for our bay-window. The third side was made of
boards. Across this side stretched the wide board seat, which was the
only furniture of our playhouse. The fourth, or front side of the
playhouse consisted mostly of a “double-door,” of which we were very
proud. This double-door was two large green blinds. Did not we feel like
truly little housekeepers when we fastened those two blinds together
with a snap!
When the rain came down in gentle showers we used to go out to the
little playhouse and have a concert. First Myra would step up on to that
wide board seat and recite a little piece. Then I would step up on to
the seat and sing a little song. Perhaps while I was singing a robin in
the orchard would begin to sing, O, so loud and sweet that all the
orchard just rang with that sweet music! We would stop our concert and
listen to the robin. When he had finished, we used to clap our little
hands. And all the time the rain kept up a fairy “tinkle, tinkle,” as if
some one was keeping time for us on a tiny piano.
Spat-t! Spat-t! would come the little drops through a tiny hole in the
roof of our little house. We used to hold our faces up towards that
little leak in the roof. Oftentimes a drop would strike us fairly on the
tip of our small noses! Then how we would laugh!
Sometimes we would take hold of hands and repeat together, over and over
again: “Rain, rain, go away, come again, another day!”
And if we said those words long enough, the rain would go away!
_Percia V. White._
[Illustration: THE RAINY-DAY PLAYHOUSE.]
“HOW MAMA USED TO PLAY.”