_Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full o' rye,
Four and twenty bluebirds
Baked in a pie;
When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing,
About a certain couple here
Who have some news to spring_.
Thus did one girl announce her engagement in the month of May. She had
asked twenty-four of her best friends to come to a bluebird tea one
Saturday afternoon, and nobody suspected her secret, although they did
remember that the bluebird stands for happiness.
The party was held out on the hostess's big porch, which was decorated
with jars of pink and white apple blossoms. Everybody had a very good
time dancing to the music of the phonograph until it was time for the
tea to be served. The waitresses were Betty's two little sisters, who
wore as insignia big blue bows on their hair and cunning little aprons
made of bluebird cretonne.
The tea was iced and served with lemon and mint in tall glasses. The
sandwiches were tiny and round and filled with pink strawberry jam
which made them seem like delectable apple-blossom petals. Betty
happened to have bluebird plates and she used paper napkins with a
bluebird motif.
After the sandwiches came little pink and green and white frosted
cakes and last of all the surprise. It appeared to be a great pie with
bluebird heads peeking through the crust. In reality the crust was
just brown paper touched up with a bit of water color paint and pasted
across the top of a big open pan. The bluebirds soon showed what they
were when the guests in turn pulled them out of the pie by means of
the narrow white ribbon attached to each one. They were really flat
pasteboard bluebirds and served as the excuse for the rhyme announcing
Betty's engagement.
As a souvenir each guest had a tiny bluebird May basket filled
with pink and white Jordan almonds. Small square boxes formed the
foundations of the May baskets, the sides were then covered with
bluebird crepe paper and the corners tied with wee blue bows. Little
cut-out bluebirds hung from the slender handles and bore the names of
the individual guests.
When they said good-by, the guests all declared that they had had a
bluebirdy time, which in other words meant that Betty had planned very
happily.