[=Transcriber's Note:= This book was written in a time in which we
didn't know what we know now. For example, we now know foxglove to be
very poisonous and would not suggest children use the blossoms for
fairy caps. Please use caution if attempting any of these crafts. And
don't play with foxglove.
As to this text version, italic text is surrounded by _underscores_ and
bold text by =equal signs=.]
Mother Nature's Toy-Shop
By
LINA BEARD AND ADELIA B. BEARD
With Many Illustrations
by the Authors
Charles Scribner's Sons
New York Chicago Boston
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
SPECIAL NOTICE
All the material in this book, both text and cuts, is
original with the authors and invented by them; and
warning is hereby given that the unauthorized printing
of any portion of the text and the reproduction of
any of the illustrations or diagrams are expressly
forbidden.
PRESENTATION
MOTHER NATURE is every bit as fond of the little folks in her human
family as of the grown-ups, and while she prepares untold joys for
lovers of the outdoors among men and women and larger boys and girls,
she never forgets the little ones.
For their benefit she keeps an open toy-shop full of marvellous
playthings, all free to any child who wants them, and instead of the
children paying her for what they take she pays them for coming to her
by giving them rosier cheeks, brighter eyes, and stronger bodies. She
puts more glee into their laughter and greater happiness into their
trustful little hearts.
As in the large department stores in big cities, the goods in Mother
Nature's shop are changed for each season of the year; so the little
shoppers have constant variety and hail every new season with fresh
delight. This book is written to call attention to the beautiful and
wonderful things to be found in Mother Nature's toy-shop and to tell
what to do with them, for one must know how to use the amusing material
that is furnished.
After really getting into this most enchanting of all toy-shops with
eyes open to see its wonders, we found that the difficulty to be met
was not how to write about them, but how to stop writing. The display
was so varied and so inviting, it seemed that we must tell the children
about everything we saw, but if we had gone on seeing more and telling
more there is no saying what size this book would have been.
LINA BEARD,
ADELIA BELLE BEARD.
CONTENTS
PART I--WILD FLOWERS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. DAISIES 1
II. JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT 5
III. RED AND WHITE CLOVERS 8
IV. CLOVER DESIGNS 12
V. OTHER WILD-FLOWER DESIGNS 19
VI. PUSSY-WILLOWS 24
VII. ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS 33
PART II--GRASSES
VIII. FAIRY-TREES MADE OF GRASSES 40
IX. A HOUSE MADE OF GRASS 45
X. GRASS DRESS AND GRASS HEAD-DRESS 56
PART III--GREEN LEAVES
XI. OAK-LEAVES 61
XII. GRAPE-LEAF DRINKING-CUP 68
XIII. GREEN-LEAF DESIGNS 71
PART IV--CULTIVATED FLOWERS
XIV. PHLOX 76
XV. CULTIVATED FOXGLOVE 81
XVI. MISS HOLLYHOCK'S GARDEN-PARTY 88
XVII. DAFFODILS 92
PART V--SEED-VESSELS
XVIII. SEED-VESSEL PLAYTHINGS 96
XIX. BUCKEYE HORSE AND BUCKEYE RIDER 103
XX. BURDOCK-BURRS 108
XXI. THINGS TO MAKE OF ENGLISH-WALNUT SHELLS 117
PART VI--VEGETABLES
XXII. THINGS YOU CAN MAKE OF LIMA BEANS 123
XXIII. SWEET-POTATO ALLIGATOR AND WHAT TO MAKE OF A RADISH 130
XXIV. GREEN-PEA TOYS AND A GREEN-PEA DESIGN 136
XXV. CORN-HUSKS AND CORN-COBS 148
PART VII--FRUIT
XXVI. THE FUNNY ORANGE-HEAD 163
XXVII. APPLES AND APPLE FUN 171
Mother Nature's Toy-Shop
_PART I_
WILD FLOWERS
CHAPTER I
DAISIES
What You Can Do with Them
WILD flowers, like children, are up early. _They_ don't want to lie
abed after their long winter's sleep; they want to be awake and see
what is going on in the world. While you think it is still winter there
is a stirring going on under the blankets of brown earth, and sometimes
before the snow is off the ground you may find the little things
working up through the stiff soil and opening their eyes to the gentle
spring sunshine.
It is remarkable the way the soft, tender sprouts force their way
through hard ground that we would have to take a knife or trowel to dig
into. But they do it. Not all at once with a great, blustering rush,
but gently, steadily, and quietly they push and keep on pushing until
their heads are above ground; then they begin to grow in good earnest,
and pretty soon they laugh right out into blossom.
The pleasure these earliest wild flowers give us is in going out to
look for them and in gathering handfuls to carry home and put into
little glass bowls to be "Oh'd" over and wondered at, to be admired and
loved because they are lovely, and because they bring some of the sweet
outdoors of spring into the furnace-heated house.
They are too delicate and fragile, these anemones, hepaticas, and
bloodroots, to be handled and played with, but later come the stronger,
sturdier flowers and with many of these you can do all sorts of
entertaining things. You don't have to look very far for them either.
They are in the fields, by the roadsides, and even along the edges of
the streets of a village or small town. You won't find them in the city.
To begin with, there are the daisies. How white the fields are with
them! If they are fine, large daisies on tall, strong stems they will
reach up to your waist--that is, if you are a little girl. If you are
bigger they will come well above your knees. There are a number of
things that you can do with them. First, you can make a really beautiful
Daisy Crown
for a May queen, or to wear yourself just for the fun of it.
[Illustration: Fig.1 - Begin the wreath in this way.]
[Illustration: Fig.2 - Turn the stem of B under the stem of A.]
Gather a whole lot of daisies with rather long stems. They will stay
fresh longer if you put them into a pail of cool water and let them
drink a little before using them; and if they have wilted while you
carried them, the water will bring them up again as fresh as--why, as
fresh as a daisy to be sure. This is the way to make the crown. It is a
new way and a good way.
[Illustration: Fig.3 - Bring B around and in front of it's own upright.]
Take one daisy in your left hand and hold it, not upright but in what
is called a horizontal position like the one marked A in Fig. 1, then
with your right hand hold another daisy upright and place its stem in
front of and across the stem of the first, as you see it in Fig. 1.
[Illustration: Fig.4 - Let the stem of B rest on the stem of A.]
This second daisy we will call B. Now turn the stem of B under the
stem of A and up at the back as it is in Fig. 2. Bring this same stem,
B, around and in front of its own upright part like Fig. 3. Turn it
all the way around the upright part and let the stem of B rest on top
of the stem of A. Fig. 4 shows this, but in the drawing the stems
are separated a little so that you may see each one plainly. It is
something like weaving, you see. And it is weaving of a sort.
[Illustration: Fig.5 - Weave another daisy, C, on the first two stems.]
Across the stems of the daisies A and B, two stems this time, place the
stem of another daisy that we will call C, and weave it on the first
two stems exactly as you wove B onto A (Fig. 5). The stem of the fourth
daisy will have to cross three stems, A, B, and C. The fifth daisy-stem
will cross four stems, but after that the end of the daisy-stem A will
probably have been passed and you will be weaving on the others. It
depends upon the length of the stems how many are woven over; sometimes
there may be five. It is not well to have more than that number. You
can cut a stem off when it seems to be going too far around the crown.
[Illustration: Fig.6 - A new way to make a Daisy Wreath.]
Place the daisies close enough together to have their petals touch,
or even crowd a trifle, because when the crown is curved and the ends
brought together the flowers will separate and leave wider spaces. When
you have woven enough daisies to make your crown the proper size to fit
your head, cut the last stems off about two inches from the last flower
and, with a strong blade of grass or piece of string, tie them to the
stem of the daisy A, just back of the flower. Fig. 6 shows what the
daisy crown looks like when finished.