A HOUSE MADE OF GRASS
REAL people live in grass houses way off in the Philippine Islands.
That is, their houses are made of bamboo, which is a kind of giant
grass. It must be a pretty airy, comfortable house in summer, and it is
always summer in the Philippines, but we never see that kind of houses
here. One reason is because in most of our country a grass house would
be very cold in winter, and another reason for not building them is
because the bamboo grows only in the extreme south, and even down there
people want more substantial homes.
A prettier playhouse, though, could not be devised, and if you could
see a Filipino house you would want it immediately, but since you
cannot have a real one you can have the fun of making a little doll
Filipino house, and of making it exactly as the little brown Filipino
men make theirs. Suppose you gather some grass and twigs now, and build
the little house for your doll.
Some of the queer little people whose home is in the Philippine Islands
perch their houses like birds' nests up in the trees, but often they
are built on stilts to lift them high from the ground. Our little house
(Fig. 50) shall be on stilts. We will make the floor first. If you do
not understand how to measure by inches, ask an older person to help
you.
The Floor
Find two straight, round sticks, not quite as large round as a
lead-pencil. The sticks must be cut six and a half inches long, then
two sticks of the same kind five inches long; after that there must be
six more sticks five inches long. Split these last six sticks in half
lengthwise.
The Philippine people do not use nails, or screws, or glue, and not
even wooden pegs, in building their houses; they bind and tie the parts
together with rattan, and as we are going to build just as they do we,
too, will tie the parts of our house together, but will use raffia in
place of the rattan.
[Illustration: Fig.50 - The little Grass House you can make.]
Hold one of the six-and-a-half-inch sticks (letter J, Fig. 51) upright
in your hand while you cross it a short distance below the top with a
five-inch-round stick (letter K, Fig. 51). The distance from the top
of the upright stick to the crossing and the distance from the short
end of the other stick to the crossing must be the same.
[Illustration: Fig.51 - Begin binding them together.]
[Illustration: Fig.52 - Carry the raffia over and between the two ends
of the sticks.]
Begin binding them together as shown in Fig. 51. Then carry the raffia
(string will do if you cannot get raffia) over and between the two
ends of the sticks (Fig. 52), and wind it opposite ways several times
around the sticks, bringing the raffia between as well as over them.
This will lash them firmly together. Now turn this beginning of your
floor around so that the short stick will be upright and the long one
extend from side to side. Do not let the binding loosen; hold it tight
and cross the long stick with one of the split five-inch sticks (Fig.
53). Be sure that the flat side of the split stick is next to the
long stick, and that you leave a slight opening between it and the
first crosspiece. Pull the raffia tight and bind it over this second
crosspiece (Fig. 54), then back, crossing it as in Fig. 55.
[Illustration: Fig.53 - Turn the sticks, bringing J in horizontal
position.]
[Illustration: Fig.54 - Bind raffia over second stick.]
[Illustration: Fig.55 - Then bring raffia across front of second stick.]
Bind on the next split crosspiece in the same way, and go on adding
crosspieces until they reach almost to the end of the long stick, then
let the last crosspiece be the second unsplit five-inch stick. When
all the short crosspieces are properly bound onto the long stick,
bind the other six-and-a-half-inch long stick under the opposite ends
of the crosspieces in the same way, and just as carefully (Fig. 56).
This makes the floor and we must lash it to the stilts, which are four
upright sticks, each seven and one half inches long. Fit the stilts in
the outside corners made by the crossing of the end and side sticks of
the floor, and, holding the floor about four and a half inches above
the lower ends of the stilts, bind floor and stilts together (Fig. 57).
Of course you can put the stilts on only one at a time.
The Walls
Make the framework for the walls by binding and tying onto the stilts
near the top two sticks, each six and a half inches long, one stick on
each side. Across these sticks, from stilt to stilt, at each end, bind
a five-inch-length stick (Fig. 58).
[Illustration: Fig.56 - Make the floor this way.]
The Roof
To support the roof there must be two upright sticks, each seven inches
long, and these sticks must be bound and tied to the middle of the end
sticks of the floor and the end sticks of the wall. They are lettered L
and L in Fig. 59
[Illustration: Fig.57 - Lash the floor to the stilts.]
[Illustration: Fig.58 - Bind on four more poles making framework for
walls.]
Fig. 60 shows the framework of the house without the bindings, so
that you may see exactly how the sticks are put together. There is
a ridge-pole which forms the top ridge of the roof. This must be a
stick about seven inches long, and it is to be tied to the uprights
lettered L and L that you have just fastened on the two ends of the
house. (See Fig. 59, L and L.) Four other sticks, M and M and N and N,
long enough to reach from the ridge-pole, crossing above it, to the
side crosspieces of the wall, you must tie to the ridge-pole and the
side-wall sticks, placing them slanting, as you see them in Fig. 60, at
each end.
The Porch
Like many other people, the Filipino wants a porch to his house.
Perhaps he sits there to smoke his curious little pipe, which is not
much larger than the one you make of an acorn. I have never seen him
on his porch, but I have seen him smoke and afterward tuck his pipe
away in his long, fuzzy hair, where it remained in safety even while he
leaped and pranced about in the wild dance he loves so much.
[Illustration: Fig.59 - End poles are added to hold up the roof.]
[Illustration: Fig.60 - This is the way the house is put together.]
But we must not forget the porch. If the Filipino has one to his
house, we must have a porch to ours. We won't make it separately and
add it to the part already built, but, as the Filipino does, we will
use part of the house-floor for the floor of the porch, and let the
roof cover that as well as the house. To do this we must separate the
house part from the porch part by putting up two more uprights, one on
each side, a little way back from the front of the house, and these
uprights will form the boundary-line. Letters O and P in Fig. 60 are
these last uprights, the sticks which form them being long enough to
reach from the wall side-piece to the floor, and extend a little above
and below where they cross the upper and lower sticks.
[Illustration: Fig.61 - Fresh grass instead of palms over one side
wall.]
[Illustration: Fig.62 - Strips of wood to bind down the grass on wall.]
Thatching
Now we come to the real grass part of the house, for we have had to
use small sticks for the framework instead of bamboo, and where the
Filipino uses palm-leaves we will use grass.
Gather some long, coarse, fresh blades of grass for thatching both
the roof and walls, and begin with the walls. Bunch the grass evenly,
the stem ends all together, bend the bunch at the centre, then spread
it out at its centre, and hang it thickly over one side-wall beam,
which is the upper stick (Fig. 61). Have the stem ends inside the house
hang down as long as the tip ends on the outside, and let the outside
ends hang down below the edge of the floor; then take a flat strip of
wood and place it near the top of the grass-covered wall, bend the
ends a little and slide them back of the uprights (Fig. 62). Smooth
the grass down evenly and put in another flat stick, this time at the
bottom (Fig. 62). If you want the inside of the house as perfect as the
outside, slide in two other strips on the inside of each wall to hold
the grass down. Fig. 62 shows the grass partially trimmed off to make
it even at the bottom.
[Illustration: Fig.63 - Pole rafter being thatched for roof.]
[Illustration: Fig.64 - Shows exactly how the raffia is tied.]
[Illustration: Fig.65 - Hang grass over ridge pole of roof.]
To thatch the roof you will need two more sticks for rafters. Over one
stick, near the end, tie a bunch of grass into a tassel, using a piece
of raffia to bind it; hang more grass over the stick or rafter, and tie
it into another tassel, and with the same piece of raffia tie a third
tassel (Fig. 63). Fig. 64 shows exactly how the raffia is tied. Make
the tassels rather thick and put them close together so that there
will be no space between.
When this rafter (the stick) is covered with thatch lay it across the
side of the roof half-way between the ridge-pole (top stick on the
roof) and the stick forming the side wall of the house, and tie the
ends securely to the slanting sticks of the roof. Thatch another rafter
and fasten it on the opposite side of the roof, then cover two shorter
sticks with thatch and tie one across the front, the other across the
back peak of the roof on a line with the thatched rafters on the sides.
Fasten more thatch at the front and back peak of the roof, tying it
to the ridge-pole, also to the two slanting sticks. Allow the grass
to hang down far enough to cover the top of the thatch below it (Fig.
50). This thatch must entirely fill up the ends of the roof made by the
peak. Now hang grass over the ridge-pole at the top of the roof as you
would hang your doll's little sheets on your toy clothes-line (Fig.
65), and bring the ends down over the thatched rafters on each side of
the roof. Hold this top thatch in place by laying sticks across the
grass just below the ridge-pole on each side of the roof. Bind and tie
these sticks at each end to the framework of the house (Fig. 50).
If grass cannot be had for thatching, soak hay in water to make it
soften and take the stiffness out, then use that. Raffia dyed green
might do, or should all else fail, take fine broom-straws softened in
hot water for the thatch, and use loosely twisted string for binding
and tying. Of course the string should not be white, but you can dip it
in coffee and dry it; the color will then be like the color of rattan.
The Ladder
The spry little Filipinos use ladders instead of stairs to reach their
living-room, so we must make a rustic ladder for our house.
Cut two slender sticks about six and one-half inches long for the
sides; then cut seven or eight short sticks for the crosspieces or
rungs. The rungs should be one and three-quarter inches long. Bind
and tie the ends of the rungs to the side sticks (Fig. 66), placing
them about three-quarters of an inch apart. The ends of the rungs must
cross the side sticks and extend out about one-quarter of an inch. If
properly tied, your little ladder will be firm and strong.
[Illustration: Fig.66 - The ladder will be strong and firm.]
Place the ladder one end resting on the ground, the other end on the
front edge of the porch, then stand off and admire your work. It is
certainly worth admiring, for the house will be a perfect miniature
Filipino home, and you may imagine you can see tall cocoanut-palms and
many other strange and beautiful trees and plants that grow in the hot
Philippine Islands. You might copy some of these with grasses and small
flowering wild plants.
If you have a Noah's ark it will be a good idea to select some of
the animals that live in the Philippines and put them in the little
rattan and bamboo jungles which you have made of grasses. A piece of
looking-glass or plain window-glass can represent water not far from
the house, and here you should have a crocodile sunning himself on the
bank. Let a wild boar be plunging out of the jungle, and deep in the
bamboo grove you might hide the tremendously large snake called a boa.
I don't think there will be a boa in your Noah's ark, but you can make
one of bread dough, or of clay. With all these dangerous creatures
prowling round, do you think it strange that the Filipino people put
their houses on stilts?
If this were a real house in the real Philippines you might see a
number of natives, wearing little or no clothes, coming toward you
bringing small snakes which they had caught to sell in the towns for
rat-catchers. And near the house there would be most wonderful flowers,
some of them orchids, the flowers that live on air; while all around
would be strange and rare birds.
At one side of the house, some distance away, there would, perhaps, be
a wet rice-field where the queer water-buffalo, called a carabao, would
be drawing a strange-looking plough, the driver, a little brown man,
wearing an immense umbrella-like hat woven of palm-leaves.
Listen! Do you hear that deep, booming sound? It comes from the
peculiar tree which a native is striking with his big club in slow,
heavy blows on one of its immense, wall-like roots. The sound goes
rolling far over the land, telephoning to other natives that white
people are coming.
A Doll Filipino Woman
To make the little house seem more real, dress a doll in genuine
Philippine costume and stand her near the ladder with arms extended as
if in welcome. The dress must be a white waist with flowing sleeves,
a light-colored skirt, a large gay handkerchief, called a _pañuelo_,
folded around the doll's neck, and an overskirt made of a square of
dark cloth drawn tightly around her body from waist to knees. No
stockings are needed, but you can give her heelless slippers with only
a narrow strip over the toes to keep them on.