THE GOOD CROW’S HAPPY SHOP
[Illustration: THE GOOD CROW AND HIS MAIL BOX]
THE GOOD CROW’S HAPPY SHOP
BY
PATTEN BEARD
_Author of “The Jolly Year,” “Marjorie’s Literary
Dolls,” “The Jolly Book of Boxcraft,”
“The Bluebird’s Garden,” etc._
THIRTEEN PICTURES OF HAPPY THINGS
THAT WERE MADE BY THE CHILDREN IN
THE SHOP OF THE GOOD CROW CAW CAW,
DRAWN AND ARRANGED BY THE AUTHOR
WITH MARGINAL BY MR. ARTHUR HULL
[Illustration]
THE PILGRIM PRESS
BOSTON CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT 1917
BY PATTEN BEARD
THE PILGRIM PRESS
BOSTON
THIS BOOK OF THE HAPPY SHOP
IS DEDICATED TO
HENRY JARRETT AND CAW CAW,
HIS GOOD PLAY
CROW
[Illustration]
LONG time ago, the author of this book played the crow play as a little
girl, and when she grew up, she gave the crow play to Henry Jarrett.
Now, Henry Jarrett and Patten Beard give this play to many other
children. In doing this, they have had help from _The Delineator_,
_The Youth’s Companion_, _The Pictorial Review_, and _The Mother’s
Magazine_. These have used some of the plays in this book.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE GOOD CROW AND AUNT PHOEBE 1
II THE HAPPY SHOP AND THE MAGIC BOOK 13
III THE PAPER DOLLS JIMSI MADE 27
IV THE TOY FURNITURE 39
V THE MOTION PICTURE FUN THAT THE CROW KNEW 51
VI THE VALENTINES OF THE HAPPY SHOP 69
VII THE EMBROIDERY PATTERNS IN THE MAGIC BOOK 79
VIII THE SCRAPBOOKS CROW TOLD ABOUT 95
IX THE PIN-WHEELS, BIRDS, BUTTERFLIES 107
X THE MAY BASKETS 121
XI HOW THE MAGIC BOOK HELPED AT SCHOOL 131
XII THE GIFTS THAT THEY MADE IN THE HAPPY SHOP 141
XIII THE CHRISTMAS-TREE THAT THEY MADE IN THE HAPPY SHOP 153
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE GOOD CROW AND HIS MAIL BOX _Frontispiece_
PAGE
THE MAGIC BOOK OF THE GOOD CROW’S HAPPY SHOP WAS A BIG
SAMPLE BOOK OF WALL PAPER 22
THE PAPER DOLLS THAT WERE CUT FROM MAGAZINES AND WHOSE
CLOTHES WERE MADE FROM WALL PAPER 32
PAPER CUTTING DIAGRAM I 43
THE PAPER DOLL FURNITURE THAT WAS CUT FROM CARDBOARD AND
UPHOLSTERED WITH WALL PAPER 45
THE MOTION PICTURES THAT WERE CUT FROM WALL PAPER 57
THE VALENTINES AND CARDS THAT WERE MADE OUT OF WALL PAPER 71
EMBROIDERY PATTERNS AND STENCIL DESIGNS THAT WERE FOUND
IN WALL PAPER 84
THE SCRAPBOOKS THAT THE CHILDREN MADE WITH WALL PAPER
COVERS 103
PAPER CUTTING DIAGRAM II 113
THE BIRD, THE BUTTERFLIES AND THE PIN-WHEELS THAT WERE
MADE OUT OF WALL PAPER 117
THE MAY BASKETS AND THE FLOWER-POT COVER THAT WERE MADE
OF WALL PAPER 127
HERE ARE SCHOOL BOOKS WITH PRETTY COVERS MADE TO KEEP
THEM CLEAN 133
SOME DESK FITTINGS THAT WERE MADE WITH WALL PAPER 147
THE CHRISTMAS-TREE DECORATIONS THAT WERE MADE OF WALL
PAPER 161
THE GOOD CROW’S HAPPY SHOP
CHAPTER I
_The Good Crow and Aunt Phoebe_
ONCE a year, Aunt Phoebe came to visit in the city at Jimsi’s house.
Aunt Phoebe was Mother’s best friend. Jimsi and Henry and baby
Katherine had known her ever so long. They could not remember the time
when they did not know Aunt Phoebe. Probably the time dated back to the
age of rattles and squeaky rubber dolls when the children were so small
that they knew nothing at all about Aunt Phoebe’s Good Crow, Caw Caw.
You see, Aunt Phoebe was a “play aunt.” She did not really belong to
the family as everyday aunts and uncles do. She began by _playing_ she
was an aunt and almost everything that she did was either make-believe
or play or something equally jolly. And Aunt Phoebe’s Good Crow Caw
Caw was a play too. It was a happy make-believe that had grown up with
Jimsi and Henry and Katherine.
Just how the play about the Good Crow started, nobody was ever able to
tell. Even Aunt Phoebe herself could not say. But the make-believe was
that Aunt Phoebe knew of a wonderfully delightful bird who was big and
black and who liked nothing better than to do nice things for boys and
girls.
Jimsi and Henry and Katherine knew well that all this was a lovely
pretend. One might believe in it as one believed in fairies or fairy
tales that one knows are not at all true—and yet fun to imagine. The
Good Crow was a lovely pretend.
Everybody who knew Jimsi and Henry and Katherine, knew about Caw Caw.
He appeared most frequently when the great visit of the year fell due
and when the expressman had brought in Aunt Phoebe’s trunk and taken
the strap off. Then Aunt Phoebe would say, “Oh, Jimsi, Caw Caw sent you
a present. He sent one to Henry and Katherine too. I must get it out of
my trunk! Come! Let’s see what it is!”
Then Jimsi and Henry and Katherine would laugh and begin to play the
play of Caw Caw Crow that would last as long as Aunt Phoebe stayed at
their home—no, longer sometimes for the Good Crow often wrote little
letters to the children, just for fun.
The presents that came from Caw Caw in Aunt Phoebe’s trunk were not
very big presents; they were boxes of crayons or paints or things like
scissors and tools to make things. Sometimes there would be a game or a
ball or a very nice toy or transfer pictures. The things that Caw Caw
Crow sent the children were mostly things to do. One can always find a
use for scissors or paints or crayons and things to do, you know.
Maybe, when the children were little, he had begun with giving them
boxes of blocks. Now that Jimsi was eleven and Henry nine and Katherine
four, Aunt Phoebe’s crow sent them _interesting_ things—not blocks or
rubber dolls. He gave them each a plasticine outfit once. Another time
he sent them all painting-books. He gave them something to do with
their brains and their fingers. That is the best kind of play, don’t
you think so?
Well, all the time Aunt Phoebe was at the house in the city, her crow
did jolly things for the children. He never really appeared. Jimsi
and Henry and Katherine never saw him. He was a lovely pretend like
Santa Claus. Aunt Phoebe, who knew more than anybody else did about
Caw Caw, declared that he spent most of his time in the Santa Claus
Land and that he flew only now and then to the home of Jimsi and Henry
and Katherine when Aunt Phoebe was visiting there. He sometimes came
at night when the children were sound asleep—exactly as Santa Claus
comes. He flew in at the window and very, very often he left wee little
letters under the children’s pillows. Maybe he left only a lollipop
or a stick of peppermint candy. One never knew when one went to bed
promptly and cheerfully _what_ would be under one’s pillow! That was
the fun of the play! There was mystery about it. It made fairyland a
real everyday-come-true fun!
Some days, if Jimsi or Henry or Katherine had been naughty, there would
be a little crow letter that would say:
“DEAR LITTLE FRIEND:
I was flying by the window when you were so horrid and
spunky. I don’t like the children who are horrid and
spunky. I hope you’ll be different to-morrow.
Good-bye,
_Crow._”
After this kind of letter one felt more than ever ashamed.
Maybe the Good Crow would put a different sort of letter under the
pillow:
“DEAR LITTLE FRIEND:
It made me glad to see what you did to-day. I like
children who eat what is set before them at the table.
I send you a lollipop as a reward of merit. Happy
dreams.
Good-bye,
_Crow._”
One might come home from school and find that Aunt Phoebe’s crow had
flown in at Aunt Phoebe’s window during school hours to leave tickets
to go to a special children’s performance of _Alice in Wonderland_ to
be on Saturday afternoon. Oh, the crow was always doing things that
were happy. And, you know, Aunt Phoebe kept him fully informed as to
what the children liked best. _She knew._
Mother and Daddy and Aunt Phoebe all liked the crow. Indeed, strange to
relate, sometimes when Aunt Phoebe was visiting and Mother happened to
say that she had admired a certain kind of pretty plant that she had
seen in a window down-town, the crow brought the plant and set it in
the middle of the dining-room table next day! He left a card with it,
of course. The card said, “With love from the children’s Crow.” (Of
course, a real crow couldn’t have carried the things that Caw Caw did.
Being a play crow and just pretend, he could bring almost anything.)
Oh, I tell you it was jolly! Everybody in the house crowed with
laughter over Aunt Phoebe’s Caw Caw. He made jokes; he sent funny
pictures cut from magazines; he wrote rhymes and verses that made
Mother and Daddy and Jimsi and Henry and Katherine—and even Aunt Phoebe
herself—just double up and laugh. One day he left each of the children
a big black feather. The feathers were done up in reams and reams of
tissue paper. You’d have thought there were BIG presents in the parcels
that were waiting on the hall table till Jimsi and Henry came home
from school! And then after unrolling and unrolling and unrolling and
_unrolling_ out dropped the black feathers. They looked as if somebody
had found them in the feather duster but they were labeled, “From Caw
Caw’s wing, with love. Keep to remember me.”
Oh, Aunt Phoebe’s visits were such good fun and Caw Caw Crow was so
jolly! It was always hard to say good-bye after the two weeks or the
month had passed. Henry kept all his crow-treasures—except the eatable
ones and those like _Alice in Wonderland_ entertainment tickets. He put
them in a drawer with his letters. Jimsi kept hers in a box. As for
Katherine, she was still interested in blocks and squeaky dolls made of
rubber. Mother kept Katherine’s crow letters till Katherine should grow
up to enjoy them all over again some day.
Well, when Aunt Phoebe had gone, the Good Crow play usually stopped
unless Mother kept it up or Jimsi or Henry or maybe Daddy tried it. But
the crow was never as entertaining as when Aunt Phoebe was around.
Once upon a time, Jimsi got sick. She was really frightfully sick—sick
for a long, long time. She had the doctor and then she began to get
well slowly. At this time, almost every day in the mail would come a
letter from Aunt Phoebe’s Crow telling Jimsi something nice to play in
bed. Some days a postal card would come. Some days a pretty book. Some
days a bit of doll-sewing. But the very nicest thing of all came when
Jimsi was well enough to go out-doors again and _not_ well enough to
go back to school. It was a crow letter and it came with a postmark of
the town where Aunt Phoebe lived on it. This is what the letter said.
(It was written on very wee blue notepaper and written in the tiny
handwriting that Aunt Phoebe’s Good Crow usually liked.)
“DEAREST JIMSI:
Do you think that your precious Mother would let you
come to spend some time in the country with your Aunt
Phoebe? She’d be very careful to see that you wore
rubbers and didn’t take cold. She’ll see you take your
bad medicine and have a peppermint afterwards to take
the taste away.
I hope you can come because Aunt Phoebe wants to see
you, and I want you to play in my Happy Shop.
Good-bye,
_Caw Caw Crow._”
Oh, oh, oh! Hooray!
“Mumsey, I may go, mayn’t I?” pleaded Jimsi. “Oh, I never _was_ at Aunt
Phoebe’s! I’ll be good; I’ll go to bed early and I’ll try not to read
too much; I’ll take my horrid medicine and I’ll never, never forget to
wear overshoes!”
“I want to go too,” urged Henry. “I want to go too!”
“Me too!” echoed baby Katherine. “Me too!”
“Hush!” cried Mother. “I’ll have to ask Daddy, Jimsi dear. We’ll see
what the doctor thinks of it. Maybe Aunt Phoebe’s house is the best
place a little girl could grow well and strong in. Maybe you can go—but
I can’t promise; we’ll see.”
All day long Jimsi went about the house wondering whether she was going
to be allowed to go to Aunt Phoebe’s. She and Henry talked about it.
“What do you suppose the crow’s Happy Shop is?” they asked each other.
“It’s something ever so nice if it’s the crow,” declared Jimsi. “Maybe
it’s a store where the crow buys things.”
“It might be the place where he makes things,” Henry suggested. “Shops
are sometimes places where things are made.”
All day long they talked about it. After the doctor had come and gone
and when Daddy reached home after business, when the tea table things
were cleared away and Jimsi and Henry and Mother and Daddy sat about
the lamp in the living-room, they talked about the good crow and the
Happy Shop some more. It was decided that day after to-morrow, Jimsi
should really go to visit Aunt Phoebe and find out what a Happy Shop
was!
Oh, oh, oh! Hooray! Three cheers for Aunt Phoebe and the Good Crow!
Hip-hip-hoorah! Hip-hip-hoorah! _Hip-hip-hoorah!_
That night Jimsi was very happy. She fell asleep to dream of a big
black crow who was sitting in a queer little store inside an odd house
that was like the White Rabbit’s home in _Alice in Wonderland_. Of
course Jimsi had never seen the crow face to face before but the dream
seemed delightfully real and funny. She told Daddy and Mother about
it in the morning, and Henry declared that dreams were never true
and that, of course, Jimsi wouldn’t _see_ the crow at Aunt Phoebe’s
because the crow was all make-believe and there _wasn’t any_. “We
just pretend there is a crow,” he said. “It’s a kind of game. The
Happy Shop is prob-ab-ly—(the word is quite a long one for nine years
old)—prob-ab-ly another nice new play of Aunt Phoebe’s. There won’t be
any real crow there, Jimsi!”
“Oh, I know,” smiled Jimsi. “But it will be a splendid fun of some
kind. I can’t wait to find out what it is. When I find out, I’ll write
home all about it.”
Really everybody was as interested to know what The Happy Shop really
was as Jimsi. Poor Henry had to go off to school. Daddy went to his
office downtown. Only Mother and Jimsi were left to speculate upon the
subject that day. It was a busy day too for Jimsi had to get ready to
go to Aunt Phoebe’s for weeks and weeks while she grew strong in the
country. There had to be warm things in her trunk. Some of them had to
be mended. It took time. But at last the trunk was packed. (Mother and
Henry and Katherine wrote crow letters for Aunt Phoebe and tucked these
away inside. Jimsi volunteered to see that they reached Aunt Phoebe’s
pillow—somehow.)
And then _the_ day came! Daddy took Jimsi’s bag. There was a big
hugging for Mother and Katherine and Henry who couldn’t go to the train
because he _had_ to go to school—and then Jimsi and Daddy walked down
the street to take the car for the railway station. At the corner
Jimsi turned for the forty-eleventh time: “Maybe you can come up for
vacation, Henry,” she called back. “I’ll write you all about The Happy
Shop.” Just at that moment the car came and they hopped aboard. Before
she knew what was happening, Daddy and she were on the train and the
train was leaving the city. Slowly the train came out of the dark
tunnel that marked its departure from town. Out into open spaces of
wide skies and fields it curved along the tracks. And as Jimsi gazed
through the car window happily, watching the landscape bright in the
sunlight, there flew from a thicket a single big black crow! “Caw-caw,”
called the crow. “Caw-caw.” And Jimsi pulled Daddy’s arm—his head was
deep in a newspaper—“Oh, look, look!” she cried. “Daddy, there’s the
Good Crow!” Wasn’t it fun! Oh, wasn’t it fun! That big black crow had
said caw-caw and he was flying in the same direction as Jimsi’s train!
Already Aunt Phoebe’s play crow seemed more real than ever. And every
moment the train was bringing Jimsi nearer and nearer to Aunt Phoebe
and The Happy Shop.