The American Girl's Handy Book

by Lina Beard

  Flower Dolls.

  The flower lady with the baby is made of a yellow gourd flower; the small gourd attached, which has just begun to form, serves for her head; a green gourd leaf is used for her shawl, and her bonnet is made of a smaller leaf folded to fit her head. The baby is a white gourd bud, with a cap made of a leaf. A small twig stuck through part of the lady’s shawl, through the baby, and into the lady doll, holds the child in place and makes it appear as though clasped in the mother’s arms.

  The features of both dolls are scratched on with a pin and then inked. To make the lady stand erect, a small twig is stuck into the heart of the flower, and the other end into the top of a small paste-board-box lid.

  The other flower doll is made of the common garden flowers. The underskirt is a petunia; a Canterbury-bell forms the overskirt and waist; small twigs, or broom-straws stuck through buds of the phlox, are the arms, and the head is a daisy with the petals cut off to look like a bonnet. The features are made with pen and ink on the yellow centre. A reversed daisy forms the parasol.

  If the flowers named are not at hand, those of a similar shape will answer just as well.

  Gaily dressed little ladies can be made of the brilliantly tinted hollyhocks, and many other flowers can also be transformed into these pretty though perishable dolls.

  CHAPTER XVI.

  HOW TO MAKE A FAN.

  “That graceful toy whose moving play

  With gentle gales relieves the sultry day.”

  A FAN is only a pretty trifle, yet it has been made rather an important one. To manage a fan gracefully was some time ago considered very essential by fair dames of society, and in the dainty hand of many a famous beauty it has played a conspicuous part. Queen Elizabeth regarded it with so much favor that she was called the “Patron of Fans,” and she made a rule that no present save a fan should be accepted by English queens from their subjects.

  Although held in such high esteem, it is only since the influx of any and every thing Japanese that we have had fans in such profusion, and have discovered how effective they are when used for decorative purposes.

  A brilliantly tinted fan is of equal value in giving just the right touch of color to a costume or the decorations of a room, and this chapter will show how the girls can make the fans themselves, and have for use or for the adornment of their rooms those of various shapes, sizes, and colors. The first fan represented here is made in the form of a butterfly. The principal articles necessary for its manufacture are a strip of smooth, brown wrapping-paper, stiff enough to keep its folds, and two sticks for handles. The ribbon which, in the illustration, ties the handles together looks pretty, but is not indispensable; an elastic band, or one made of narrow ribbon, slipped over the sticks will do as well.

  Butterfly Fan.

  The paper must be twenty-eight inches long and five and one-half inches wide. In order to fold it evenly it should be ruled across with lines one-half inch apart, as shown in diagram of butterfly (page 179). When the paper is prepared the pattern can be copied from the diagram, which is half of the butterfly. By counting the lines and using them as guides for obtaining the proportions, an exact reproduction of this pattern can be made. The outlines being drawn, the paper must be plaited, one fold on top of another, until twenty-seven plaits have been laid. Smoothing out the paper again, the butterfly should be painted with water-colors in flat, even tints.

  Diagram of one-half of Butterfly Fan.

  The lower part of diagram is the body of the insect and is of a light-brown color, also the space just below the head, which is surrounded by a strip of black.

  Fig. 123.

  Fig. 125.

  Folded Fans.

  Fig. 124

  Handle.

  The head and eyes are black, the eyes having a half-circle of white to separate them from the head. The main part of the wings are a brownish purple, next to which comes a border of very dark purple with light-blue spots. The outer border is light yellow. When the paint is quite dry the extra paper at the top of the butterfly is to be cut away. Again the fan must be plaited in the folds already formed and the plaits fastened together at one end with a strong needle and thread, as shown in diagram (Fig. 123). Fig. 124 shows the shape of the handles, two of which are required; they should be about nine inches long, one-third of an inch wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. A handle must be glued to the last fold at each end of the fan (see Fig. 125). The fan should be kept closed until the glue is dry, when it may be opened and used at pleasure.

  The Mikado Fan.

  Our next sketch is that of the Mikado fan, and represents a Japanese lady who, with her fan held aloft, is making a bowing salutation.

  This fan is made of the same paper as that used for the butterfly, and is cut the same width; there are, however, twenty-nine plaits instead of twenty-seven, as in the other. The diagram gives the pattern in two parts, and the colors it is to be painted; the face and hands should be of a flesh-tint and the features done with black in outline. The directions for putting together the butterfly apply as well to the Mikado fan.

  Pattern of Mikado Fan.

  The third illustration shows a fan made in the shape of a daisy. Diagram on page 183 shows a section of the pattern.

  White paper should be used, and it must be laid in thirty-four plaits, which will give the flower fifteen whole and two half petals, the half petals being at each end.

  The tinted part of pattern indicates where it is painted yellow to form the centre of the daisy.

  For a plain round fan no pattern is needed. It is made simply of a strip of paper, of the width used for the other fans, and has about thirty plaits. When fans of this kind are made of colored paper in solid tints they are very pretty. Pieces of bright, figured wall-paper left from papering a room can be utilized, and quite effective fans be made of them to use for decoration.

  Daisy Fan.

  Another style of fan is represented in our last illustration. It is made of twenty slats of cardboard cut after pattern Fig. 126. These slats are joined together at the top and centre with narrow ribbon passed through the slits cut for it, as shown in Fig. 127. Over the ribbon where it passes through the top slits, on the wrong side of the fan, square pieces of paper are pasted, which hold the ribbon down securely at these points. The paper is pasted only at each end of the ribbon in the middle row. It is best to leave one end of this ribbon loose until the fan is joined at the bottom; then opening the fan, and drawing the ribbon until it fits the fan smoothly, it can be cut the right length and the loose end fastened down. A ribbon is also used to hold the slats together at the bottom; a bow at each side keeps them in place (see Fig. 128). When a large fan for decoration is desired, the slats should be about eighteen inches long, two and a half inches wide at the top, and one and a half inch wide at the bottom. The fan may be larger still, in which case it can be used as a screen to set before an empty fire-place. For this purpose the slats have to be two feet long, four inches wide at the top, and two and a half inches wide at the bottom.

  Pattern for Daisy Fan.

  The proportions of the slats for a small hand-fan are eight and a half inches long, one and a half inch wide at the top, and one inch wide at the bottom. The large fans should be made of heavier cardboard or pasteboard than that used for smaller ones.

  Fig. 126.

  Fig. 127

  Fig. 128.

  Construction of Cardboard Fan.

  Colored cardboard, which can be bought at almost any stationer’s, is the best to use, but the slats of ordinary white cardboard may be covered with colored paper if more convenient.

  These fans may be varied to suit the taste of the girls who make them. Instead of a solid color, one can be made with alternate slats of red and white, blue and yellow, or any other colors that harmonize. Another may show all the tints of the rainbow, and for use on the Fourth of July one might display the red, white, and blue.

  Some will look especially handsome if prettily painted. A dark-red fan with
a branch of dogwood-blossoms painted across it makes a charming wall decoration, as does also one of light blue with pine-branch and cone painted in brown or black.

  Cardboard Fan.

  A gilt fan lightens up a dusky corner beautifully; it can be curved around to fit the place, and catching and reflecting the light at all angles, as it does, it is quite effective.

  CHAPTER XVII.

  ALL-HALLOW-EVE.

  RADIANT and beautiful October, whose changing color heralds the approach of winter, gives us our first autumn holiday, if Halloween can now be called a holiday.

  Before the Christian era, in the days of the ancient Celts and their priests, the Druids, the eve of the first of November was the time for one of the three principal festivals of the year. The first of May was celebrated for the sowing; the solstice on the twenty-first of June for the ripening, and the eve of the first of November for the harvesting. At each of these festivals great fires were built on the hill-tops in honor of the sun, which the people worshipped. When Christianity took the place of the heathen religion, the Church, instead of forbidding the celebration of these days, gave them different meanings, and in this way the ancient harvest-festival of the Celts became All-Hallow-Eve, or the eve of All-Saints-Day, the first day of November having been dedicated to all of the saints.

  For a long while most of the old customs of these holidays were retained; then, although new ceremonies were gradually introduced, Hallow-Eve remained the night of the year for wild, mysterious, and superstitious rites. Fairies and all supernatural beings were believed to be abroad at this time, and to exercise more than their usual power over earthly mortals. Because the fairy folk were believed to be so near us on Halloween, it was considered the best evening of the season for the practice of magic, and the customs observed on this night became mostly those of divination, by the aid of which it was thought the future might be read.

  Kaling.

  Before proceeding further with this subject we desire our readers to appreciate and fully understand that we are far from wishing to inculcate any superstitious belief in the power of charms to forecast future events; that we regard all fortune-telling as nonsense, pure and simple, and only insert it here, as we would any other game, for the sake of the amusement it affords. Although, to make our descriptions more intelligible, we announce the results of charms as facts, we would not have it understood that they are to be taken as such.

  Nowadays, so practical has the world become, no fairy, witch, or geni could we conjure up, were we to practice all the charms and spells ever known to soothsayer or seer. Our busy, common-sense age allows no fairies to interfere with its concerns, and these creatures, who existed only in the belief of the people, must needs vanish, to return no more, when that belief is gone.

  A few fortune-telling games are all that now remain of the weird ceremonies that once constituted the rites of Halloween, and the spirit of this old heathen holiday is once more changed, for it is now considered only an occasion for fun and frolic.

  It was the custom for quite a number of years of some friends of the writer to give a Halloween party on each recurring Halloween; and merrier, jollier parties than those were, it would not be easy to devise. The home which opened wide its hospitable doors to the favored few on this night is a country-house, large and spacious; there is a basement under the whole lower floor, which is divided into kitchen, laundry, and various store-rooms intersected with passages, and this basement, deserted by the servants, was given up to the use of the Halloween revellers. The rooms and passage-ways were decorated with and lighted by Chinese lanterns, which produced a subdued glow in their immediate vicinity, but left mysterious shadows in nooks and corners.

  Putting aside conventionality and dignity as we laid aside our wraps, ready for any fun or mischief that might be on hand, we proceeded down-stairs and into the kitchen, where a large pot of candy was found bubbling over the fire. This candy, poured into plates half-full of nuts, was eaten at intervals during the evening, and served to keep up the spirits of those who were inclined to be cast down by the less pleasing of Fortune’s decrees. With plenty of room and no fear of breaking or destroying anything, which is apt to put a check upon frolics in the parlor, the company could give full vent to their high spirits. Now in this room, now in that, again flitting through the dim passages and around dark corners, each person seemed to be everywhere at once, and although the party was limited to about twenty-five, there appeared to be at least twice that number present. Bursts of merry laughter and little screams of pretended terror would announce, now and then, that some charm was being gone through with and someone’s fortune being told. All sorts of games were played, and the variety of our entertainment made the evening pass very quickly. All too soon the hands of the kitchen clock warned the guests that to reach home at a seasonable hour they must put an end to their Halloween festivities. A number of the following methods of telling fortunes were tried at these parties, one might say with success, for we certainly succeeded in accomplishing our main object, which was, to have a good time. By

  Melted Lead

  we used to ascertain what the occupation of one’s future husband would be. The fortune is told in this way: Each girl, in turn, holds a door-key in one hand, while with the other hand she pours the melted lead, from an iron spoon or ladle, through the handle of the key into a pan of cold water.

  In the fanciful shapes the lead assumes can be traced resemblances to all sorts of things, Sometimes it is a sword or gun, which indicates that a soldier will win the fair prize; again, traces of a ship may be seen: then the favored one is to be a sailor; a plough suggests a farmer; a book, a professor, or perhaps a minister; and when the lead forms only drops, it seems to mean that the gentle inquirer will not marry, or if she does, her husband will be of no profession.

  Nutshell Boats

  foretell in a general way what their owner’s future life will be. They should be prepared beforehand in this manner: Split an English walnut directly in half, remove the kernel, and clear away any of the partitions which may remain in the shell; then place a short piece of heavy cotton string in the shell and pour around it melted beeswax. Mould the wax into a cone shape around the string, as shown in Fig. 129, allowing the end to come out at the top. Fig. 130 shows what it is like when finished.

  Fig. 129

  Fig. 130

  The tapers first being lighted, several of these little craft are launched at the same time, by their respective owners, upon the sea of life, or, in other words, in a tub of water.

  When a light burns steadily until the wax is all melted, and the frail bark safely rides the waves (which are occasioned by stirring the water with a stick, or shaking the tub from side to side), a happy life is predicted, and a long one.

  When two boats come in contact, it means that their owners will meet and have mutual interests some time during their lives.

  If one boat crosses another’s path, it denotes that their owners will do the same.

  If two boats come together and continue to sail about side by side, their owners will in some way pass much of their lives together.

  When a boat clings closely to the sides of the tub, refusing to sail out into the centre, it shows that its owner will be a stay at-home.

  Touching often at the side of the tub is indicative of short voyages; and extended travel is predicted when a boat seldom touches the tub.

  It depends a good deal upon the fancy and imagination of those testing their fate how the antics of the little fleet are interpreted, and the meanings given to the movements of the boats create no end of fun.

  “Three Luggies.”*

  “In order, on the clean hearth-stane,

  The luggies three are ranged,

  And ev’ry time great care is ta’en

  To see them duly changed.”

  The three bowls, or dishes, one containing clear water, one milky, and the other nothing at all, are placed in a row on the hearth-stone or table, and the girl wishi
ng to try her fortune is blindfolded and led up to where the dishes stand. She is then told to put her left hand into one of the bowls. If she dips her fingers in the clear water, she will marry a bachelor; if in the milky water, a widower; and if into the empty bowl, it is a sure sign that she will live in single blessedness all her days.

  This ceremony must be gone through with three times, and the hand be dipped twice in the same bowl, in order to make the prediction of any value.

  Roasting Nuts

  is the charm by which the friendship of anyone may be tested. The applicant for knowledge on this point names two nuts, one for her friend and the other for herself, and then places them side by side upon the grate, or a shovel held over the fire. If they burn quietly, it is prophetic of a long and happy friendship kept up by both parties; but if in roasting they burst with a loud report and fly apart, they are decidedly uncongenial, and should not seek much intercourse. The movements of the nuts while heating are closely watched, for the tempers of the persons for whom they are named is said to be thus revealed.

  Kaling

  is a mode of telling one’s fortune not as well known, perhaps, as the foregoing methods. The ceremony is carried out in the following manner: Two girls are blindfolded and started off on the path to the kitchen-garden and cabbage-patch, where each pulls up the first stalk she finds. They then return at once to the house, where the bandages are removed and the mysterious stalks examined.