Paper Dolls
THE paper dolls were more like real people than any of the others. They were made by cutting heads from colored picture cards or from magazines and pasting them on cardboard bodies. Then double dress patterns were folded and cut to slip over the heads of the dolls, and on these patterns were pasted gowns of tissue paper in all colors and styles.
The children were very particular about dressing their dolls in good taste, for they knew that by making neat, sensible doll clothes, they would learn how to dress themselves tastefully when they grew older.
The little girl dolls wore either plain gingham dresses with fresh white aprons, or simple white gowns. Their hats were plain, without feathers or flowers, as little girls’ hats should be.
Lady dolls wore dresses that were more elaborate. The colors in these always harmonized.
Pattern for paper doll’s dress and hat. The cut across the oval cardboard hat pattern fits over the top of the doll’s head.
Handkerchief Dolls
NO collection of make-believe would be complete without the handkerchief doll.
Surely she is a simple child, just an ordinary handkerchief rolled from each side toward the center, then the top turned down, and the corners pulled out and tied around the body for arms, leaving a stuffy little head at the top, and a long skirt at the bottom.
The handkerchief doll’s little brother is made to look a trifle different from her, by having the lower corners of the handkerchief, of which he is made, pulled out for feet.
Towel dolls are larger members of the same family.
Pill-Box Dolls
ONE of Baby Bunnie’s especial favorites was the handkerchief doll made over a round pill box. With a pencil a face was marked out on the box and around this a handkerchief was folded three-cornerwise and pinned under the chin.
On dress occasions this little one wore around her neck a pretty fresh ribbon tied in a large bow with long ends. Could a more dainty child be found anywhere?
The Straw Indian
LADY HOLLYHOCK’S visitors differed greatly in many ways. It was not only in looks that they varied, but in their very natures. And strange to say, many were different from what they seemed.
Some who appeared bravest and strongest were the weakest. For instance, who would have thought, to look at the fierce appearing Straw Indian, in all the bravery of war-bonnet and blanket, that he was one of the weakest of them all?
It was not his fault, poor fellow. He really wanted to be brave and strong. He showed that in both manner and dress. But with his weak constitution, how could he ever have gone into battle with the braves of his tribe? It had always been impossible for him to stand up for himself, even, without something to lean on.
He tried to make up for his natural weakness by dressing and acting like a brave, but it was useless.
Exercise, which makes others grow strong, only made the poor Straw Indian weaker, and while he was yet young his constitution gave way and he was laid to rest by the little Wests, who loved him in spite of his weakness, beside others of his tribe.
After the manner of real Indians he was buried in a sitting position, down in the orchard, near the clothes-pin Indian village.
However frail he may have been in life, now that the friendly earth supported him, none sat straighter than the lamented Straw Indian.
The Dried Peach Indian
THE Dried Peach Indian was just as different as could be from the Straw Indian. Being both strong and brave, he went out and did great deeds, as you can see by his war-bonnet.
If he had been just an ordinary Indian brave, he would have had only two or three eagles’ feathers at the back of the band encircling his head.
But as every feather in an Indian’s war-bonnet means some great deed done, any one can see the Dried Peach Indian had led a busy life.
The Softening of the Snows
A snow man stood on the side of a hill,
Stern and silent stood he,
And though his manner showed but little grace
It showed wonderful dignity.
He carried himself as snow men do
With his chin well up in the air,
And he seemed to say without word of mouth,
“I’m better than you are, so there.”
His chest was as full as an alderman’s chest,
His head as round as a ball—
And he wore, as such men usually do,
A hat that was shiny and tall.
The snow man’s wife was much like her spouse,
As she stood there by his side.
Like him she was round, and silent, and stern,
And equally dignified.
Each treated the other with cold reserve,
For their hearts were icy and chill;
’Twould have made you shiver to look at them
As they stood there on the hill.
The kind old sun with his heart of gold,
From his place in the sky above,
Resolved to soften this icy pair
With the tender warmth of his love.
The greeting he gave was so tender and warm
It melted their hearts of snow,
And the moment they felt the warmth of love
Their pride began to go.
Then each toward the other more tender grew
And softer toward all, it is clear;
But as they nearer to each other drew,
It was plain that their end was near.
Each gave to the other a melting smile
And tears flowed from their eyes,
Then both sank into the friendly earth,
The snow people’s paradise.
Pastry Creatures
BUT of all Lady Hollyhock’s visitors, the little Wests enjoyed most those who came from the kitchen.
When baking day came, Mamma always allowed the children to have a little pastry dough to make up into the forms they liked best.
Pie crust was fashioned into all sorts of animals as well as into people. These kept their shape beautifully.
Doughnut creatures, though good to have, were likely to lose their shapeliness as they grew in the fat. They did not suffer long, however, for they were soon eaten.
The story of the Doughnut Man was always sung as one of these odd creatures disappeared.
Sweetest of all were the Gingerbread Maids. It always took a pan full of these favorites to satisfy the children. Verses were made about these, too, and often repeated.
The Doughnut Man
(Tune: Old Grimes is Dead)
The doughnut man is about to go
Where we ne’er shall see him more;
And with him will go his doughnut coat
All buttoned down before.
All buttoned down before, before,
All buttoned down before.
And with him will go his doughnut coat
All buttoned down before.
The Gingerbread Maid
The gingerbread maid is not at all fair
As any one can see,
But although she is not beautiful
She’s sweet as she can be.
There isn’t a maid in all the land
Who has lovers so many as she,
Yet she hasn’t a single accomplishment,
She’s just sweet as she can be.
Oh, Gingerbread Maid, come alive, if you can,
And teach a lesson we all should know,
Teach us how to be sweet to all that we meet,
Then we’ll have friends wherever we go.
The great round cooky moons were fine, too. Cooky dough seemed made on purpose for modeling.
The Yarn Child
THE yarn child had a hard time in the world. You would not think it to look at her, but she did.
The very first day of her life she was given to a baby who was so fond of her that he bit her, and tried to pull her to pieces; then squeezed and hugged and picked at her till it was a wonder she ever lived through it all—Lady Hollyhock never could have endured such treatment.
But the yarn child did. Her main business in life was to amuse that baby, and, no matter how she was treated, her yarn eyes were just as wide open and her yarn smile just as broad as if she had always had the best of treatment.