by Lina Beard
Wash your shells in clean, fresh water; procure a small quantity of muriatic acid and have in readiness two-thirds as much water as acid. Place the shells in a basin, pour the water upon them, then the acid; let them remain a few minutes, then take them out and wash again in clear water. Rub each shell with a soft woollen cloth. A fine enamelled surface can be given by rubbing them with a little oil and finely powdered pumice-stone, and then with a chamois-skin.
To bleach fresh-water shells to a snowy whiteness, wash them perfectly clean and then put them in a jar containing a solution of chloride of lime, place the vessel in the sun, and, when the shells are sufficiently bleached, remove and wash them in clear water. Polish them in the manner before described.
CHAPTER IX.
A GIRL’S FOURTH OF JULY.
DECORATIONS are seen here, there, and everywhere. How beautifully the flags and streamers look as they wave in the breeze. All the houses and streets are gay with bunting. We listen with a thrill of patriotic excitement to the national airs played by bands of music as the different parades pass our doors.
The spirit of independence fills the very air we breathe. Whiz! zip! bang! go the firearms. The noise is enchanting and the smell of powder delightful.
This is our grand national holiday, the glorious Fourth, when all the United States grows enthusiastic, and in various appropriate ways manifests its patriotism.
The celebration, commencing in the early morn and lasting until late in the evening, gives ample time for fireworks, games, and illuminations. And the girls can take active part in, and enjoy these martial festivities, help to decorate the house and grounds, and in the evening do their part toward the illumination. Then there are the beautiful daylight fireworks to be sent off, and games to be played; all adding to the enjoyment and making up their celebration of Independence Day.
The Fourth of July Party.
Although
Interior Decoration
for the Fourth of July has not been considered as necessary as the decoration for the outside of the house, still it is appropriate and used to some extent, especially when the house is thrown open to guests. Then, with a little thought and care the home may be decked and adorned in the most attractive manner.
If you chance to be the happy possessor of the portrait of some revolutionary ancestor, let this form the centre of your decorations.
Bring forward any relics of the colonial times and make them hold a prominent place, for all such things are historical and of great interest, though of course they are not essential. Strips of bunting, cheese-cloth, or tissue-paper, in red and white and blue are necessary, and must do their part in adding to the gayety of the scene. These can be arranged in festoons, and made into wreaths, stars etc., to be used as ornaments on the wall.
There is nothing, perhaps, more appropriate for decoration than flags, though it requires some ingenuity to decorate with our American flag on account of the blue being in one corner. However we will try. Take two flags without staffs and baste them together as in Fig. 49, bringing the blues side by side; pleat up the top of each to the centre and you will have Fig. 50 with the stripes at the bottom running from end to end.
Now take two more flags reversed, the stripes being at the top the stars at the base, and pleat them in the centre, it gives the same idea in another form. For this style of adornment use the flags which may be had at any dry-goods store; they come by the bolt, cost but a few cents each, and are much softer and fold better than the more expensive glazed ones. Other modes of draping the stars-and-stripes will suggest themselves: place the “colors” in different positions until some good design is found, and you will enjoy it all the more for having made the combination yourself.
Fig. 49
Fig. 50
Tiny flags fastened to the chandeliers, and pinned in groups on the curtains give to the room quite a holiday appearance. This is for the daylight. In the evening we will have
In-door Illumination,
which can be made very brilliant by simply using a number of lighted candles.
Should you desire to have it more elaborate, the words Liberty and Independence can be printed on the windows by cutting the letters forming the words from thick paper and gumming them to the window-panes, so when the room is lighted they will show plainly from the outside.
You may also make of tissue-paper a Liberty-bell, Goddess of Liberty, American Eagle, and flags. Gum these on the edges and fasten them to the windows; place a bright light behind them and the tints of the paper will shine out in all their brilliancy. The Goddess of Liberty’s face, the feathers on the eagle, and the lettering on the bell must all be drawn with a paint-brush and ink or black paint.
In making any or all of these, it will be of great assistance if you secure a picture of the object to copy from.
Having provided for the inside of the house it now behooves us to turn our attention to
Out-of-door Decoration
consisting principally of flags raised on poles, hung from windows, and disposed in numerous and various ways.
The many devices representative of our country may be used with good effect. Thus, a large United States shield can be made of colored paper or inexpensive cloth tacked on a piece of card-board, cut in the desired shape, and the shield suspended from the window flat against the house, as a picture is hung on the wall. Other emblems can be manufactured in the same way.
Small trees or tall bushes covered all over from top to bottom with flags and streamers look beautiful, and all the gayer, when the wind blows, causing them to wave and flutter.
Fasten the flags and streamers on the tree with string.
Some girls think that the
Illumination in the Open Air.
is best of all, for then they can give their fancy free play, and create all sorts of odd and novel designs.
The bright-colored Chinese lanterns are very decorative. Suppose we begin with these. Fasten securely here and there, on the lawn, large paper Japanese umbrellas in upright positions. This is accomplished by binding the handles of the umbrellas securely to poles which have been sharpened at one end, and planting the pointed end of the poles firmly in the ground.
Fig. 51
Fig. 52
From every other rib of the umbrella suspend a lighted Chinese lantern by a wire long enough to prevent any danger of setting the little canopy on fire. The effect produced is both novel and pretty.
A popular method of arranging the lanterns is stringing them on wires, stretched from house to house, or from tree to tree, so forming, as it were, a fringe of lights.
Again, they may be placed at intervals on the ground, fastened to trees or hung on the piazza, some in groups of twos or threes, others singly, these being of many odd shapes and sizes. Piazzas are very good sites for the display of colored umbrellas, which may hang, inverted, from the ceiling, with a tiny lighted Chinese lantern suspended from each rib. Let me repeat, be careful not to have the wires so short that the light is in dangerous proximity to the umbrella.
Another pleasing illumination is to make a large flag of colored-paper with strong pieces of tape pasted along both top and bottom, the ends of the tape extending beyond the flag. Tie the tape to two trees, poles, or pillars of the porch, and place a light back of the flag, to bring out the colors clearly and distinctly.
Illuminated tents are made by placing poles in the fashion of Fig. 51, and using large flags, low-priced colored cloth or strong paper as a covering, Fig. 52. The corners are tied down to pegs in the ground, and, when two or three candles are set in the tent, the effect is very pleasing.
All young people delight in the noise and excitement of
Fireworks,
and here are some pyrotechnics which any girl can easily make. They are daylight fireworks, and most of them may be sent off from a balcony or window, and all with no danger of fire or burns.
One of the simplest to try is the
Parachute.
Cut a piece of t
issue-paper five inches square, twist each corner and tie with a piece of thread eight inches long, Fig. 53; wrap a small pebble in a piece of paper and tie the four pieces of thread securely to the pebble, Fig. 54. This makes a light airy little parachute, which, when sent out from the window, will, with a favorable wind, sail up and off over the house-tops. Make a number of parachutes in different colors and send them off one after another in succession. Next we will have what we call
Fig. 53
Fig. 54
Parachutes.
Thunderbolts
fashioned of bright-colored tissue-paper. Cut the paper in pieces four inches wide and eight inches long. Then cut each piece into strips reaching about one-third of the length of the piece of paper (Fig. 55), pinch the uncut end of the paper together and twist it tightly so that it will not become undone (Fig. 56). Open the window and throw these out a few at a time. They will turn heavy end down and dart off with the fringed end fluttering. Now and then they will waver a moment in one spot, and then dart off in another direction; so they go whirling, zigzagging and bowing as if they were alive.
Fig. 55
Fig. 56
Thunderbolts.
Something different from these are the comical little
Whirls,
made by cutting circular pieces of writing- or common wrapping-paper into simple spiral forms (Fig. 57). The centre of the spirals are weighted by small pieces of wood, or other not too heavy substance gummed on the paper.
Fig. 57
Fig. 58
whiris.
When a number of these are freed in mid-air the weight will draw the spirals out, and present a curious sight, as with serpentine motion they all come wriggling and twisting toward the ground (Fig. 58). In these paper fire-works, we know of nothing prettier than the
Winged Fancies,
consisting of birds and butterflies.
The birds may be cut out of wrapping-paper, measuring seven and a half inches long and ten inches from tip to tip of the wings (Fig 59), a burnt match stuck in and out of the neck, will give the bird sufficient weight. When tossed from a height these paper swallows fly and skim through the air in the most delightful birdlike fashion.
Both birds and butterflies are folded through the centre lengthwise, then unfolded and straightened out, this helps to give them form and they fly better.
The patterns here given are possibly not as graceful in shape as could be made, but the writer drew the patterns from the best fliers among an experimental lot of winged fancies, having found them better than others that could boast of more beauty.
Fig. 59
The Bird.
Butterflies are made of bright colored tissue-paper cut from the pattern (Fig 60), and have short pieces of broom-straws as weights. These also should be lightly thrown from a height, when they will flutter and fly downward, sometimes settling on a tree or bush as if seeking the sweets of flowers, and appearing very bright and pretty as they float hither and thither on the air.
Fig. 60
The Butterfly.
A ring of the ever-twirling
Pin-wheels
is gay and attractive, just the thing for the lawn on the Fourth of July. To manufacture one, select a nice firm barrel-hoop, and nail it securely on one end of a clothes-pole or broom-stick (Fig. 61), sharpen the other end of the pole to a point; if the hoop seems inclined to split when nailing, first bore holes with a gimlet or burn them with a red-hot nail or wire for the nails to pass through.
Fig. 61
Pin-wheel.
Cover the barrel-hoop several inches deep with straw, lay the straw on and tie it down with string.
Prepare a number of pin-wheels by cutting squares of red and white and blue paper, fold them twice diagonally through the centre and cut the folds up within a short distance of the middle. Turn over every other point to meet the centre, pierce the four points and the centre with a pin, then fasten the pin firmly to the end of a stick. The pin must be left long enough to allow the paper to turn easily.
Stick the straw wreath full of pin-wheels, then plant the pole securely in the ground and you will have a ring of Fourth of July pin-wheels which will look pretty all day long.
Be sure to place the wreath facing the breeze, so the pin-wheels may be kept in constant motion. Reserve the
Bombs
until the last. They are simple in construction, but quite startling when they go off.
Fasten together two very stiff flat pieces of steel (Fig. 62), those sold for the back of dress-skirts work well, and use a strong string many yards long to tie them with. Bring up the four ends of the steels and tie them with a slip knot (Fig. 63), in order that it may easily fly open. Place the cage thus formed in the centre of a square piece of tissue-paper.
Now cut strips of different colored tissue-paper, four inches long, and twist each piece at one end.
Put these in the centre of the cage and bring up the four corners of the square of paper, allowing the string to come out of the top. Twist the corners together and close up the small openings by folding over the edges of the paper. This makes a bomb somewhat resembling a common torpedo enlarged to many times its original size.
Fig. 62
Fig. 63
Pass the string through a screw-eye which has been screwed in the end of a flag-pole or broomstick, and place the pole out of the window. Then drop the end of the string down to the lawn below. Fasten one end of the pole in the window by binding it firmly to a strong, heavy chair, or secure it in any other way most convenient so there will not be the slightest danger of its falling.
Everything being ready, descend to the lawn, and pull the string so the bomb will rise slowly up to the pole.
When it is within a short distance of the screw-eye, give the twine a sudden sharp jerk which will cause the bomb to come in contact with the pole with sufficient force to untie the slipknot, the elastic-metal ribs will fly back causing the bomb to burst and fill the air with bright shreds, flying, gliding, and darting everywhere in the most eccentric manner, making the air brilliant with floating colors.
Let your Fourth of July
Lawn Party
partake of the patriotic traditions, and as far as possible help to celebrate our Nation’s birthday in an appropriate manner.
Paper fire-works may form part of the entertainment, it being optional with the hostess whether they come before or after the games, or are interspersed between them.
The party opens with the signing of the
Declaration of Independence.
To each guest is given a brown-paper bag, and when all have assembled on the lawn, the hostess steps forward facing the company, and asks all to kindly keep quiet and listen for a few moments while she reads or repeats their Declaration of Independence, she then reads:
We girls are, and of right should be, free and independent of all boys’ sports, having resources and amusements befitting the celebration of the Fourth of July, independent of all those belonging exclusively to boys.
Then follows the signing of the same, by each in turn writing her name beneath the declaration. This accomplished, the hostess gives the signal and each guest fills her bag with air, by holding it close to her mouth, gathering it tightly around, and blowing into it, then grasping it firmly in the right hand, being careful not to let any air escape.
At another signal, all simultaneously bring their hands forcibly and quickly together, striking the paper bags with the left hand, which bursts the bags and causes a report almost equal to that of pistols.
All the bags exploding at one time, gives a salute worthy of the name and creates much merriment.
The salute may be varied by bursting the bags in quick succession, so that it will sound something like a volley of musketry.
This introduction is followed by games to be played on the lawn.
For the new game of
Toss,
make nine disks of card-board, painted or covered with paper, red and white and blu
e, three of each color.
Place in the centre of the lawn a fancy waste-basket, and let each player in turn stand at a distance of six feet from the basket. It is better to have the station marked by a stone or stick, at the place designated.
If played by sides, two stations, one on either side of the basket will be necessary.
The object of the game is to throw the disks into the basket, and they are valued according to color; red counts one, white two, and blue three.
If played by sides, each side should play five rounds, ninety being the highest possible tally for any one player.
This is an easy and pleasant game, and may be played with or without sides. The hostess keeps account, and at the end of the game gives a knot of red, white, and blue ribbons as a prize to the one having the highest score.
We hardly recognize our old friends in the new and gigantic
Fourth of July Jackstraws.
These are all in holiday attire, and so much larger than any we have seen that they are even more attractive, and afford greater amusement than those which we have hitherto enjoyed.
It does not take long to make them. Cover a number of light slender sticks, three or four feet long, with paper or cloth, some red, some white, and others blue. The colors count respectively, red one, white two, and blue three. Provide another longer stick with a hook in one end to be used in taking the jack-straws from the pile.
