The American Girl's Handy Book

by Lina Beard

  Silhouette of the Headless Turkey.

  The Game of the Headless Turkey.

  A large silhouette, representing a headless turkey, is cut from black, or dark colored paper-muslin, and fastened upon a sheet stretched tightly across a door-way. To each member of the party is given a pin and a muslin head, which, if rightly placed, will fit the turkey. Then, one at a time, the players are blind-folded and placed at the end of the room opposite the sheet. After turning them around three times one way, then three times the other, they are started off to search for the turkey, that they may pin the head where they suppose it belongs. When the person going blindly about the room comes in contact with anything, no matter what, be it chair, table, wall, door, or another player, she must pin the turkey-head to the object touched. To the person who comes nearest to placing the head in its true place, a prize of a gilded wish-bone, tied to a card with a ribbon, is given. And she who makes the least successful effort is presented with a turkey-feather, which she must stick in her hair and wear for the remainder of the evening.

  A Suggestion.

  Amid all these bright and happy thoughts of feasting and merrymaking, comes an idea, so gently, yet persistently, forcing itself upon my notice, that it finally assumes the form of a definite plan which I will put to you in the form of a suggestion.

  At this time, when, thinking over the numerous blessings, that most of you find to be thankful for, how would it do, girls, to form a society among yourselves, to be called the Thanksgiving Society, whose object will be to provide a real Thanksgiving for other and less fortunate girls, by giving them something to be thankful for before next year’s Thanksgiving shall arrive?

  There need be no formality about the society. The only necessary officer will be a secretary, to keep a record of what is done by the society, individually and collectively; which report the secretary will read at the grand annual meeting on Thanksgiving Day.

  Many girls, young, like yourselves, to whom it is just as natural to be glad and happy, have little to make them so, and to bring some brightness into their lives would indeed be worth forming a society for.

  There are various ways in which kindness may be done these girls, and so many avenues will open to those seeking to benefit them, that it is needless to attempt any instruction as to what work may be performed by the society; if this suggestion is adopted, I know it will be safe to leave it to the quick sympathy and warm hearts of the girls to do the right thing at the right moment. What think you, girls, would it not be worth while to make of this last Thursday of November a Thanksgiving for others as well as for yourselves? and would not your own pleasures be doubly enhanced when sweetened with the thought of having done what you could to make someone else happy?

  * Of course we all know that our Pilgrim fathers did not have the daily papers, but this fact makes it the more absurd.

  CHAPTER XXIX.

  CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES AND HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS GIFTS.

  AMONG all the days we celebrate Christmas stands first and foremost in our thoughts, the holiday of holidays. Coming in the season of frost and snow it brings a cheering warmth to our hearts that defies the icy atmosphere, and the feeling of kindliness and good will toward everyone, which it awakens, seems in response to the words the angels sang on our first Christmas, “On earth peace, good will toward men.”

  Christmas is not merely a day set apart for feasting, giving and receiving presents, and for merrymaking. The day on which we celebrate the birth of our Lord is a time of rejoicing for rich and poor alike, and Christmas is Christmas still, although we may receive and can offer no presents and our feast is humble indeed.

  Feeling this, let us keep the Christmas festival as it should be kept, right happily and merrily. Let us decorate our homes to the best of our ability in honor of the day, and supply all deficiencies with happy hearts and smiling faces.

  A friend of the writer’s once remarked, as she busied herself with some Christmas-cards she was preparing to send to the hospitals, “I always like to tie a sprig of evergreen on each card; it looks and smells so Christmasy.” And so it does. Even a few pieces of evergreen, tacked over doorways or branching out from behind picture-frames, give a room a festive, Christmas-like appearance that nothing else can, and as evergreens are so plentiful here in America there are few houses that need be without their Christmas decorations. Holly, too, with its brilliant red berries peeping cheerily forth from their shelter of prickly leaves, adds brightness to the other adornments, and when the white-berried mistletoe can also be obtained all the time-honored materials for the Christmas decorations are supplied.

  Though we are Americans, our ancestors came from many nations, and we have therefore a right and claim to any custom we may admire in other countries. We may take our Christmas celebrations from any people who observe the day and combining many, evolve a celebration which in its variety will be truly American.

  From Germany we have already taken our Christmas-tree; from Belgium our Christmas-stocking; Santa Claus hails from Holland, and old England sends us the cheery greeting, Merry Christmas!

  The custom the French children have of ranging their shoes on the hearth-stone on Christmas-Eve for the Christ-child to fill with toys or sweetmeats, is too much like our own Christmas stocking to offer any novelty. The Presepio, or Holy Manger, of the Roman Catholic countries, which represents the Holy Family at Bethlehem, with small wooden or wax figures for the characters, is more suitable for the church celebration, but in Sweden and Denmark they have a peculiar method of delivering their Christmas-presents which we might adopt to our advantage, for it would be great fun to present some of our gifts in their novel manner.

  Instead of describing this custom we will tell you just how to carry it out and will call it the

  Julklapp,

  which in Denmark and Sweden means Christmas-box or gift.

  Before Christmas-Day arrives all the presents intended for the Julklapp delivery must be prepared by enclosing them in a great many wrappings of various kinds, none of which should in any way suggest their contents.

  If one of the presents is a pretty trinket, wrap it up in a fringed tissue paper, such as is used for motto candy or sugar-kisses; place it in a small box, and tie the box with narrow ribbon; then do it up in common, rough brown paper, and wrap the package with strips of cloth until it is round like a ball; cover the ball with a thin layer of dough, and brown in the oven. Pin it up in a napkin, wrap in white wrapping paper and tie with a pink string.

  The more incongruous the coverings, the more suitable they are for the Julklapp. You may enclose others gifts in bundles of hay, rolls of cotton or wool, and use your own pleasure in choosing the inner wrappings. It will be the wisest plan to always use something soft for the outside covering, the reason of which you will understand when the manner of delivery is explained. Each package must be labelled with the name of the person for whom it is intended, and if an appropriate verse, epigram, or proverb be added it will be the cause of fresh mirth and laughter.

  The Julklapp delivery may, and probably will commence very early Christmas morning, for the little folks, always early risers on this day, will no doubt be up betimes, and ready for the business of the day. The first intimation the less enterprising members of the family will have that Christmas has dawned, will be a loud bang at the chamber door, followed by a thump of something falling on the bed or the sleeper’s chest. Then springing up and opening startled eyes, from which all sleep has been thus rudely banished, one will probably discover a large bundle of something on the bed or lying on the floor close beside it. It will be useless to rush to the door to find from whom or where this thing has come, for although a suppressed giggle may be heard outside the door just after feeling the thump, nothing will be met upon opening it, but dead silence, and nothing seen but the empty hall.

  At any time during the day or evening the Julklapps may arrive and when all look toward the door, as a loud rap is heard, whizz! something comes through the windo
w and lands in the middle of the room. A sharp tap at the window is followed by the opening and closing of a door, and a bundle of straw, wool, paper, or cloth, as the case may be, lands in someone’s lap. In short the Julklapps may come from any and every direction, and when one is least expecting them, and so the surprises and excitement are made to last until, weary with the fun and gayety of the day, the tired merrymakers seek their beds on Christmas-night.

  If it has not been made plain enough who, or what causes the mysterious arrivals of the Julklapps we will say that the whole household join in the conspiracy, and the packages come from the hands of each of its members. The

  Polish Custom

  of searching for Christmas gifts, which have previously been hidden in all manner of places in the house, is one the children will delight in, and one that, introduced at a Christmas party, will provoke no end of merriment and fun.

  The Bran Pie

  is an English dish, but is quite as well suited to the American taste. It is an excellent means of distributing trifling gifts and may be new to some of you.

  Use a large, deep brown dish for the pie. Put in it a gift for everyone who will be at the Christmas dinner, and cover them over thickly with bran, ornament the top by sticking a sprig of holly in the centre. After dinner have the bran pie put on the table with a spoon and plates beside it, and invite everyone to help her or himself, each spoonful bringing out whatever it touches. Comical little articles may be put in the pie, and the frequent inappropriateness of the gift to the receiver of it, helps to create laughter.

  The Bran Pie should be the secret of not more than two persons, for, like all things pertaining to Christmas gifts, the greater the surprise, the more pleasure there will be in it.

  The Blind Man’s Stocking

  may also be used for small gifts, or it may hold only candy and bonbons. Make the stocking of white or colored tissue-paper like the pattern given in Fig. 214.

  Fig. 214.—Paper Stocking.

  First cut out one piece like the pattern, making the foot thirteen inches long and six inches from the sole to the top of the instep, and the leg of the stocking sixteen inches from the heel to the top; then cut another, one inch larger all around than the first. Place the two together fold the edge of the larger over the smaller piece and paste it down all around except at the top (Fig. 214). Fill the stocking with small gifts or sweetmeats, tie a string around the top to keep it fast, and suspend it from the centre of a doorway. Blindfold each player in turn, put a long, light stick in her hand, a bamboo cane will do, and lead her up within reach of the stocking and tell her to strike it. When anyone succeeds in striking the stocking and a hole is torn in it, the gifts or candy will scatter all over the floor to be scrambled for by all the players. Each player should be allowed three trials at striking the stocking.

  Young children are always delighted with this Christmas custom, and the older ones by no means refuse to join in the sport.

  Home-made Christmas Gifts.

  That the children may do their share toward filling the Christmas stockings, adding to the fruit of the Christmas tree, helping with the Julklapps, contributing to the Bran Pie or Blind Man’s Stocking, we give these hints on home-made Christmas gifts, all of which are inexpensive and easily constructed.

  Fig. 215.—Chamois for Eye-glasses.

  Chamois for Eye-glasses.

  Cut out two circular pieces of chamois-skin about the size of a silver half-dollar, bind the edges with narrow ribbon, and fasten the two pieces together with a bow of the same. Print with a lead pencil on one piece of the chamois-skin, “I Make all Things Clear,” and go over the lettering with a pen and India ink, or you may paint the letters in colors to match the ribbon. Fig. 215 shows how it should look when finished.

  Glove Pen-wiper.

  Cut four pieces from thin, soft chamois-skin, like the outline of Fig. 216. Stitch one with silk on the sewing-machine, according to the dotted lines. Cut two slits at the wrist through all the pieces as shown in Fig. 216, and join them together by a narrow ribbon passed through the openings, and tied in a pretty bow, Fig. 217.

  Fig. 216.—Pattern of Pen-wiper.

  Fig. 217.—Pen-wiper.

  Sachet.

  Fig. 218.—Sachet.

  Open out an envelope, and cover it with white or cream-colored silk, refold carefully, joining the edges with stiff mucilage, using as little as possible. In place of a letter enclose a layer of cotton sprinkled with sachet-powder, fasten the envelope with sealing-wax as in an ordinary letter. Address it with pen and ink, to the one for whom it is intended. Print on it, like a stamp, “Christmas, December 25,” and fasten a cancelled stamp, taken from an old letter, on one corner. The finished sachet is shown in Fig. 218.

  Fig. 219.—Book-mark.

  A Book-mark.

  Cut out the corner of a full-sized, linen-lined envelope, making the piece four inches long, and one and a half inches wide. Write on one side with pen and ink, or paint the lettering in color, “A Fresh Mind Keeps the Body Fresh.” The book-mark will fit over the book-leaf like a cap, and is excellent for keeping the place. Fig. 219.

  A Scrap-bag.

  Fig. 220.—Pattern of Scrap-bag.

  Scrap-bags have been fashioned in many shapes and sizes, and of all sorts of material, still it remains to be shown in what manner Christmas cards may add in decoration and beauty to these useful articles. From your collection choose four cards of the same size, then on a piece of bright silk or cloth sew the cards at equal distances apart, as in Fig. 220, stitching them around the edges on the sewing-machine. At the dotted line fold over the top of the bag as if for a hem, making the narrow fold lap just cover the upper edge of the card; stitch this down to form a binding.

  Fig. 221.—Scrap-bag.

  After joining the bag at the dotted lines on the sides, gather the bottom up tight and fasten to it a good-sized tassel; then sew on each side a heavy cord with tassels placed where the cord joins the bag, as seen in Fig. 221. The cord and tassels of the example were made of scarlet worsted.

  A Walnut-shell Turtle.

  Fig. 222.—Pattern of Turtle.

  Fig. 223.—Walnut-shell Turtle.

  For an ornament to be used on a pen-wiper, or simply as a pretty toy, the little turtle is appropriate. It is made of half an English walnut, which forms the turtle’s back or shell, glued on a piece of card-board cut after the diagram given in Fig. 222. Paint the card-board as nearly as possible the color of the shell, and the eyes black. When perfectly dry glue the shell securely to the card-board, bend down and out the feet a little, in order to make the turtle stand; bend the head up, and the tail down, as in Fig. 223.

  Here are some home-made toys which the children can make to give to one another.

  Miss Nancy.

  Fig. 224. Manner of Making

  Fig. 225. Miss Nancy.

  Fig. 226.—Miss Nancy.

  Miss Nancy (Fig. 226) is fashioned from a piece of pith taken out of a dried cornstalk. Cut away the stalk until the pith is reached; then take a piece of the pith, about six inches long and whittle out one end to resemble a head as in Fig. 224, draw a face on the head with pen and ink, and glue half of a lead bullet on the lower end of the pith (Fig. 225). Make Miss Nancy’s costume of a skirt, composed of some bright-colored Japanese paper, a shawl made of a piece of soft ribbon or silk, and a cap of white swiss. The peculiarity of the little lady is that she insists upon always standing upright, no matter in what position she is placed.

  A Soft Ball.

  A very pretty and safe return ball for the little ones to play with may be made of paper (Fig. 227), which, being soft, precludes all danger of “thumps and bumps.”

  Take a piece of newspaper, and, using both hands, roll it and fold it into something of the required shape. Then place it in the centre of a square piece of bright-colored tissue paper; take the four corners of the tissue-paper up to the centre of the top of the ball, fold them over, also fold and smooth down what fulness there may be; n
ext place a small round piece of gold, silver, or some contrasting colored paper on the top of the ball. Secure all by winding a string around the ball, making six or eight divisions; tie a piece of elastic to the string where it crosses on the top of the ball, then paste over this a small artificial flower. In the other end of the elastic, make a loop to fit over the finger, or tie on it a small brass ring.

  Fig. 227.—Paper Ball.

  If a tiny sleigh-bell be placed in the centre when the ball is being made, it will give a cheerful little tinkling noise whenever the ball is thrown.

  A Lively Rooster.

  To make the rooster (Fig. 228), cut out of stiff cardboard Figs. 229, 230, 231, and 232. Tie on Figs. 229 and 230 each a piece of string seven and one-half inches long. Then attach the head and tail to the body by running a string through holes at A in Fig. 230 and A in Fig. 231, and another through B in Fig. 229 and B in Fig. 231. Bring the head and tail up close to the body and fasten the ends of the strings down securely with court-plaster or pieces of paper pasted over them. Bend Fig. 231 at dotted line C; then on the space marked E, paste the portion of Fig. 232 marked E after bending it at dotted line O. Again bend Fig. 232 in the same direction at dotted line P, and paste it across the space marked P, on Fig. 231. When all is fastened together, and the paste perfectly dry, paint the rooster to look as life-like as possible. Tie the strings of Figs. 229 and 230 together four inches from where they are fastened on, then again about three inches lower down, and attach a weight to the ends. A common wooden top, with a tack in the head (Fig. 233), will answer the purpose nicely. To bring the rooster to life, place him on the mantel-piece, with a book serving as a weight on the projection of Fig. 232, swing the top and he will move his head and tail in the most amusing manner.