How to amuse yourself and others

WILD FLOWERS AND THEIR PRESERVATION 13 Transplanting Wild Flowers, 14; Cut Wild Flowers, 15; Sending Flowers by Mail, 15; Preserved Flowers, 16; Pressed Flowers and Leaves, 18;...

EASTER 33 Easter Customs in Other Lands, 33; Easter Egg Games, 36; Easter Egg Dolls, 39; Humpty Dumpty, 42; Miss Rolly-poly, 45; Mandolin, 47; Maple-wax Easter Eggs, 49; Bonbon...

SEA-SIDE COTTAGE DECORATION 91 Window Decorations, 92; Row-boat Book-shelves, 95; Crab-net Work-basket, 96; Hat-rack, 98; Marine Screen, 99; Horseshoe-crab Bag, 102; Sea-urchin...

A GIRL’S FOURTH OF JULY 105 Interior Decoration, 107; In-door Illumination, 108; Out-of-door Decoration, 109; Fireworks, 111; Parachute, 112; Thunderbolts, 112; Whirls, and Wing...

BOTANY AS APPLIED TO ART 139 The Peony Leaf, 140; A Bunch of Turnips, 142; Plant Cross-section Designs, 144; Flower Sprays, 146; Changing the Color, 146; Burs, 147; The Water-Li...

DOOR-STEP PARTY AND QUIET GAMES FOR HOT WEATHER 151 Five Minutes’ Conversation, 153; Blind Man’s Singing-school, 155; A Game of Noted Men, 155; What Will you Take to the Picnic?...

ALL-HALLOW-EVE 187 Halloween Parties, 189; Melted Lead, 190; Nutshell Boats, 192; “Three Luggies,” 193; Roasting Nuts, 193; Kaling, 194; The Magic Mirror, 194; Three Tin Cups, 1...

NATURE’S FALL DECORATIONS AND HOW TO USE THEM 201 Fresh Autumn Wild Flowers, 202; Buckeye Portière, 204; Panel of Fall Decorations, 205; Louis Quinze Screen, 206; A Panel of Fie...

CHINA PAINTING 272 List of Materials, 272; A Monochrome Painting, 278; Tinting, 278; New Method of Decorating China, 279; Tracing, 280; Mottled Grounds, 281; Snow Landscape, 281...

THANKSGIVING 302 Impromptu Burlesque Tableaux, 304; Landing of the Pilgrims, 305; First Harvest, 307; Devastation by the Indians, 308; The Revolution, 309; Slavery, 310; Rebelli...

A DECORATIVE LANGUAGE 364 The Field and the Points of Heraldry, 366; Divisions, 367; Colors, 369; How to Make a Design in Decorative Language, 371; Book-plates, 377; Floral Voca...

A FEW ITEMS ON OLD-FASHIONED NEEDLEWORK, WITH SOME NEW AND ORIGINAL PATTERNS 380 Plain Sewing, 380; Button-holes, 383; How to Patch, to Sew on a Button, and to Mend a Kid Glove,...

A HEAP OF RUBBISH AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT 403 The Mirror, 404; The Table, 406; Lantern, 408; A Music Roll, 410; Work-basket, 411; Key and Button-hook Rack and Paper Weight, 412.

HOW TO MAKE ATTRACTIVE BOOTHS AT A FAIR—A NEW KIND OF GRAB-BAG 413 The Tables, 413; Flowers for Decorations, 417; The Months, 420; The Five Senses, 421; Walls, 423; Grab-bags, 4...

WINDOW DECORATION 429 Oriental Window-shade, 430; Ribbon-curtain, 430; Drapery of Very Small Scraps, 431; Painting Window-panes, 432; Painting on Lawn, 434; To Imitate Stained G...

THIS is the children’s own day, and no assumption of dignity on the part of their elders can deter them from exercising the privileges granted to them by acknowledged custom and...

LONG before the first green leaves make their appearance, while the snows of winter still linger in the shaded nooks, and the branches are still bare, though blushing with the f...

A SOUND of girlish voices is suddenly heard in the quiet village streets, as our Walking Club, issuing from the house of one of its members, starts off on the first tramp of the...

EVERYWHERE the children are playing with eggs; eggs colored in every hue—mottled, striped, and gilded; real eggs and imitation ones; sugar, glass, and wooden eggs; for this is E...

LET us see; it was that old medical gentleman, Galen the Greek, who first wrote upon tennis, speaking of the sport as healthy exercise, was it not? Well, girls, it really does n...

IN the merry heart of youth the old song still finds an echo, and this day, with its relics of pagan customs, celebrating, in the advent of spring, nature’s renewed fertility, i...

IN the minds of most of us, midsummer is associated with dry, dusty roads, parched vegetation, the shrill cry of the locust,[A] the shriller notes of the mosquitoes, and the hum...

SIMPLY to enter a house is enough to start some people to planning how it can, might, or should be decorated. The love of beauty seems to be inherent in the feminine character,...

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 li...

It is really delightful and fascinating work. You are led on and on, always with a fancy to try something else to see how it will come out, and seldom, if ever, is it a disappoi...

TRACES of foreign ancestors are apparent occasionally in most of us, true Americans though we be. It is perhaps a spice of gypsy blood in our veins that sets our pulses throbbin...

At your very doorway the wonders of botany may be studied. Carefully inspect the tree blossoms in the early spring; the maple, willow, birch, any in fact which happen to be conv...

IN the State of Kentucky, in one of whose towns the writer’s early childhood was spent, the summers are long, and frequently very hot spells occur when even in the early morning...

Through the intertwining boughs the golden sunlight is sifted in bright little dashes on the leafy foliage below. Lying ensconced in its lacy meshes idly listening to the hum of...

NO such beautiful dolls as delight the hearts of the children of to-day, ever peeped forth from the Christmas-stockings of our grandmothers or great-grandmothers when they were...

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...

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...

THESE beautiful decorations are free to all who care to possess them. Every autumn comes to us laden with ornaments which no skilled workman can rival. The graceful golden-rod,...

OFF they go with bright, laughing eyes and glowing cheeks, each one carrying a light little basket or fancy bag slung carelessly on her arm. The girls are full of life and spiri...

HELLO! Hello! What is it you say? You can really make a telephone? What fun! How far will it work? You think it can be heard a long distance? Very good. Could we manage to const...

WOULD you like to learn to draw, to sketch from nature? Don’t you think that it would be delightful to be able to take out your pencils and paper and copy some scene you want to...

THERE is a certain charm in water-color painting—a charm distinctly its own—which lies, as Penley says, “in the beauty and truthfulness of its aerial tones.” Without this qualit...

THE difference between oil- and water-color painting lies in the fact that, although especially well adapted to the portrayal of some subjects, water-color has its limitations,...

AN eminent artist once remarked within the writer’s hearing that, should he bring into his studio the first dozen boys he happened to meet on the street, taking them as they cam...

IT is not at all difficult; anyone can succeed in it who will take the pains to follow carefully the directions given here for making plaster casts. Without the knowledge of dra...

CERTAINLY you can paint on china; have confidence, and do not hesitate because you may never have studied art, but select the china you wish to decorate and we will go to work....

AFTER the foregoing chapters on drawing and painting, it is surely our duty to provide the means of framing the various pictures which we hope will be the result of their teachi...

NOT to Pagan ancestors in far-away countries, but to our own Pilgrim Fathers do we trace the origin of Thanksgiving Day—as purely American as our Independence Day. Instituted by...

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...

A WINTER passed in-doors would be irksome indeed for a healthy, hearty girl, and even the most delicate are the better for an outing now and then. The keen northwest wind, the b...

MY earliest recollection of New Year’s day is of being awakened at midnight by the clangor of the fire bells, and the ringing of the church bells, as they swung and rocked in th...

EVERYONE _must_ exercise to keep healthy and strong, for life is motion and activity. It is natural to be well and happy, and to keep so we must exercise all our muscles, as wel...

WHEN in olden times the warriors went around the country dressed in suits of clothes made by a blacksmith instead of a tailor, their hats were manufactured at the forge also, an...

“COME around early this afternoon and bring your fancy-work; we will have a nice, cosey time; all the girls will be there, and we can read that last new book.” Such is the famil...

THE fashion of collecting pictured advertising cards, so much in vogue among the children a few years ago, seems to have run its course, and dying out, it has left on the young...

IN almost every house there is an attic, and in almost every attic may be found a room where trunks are stored, where broken toys and disabled furniture are put out of sight, an...

DECIDING to have our fair unlike those which have preceded it, we must do away with monotony and introduce not only variety, but originality as well. New ideas, something differ...

NOW, girls, we must have practicable ideas in regard to our decorations; they should consist of something which we _know_ will be easy to make and at the same time look well; th...

ONLY the other day we were appealed to by a friend for suggestions on how to furnish a room prettily, and at the same time inexpensively, and we know that there are many girls l...

THE spirit of hospitality and comfort presides over the ruddy blaze of an open fire; yet, as we gather cosily around and bask in the delightful warmth and radiance, its cheerful...

WE have noticed that in none of the books we have seen, which were written especially for the amusement and entertainment of girls, has there been any directions or recipes for...

Did it never occur to any of you to wonder who Saint Valentine was, and why we should commemorate his day by sending cards or letters containing all sorts of nonsense, like true...