The Green-Pea House
The greenies need not always live in tents. Like other people, they can have houses as well.
It is best to use the wooden toothpicks in making the house. They are stronger than broom-straws and all the same length. Begin by putting the front of the house together. Make the peak first. Choose a large pea, push the end of a toothpick into it, then not far from that push in the end of another toothpick slantingly so that the lower ends will be separated as you see them in [Fig. 168]. On each of these lower ends stick a pea like [Fig. 169]. That is the peak for the roof. Now make a long upright for each side by using a pea to join two sticks ([Fig. 170]), and push the upper end of each upright into the peas at the lower ends of the peak ([Fig. 171]).
| Fig.168 - Begin the peak in this way. | Fig.169 - Stick a pea on the lower ends of each toothpick to finish the peak. |
Shorten two toothpicks by breaking half an inch off each of them, then join them as you did the uprights by pushing one end of each stick into a large pea ([Fig. 172]). This is the front joist or crosspiece of the upper floor of the house, and you must fit it in between the two uprights of the front by pushing the ends of the crosspiece into the peas at the middle of the uprights ([Fig. 173]).
| Fig.171 - Add the uprights to the peak. | Fig.170 - The long upright. Fig.172 - This is the front joist. |
| Fig.173 - Fit the joist in between the two uprights. | Fig.174 - The back of the house. |
The back of the house is made in the same way with a third upright added which runs down through the middle from the point of the peak to the bottom of the house. This third upright is made by shortening two toothpicks and joining them with a pea, then fitting them in between the pea at the top of the peak and the pea at the middle of the crosspiece. A whole toothpick with the upper end pushed into the lower part of the pea at the middle of the crosspiece finishes the long upright ([Fig. 174]).
Fig.176 - The Greenies' little house.
When the front and back are made all there is to do to finish the frame of the house is to put in the crosspieces to hold them together. [Fig. 175] shows all these crosspieces or joists. One crosspiece between the two peas at the top of the front and back peaks for the ridge-pole (K, [Fig. 175]), one on each side between the peas at the bottom of the peaks (L and M), one at each side between the peas at the ends of the front and back crosspieces (N, O), and one between the two peas at the middle of the front and back crosspieces (P).
| Fig.175 - This is the frame of the house. | Fig.177 - The first bar of the fence. Fig.178 - Push in two uprights. |
Now you have the frame of a two-storied house or a house with only an upper story, but it needs a roof and a floor. Split some of your pea-pods in half and lay one at a time across the ridge-pole at the top and the crosspiece at the bottom of the peak. Put half of a pod on one side of the peak, half a pod on the other side of the peak, then another half pod on the first side, and the next one on the second side, and so on until the space is covered and the house is roofed in. The stem ends of the pods must be up. The stems lock together and hold the roof in place.
Make the loosely laid floor also of the split pea-pods, putting them across from front to back.
Your little house ([Fig. 176]) now looks like those which strange people in far-away, hot countries build for themselves. They have no lower story or what we call a first floor, but are lifted on posts far above the sometimes very damp ground, and out of reach of any wild animals that may be prowling around.