“What are you doing?” asked Polly, helplessly.
“Well, if you must know,” said Jess, “I’m making my Hallowe’en costume. Only these mean old feathers aren’t much good,” she added fretfully. “They won’t stay stuck.”
She went on to explain that she had cut a chicken out of newspapers—“both sides and sewed it in the middle”—and had spread the paste over this. The plan was to roll in the feathers with this on and in this way the pattern would be covered with feathers which would dry on. Then, with the addition of the turkey wings, Jess would be ready for the party.
“I have a pair of bright yellow stockings I never wore, and I am going to paint my shoes yellow, too,” she announced, in a burst of confidence.
Polly wanted to laugh, but she was afraid of hurting Jess’s feelings.
“It looks pretty messy just now,” said Polly. “But perhaps when it dries it will be all right. You’re taking a lot of trouble, aren’t you, Jess?”
“Well, I like things to be right,” admitted Jess. “I think it will be fun to have animals at the party. Margy, will you stick a handful of feathers on that bare place? Here, put some more paste on first.”
Margy didn’t want to put her hands in the feathers, so Polly had to come to the rescue. Then she helped Jess take the paper off, which was difficult, for it was wet and heavy with paste and easily torn.
“You mustn’t wear it again till the night of the party,” Polly cautioned the designer. “You’ll wear it out, if you’re not careful.”
“I won’t touch it till Hallowe’en,” promised Jess. “But now you’ve seen mine, I think you ought to tell me what you’re going to wear,” she declared.