7. Pear. Two girls kept hold of hands all the evening.
8. Sole (the fish). A girl wearing a card on which was pasted the picture of a shoe-sole.
9. Whitebait. A boy dressed in white (not duck, however). He carried a short bamboo fish-pole. The hook end of the line was fastened about his neck.
10. Chinaware. A girl in Chinese clothes.
As soon as a guest arrived he was given a numbered sheet and a pencil, and was told to guess—without exchanging hints with his neighbors—what everybody else was supposed to be. The reward for the longest list was an angel-cake, and for the shortest a stick of barber-pole candy, tied with bright green ribbon. Really, there were two dinner-parties that evening, for while the lists were being counted Mrs. Arned served lemonade and crackers.
Jack-Knife and Scissors Party.
The boys all bring their jack-knives, of course, and the girls their scissors. Other tools and materials, provided by the committee, are a pile of white pine boards knocked from old boxes; a bundle of tissue-paper and crape paper; some cardboard; a pot of glue; some wire, pins, tacks, small nails, and hammers. Rewards are offered to the boy and the girl who at the end of two hours have made the most useful or ingenious articles.
There is a wide range. Wooden spoons, plates, toothpicks, paper-cutters, dolls, toy boats and sleds, statuettes (!), window-sash supporters, and tabourettes; tissue-paper lanterns, mats, valentines, bouquets, and dresses for some of the wooden dolls; these form only a partial list of the result of one such contest. Ingenious Juniors will delight in inventing new and astonishing effects in both paper and wood. “The American Boy’s Handy Book” and “The American Girl’s Handy Book” would be suitable rewards. After their arduous toil the workers will appreciate a lunch of sandwiches, fruit, and lemonade. The articles made may be either given to some charitable institution or saved for a Christmas tree or fair given by the Juniors. The latter plan will generally prove more desirable, as only a few of the articles would be as suitable for inmates of any one institution as they would be for those of private homes.
Reception at Curlycue Castle.
Invite the Juniors to a reception at Curlycue Castle, giving date, hour, and street address, but no other particulars. When they arrive, they are introduced to the Queen—or King—of the Curlycues. This important personage is dressed in a more or less fantastic costume, in which the most conspicuous feature is profuse ringlets made of lovely light golden shavings; and carries a sceptre or wand, which in explaining the games, etc., is waved about in a style full of curves and curls, peculiarly its own.