As the Juniors know well for what purpose they have been saving, this is a time for rejoicing and merrymaking rather than for set speeches. After “Polly” has been despoiled of her treasures there may be, in another room, a game of “Polly Pitcher bean-bag.” This is the way it is arranged:
Have three bean-bags, two of them four inches; the other, five inches, square; a hoop fifteen inches in diameter, wound with ribbon; suspend this hoop from the ceiling by a ribbon loop tied to one side, from which you are to hang a small bell so that it will swing in the centre of the hoop.
Each Junior in turn is the “pitcher,” and in this case the bell is “Polly.” The player takes the three bags, and throws them successively through the hoop, trying not to disturb “Polly,” who will be sure to protest every time that she is hit. The two smaller bags are thrown first, then the larger one. Whenever the player succeeds in throwing a bag through the hoop without disturbing “Polly” it counts ten; that is, if the bag is one of the smaller ones. If it is the large one, it counts twenty. Whenever Polly lets it be known that she is disturbed, it takes off five from the pitcher’s score.
If there is time, other favorite games of the Juniors may be introduced. But usually it will be found that la belle Polly is fascinating enough to divide the honors about equally with her bejewelled namesake, and that by the time the refreshments are over and the size of the missionary fund is announced, the social may close with a few of the Juniors’ brightest songs.
House-Book.
When my sister was a little girl, she had one play that always gave her unfailing delight. It was her “house-book” as she called it, and I am sure the Juniors, especially the younger ones, would enjoy the fascinating play-work as much as she did, and the “houses” thus concocted might be given to a children’s hospital, where they would serve as fairy palaces for the tired little sufferers to dwell in.
The brown cover of Daisy’s house-book was nothing ornamental; in fact, the book, to begin with, was a more or less blank one that had already served its purpose in some commercial capacity. But that did not matter. You opened it to the first page, and saw the front of the house, outside, with its piazza and lawn. A hammock was swung somewhere,—I forget whether it was on the lawn or the piazza,—and some very distinguished-looking paper-doll people were going up the steps. Then you turned over the leaf, and found yourself in the parlor, with rug, chairs, and little tables, a piano, and all complete. Each page was a room. Going on, you visited in turn the library, dining-room, kitchen, and, I think, hall and stairs; then you took a peep into several sleeping-rooms, and of course the most important room in the house was the playroom, with two children in it, and toys of various kinds and sizes, scattered about. Generally speaking, the furnishings were in remarkably good proportion and well arranged; but the house lacked a cellar. Perhaps it was in Florida, where cellars are seldom indulged in.
A house-book can be made as simple or as elaborate as one desires. Pantries, cellar, china-closets, linen-closets, and attic might all be included; and one could put a cheery-looking cook in the kitchen and a trim maid with a ruffled apron in the dining-room, besides a large family of children and the father and mother, and, if you like, the grandfather and grandmother too. With such a wealth of pictures to choose from as can be found in the different papers and advertising sheets, very little need be left to the imagination. By all means set the Juniors to making house-books, and by the time they have real houses of their own to furnish, or even before, they will have acquired a very good idea of what is needed and where to put it.