Good Times with the Juniors

by Lilian M. Heath

13. Bending over and touching the ground with the palms of both hands. The knees must not be bent. The point is to go over as many times as possible.

Three places should be counted in each event. A first place should score three points; a second place, two points; a third place, one point. The largest reward should be given to the boy or girl having the largest total score. Be sure to give rewards that either a boy or a girl would like, for girls have a way of winning them when they have a good chance.

A Tropical Fair.

For decorations use the graceful Florida moss if it can be procured; if not, tissue-paper orange blossoms are pretty. Palms and similar potted plants may be placed here and there. Have a pond made of a large mirror with the frame covered with foliage, and in or on the pond should be a number of pond-lily needle-books and penwipers; these the Juniors can easily make of white and green cloth for petals and leaves, with bits of yellow wool in the centre. There may also be in the pond some frog-shaped and alligator-shaped boxes made of wood with the bark left on for the alligators, and finished in both cases to look as lifelike as possible.

In the centre or at one side of the room have an orange grove. The oranges are various small articles, each wrapped in a wad of cotton, made as nearly round as possible, covered with orange-colored tissue-paper and tied with a green string to the evergreen trees composing the grove. Each purchaser is to select the orange he prefers, paying a trifle for it.

Besides the pond and the orange grove there may be a lemonade-well profusely decked with foliage, a booth where real oranges and other tropical fruits are sold, another booth for cake and candies, one for fancy-work, one for flowers, and a special one for fans, all having suggestions of the tropics about them. If the orange scheme is to predominate, the fancy-work booth should be filled with articles made in shades of orange, and the cakes, candies, and ices may be flavored with orange; the booths may be draped in orange and white, and the girls in charge of them should wear white dresses with orange ribbons. In the grove should be seats and small tables where refreshments can be served as ordered.

This will be found no more trouble to prepare, on the whole, than most ordinary fairs, and is much prettier.

Washington’s Birthday.

In Miss Alcott’s “Jack and Jill” are described several good tableaux taken from scenes in the life of Washington. The cherry-tree episode is delightful; Washington crossing the Delaware, exciting; and the “Daughters of Liberty,” the “Surrender of Cornwallis,” the pathetic camp scene, “Washington at Trenton,” the Washington family, and the simulated statue of the “Minuteman,” all very effective. The detailed description would take too much space here, but the book is to be found in most libraries; and, even if it is not obtainable, the subjects may prove suggestive, and are all within the ability of children or quite young people.

Many, however, will prefer games. Did you ever play “cherry-tree blind man’s buff”? For this you will want twenty or more candied cherries, and an impromptu cherry-tree, which may be the bough of an evergreen placed upright in a flower-pot or a box. Tie the cherries to the branches with bits of silk thread a few inches long. Blindfold the Juniors one at a time; turn the blindfolded one around three times; give him a pair of scissors; and tell him to clip all the cherries he can from the tree, allowing him three minutes for the trial. He must not feel for the tree with his hands, but simply reach out with the scissors and clip where he thinks the cherries are. A little box of candied fruit is given as a reward to the one who succeeded in clipping the most cherries.