4. The badge given to the successful competitor may consist of fall leaves or nuts tied with a brown ribbon. This she keeps in remembrance of the delightful day spent nutting in the woods when she was a Little Brown Squirrel.
Select, if possible, a day in Indian summer for your nutting-party, and it is well to wear a gown that will not easily tear, catch the dust, or spot—not that these accidents are always to be met with on such excursions, but they might happen, and we must be on the safe side, so that no thought or anxiety need be given to the clothing.
If your party contemplates a series of nutting-picnics, propose that they shall go for different varieties each time. This will add novelty and zest to the excursions; and should the distance in some cases be too great for a walk, secure a vehicle with a good reliable driver, and the ride will be particularly enjoyed. This mode of travelling procures another change in the programme, which should be as varied as you can make it. Let the plates for your dinner be of wood or paper, to avoid the necessity of carrying them home. A table-cloth made of large sheets of white paper is a good substitute for damask, and after doing service the paper may be thrown away, leaving your baskets entirely empty to be filled with nuts.
There grows a nut, highly prized, that is never gathered by nutting-parties. Nor could they see it if they examined every tree throughout the country. Yet it flourishes in this climate, and may be seen any day at the fruit-stores and corner-stands. The shells of these furnish odd fancies for little trifles made by girlish fingers. Cut in the shape of slippers and glued to a card, they seem suitable for a wood-nymph, and the card is used as a birthday or menu card. Strung together with needle and thread, and dressed in costume with black thread for hair, they make quite a good-looking Japanese.
Glued on a twig and marked with ink in representation of the birds, they look not unlike owls perched on a limb. When divided in halves the shells are transformed into tiny boats with tissue-paper sails. This nut boasts of four names: gouber, pindar, ground-nut, and the familiar name of pea-nut.
CHAPTER XX.
HOW TO MAKE A TELEPHONE.
