“Oh, we can make Easter cards too,” suggested Joyce, when the valentine pile was grown quite large. She started out to see what she could do. Oh, yes! One could easily cut out pretty colored Easter eggs and paste them on heavy white paper to make clusters of dyed eggs. One could cut Easter eggs that had flowers on them as one had made hearts with flowers in pattern. One could cut colored bunnies out of the paper too. To do this, Joyce used the brown and yellow and the white wall papers in her Magic Book. It was fun!
“We could make birthday cards too,” said Jimsi. “Only I won’t try it because they’d be the same as the Easter cards that just have flower patterns and open like a book.”
“We could make Hallowe’en favor cards,” Joyce cried, suddenly. And then, they began to cut out witches and cats and jack-o’lanterns. Why, one never knew what would come next! The two little girls worked away. “Just for fun, let’s see what we can do,” they agreed. So they cut hatchets for Washington’s Birthday greetings; they cut New Year’s cards and flowered Christmas cards. They cut holly leaves from green wall paper and made red berries for wreathes from the red wall paper; they cut Thanksgiving favors too!
It really isn’t possible to tell all that the two very busy little girls did do that morning. At noon when the clock struck twelve, the jolliest thing happened. The door-bell rang and when Joyce’s mother went to answer it, there on the door-step was a big market basket with a cover on it! When Joyce saw it she declared, “Well, I know that’s from Miss Phoebe’s crow!” Anybody would have known it for on top of the basket was a wee letter. The letter was addressed to Jimsi and Joyce. It read:
“Dear Friends of the Magic Book and The Happy Shop:
Picnics don’t come in winter usually but I am sending you an in-door picnic to-day. If you open the big basket you’ll find that there are some nice picnic-y things inside. This is so that Jimsi can stay with Joyce a little longer, and also so Joyce can have Jimsi a little longer.
Good-bye,
Crow.
P. S.
In the little bottle is Jimsi’s bad medicine. She doesn’t like to take it but Joyce will please see her swallow it after the picnic is over. Please ask Jimsi to bring the picnic basket home to The Happy Shop with her when it is nap-time.