The school of mothers's knee (a book of world wide playtimes)

Table Of Contents

Introduction— "THE SCHOOL OF MOTHER'S KNEE.

Chapter I.— "COPY-CATS AND CHATTER-BOXES."

(For children under six.) — A Chatter Box; a Letter Box; Jack-in-the-Box; Copy Cats; Scissor Cut-Outs and Nursery Games; Out-door Playthings; Garden Playmates 19

Chapter II.— "BED TIME PRAYERS AND STOR- IES." (For children under six.)— Bath Tub Stories; Dress Stories; Furniture Stories; Friendship Prayers 39

Chapter III.— "THE MYSTERIOUS CHARM OF BUNDLES." (Ages seven to eleven.) — Explaining a series of nine Chinese bundles by means of nine letters 53

Chapter IV.— "INCREASING THE DOLL FAMILY."

Dolls that can be bought; Bottle Dolls; Clothes-pin Dolls; Twig Dolls; Cardboard Dolls; Button Face Dolls; The Oriental Dressmaker; The Land of Make- Believe — Africa; Alaska; American Indians; Burma; China; India; Immigrants; Japan; Korea; Mexico; Moslem lands; Philippines; Siam. Idols. Animals.. 67

Chapter V.— "LET'S PLAY HOUSE!" Mrs Missionary Ragman; Houses for Africa, Alaska, American Indians, Burma, China, India, Immigrants, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Moslem lands, Philippines, Siam. Also How to Make Furniture Ill

Chapter VI.— "DRESSING UP." A Dress-up Box; Reminiscences; The Child Who Plays Alone; Concealed Cities; Groups of Children; Discovering Princesses at a Dress-up Party; Impromptu Theatricals. 159

Chapter VII.— "ADOPTING A TWIN." S. A. T. Initiation Ceremony; Regular Meetings; Christmas Presents; The Doll Shop; Summer Christmas Tree; Little Americans for Little Americans; The Dream Chest.. 171

Chapter VIII.— "SUCCESSFUL RAINY DAYS." 14 Scrap-Book Suggestions: — Rainy Day Scrap Book; How-Do- You-Do Book; Jap-o-Lantern ; Chinese Fan; My Own Jungle Book; The Go Book; Houses for Rent; Ships Ahoy; The Hungry Scrap Book; The Stamp Book; Vanity Fair; My Very Own World; Sing a Song of Sixpence ; Ladies' Home Journeys . . . 185

Chapter IX.— "SICK-A-BED PLAYTIMES." Pill Bottle Stories for Wee Invalids; Dolly Dear; Eye Spy Scrap-Book; The Ever-So-Sorry Powder Co.; Gospel According to the Telephone Book ; Some Doctors 208

Chapter X.— "THE ONCE A WEEK STORY NIGHT." Attractions of; The Family-Full-of-Facts ; Twice Told Tales ; A. E. F. ; "Go West, Young Man !" "Sing- Song Nights" (Famous Hymns — pictured); Melting Pot Stories; A Mother's Own Bookshelf; Famous Quotations Every Child Should Know 211

Chapter XL— "GAMES, CONTESTS, CHARADES, 'Some Blind-fold Games; Boat Race; Looping the Loops; Bean Bag Missionaries; Where Do You Live? Telegrams; Burmese Twins and What They "Ate"; Anybody's Aunt; Missing Letters in a Japanese Home; A Chinese Age Contest; Twisted in a Hindu Jungle; Bees in Missionary Bonnets; A Sting Contest; Heart of Juanita; Katy Dids; Ship Ahoy; Cannibal Islands; 14 Charades; Anagrams; Picture Puzzles ; Filipino Riddles 221

Chaptee XII.— "SWEET SIXTEEN— AND OVER." Big

Sisterliness ; Shut Ins; Inch Library; Attractive Books; Love Story Club; Quaint Presents; Bulb Stories; Miss Chinese Tea Leaf; Pennants; "Connecting Up" — Theme Topics; Debate Subjects; His- Story; Biology; The War 235

ALMA MATER

The oldest university

Was not on India's strand, Nor in the valley of the Nile,

Nor on Arabia's sand; From time's beginning it has taught

And still it teaches free Its learning mild to every child —

THE SCHOOL OF MOTHER'S KNEE.

The oldest school to teach the law

And teach it deeply, too, Dividing what should not be done

From what each one should do, Was not in Rome or Ispahan,

Nor by the Euxine Sea; It held its sway ere history's day —

THE SCHOOL OF MOTHER'S KNEE.

The oldest seminary where

Theology was taught, When love to God, and reverent prayer,

And the Eternal Ought Were deep impressed on youthful hearts

In pure sincerity, Came to earth with Abel's birth —

THE SCHOOL OF MOTHER'S KNEE.

The oldest — and the newest, too —

It still maintains its place, And from its classes, ever full,

It graduates the race.

Without its teaching where would all

The best of living be? 'Twas planned by Heaven this earth to leaven —

THE SCHOOL OF MOTHER'S KNEE.

He must have had a very perfect plan when He began by giving His human children twelve care-free years in which to grow up ! He makes His insects to mature in a few hours, His birds in a few days, and His animals in a few months, — while on His human babies He lovingly squanders a dozen years of aimless playtimes, and the reason is divine. Hopefully we grope for it, and realize dimly that in all these thousands upon thousands of years since the world began His children have been playing at everything: playing to make their muscles stronger, their wits keener, their sympathies broader, and especially playing at being someone else — aping grown-up ways ! Physical, mental and social development were included in His program of play.

Doubtless He had a plan for Mothers, too, and perhaps He has wondered ever since at their continued absorption in bottles and baths and buttons and bloomers and booties, when He Himself had specialized in Play! How queer it is about Mothers : they guard and suggest and supervise everything in regard to eating, and sleeping, and bathing, and dressing, and schooling, and dancing lessons, — but playing is the children's own ! To the Mother, playtime gives a Blessed-Season-of-Escape; and yet those twelve precious years of games and dolls and dressings-up are forecasts of her children's future: for bigger habits of sympathy, friendliness, fair play and cooperation are formed in playtimes than anywhere else in a child's whole life.

There are three types of Mothers in regard to Directed Play. Number One groans, "Oh, you will spoil play entirely if you step in ! Let them do it their own way; I did, when I was little; besides, it's a relief to have the kiddies occupied any old way, and out from under my feet." This is the Indulgent Mother, with s tang of indifference in her make-up.

Number Two is the Diffident Mother: "I have to suggest so many other things/' she explains, "manners and proprieties and cleanliness, I just couldn't force myself on their play. They would resent it ! And as for playing Missions, as you suggest, — well ! I shouldn't know how to get the children to try it; I'm not much good at springing surprises on them. Anyhow I send them to the Junior Mission Band once a month, you know."

Mother Number Three is the Adventuresome Soul, — equally busy, equally at sea as to methods, but always eager for the best ways of training her children into large-hearted, eager-souled citizens of God's world. "Show me!" she says, "just tell me how, and I'll try! I had no idea children played Missions, it must be fun!"

It is fun ! And because a certain true little incident is the real incentive for this book, perhaps you will let me step out of these pages long enough to tell you the story : For when I was a little over four years old I went to India. And yet — a paradox — I have never been in India in my life!

It is one of those piercing memories of childhood, that stand out among a host of half-forgotten things: I was playing in my little play-room, while my mother was sitting by a window sewing, — sewing and rocking, I can see her yet. I went up a bit timidly and said: "Well good-bye, Mother, I've got to go to India now to tell the heathens about Jesus !" and I kissed her good-bye.

One wonders what her feelings were at that moment — what poignant contraction of the heart she may have felt as she queried whether this were a prophecy of some future farewell. How she could have dampened my ardor by some sweet complaint: "Oh, but you wouldn't go so far away from mother, would you, darling? And leave her without any little girl at all?" But those words were never spoken, and I like to remember her farewell kiss before starting on my journey.

We hear veteran missionaries today telling of the tedious, dangerous voyages they endured in days gone by. I also ! For my ship was the lid of the sewingmachine. It was inverted, and the wee passenger had to sit squeezed inside in a most uncomfortable position, while aiding in the navigation by rowing vigorously on the carpet waves with a cane and umbrella for oars ! It was a slow and tippy passage, seemingly endless, when one glanced back at mother by the window, — sewing and rocking ! The progress made seemed nothing in comparison to the distance still ahead.

But vigor prevailed, and when India was at last reached, there were the "heathens", my own dolls (minus clothes !) sitting around in a decorous circle underneath a chair, waiting to hear the old, old story from me. Much the worse for the voyage, I scrambled out, and Bible in hand, began my duties at once. I wonder now what that baby of four could have said; my only recollection is of singing "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know," and of preaching what was meant to be a long and eloquent sermon in my father's most effective style ! Then the dolls all had to kneel in prayer, after which there were converts to be baptized. I admit this was quite the climax of being a missionary, for the converts were judiciously-chosen dolls whose joints would not be hurt by immersion, and one of the stories my family delight to recall is that when the candidate was being baptized in the bath-tub, the Four-Year-Old missionary very reverently repeated: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and into the Hole-You-Go"

The Little Girl- Who- Was-Then has never been able to forget the thrill of those frequent trips — the farewell kiss., the perilous journey, the sweetness of telling about Jesus to those dear naked "heathens". Yet try as I may, I cannot recall a single missionary story or lesson or picture told me during those early years, although of course there must have been such aids to direct my play. But this I do know, that there was such an atmosphere in my home that it was the most natural and attractive thing in the world for little Four- Year- Old to incorporate the essence of the family's attitude toward a Christ-less world into her playtimes !

So it is in the hope that the practical suggestions on the following pages may provide the same incentives and the same atmosphere to your small sons and daughters that this book is written. "Christian Service" can be foisted onto a group of children as one of those deadly dull duties that is performed with clenched teeth and a get-it-over-quick manner. Or "Christian Service" can begin by being the greatest fun in the world if there is a little Vision-of-Everybody-Everywhere tucked inside each child's brain. So that one littlest word about India, for instance, will cause a small Hindu maiden to come salaaming out of Molly's mind — a little Hindu maiden with a remembered name, a remembered home, and remembered facts about her queer sad life and her queer sad hopes ! — a little girl whom Molly had played with on rainy days, and loved, and never forgotten.

All any one of us needs in order to serve is a keener vision of the "other fellow"; so surely it is not a sheer waste of time when the Friend of Little Children deliberately squanders twelve years of playtimes on us, knowing that any vision our mothers may choose can be played right into childish hearts and minds, in such a delectably cheerful fashion that the young Olivers will cry for "more" !

There need never be any trouble interesting children under eight years old, and for that reason the simpler chapters dealing with games for them have been put at the beginning, the problems of Junior and Intermediate ages filling up the remainder of the book. For you can't say out and out to Ten Years Old: "Here's a queer doll from China for you to play with today, Dear." T. Y. O. may reply indifferently : "I don't know that I want to, mother !" But try the Mysterious Charm of Bundles on her, then the Adoption of a Twin — and Ten Years Old is won!

It may not be amiss to mention here that this book really ought to be kept under lock and key, as it contains secrets galore, and if the children get a chance to read it themselves their first thrills will be over before you even begin !

Begin at once to choose from Chapters I., IV. and V. the articles you will want for "Boxes" or "Bundles", and make them a few at a time. Perhaps you belong to a small club of mothers in your neighborhood, or in your church, who would be interested to try this experiment with you, in which case you will be multiplying manyfold the good you can do to your own family. One wise young woman always carries a wonderfully decorative workbag! "And what are you making?" her friends ask, after admiring the bag. Then bike that householder in the Bible she brings forth things new and old, — "little nothings" which she proceeds to form into "little somethings" for her Boxes and Bundles, under the spellbound gaze of the on-lookers, describing her new scheme as she progresses. Demonstrations are good business sense, as everyone knows, and many a mother can become a successful drummer for missionary playtimes by the simple means of a workbag, paste, scissors, and some cardboard.

Many churches are now forming Parent's Classes to meet during the Sunday-School hour to discuss questions of interest in the rearing of children. If there is such a class in your school, why not introduce the subject of directed missionary playtimes? Or if there is no such class, could you not start one? Very profitable discussions leading up to the reason for having children play Missions at home would be on topics such as these:

1. My Vision of My Children's Part in the World-of- Tomorrow.

2. How to Maintain a Christian Atmosphere in My Home.

3. What Kind of Ambitions Should be Fostered in a Christian Home-

4. An Ideal Christian Mother — Her Activities, Her Ambitions, Her Relation to the World.

5. An Ideal Christian Father — (as above).

6. Books of Adventure for My Son.

7. Same for Daughters.

8. Beckoning Fingers: The Call to Christian Service.

It seems likely that after some weeks of such discussion, a number of mothers will become adventuresome enough to try creating such an atmosphere in their homes. This little book will help solve some of the problems. Probably no mother will ever try all the suggestions : but every mother can try some of them ; and every doll, every game, every story will be an entering wedge to open the child heart a little wider toward the Unseen- World-of-Other-Children-Somewhere.

It will be your most glorious contribution to the World-of-Tomorrow if you can thin the endless ranks of nominal Christians:

"They live for themselves, they think for themselves,

For themselves, and none beside, As if Jesus Christ had never lived

And as if He had never died."

THE DESIRE

"Give me no mansions ivory white

Nor palaces of pearl and gold, Give me a child for all delight, Just four years old.

Give me no wings of rosy shine

Nor snowy raiment fold on fold; Give me a little boy — all mine, Just four years old.

Give me no gold and starry crown,

Nor harps, nor palm branches unrolled;

Give me a nestling head of brown Just four years old.

Give me a cheek that's like a peach,

Two arms to clasp me from the cold; And all my heaven's within my reach, Just four years old.

Dear God, You give me from Your skies

A little paradise to hold, As Mary once her Paradise, Just four years old."

(Katherine Tynan.)

CHAPTER I.

"COPY CATS AND CHATTER-BOXES" (For children under six.)

Just four years old! And what little chatter-boxes and copy-cats they are; — their minds so impressionable, their hands so eager to be busy, their affections so ready to be won: little shadows that tag around at your heels all day, whatever you may be doing, with endless questions and boundless curiosity.

Here are some suggestions that ought to be a real boon to the busy Mother- Who-Must-Cook-and-Sew-and- Sweep, and would appreciate a few less interruptions !

1. A CHATTER-BOX.

This should be a square box, as pretty as possible, perhaps some pale blue jeweler's box, a six-inch cube. Around its sides paste cunning Chinese lads and lassies, cut from "Everyland". On the lid paste one of those coy infants squinting at the syrup bottle which advertise Aunt Jemima's Pancake Flour in the women's magazines. On this lid print in black: MY CHATTER BOX.

Inside it are to be put a number of extremely simple objects, each with a missionary significance. In giving such a box to Johnny or Mary for the first time, one such object inside is enough, for a story must be told about it, and too many objects plus too many stories would cause mental indigestion, besides defeating your purpose of maintaining a fresh interest in the Box from day to day, when various household duties make it desirable to keep Johnnie employed!

So on day number one, a lonely plaything rattles around inside: perhaps a clothes-pin doll. You tell a simple story about "him" or "her", which little Four- Year-Olds can act out. Day number two when the Box is brought forth, behold a second plaything is inside, about which another story is told, linking it to the first story. And so on, until the Box becomes a treasure house of friendly objects, about which Johnnie — or Mary — is well-informed.

A number of simple contents which can be made at no cost at all are mentioned below, as well as some which may be bought very reasonably :

(1) Clothes-pin Dolls (see chapter IV. for directions).

(2) Button-Face Cardboard Dolls (see chapter IV. for directions, figures 3 to 36). A Button-Face Family is so simple to make that you can easily prepare enough dolls to teach Johnny to act out this cute jingle, adapted by Miss Edith Thomson from the classic "House that Jack Built":

"This is the Chinese, or Japanese Hindu African

Burmese } Mission School.

Mexican Alaskan Indian

This is the child that went to the Chinese Mission School. This is the mother won by the child that went to the

Chinese Mission School.

This is the family hostile no more, because of the mother, won by the child, that went to the Chinese Mission School.

This is the street of neighbors galore, brought by the family hostile no more, because of the mother won by the child that went to the Chinese Mission School. This is the church where gathers a throng of persons who listen to sermon and song, who come from the street of neighbors galore, brought by the family hostile no more, because of the mother won by the child that went to the Chinese Mission School.''

(3) Tiny Houses and Churches (see chapter V. for patterns) will be needed in enacting this jingle. It is not always necessary to have a box as a foundation to which the cardboard sides are to be pasted. Especially for the preceding jingle it will be just as satisfactory to cut out a double set of sides, and paste the roofs together, then the lower parts can be spread apart to make the house stand. But where only one house is needed, instead of a street- full, it is just as simple to paste the double sides on opposite sides of some tiny jeweler's box, or a box of the size that visiting cards come in. In this case always cut the door so it will open and shut, and have the little dolls of a size to go indoors.

(4) Landscape Gardening need not be overlooked. Pine tree tips, set in spools, are very effective, but as the needles soon wither in-doors, green crepe paper slashed into palm leaves and tied to the end of a twig will wave in a very realistic fashion if the twig trunk is put into an empty spool. Cardboard trees are described in chapter V. Tree stories are legion; "The Banana Tree That Was Dressed Up" (pages 105-112, "Primary Mission Stories") would suggest a whole set of contents for the Chatter Box: tree, negro dolls, little hut, tiny bowl of rice (acorn cup full of paper pellets), church. Or in the same book, pages 280-284, is the story of "The Cradle-that-Hung-in-a-Tree", which would suggest other contents for the Box; squaw and papoose (chapter IV. for patterns), tree, Indian tepee, tiny bow and arrow, birch bark canoe, animals to be "hunted," etc. Pinetree tips, in spools, set on white cotton batting, would give an ideal Alaskan setting. A little snow igloo (see chapter V.), a dogsled and some cute little brown and white Eskimo Button-Face dolls will be suggestive of stories. Perhaps you could call it "The-House-With-a- Thousand-Christmas-Trees-in-the-Backyard", and then tell how once there was never a Christmas candle on a single tree, nor a single star, nor tinsel, and nobody sang Christmas carols — because? Then how Mrs. Missionary came to tell them about Jesus, and how one of the trees finally became a really-truly Christmas tree. Johnnie will love to decorate it with tiny bits of colored paper cut in balls or streamers. Pages 204 to 223 in "Primary Mission Stories" give other Alaskan stories.

(5) A Bullock Cart is easily constructed from a small cardboard box, with a visiting card curved over the top, as a hood, and two spools underneath for wheels. A long string should be attached so the cart can be dragged around the room as Dr. Missionary visits her Button- Face patients, who are SO sick ! The missionary may be some attractive lady cut from a fashion magazine. Inside the cart should be some remedies : a tiny bottle, with a Red Cross label, filled with small candy drops, if you can trust Johnny not to appropriate real medicine bottles afterward. This warning is not amiss, as imagination soars at the age of five, and any bottle may contain play medicine in his mind. In which case put in paper pills, which he has squeezed into pellets himself. Little round pill boxes with other pellets inside can also be in the cart, and little powder papers to be folded into homeopathic pills. This is an endlessly fascinating game, and Dr. Missionary can open a hospital if some tiny beds are put in the Chatter-Box, also a nurse doll. (For patterns see chapters IV. and V.) The Bullock Cart is for India, Burma and Assam. A miniature sedan chair (chapter V.) could be used for China, although this lacks the charm of being something to drag! In chapter II. appear some stories about sick people, and in "Primary Mission Stories" the following: Pages 77-

84, "Monkey Tales and Other Tales"; pages 113-158, about Ramaswami's blind Hindu father; pages 179-184, "The Get- Well-Room" ; pages 267-273, "Little Boy- Who-Was-Called-by-a-Girl's-Name" ; pages 323-328, "Donkey Tales and Other Tales."

(6) Nut Shell Boats are made from half of an English walnut shell. Sails can be made from squares of paper, with a steel pin for a mast, the sharp end fastened into the shell. Such boats are especially good employment when you are cooking in the kitchen and want Johnny to be still, and amused ! Place a dish-pan half-full of water on the kitchen table, so that the little nut-shell boats can float around in it. Very tiny paper dolls, less than an inch high, may be cut from brown or yellow paper to suit the nationality of the natives who are sailing these primitive boats. If a larger sail-boat (Five-and-Ten-Cent-Store) could have a Mr. and Mrs. Missionary (also paper) on board, then all sorts of engrossing things may occur : one nut-shell boat might have an upset, and the sailor be almost drowned if Mr. Missionary does not sail up to rescue the perishing! Or the bigger boat can hold a Sunday service, and at the sound of the hymns one by one the native boats sail up, and Mr. Missionary stands on deck and tells a Bible story. Or maybe the natives are cannibal savages, who fight Mr. and Mrs. Missionary, and come at night to steal away their food. Great wind storms may blow over Dish- Pan Sea, causing collisions. If moss is obtainable very attractive islands may be made, or green cardboard with corks nailed underneath will make beautiful islands. A tiny house and a tree or two will make a beautiful Inland Sea, the large white boat becomes the Fukuin Maru, Mr. Missionary is Captain Bickel and the tiny natives all wear Japanese kimonos. For stories see pages 197-204 of Mrs. Montgomery's "Following the Sunrise" and send for a free leaflet called "The Gospel

Ship of the Inland Sea." Corks, with a tiny bell fastened underneath, make delightful bell-buoys, and very cunning fish can be created from two thicknesses of green paper (see figure 37) with a thin slice of cork put in between before the two sides are sewed together — so the fish can swim, of course ! If a hole is punched for the eye then Mr. Missionary can go afishing from his ship, with a toothpick rod, a thread line, and a bent pin book. Without any irreverence the beautiful stories of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee can be acted out, also, and hymns about the sea learned: "Jesus Saviour Pilot Me," "Eternal Father, Strong to Save."

Note: If a rubber apron protects Johnny, it will not matter how splashy Dish-Pan Sea becomes, as kitchen tables are easily mopped, and it is something to have him blissfully occupied during cooking time.

(7) Social Settlement. Another set of amusing contents for a Box would be along domestic lines, teaching proper methods of cooking and housekeeping, which will appeal to many. Industrial missions are maintained the world around, so you can choose whatever nationality you prefer: African, Chinese, Negroes in this country, Immigrants, etc. Suppose you select the latter: then the first day the Box should contain a Button-Face Immigrant doll, a gray shawl over her head, an apron and a bulky bundle; other members of her family, and neighbors, are added on following days, with a Miss Missionary doll; then add a little cooking stove, some pots and pans, a table, and a broom. Domestic Science can then be taught by Miss Missionary to a circle of ignorant little Immigrants; Mary herself will learn much while imbibing the fact that our cities are full of people who need to be taught just such simple things. See chapter V. for patterns of stove with lids, table, tablecloth, dishes, etc. Miss Missionary should end each lesson with a Bible story about Jesus in people's homes — how He said grace, etc.

(8) Tiny Picture Boohs may be put into whatever Box you decide to make. They should have covers of colored cardboard, not more than 2x3 inches, and should contain pictures cut from missionary magazines, illustrating the lives of the doll family in the Box. You may have a number of Chatter-Boxes, — a yellow one, a red one, a green one — each about a separate country, with its own little picture book.

Note'. A number of inexpensive contents may be bought at almost any Five and Ten Cent Store: small white sailboats, little stoves, furniture, wonderful celluloid jungle animals, and at certain seasons you can also find Indian, Alaskan and Negro dolls. At the Japanese stores very quaint little Japanese houses with thatched roofs sell for 15 cents; Japanese dolls for 10 cents each; parasols and lanterns, 5 cents apiece; fans, 2 for 5 cents; cute brooms, with the stick a pencil, for 5 cents. You will also find cunning iron bridges, lanterns, houses, etc., to form a Japanese garden in a flat bowl.

One other indispensable (free!) content for every Chatter-Box is a mission bank in which to save money for sending Mr. and Mrs. Missionary to the families who need them. Write to the Literature Departments for them; in other years these boxes have taken the shape of fascinating cradles, trunks, tepees, flower boxes, soldiers' tents, little red-roofed hospitals — attractive additions to any box. If you provide no such outlet for Johnny's newly-awakened interest, what a farce that interest may soon become ! "Emotion is no substitute for action." And the child who likes to give, is on the road to Christian Service of the highest type.

2. LETTER BOX.

You will have noticed that nothing piques Johnny's curiosity so much as the fatal stillness that occurs when you begin writing a letter ! You can overcome the annoyance of his endless interruptions by making him a postoffice Letter Box from a shoe box, with a piece of green cardboard curved around it — very simple. Also give him odds and ends of colored paper and a few small envelopes. Colored coin envelopes, very small ones, sell for 10 cents a package at paper stores. This outfit will make the Time-When-Mother-Writes-Letters a real treat ! If he has already had a Chatter-Box so much the better, for he will enjoy writing letters to Mr. and Mrs. Missionary and the various Button-Face dolls to tell about his own doings. It is delicious to watch the earnest endeavors at evolving this literature, it recalls William Canton's verses on "The New Poet'':

"/ write. He sits beside my chair

And scribbles, too, in hushed delight, He dips his pen in charm-ed air: TV hat is it he pretends to write?

He toils and toils; the paper gives

No clue to aught he thinks. What then?