Then, too, such employment strengthens, or in some instances, creates the ability to get pure enjoyment out of the near at hand little things, which makes for permanent happiness.
The whole nature of a child cries out for self activity. Producing by his own efforts something that satisfies his own needs gives him the keenest possible pleasure, and puts into him that energy which results in love of work.
There is no more interesting study for grown ups than that of children at play with dolls and animals of their own making. The more imaginative children prefer the flower dolls which fade or die quickly and then go to take their places in the sky to which they give the beautiful colors on sunset evenings. Others, natural little gad-a-bouts, always play “come to see,” while in some practical little souls the spirit of motherhood is so strong that, to them, every doll is a baby doll, and everything they play with, from a clothes-pin to a poker, must be mothered—sung to and cared for, petted and rocked.
Boys, with their more belligerent tastes, prefer to make Indians and soldiers out of the same materials that their sisters would convert into the most peaceful of citizens. Those in whom the sense of humor is strong make every face a comic one, while others put into the faces drawn by them the demure, trivial, or rugged features and expressions harmonizing with their ideas.
An effort has been made to furnish in these pages suggestions for all sorts and conditions of children. The songs and jingles are for those who like to make rhymes, or to sing about everything that they do.
Only a few of the dolls and animals children can make for themselves have been suggested. The possibilities of the subject are by no means exhausted.
PAGE Lady Hollyhock and Her Daughter 21 The Cucumbers 24 Radishes and Corn 27 The Radish Baby’s Song 28 Radish Babies 31 The Corn Lullaby 32 Pansies 35 Pansy Ladies 36 Poppy Maids 39 Poppy Lullaby 40 Acorn and Burdock Eskimos 43 Pigs 46 Burdock Leaves and Clothes-Pins 49 The Clothes-Pin Tribe 50 An Irish (Potato) Woman and Her Family 54 Creatures of Clay 58 A Man of Clay 60 The Corn Husk Lady 61 The Corn Cob Baby 64 Apple Jack 66 Apple Jack’s Story 66 The Peanut Man 70 The Peanut Chinese Woman 72 The Acorn Family 74 The Haws 81 The Gourds 82 Gourd Man 84 What the Gourd Man Said 86 The Mender 89 Hickory-Nut People 90 The Hickory-Nut Nurse 92 The Kelp Maiden 94 The Kelp Maid’s Song 98 Morning-Glory Ladies 101 Jack O’Lanterns 102 Pumpkin Pies 104 Jack O’Lantern Dreams 105 Rastus Prune 106 Dinah Prune 108 Pipe Dolls 111 Paper Dolls 119 Handkerchief Dolls 122 Pill-Box Dolls 124 The Straw Indian 126 The Dried Peach Indian 128 The Softening of the Snows 130 Pastry Creatures 134 The Doughnut Man 136 The Gingerbread Maid 138 The Yarn Child 142 Rag Dolls 144 Rag Babies 146 Tissue-Paper Ladies 148 Humpty-Dumpty 151 Cinderella’s Coach 153