THE WENDY HUT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 29 March 1930, Page 10

THE WENDY HUT

You remember the jolly niggcv dolly you made last week?' Well—how would you like to dress if like Benjamin, the 11 iifs little black boy? You must choose nice bright colours— Benjie's very fond of (hem!—sav, scarlet for his little coat with yellow braid bindings, blue and white check for his trousers, and red and white spots for his necktie.

Benjie's high-crowned straw hat can be made out of part of an old rush shopping basket, or out of cream canvas if you can obtain that more easily. Cut a semi-circle, twist it into a shallow cone, as shown in the diagram A, stitch it li]). and you have the crown of the hat. The brim is a circle about to inches across, with a hole about 3 inches across cut out, of the centre. Nick all round this opening and bend up the wee tabs so formed; then slip the crown over the turned-up tubs and sew the two together. The diagrams explain it all, but I think you had better cut (he hat out in paper iirsf of all, to make sure of getting the right fit. A coloured ribbon sewn round will hide the stitches.

Benjamin's coat is cut like diagram 15. Cut down tlio centre fold, as shown on the diagram, to make the two fronts. Then sew up the side senilis, and bind the sleeve edges, all round the neck, fronts, and lower edge with yellow braid, as shown in diagram C. The two upper fronts can he turned hack to form rovers, and, when you have stitched two buttons on each Hide, the coat is finished. Benjamin's trousers are made of two pieces of check material, cut like diagram D, joined together down the front, back, and along the inner leg seams. Ifeiu the raw edges, and run an elastic through the upper casing. Benjamin will need a vest, so'makc this, like diagram E, out of yellow stuff. Now he only wants a spotted ribbon to lie round his neck and stick out in a big bow under his chin, and

[ , little brown boots made from part of an old woollen stocking, and Black Benjamin is ready for a game with you!—Wen.dy's Dresmaker. 1 J I t- THE TIP THAT TELLS A TALE There was once an old woman who could not find anyone to look after her sheep. She lived on the edge of a lonely wood and, as she became older, she found it more and more troublesome to look after the- sheep herself. And so she did her best, to find help. , One day a bear cine out of the wood and offered his services. ? ''l'. am sorry T cannot employ you," said the old woman, "but you growl 1 like thunder and the sheep would be "■ afraid of you." ' Then a wolf came to see her. But the J old woman said his voice was much too J sharp and fierce, and the sheep would run away if lie called them. At last a fox came. His voice was so sweet and low, and he had such pretty ' maimers, that the old woman iml mediately employed him to look after , her sheep. \ All went well for a little .time. Then one day a sheep disappeared, then an- , bt'ier, and another—nearly every day j one sheep was"missing! The fox was in a terrible state about it, and blamed the bear and the wolf as he and the old woman wept. sadly together over the fire at night when the remaining sheep were safely shut up. , One day, when the old woman was , skimming milk, she thought she would I take a pail of cream to her friend the , fox. Creeping through a hole in the , hedge, she suddenly came upon him—- , eating one of her sheep in her field! Then she knew how he had deceived her, and in her anger she threw the pail of cream at him. But the fox dart- , ed away, and only a splash of Vream \ stuck to the end of his tail. It has stayed there ever since, branding him a thief! Perhaps that is why every fox has a! white tip to his tail! THE BILLY BOYS' WORKSHOP MAKING A TOY ENGINE (By the Hut Carpenter) This simple toy, which you can make for your younger brother, will provide several hours of interesting work. For the footplate A, you will require a piece of wood a quarter o.f an inch thick, eleven inches long and three and a half inches wide. Plane this all over, and then screw on the two buffer beams, 8.8., which are strips of wood three and a half inches long, half-an-indi wide, and three-eights of an inch thick. For the buffers you can use small iron drawer knobs with screw steins, while a little screw-eye or hook, C, must be screw r cd in the middle of each buffer beam. The cab sides, D, can be cut from a piece of fretwood, after carefully marking out the shape to the sizes given in the diagram. The cab front IJ, and the back part F are both the same size, and are cut out of wood a quarter of an inch thick. Tho look-out holes in each can be made with your brace and bit. The back part, G, of the bunker is a piece of wood a quarter of an inch thick, three inches wide and two and a quarter inches long. Now from a cardboard postal tube, two and a half inches in diameter, cut off a, piece six inches long for the boiler. Near one end of this piece make a hole right through, the hole being a tight fit for a piece of broom-handle about three and three-quarter inches long, which represents the chimney. Glue this in place and allow a quarter of an inch to project on the bottom side of the boiler. From a piece of three-sixteenth fretwood cut two discs to fit nicely into the ends of the 'boiler." Clue one of these discs in the front end, and screw the other to the front plate E for supporting the rear end of the boiler tube.

The parts forming the cab can be nailed or screwed together, and then fixed in position on the footplate by screws driven in from underneath. The front oj the boiler is held firm by a long screw which passes through the footplate up into the piece of broomhandle, as shown in the first diagram. The wheels, about two and a quarter inches in diameter. are screwed to pieces of wood three-quarters of an inch square, which are nailed to the bottom of the footplate. The little cap on top of the chimney can be cut from the end of a cotton reel, while the "dome" is simply the rounded end of a broom-handle. After sticking on a piece of thin stiff cardboard to represent the roof of the cab, you can paint your engine with bright coloured enamel.