The Wendy Hut

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 June 1930, Page 10

The Wendy Hut

THE RIDDLE OF THE RHINO

At midnight all the cages in the zoo opened. They opened once a year for ten minutes only. “Whirr- it!” out Hew the birds. “Grr-rr!” out leapt the animals. “Siss-ss!” out rolled the snakes. All were wild with delight to be free for ten minutes. “I want the rushing, foaming Amazon,” sniffed the alligator. “I want my sunny African dessert,” roared the lion. “I want my deep, trackless jungle in Bengal,” snarled the tiger. “Free, free, set us free altogether,” piped the kittiwake. “Let us fly with the winds over the waves.” “How would the White Man like to be caged?” howled the black baboon. “Oh, that he would send us all home again. As it is—” “I will ask you a riddle,” bellowed the rhinoceros from Java. “The riddle is White Man’s Magic. If you answer aright, the cages will open one day, never to shut again. Then the White Man will send you all home.” “Wh-oop!” whistled the birds, fluttering madly with excitement. “Grr-good!” roared the animals, pawing the ground in ecstasy. • “Ss-splendid!” hissed the snakes, swaying with delight. Then the African elephant trumpeted : “Freedom for all,” "Now for the riddle,” cried George the giraffe, “0 Rudolph, the rhino, the riddle.” p “0 captive creatures in feathers and fur, this is the riddle: What wild animal reminds you of golf?” “What is golf?” growled Bingo the bear from the Atlas Mountains. “A. game,” scoffed Henry, the hyena, with a bitter laugh. “We arc all ‘game’ to men.” . They puzzled, and pawed, aiid whined uneasily. “Give it up,” snapped the Siberian wolf. '.“There icnf any answer,” screamed the green cockatoo. He was cock-sure there wasn’t! “There, is,” insisted the rhino. “The answer is an animal.” “Does the animal-answer know?” grunted the camel from Cairo. “He doesn’t know, but I know.” The rhino was excited for their ten minutes freedom was nearly over: “Quick!” he bellowed, “What wild animal reminds you of golf?” “Lynx!” screeched the parrot, the Great Macaw. “Why lynx ” roared the zoo. “Golf-links,” laughed the hyena. “Are wc right, rhino?” “You are!” he. bellowed, as the cages closed on them again, “And the White Man’s Magic will work.” It will. One day the cages will open, never to shut. Then all the captive creatures will be sent back home again. And the African elephant will trumpet: “Freedom for all.” WENDY’S LITTLE DRESSMAKERS THINGS TO MAKeTfOR A SALE OF WORK Several “Wiendys” are anxious to make some things suitable for a sale of work, so this week we’ll talk about a nice little set comprising a wastepaper basket and a blotter. The foundation of the waste-paper basket is a piece of stout cardboard, 12 inches deep and 24 inches wide. You’ll also want two pieces of hessian, the sanie size, for the outside and the inside, and a circle of cardboard for the bottom, with hessian for covering. Bend the cardboard strip round to nlake a tube, and sew the ends together'; stand the tube on a card and pencil round it to get the size of the bottom piece. i.. Take 1 one piece of hessian and stitch a length of royal blue wool braid—or ribbon—along one 24 inch edge, about three inches, down, using jade green wool for the sewing, and making running stitches about' a quarter of an

inch long. Embroider groups of orange, mauve and crimson flowers at intervals over this, using the buttonhole stitch, as shown in the diagram, and making each flower about the size of a penny, leaves of lazy-daisy stitches in jade will complete the posies. When you’ve gone all along the braid, press the embroidery, , sew the two short sides of the hessian together, turn right side out, and slip tlife cover over the cardhoard tube. Sew the short sides of tho lining together, turn right side out, and slip this inside the tube, sewing the edges of cover and lining together round the top and bottom. Finally, go over these joins with jade green wool stemsti Idling. Cover the cardboard circle with hessian on both sides, and sew this to the bottom of the tube, hiding the stitches with green wool. The bottom is made from two pieces of card, eleven inches wide and twelve inches deep. Cover each piece with hessian on both sides, working an cm

broidured strip of braid down the side of the front to match the basket before sewing-over the cardboard, and making a.pocket on the inside of the front flap, to take stationery,’as ' shown in the diagram. Sew the two covered cards together down’ the,back, and stitch folded blotting paper inside. You can go over all the edges of the hessian with jade wool, if you like, to make a pretty finish.—Wendy's Dressmaker. THE BILLY BOYS’ WORKSHOP MAKING A BOOt’-BRUSII BOX Here is a strong, useful box in which boot-brushes, tins of polish, and polishing cloths can be kept. Ordinary whitewood, three-eighths of an inch thick is' used for all parts except the bottom, which is .made of tlnee-ply wood. For the sides of the box, cut two pieces of. wood to tlie sizes given at A. After planing both sides, mark out the

slanting top edges, and saw away the parts not required. Finish these edges, down to the marked line, with your small plane. The two end pieces 8.8 are eight inches long by three and a quarter inches wide. The centre partition C, which is S inches long by 4 inches wide, has a slot cut in the top to allow the handle to be gripped. To make the slot, drill two holes with a. three-quarter inch bit, cut the wood’away with a pad-saw, and round off the edges Avitli glasspaper.

A piece of plywood, 12j inches by 9 inches, is needed for the bottom, and this is fixed in place after the sides and ends are screwed together. TJyse countersunk screws, threequarters of ah, inch long, and, before marking the positions of the screw-holes see that the plywood projects one-eighth of an inch beyond sides and ends. The centre partition can be fixed by screws through-the sides and bottom of the box, after which, the handle can be screwed in place. This is simply a piece of wood three-eighths of an inch thick, 8f inches long, and 1A inches wide. The four long edges should be rounded off with glasspaper, especially at .the centre part which forms the handle. Finally, round off the projecting edges of the plywood, give the box a coating of varnish-stain inside and outside, allow it to dry thoroughly, and it is ready for use.—The Hut carpenter. COCO—OF THE COCOA-NUT You wouldn’t think there was anything very frightening about the cocoanut, would you? Yet the first part of the name “Cocoa” —is said to come from “coco,” a word little Spanish children use to describe an ugly face! If you look. at the nut, you will notice that the black marks at one encl certainly make it appear;Vath'er like aii unpleasant‘ face. As far back as 1700, a writer explained how the word “coco” was used! to Scare weej children, much as the expression “bogie-man” is ' used by some stupid people to-day. OUR SWEET-MAKING CORNER FRENCH NOUGAT Put a pound of icing, sugar into a saucepan with 2 tablespoonsful of hot water, and set the pan over the gentle heat. When the sugar has,dissolved, stir in the stiffly-beaten white of one egg, boil for one minute, then take the saucepan off the fire. Have ready some , peeled sweet almonds and a few glace cherries; stir these into the sugar mixture and, when well mixed, pour the nougat into a but-

Acred tin to set. When Cool, cut it into cubes with a sharp knife. If you drop the almonds into hot water so tiiat they peel easily, be sure they arc quite dry before adding them to the nougat. They can be placed on top of the stove in a tin to dry. TINE’S CROSS-WORD PUZZLE The word hidden in last week’s puzzje was “exonerate” —meaning, as I told you, “to free from blame.” Perhaps you discovered this first by solving the little problem picture we drew at te side of the puzzle. This showed X on ER with the figure eight beneath, and these signs, put together, read: exonerate. Full solution: ACROSS 1. Every. (Each). 4. Deeds. (Acts). 7. Passage in a church. (Aisle). 9. Compartment in a stable. (Stall). 10. Decay. (Rot). 12. Permit. (Let). 14. Hidden word. (Exonerate). 17. A lake. (Mere). 18. Vase-shaped vessels. (Urns). 10. Within. (In). 20. Part of verb ‘to be.’ (Am). 21. Measures. (Metes). ?3. A row. (Tier). 24. In a short time. (Soon). DOWN ,1. One who goes to extremes. (Extremist). 2. Fine kind of sugar. • (Castor). 3. Strike. (Hit). 4. Everything. (All). 5. Underground room. (Cellar). , ■ (>. Leading politician. (Statesman). 8. British Dominion (abb). (S;A.). 11. Animals. (Oxen). 13. Mountain in Sicily. (Etna). 15. At no time. (Never)-. 10. Controls. (Rules). 21. Pronoun. (Me). 22. Therefore. . (So). Now you sec a bird which is a kind of eagle. In fact one of its names is “sea-eagle,” hut its usual name is hid-' den in,the puzzle. See if you can find it. Clues: ACROSS 1. Cooking. 7. Whether. 8. Exclamation. 9. Conjunction. 10. Part of verb ‘to be.’ 11. Bird of —. _ 13. Hidden word. 15. Historical period. / 16. Conducted. 18. Soothe. ' . 1 19. Not bright. 20. Shines in the sky. . , DOWN 1. Used for puddings. 2. Preposition. 3. Having a keen edge. ■ ' 4. Less wild. 5. Negative. . . G. Grasp. 11. Hymn. 12.. Shouts. 13. Same as 9 across.' ■ ■■' 14. Pronoun. 15. Termination. ‘ 1 , . 17 Put on.