The WENDY HUT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 28 March 1936, Page 10

The WENDY HUT

PAST AND PRESENT STORIES

FOR A SONG!

Master Edmund Spenser, the poet, tied up one of his hooks with a green ribbon, the colour of the great ludois, and sent it to his Queen. He was writing a romance called "1 he haeiie Queene” and the name of the queen was Gloriana. because he dared not call her Elizabeth. All the same, everybody knew that the Court of Gloriana was really the Court ol Queen Elizabeth. Indeed, a few people began to address the Queen as Gloriana. Elizabeth herself was much entertained by Master Spenser’s poems, cspeeiallv 'the one about the Red'Cross Knight. The Red Cross Knight was another name for Saint George of England and. in the story, Gloriana sent him out to slay the dragon which ravaged the kingdom of the father of the good and beautiful Una. Una accompanied Saint George, the Red Cross Knight, hut was lost by the way and, after enduring many hardships, she was befriended by a lion. In the end she found Saint George again and led him to the House of Holiness, where his wounds healed.

Queen Elizabeth saw that this story had a hidden meaning. Gloriana. was herself the queen of a mighty kingdom in the making. The Red Cross Knight was the spirit ot Christianity which she sent into the world to slay the dragon who was sin. Una was Truth, which Gloriana defended. Elizabeth, who knew a great deal about writing because sbe was a scholar and wrote excellent letters and speeches herself, loved the beautiful words which Muster Edmund Spenser used. One day, after reading a new poem, slic turned to Lord Burleigh and told him to send one hundred pounds to Master Edmund Spenser as a royal gratuity. Now, a hundred

pounds was a very large sum of money in those days and Burleigh was utterIv amazed.

' “All that for a song!” lie exclaimed. “For a song, my Burleigh,” laughed the queen, knowing that the song would he remembered long after she and Burleigh were dead. And since that day, when we got something good for very little, we say we got it “for a song!”. A NOVEL BALL GAME This game, which can be made quite cheaply, will provide plenty of amusement. You will see by tiie first diagram that there is a backboard on which six divisions are built with projecting sides. These are joined at the bottom with a narrow strip of wood on which numbers are painted for scoring. Across the slanting tups of the partitions is a thin piece of wood in which holes are arranged centrally over the divisions. Three to six balls can be used in the game, the object being to pitch them

directly through the holes in the slanting hoard. The game can also he played by letting each hall bounce once before it enters one of the holes. Soft rubber or ping pong balls can be used. Cut a piece of quarter-inch plywood to the sizes given, for the back board A, the bottom part B, top part C, and front strip D. The part B is twenty inches long and three and a half inches wide, and has nailed to it the seven partition pieces as shown. These pieces, cut from wood three-eighths of an inch thick to the sizes given at E, are spaced two and a half inches apart and fixed in place with nails driven in through the hack hoard. In the sloping top part, C, make six holes, two inches in diameter, by first scribing circles with your compasses and then cutting out with a fret saw. Smooth round the edges with glasspaper, then fix the sloping top in place with line panel pins. After nailing on the front strip. D, point the wood and, when quite dry, paint in the numbers in a contrasting colour 'flic hack board should he placed against a wall, the players standing about live feet away.—The Hut Carpenter.

DRESS FOR A DOLL

I will tel! you how to make a new dress for a doll. The model sketched is very smart and quite easy to make. The measurements given will lit a doll measuring about twelve inches from

head to foot. If yours is larger, or smaller, you can easily adapt the pattern. Cut it out in paper first. There are five pieces in the dresshack. front, two sleeves and a sash. Diagram A gives the measurements and pattern ' for the hack and the front, which arc alike, and diagram B shows what a sleeve looks like. Cut a few inches down the centre fold from

the neck, at the back of the dress, for an opening, but he careful not to cut the front fold.

Having cut out the pieces of material by the paper patterns, join the little shoulder seams, then the sides. Hem the edge of the skirt neatly. Join the seams of the sleeves, run gatheringthreads along the top edges and pull up to ill the armholes. Tack in place, keeping most of the fullness on top, then stitcli firmly and whip over the inside raw edges. Bind the neck edge and the opening, then sew on pressfasteners. Hem the sleeve openings and thread in lengths of elastic to tit the doll’s arms. Make the sash from a strip of material eighteen inches long and three inches wide. Fold this in halves lengthways, join, turn right side out and hem the open ends. You can easily turn the tube by pushing it over a ruler or a large pencil. Trim the neck and hem of the dress with leaf trail embroidery, as shown in the diagram. This is so simple that you will be able to manage it without any drawing. Do the trail in stem stitch first, then work daisy-loop leaves on either side.

Next week we will make the doll’s underclothes. —Wendy’s Dressmaker. SWEET-MAKING CORNER CHOCOLATE BUTTER CARAMELS Take a piece of butter the size of a walnut and pound it with a wooden spoon till soft. Add two tablespoonsful of unsweetened cocoa and beat it into the butter with the spoon. Roll about half a pound of icing sugar till there are no lumps and sift this into the mixture. Have ready a little boiling milk, pour a small quantity over the mixture and work to a good stiff paste with the wooden spoon. Add milk, little by little, if the paste is too stiff; more sugar, if it is too thin. Beat until the paste looks like chocolate cream and will not run.

Scrape it out on to a china dish | which lias been very slightly buttered I and, if it does not shape itself, use the blade of a knife dipped into hot water to spread it to about one inch thick through. Leave to 'set, then cut into squares. The?" caramels should be soft with fairly hard skms on top. DREAMERS “Johnny is always in a day-dream.' 1 1 dont’ know how he is going to battle with life when he grows up.” This complaint is constantly heard from the mothers of young boys, who are obviously unable to concentrate happily on ordinary, everyday interests. It presents a difficult problem for day-dreaming arises fr.om a certain j psychological disharmony in the child, 1 neither simple to diagnose nor to remedy. ■ j The dreamy child seeks refuge from a j world which he finds unsympathetic to 1 him. He retreats within his own world of imagination, peopled with figures and fancies of his own brain. He cannot describe the world of his imagination and if he should attempt to do so is, ] as a rule, met with such amazement J that he does not repeat the effort. . The only reasonable method for the \ parents to adopt in such cases is to try i to find the cause of the trouble. It may be that the child was brought up in his earliest years by a nurse too old to play or be light-hearted with ;

him. Missing the small attentions and distractions which a younger nurse would be likely to confer, he has retired within himself and ceased to expect from outsiders the amusement lun nature craves. SUITABLE WORK AND PLAY On the other hand, his rate of mental development may have been somewhat more rapid than usual at his age. Treatment with ordinary childish methods has had tlic effect of turning his mind inwards to occupy itself xvitl dav-droams and imaginings. It is no uncommon thing for young people o confess how bored they used to be with the dolls and toy soldiers in their nuiscrv da vs. and how good feeling often promoted them to appear pleased when in reality tliev felt quite the reverse. It is 'Mi to parents to watch the rate of development in children so that the -rowing mind may be properly nourished. Interest the child both ill Ins work and his play, and he will cease to daydvoam and get down to action. —L.b. A WISE PARROT AN EASTERN FABLE Or.cc upon a time, years and ycai s a a o, a rich man set out upon a joumej. Before lie did so lie went to liis parrot and said, “Is there anything you would like me to do when I arrive in distant lands?” ~ . , ‘ “if you should come to the forest from which I came,” said the parrot, “tell mv relations I live in a cage.” “Certainly,” replied the merchant, and tlic next day lie set off. Aftei lie had been travelling for a long time" he came to a huge forest and, seeing many birds flying round that resembled his pet, lie gave them the message. Oil hearing it, one of the parrots gave a gasp of horror, fluttered down to the ground, and lay lifeless. The merchant was surprised, aim when lie got home told liis own parrot the story. To his dismay it also gave a greast gasp and rolled oyer on the floor of liis cage. “Alas!” cried the merchant, as lie sadly took the bird out of the cage, “these two affectionate creatures have both died of sorrow.” Suddenly the parrot jumped up and flew away. “No,” lie cried, “my brother parrot and I are not dead. Though you did not know it you brought me a message from him which sltowed me how to get free!” And with that the parrot flew happily off. A FIGURE EXERCISE Ask your sister to write down the digits ill order, 1 to 9, but omitting 8, as 1,2, 3,4, 5,0, 7, 9. Then suggest that she should select a number that she thinks is badly made. Suppose 4 is chosen. Let her multiply the digits by four with this result: —49,382,710. Now request her to multiply this .total by 9, and she will thus have nine more occasions to improve on the badly written figure. For example, 49,382,710 x 9—444,444,444. Whatever figure is chosen it should be the first multiplier and 9 the second.

TINE'S CROSS-WORD PUZZLE Solution to last week’s puzzle: — ACROSS. 1. “Last” changed and used for seasoning. (Salt). !). Put back “snail at I” and make . . people who are in dispute with Abyssinia. (Italians). 0. Part of verb “to be.” (Is). 7. Bad. (111). 10. Something to eat which sounds as though it might be sour. (Tart). 14. Bound from “.tide.” (Tied). This is not the truth. (Lie). 16. Girl’s name. (Ada). 17. Famous city of 7 down. (Rome). 18. Scheme. (Plan). 19. 'Word of agreement. (Yes). 20. Obtains. (Gets). DOWN 1. Short for South Africa. - (S.A.). 2. Baba. V (Ali). 3. Catalogue. (List). 4. Baby’s thank you. , (Ta). 7. Country of the 5. (Italy). 8. Cover. .(Lid). 9. Jumps from .“peals.” (Leaps). 11. Not in company. (Alone): 12. Edge. . (Rim). 13. The years from 13 to 19. (Teens). 17. Fragment. ‘ (Rag).

Another which will make you think —I have given the kind of clues some of you like, • ACROSS 1. This is used for cooking. 0. .Compass point. 7. Girls name. 8. pomes in, or may be “resent.” 0. Something sour. 10. Exclamation. 11. About. 12. Fury—out of “gear.” 14. Closer. 15. Another girl’s name. 10. Six less than this number. 17. Rested. \ ■ . . DOWN ' 1., Twelve wanted for a-shilling. ; 2. “Tina” is . against, j 3. Require, j 4. Possesses. 5. Far round the—parent. 8. Turn the letters in 14 across and you will find him. 10. “Get an” obliging deputy. 12. These pests show a twinkler com- ] ing up. ;«!3. Region. v 14. You can take this if you turn 1 1 across.

Farmer: Hey, what are vou doing in that apple tree?” Bov: “Believe it or not, mister, but I’ve just fallen out of an aeroplane.”