St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, Nov 1877-Nov 1878: No 1, Nov 1877Various
General
St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, Nov 1877-Nov 1878: No 1, Nov 1877
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals; Children's periodicals, American
* * * * *
Now, dear fancy-workers, little and big, surely Mother Santa Claus has
furnished you with ideas enough to keep you busy for more Christmases
than one. Just one thing more, and that is the manner in which the
presents shall be given. Nothing can be droller than to hang up
one's stockings, and nothing prettier or more full of meaning than a
Christmas-tree. But for some of you who may like to make a novelty in
these time-honored ways, we will just mention that it is good fun
to make a "Christmas-pie" in an enormous tin dish-pan, with a
make-believe crust of yellow cartridge paper, ornamented with twirls
and flourishes of the same, held down with pins, and have it served on
Christmas Eve, full of pretty things and sugar-plums, jokes and jolly
little rhymes fastened to the parcels. The cutting should be done
beforehand, and hidden by the twirls of paper; but the carver can
pretend to use his knife and fork, and spooning out the packages will
insure a merry time for all at table. And one more suggestion. Little
articles, wrapped in white paper, can be put inside cakes, baked and
iced, and thus furnish another amusing surprise for the "pie" or the
Christmas-tree.
* * * * *
We are indebted to Mrs. L. B. Goodall, Mrs. M. E. Stockton, Mrs.
Tolles, Miss Annie M. Phoebus, Miss M. Meeker, and Miss M. H. D.,
for designs and suggestions in aid of this article; and to the
"Ladies' Floral Cabinet" for some valuable hints on "Leaf-work."
* * * * *
LITTLE TWEET.
There were once some nice little birds who lived together in a great
big cage. This cage was not at all like the bird-cages we generally
see. It was called an aviary, and it was as large as a room. It had
small trees and bushes growing in it, so that the birds could fly
about among the green leaves and settle on the branches. There were
little houses where the birds might make their nests and bring up
their young ones, and there was everything else that the people who
owned this big cage thought their little birds would want. It had
wires all around it to keep the birds from flying away.
One of the tamest and prettiest of the birds who lived in this place
was called little Tweet, because, whenever she saw any of the family
coming near the cage she would fly up close to the wires and say,
"Tweet! Tweet!" which meant "Good-morning! how do you do?" But they
thought it was only her pretty way of asking for something to eat; and
as she said "Tweet" so much, they gave her that for a name.
One day there was a boy who came to visit the family who owned the
birds, and very soon he went to see the big cage. He had never seen
anything like it before. He had never been so close to birds that were
sitting on trees or hopping about among the branches. If the birds
at home were as tame as these, he could knock over lots of them, he
thought.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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