The San Francisco call. [volume], November 20, 1910, Page 6, Image 6

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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6
, \u25a0 \u25a0 •«
. yT* LARA and Matilda are ; two little
I cpusins, who live together in the
\u25a0 , same iiouse. go to the same school
and share the same-playroom. One
day, when' there" had been a season of
very bad weather, so that it was not
# . pleasant to play out of doors for long
*? .at a time and when several more days
• even harder storms were predicted
,/V^by.rthelr Uncle" George, who knew all
weather signs, /Clara and Ma
_>."' tilda grew a bit restless and decided
'r> they, would I like to invent some per
\u25a0";\u25a0 fectly, new/ kind o^ play, something
' that ! could be played' indoors and which
would be *very/ jolly. ' They thought
and thought for a very long time, when
'" : /^suddenly they were interrupted by the
' arrival of their Aunt Lillian.
"Oh, Aunt Lillian, what shall we play
,;that is brand new?" they cried. 5
"Well,*' said Aunt, Lillian, without
waiting* a single moment, to think,
"why don't you have a dolls' beauty
show?" / ' .' \u25a0 . ' \ \u25a0 .-" \u25a0\u25a0'.'''['-\u25a0 ; "
': Clara and Matilda looked at each
other in wide : eyed admiration, because
. they had never thought, of such a
"thing as a dolls' beauty, show before,
and they were perfectly delighted with
//the- -suggestion. "It's just the. very
thing," they said. .
. They started in at once to make
their arrangements. First they made a
/huge placard of cardboard and on this
they printed in huge letters the words:
DOLLS' BEAUTY SHOW ,
Friday Afternoon, After School
Clara and Matilda's House,
No. 3 • Union Street
All Entries Must Be in by
- 3 o'clock
PRIZES (PRIZES PRIZES
&i»T""~ "*» i- "\u25a0 ' 1 '"* .
( Then they wrote several similar no
tices ori'/small cards, put them in en
velopes and sent them' to the houses of
their girl friends. The large sign they
meant to fake to school with them and
ask the teacher, to permit them to put
tho. notice up inside the cloakroom.
After the announcement of the show
had been made the next thing to do
was to select tho prizes. Clara and
Matilda and their Aunt Lillian hunted
through the family jewel boxes for
trinkets which could be awarded as
prizes. Of course, these were the dolls'
Jewol boxes, not those of the human
beings.
Clara and Matilda had each four
dolls, all of which were quite well pro
vided with Jewelry, so that there were
really plenty of things that could be
given to the dolls who wore to com
pete in the contest.
"Here Is Elsanor Maud's watch,"
said Clara; "perhaps that would do for
one prize. She has had it a long time,
and she really ought to be willing to
givo it away,"
. Eleanor Maud was Matilda's very
best'l'arls doll, and uhe had quantities
of clothes and some very handsome
jewelry,
"I don't really think Eleanor Maud
would care to hiwe her watch used as
a prize for the beauty shop," said Ma
tilda rather coldly, for she did not
much like the Idea of giving away
Eleanor Maud's watch.
"Perhaps," Bhe suggested, "we. could
take 80-Peep's bracelet forgone of the
prisea."
It was now Clara's turn to look
gloomy, because 80-Peep was her best
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20. 1910.— 'I'll K JUNIOR CALL
doll and her bracelet was her favorite
possession. . She prized... it even more
highly than her sheep.
It looked for a moment as If there
were to be no prizes and perhaps not
even any show, but just at this most
trying /moment Aunt Lillian, came to
the rescue. ; .
"I don't really think," she said, "that
we should take away the other dolls'
jewelry for. prizes. That would, be
hardly fair. - But we can make some
very attractive new jewelry from
beads) and I happen to have some
beads that are exactly right for thisx.
purpose." . if'
Aunt Lillian then brought out a most i
fascinating box which contained -beads
of all colors and * several sizes/ and
sewing silk, cord and wire and some
small pins, for the hair. ;
First Aunt Lillian showed them how
to make .pearl earrings with some
beautiful pearl beads which were fas
tened to' thin wire so that they could be
placed , on the lobe of the doll's ear
very neatly,; while, the. wire was | ex
tended back to the ear and up to the
hair., * \ : \u25a0 » "* ' , .- .
For the first prize they made a lovely
pearl necklace, such as even the proud
est doll would be glad to win, and for
the' second they made a necklace of
blue beads that was almost as pretty
and quite as valuable, f. There was a
necklace of red beads for the third prize
and a bracelet of beautiful gold glass
beads for the fifth. The earrings were
thesixth.
\u25a0 Other prizes Were pins for, the hair of
gold,' crystal and colored jewels, which
were made on hairpins, the beads being
strung on -a small wire and twisted
around the hairpin. . .
When they had finished making*. the
prizes there Were the honorable men- \u25a0
tion ribbons to make. These were made
of white-ribbon, on which the words
"honorable mention" were written in
Ink. It was very difficult to mark them
without having the ink run, and eo
Aunt Lillian g*ot her indelible pencil,
which is used to mark table linen, etc.,
so that it will not get lost in the laun
dry. This did very nicely. After 'the
honorable mention ribbons were marked
a blue ribbon was marked "first prize"
and a red one "second prize." All the
rest of the awards were third prizes,
and they were to be accompanied by
yellow ribbons marked "third prize."
By this time all of one afternoon was
used up and Clara and Matilda were
obliged to wait until next day before
any more work was done on the dolls'
beauty show. When they went to school
the next day they werejmet by a twitter
of excitement, for most of the glrla had^
received the notices, of %the show and
they were anxious to learn all about it.
Those to whom notices had not been
sent gathered eagerly about the sign
The Wisdom of a Toad
A scientific journal tells this story
of a frog's cunning: "A brood of
chickens was fed with moistened
meal in saucers and when the dough
soured a little it attracted a large
number of Hies. An observant toad
had evidently noticed this, and -every
day toward evening he would make
his appearance in the yard, hop to a
saucer, climb in and roll over and over
until he was covered with meal, having
done which he awaited developments.
Tho flies, enticed by the smell, soon
swarmed around the scheming ba
trachian, aud, when one passed within
two inches or so of his nose, his tongue
darted out and tho fly disappeared.
This plan worked so well that the toad
made a regular business of it."
which the two gt/ls put up.ln the cloak
room, and both girls were showered
with questions as to what were the re
quirements for entering the show, etc.
It was , explained that there was no
charge of admission and' that every
body who had a doll to show was wel
come as an exhibitor. At recess time
Clara and Matilda were more popular
than they had ever been in their lives
before, and all the girls in, the school
declared that they were going,' to ex
hibit in the show even though some of
them had not played with dolls for a
:.< long t time.
'\u25a0^The excitement grew as the time for
f the; show drew near. Some girls. made
entire new costumes for their dolls and
others got- out. their old playfellows
and tried to renovate thelrcomplexions
and smooth their frayed locks Into
something like order. Meanwhile Clara
and Matilda arranged -the playroom
with rows of benches all around the
sides on'whlch the various entries were
to sit.. A small table was placed at the
/door, at which Aunt Lillian sat and
booked air the entries, giving each one
a number written on a slip of paper,
which ' number was pinned on the dollr
Friday afternoon saw a throng of
little girls carrying dolls of all sizes
to the home of Clara and Matilda.
There "were so many entries that the
benches were insufficient to accommo
date them, and additional places had
to be made by putting chairs back in
the center of the room.
.There" were dolls of every country as
well as whole 'hosts of beautiful bisque
maidens in fashionable American
clothes. There were old Dinah dolls,
funny rag dolls, old fashioned < wax
dolls, slant eyed Japanese' dolls, Indian
dolls with long back hair^ quaint Ger
man dolls, frivolous French beauties In
the very latest style of gowns and
coiffure; tiny china dolls, exquisitely
dressed by some great aunt of an ex
hibitor. Never before on any x occaslon,
even in the Christmas shops, did It
seem that doll land had been so well
represented. ,
\u25a0 Jane Austen, a doll dressed to repre
sent the well known authoress, was the
most famous doll who appeared. There
were several bride dolls. One "of the
most interesting dolls # at tho show was
Gretchen, a little German doll, who was
-not pretty at all, but so full of spirit
that she attracted every one's atten
tion. , . .
Cinderella, a beautiful doll In fine
clothes, came without her glass slipper
with the hope of finding a fairy prince.
There were several princesses, royal
and noble p«rsonages. One of the most
striking dolls present was Elizabeth,
a Hessian doll, In full peasant costume.
There was a beautiful boy doll who
read his book all through the exhibi
tion, and a doll who had been to the
Hading Mummies in Mexico
Mummified remains of persons who
existed hundreds of yeara ago have
been dug up in the work of excavating
that has been going on in the old cat
acomba of Guanajuato, Mexico. The
people, whose bodies wero discovered
must have lived long before the settle
ment of the republic, and the finds
have occasioned much interest among
scientific men. Borne of the bodies were
decked with beads and ivory trinkets
that were in vogue before the coming
of the Spaniards, so these people must
have lived in that part of the country
many centuries ago. The mummies
were discovered under an old cemetery
while excavations were being made by
some prospecting miners. — New York
World.
dentist's and .come away with a gold
tooth of which she was extremely
proud. The most forlorn looking doll
in the show was Jennie Marsh's rag
doll Sarah, who was" the oldest doll
present and had been handed down
through three generations of little
Marshes.
Instead of having judges who would
decide who should have the first prize
it was planned that, all those present
should vote on the prettiest doll and
that Aunt Lillian should count: the
votes. The first prize would go to the
doll having the most Votes and the
next prize to> the one having the next
highest vote, and so on.
Every visitor to the show was there
fore given a slip of paper and told to
write on it the number of the doll she
most admired. Of 'course many of the
visitors preferred their own doll to any
other — but not all. There were some
visitors who selected the doll that they
thought looked the best, whether it
was their own or not. Then there
were some mothers and sisters who
visited the show who had no dolls
there, and so there were enough dis
interested votes to decide the question
fairly.
At last'the great moment came when
Aunt Lillian took the box containing
all the slips on which the .numbers of
tho, dolls were written and began to
count them. Everybody gathered
around in breathless silence, .all ex
cept Lillie do Lille, who was so'sure
that her French beauty doll Avould win
that she thought it more polite to pro
tend she was very much Interested in
a general view of the exhibits.
Presently Aunt Lillian paused. The
slips of paper wero all arranged in
orderly piles on tho' table and the time
had come to -make the announcement.
\ Aunt Lillian looked very pleased, and
a bit puzzled, too. She smiled at the
little exhibitors and said mysteriously:
"Things have turned out very oddly. I
am very much surprised, and I think
you will be, too, but I am also very
much pleased, and I am sure you will
bo also."
Tho exhibitors waited expectantly.
What could Aunt Lillian meai\?
"Tho first prize," continued Aunt Lil
lian, in a clear voice, "goes to the
oldest doll in the show — No. 17 — which
la Sarah, tho big rag doll that belongs
to Mary Marsh."
Everybody looked perfectly aston
ished at this queer outcomo of tho
voting, and then suddenly there was a
burst of laughter, followed by pro
longed applause.
Then such a lot of conversation! The
room rang with it. Every one was ex
plaining how poor old Sarah, the home
liest doll in tho show, had happened to
win the first prize. /
"You. see," said Janle Marks, "I voted
for her because she looked so forlorn
that I thought she wouldn't .have an
other vote.t* *»;
"And I thought the same," said Ma
tilda, "and I did, too," said Sallie Red
fern, "and I," "and I," "and I," chorused
a host of others.
Then everybody had another laugh
and they all danced around Aunt Lil
lian while she fastened the long, beau
tiful pearl necklace over Sarah's plain
calico frouk.
Then the other prizes were awarded.
The beautiful French doll got the sec
ond prize and everybody was satisfied
With the way the other awards were
distributed.
After it was all over the girls de
clared that the show was the very best
fun they had ever had in their lives.
"Bqt the best of it all was that Sarah
g-ot the first prize," said Lillie de Lille,
"That was perfectly glorious," and
everybody agreed with her.