20 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
■who are under our care with good-natured frank¬ 
ness. Children will bear our corrections better, 
and get more benefit from them, if given privately. 
They will understand—will dimly feel, if they can 
not clearly see—that we wish to spare pain; that 
we have no wish to disgrace them in the esteem of 
others, but aim to assist them in overcoming a 
bad habit, or in preventing the forming of one. 
I was going to speak of another kind of criticism 
Fig. 1.— CUT-PAPER TOT. 
—fault-finding. It is quite too common in families, 
especially with regard to food. No doubt every 
kind of food is capable of being prepared in per¬ 
fection. No one but the cook—no one, indeed, but 
a cook who has the care of young children—can 
realize how many are the drawbacks to the attain¬ 
ment of one’s ideal in the prej>aratiou of a meal. 
It should be expected that sometimes the meat will 
be scorched or the bread slack-baked, even where 
there are no small children to break up one’s plans 
for good dinners. The housekeeper need not be 
reminded of each unpleasant fact in respect to her 
short-comings ; but she ought not to be hurt by a 
sympathetic remark on the subject. She ought 
not to expect that the members of her family will 
be absolutely blind to her failures, and fly into hys¬ 
terics at any mention of them. In this matter the 
children of a family will usually follow the exam¬ 
ple of the “paternal head.’ r Persons who have 
been trained to be as polite at home as they are 
abroad are comparatively free from fault-finding in 
the family. A meddlesome, dictatorial spirit is to 
be avoided always ; but the heart upon which the 
law of love is written can not help looking upon 
“the things of others ” with neighborly interest. 
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the 
law of Christ.” 
Cutting Paper Toys. —Children find wonderful 
pleasure in the use of scissors. Give them some- 
Fig. 2 .—cut-paper tot. 
thing that it is lawful to cut, or they will probably 
cut off their eye-lashes or front locks of hair, or 
scallop their own little frocks. At first they cut 
for the pure pleasure of cutting, but soon they 
want to “ make something.” Paper-cutting is one 
of the occupations of the Kindergarten. Good 
Froebcl! No observant'mother needs to be assured 
that lie was acquainted with live children. Before 
we knew what the occupations of the Kindergarten 
were, paper-cutting had become a favorite em¬ 
ployment at our house. 
“I am going to cut something pretty for you,” 
said a young auntie in our household to a three- 
year-old boy who was whining over some disap¬ 
pointment. She folded a square piece of paper, 
and after cutting it for a few minutes, unfolded a 
form of beauty that seemed quite marvelous to 
the child. “ There, sir! That is a toy for you,” 
said she, giving it to him. Now the boy cuts pret¬ 
tier “ toys ” than she ever showed him. Until 
very lately he expected some oue to mark them for 
him, but now he does the whole alone. I am de¬ 
lighted to see the little lingers learning care and 
precision in following the marks exactly with the 
scissors. Habits of industry will come from such 
employment, as well as from any other, better than 
from work that is hated. Are not children some¬ 
times made indolent by parents who think that 
“ good children ” are those that “keep still ” most 
of the time, and scold children for getting into 
mischief, but provide no pleasant occupation for 
the natural activities of childhood ? 
In the Kindergarten, paper-cutting is scientifically 
taught, step by step, until the results are very 
beautiful. The children are helped to mount their 
cuttings on Bristol-board, and give them as presents 
to others. If I could be a whole mother to each of 
my children, I would try to carry out the Kinder¬ 
garten course exactly ; but I would try still more 
to put each .child into a genuine “ garten ” as soon 
as it was three years old. As it is (I am not repin¬ 
ing) I can be only a fraction of a mother to each 
child, and, like most mothers, I have to devise ways 
and means to keep my children out of my way! 
Half a dozen “toys,” doubled and marked, will 
keep a child busy and happy a good while. For 
the benefit of those who have had no experience 
in this line, and who do not get my meaning clearly, 
I give a few examples. Better ones can be found 
in AVeiber’s “Paradise of Childhood.” The first 
ones should be very simple. The fortunate “kin¬ 
der” who cut paper in their “garten” have soft, 
colored paper to work with. My children use most 
the wrappers that come around newspapers. 
Corn Bread. —Let me tell you how grandma 
made some corn bread that was pronounced “ per¬ 
fect” not long ago. She had no kind of milk for 
mixing. She just 6calded the sifted meal thor¬ 
oughly, mixing it quite soft with nothing but water 
and a little salt. She steamed it two hours, and 
then baked it one hour. A little wheat flour was 
stirred in. Graham would have been better. 
Children’s Dresses. 
Mrs. J. AV. T. writes : I have often seen the chil¬ 
dren of parents in moderate circumstances more 
neatly, prettily, and more comfortably dressed than 
the children of the rich. This is due in some 
measure to the fact that those who have just enough 
means get materials that are warm and durable 
both in fabric and color; while those who have a 
plenty of money will load their children with finery. 
I don’t like to see a child dressed up so much, and 
so conscious of it, that all the simplicity and inno¬ 
cence of childhood is lost. Though, again, there 
are children whom no amount of dress can spoil— 
they wear it as naturally as a rose its bloom. 
| I have just been making a pretty dress for my 
little girl out of two which she had outgrown. One 
dress was a striped brown and drab mohair; the 
other a handsome red and black all-wool plaid, 
which latter I took for trimming. I put bias shoul¬ 
der-pieces and strips down the sleeves, around the 
wrists, and under the arms, and a band around the 
waist—apparently for ornament, but actually for 
the purpose of making the brown dress large 
a child’s dress made out op two. 
enough. I cut out the linings by a pattern that 
fitted the child nicely, taking the precaution to 
leave the buttons and button-holes in the back in¬ 
tact, and make the enlargement on the opposite 
side, under the arm and around the shoulder. As 
three inches had been turned in at the time of mak¬ 
ing the skirt in the first place, I had merely to trim 
it with two bias folds of the plaid, one somewhat 
wider than the other. 
Nothing adds more to the neat appearance of a 
child than well-fitting shoes, and stockings smooth 
on the leg. It is impossible to keep stockings 
smooth with the old-fashioned garter without hin¬ 
dering the proper circulation of the blood. I 
make a garter for my children which is used very 
generally by parents in cities, but may not have 
been thought of by mothers in some parts of the 
country. It is made as follows: Take two strips 
of broad elastic, each four inches in length. In¬ 
sert two of the ends together in a calico end large 
enough to allow a buttou-hole to be made. Keep 
the other two ends separate, and finish them off in 
the same way with a button-hole in each. There 
must be a button on the corset or waist under the 
arm, and two buttons on each stocking. Any one 
would know how to put them on, and there is no 
danger of the stocking being wrinkled, while the 
blood has free course. 
--»->- - 
A Convenient Cutting-Board. 
The board here figured is nothing new, but it is 
not in near as general use as it would be were it 
lap-cutting board. 
better known. A lady of our acquaintance who 
recently had oue made, now wonders how she ever 
did without oue. It is made to hold in the lap, and 
with a semicircular place cut out to accommodate 
it to the body. This board will be found very con¬ 
venient in cutting and fitting work for the sewing 
machine, as it can be used without the fatigue that 
attends standing over an ordinary table. 
