The American Boy’s Handy Book by Daniel Beard, 1882.
This is a Victorian activity book for boys, focusing particularly on outdoor seasonal activities. It was not the first book of its kind during the Victorian era, but the author explains in the preface that he wanted to create a book of sports, games, and activities that would be better than the ones that he knew from his own youth, with instructions that were well-written, complete, and easy to follow, particularly written for American boys, without some of the foreign phrases found in other books or tips that would be impossible for them to use, like recommendations for shops in London that sell equipment for the various activities and pastimes.
The book is now public domain and available to read for free online through Internet Archive.
Historical Background
Daniel Beard wasn’t just an author who had an interest in providing useful guides to fun activities for American boys; he was also a social reformer who was one of the founding members of the Boy Scouts of America. Before the Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910, there were other, smaller scouting organizations throughout the United States, and Daniel Beard had founded one of these groups in 1905, which he called the Sons of Daniel Boone. This group later went through a couple of name changes before Beard joined the Boy Scouts of America and merged his group with theirs.
The Beard family in general believed in the benefits of exercise, appreciation of the natural world, and healthy outdoor activities for youth people, both male and female. Daniel’s sisters, Lina and Adelia, would later be founding members of the Camp Fire Girls, the first major scouting organization for girls in America, during the 1910s, a cause which Beard also supported. (Camp Fire Girls was founded before the founding of the Girl Scouts. It had the opportunity to merge with the Girl Scouts at one point but didn’t. Today, it is now a co-ed scouting organization simply called Camp Fire.) A few years after the publication of The American Boy’s Handy Book, Lina and Adelia published their own book of activities specifically for American girls called The American Girl’s Handy Book, which had somewhat of an outdoor focus but not as much as The American Boy’s Handy Book or some of the other books that they would later write. These were not the only books that the Beards published, and they would later go on to write more books about activities and wilderness skills for boys and girls.
Contents of the Book
The activities in this book are organized by season, which makes sense because of the largely outdoor focus of the activities. Within each section, there are more specialized sections, focusing on particular pastimes in each season. The American Girl’s Handy Book follows the same seasonal organization, but The American Boy’s Handy Book doesn’t mention holidays as much as The American Girl’s Handy Book. There is only one holiday section in this entire book, and the holiday is the Fourth of July. Later editions of the book also have some extra notes and projects in the back.
My copy of the book has a foreword written in modern times, part of which notes that some of the activities in the book are not really recommended for modern children because they are not suitable for kids living in urban or suburban environments and because some of them are outright dangerous and involve fire. At least, children should not attempt these activities without close supervision and help. Some 19th century people managed to play with fire and not hurt themselves, partly because more of them lived in the countryside, away from houses that could be set on fire, and like the author of this book, also lived in places in the Midwest and East Coast that see a lot of rain, keeping plants and fields from drying out and becoming more flammable, and could also be near lakes, ponds, and rivers. However, not everyone lives in those types of places these days. (If you want an indication of what could possibly go wrong with trying some of the more flammable activities in the book, consider what’s happened with some of the more flammable or explosive gender reveal parties in modern times. Consider your environment before deciding whether these activities are feasible.) Also, not everyone from the 19th century or 20th century pulled off these activities unscathed, and it’s the ones who did get hurt or caused serious damage that make the concern. The writer of the foreword describes how a 19th century boy lost a leg attempting the fire balloon activity with his friends years before this book was published. (The fire got out of control, and his leg was badly burned when he tried to put the fire out.) That being said, there are many interesting activities in this book that are perfectly harmless and fire-free and that kids from any era can try, even those who don’t live in the countryside.
Spring
The spring section is mainly about making and flying kites and going fishing. The kites section explains how to make different types of kites in different shapes, like people, frogs, butterflies, fish, turtles, and dragons. One of these designs, called The Moving Star, involves attaching a lit lantern to the tail of a long kite. This kite is meant to be flown at night, so the light will bob in the air. It’s an interesting concept, although the instructions mention that certain types of lanterns are likely to just set fire to the kite. (I think I know how the author knows this.) The book provides instructions for making a custom lantern that will work better. This custom lantern featured a candle that is stuck between nails that are supposed to hold it in place, and it is supposed to be covered with red tissue paper (which is also sure to catch fire if that candle gets loose and falls over while it’s flying around). I’ll admit that the effect is probably neat, if you can pull it off without setting fire to something, but setting something on fire seems to be a likely outcome. This is one of the activities which wouldn’t work well for modern kids, especially if they live in places with highly flammable brush or dead grass and weeds or in the middle of areas with a lot of houses or apartments that would be set on fire if the flying lantern gets out of control (which is, apparently, a distinct possibility). Of course, thanks to modern technology, a battery-operated light could be an option.
There is also a section about war kites, which can be used for kite fighting.
The rest of the spring section is about different methods of fishing, how to make fishing tackle, and how to keep aquariums.
Summer
The summer section has more variety, although many of the activities are ones that modern boys can’t do if they live in an urban or suburban environment. There is more information about fishing in this section and how to make and sail different types of boats. I thought that the water telescope, which can be used to look at things under water, was really interesting. The book provides two sets of instructions for making a water telescope, one wooden and one metal.
There is also information about different types of knots and how to tie them, blowing soap bubbles with a clay bubble pipe, and how to camp outside without a tent. The section about soap bubbles mentions “an aged negro down in Kentucky” whom the author knew as a child called “Old Uncle Cassius.” Uncle Cassius used to smoke a corn cob pipe, and he liked to amuse the children by blowing soap bubbles. The reason why the author brings up the subject of Uncle Cassius is that he had a particular trick where he would blow smoke-filled bubbles by filling his mouth from smoke from his own pipe before blowing some through the bubble pipe. The term “negro” is a bit archaic now, and I wouldn’t recommend smoking in general, but the author’s memories of Uncle Cassius seem to be fond ones, which is nice. The book doesn’t say whether or not Cassius was a slave, but the author was born in 1850, so my guess is that Cassius was either a slave or had been one earlier in life.
The section about soap bubbles also describes how children can use the gas from the gas lighting in their homes to blow bubbles, another activity that modern children can’t do.
As I mentioned before, fire is important to certain activities in this book. For Fourth of July, there are instructions for making a special kind of balloon that rises with heat produced by fire. They’re sort of like sky lanterns, made of paper. However, instead of having a place to set a small candle, these balloons have a “wick-ball”, which is a ball of rolled-up wick string, the kind used in an oil lamp, which is then soaked with alcohol and set on fire. The author notes that other people who make this type of balloon use small sponges instead, but he doesn’t think they’re as good because they don’t burn long, and as they burn out, the balloon comes back down, near where it started. He prefers to make a wick-ball so that it will continue burning and float out of sight. (I can’t help but notice that the sponge balloons, not burning for long and coming down nearby would also probably be easier to control and monitor for fire risk than the wick-ball balloons, which will float off to God-only-knows-where and get caught on who-knows-what before fully burning out.) The author says that he used to experiment with these as a child and has notes about which shapes are unsafe. Generally, it’s best to make them large and round, without a long neck at the opening. (As I said, the modern foreword in my copy notes that these types of balloons are actually dangerous and that kids have been injured trying to use them. This is why you don’t tend to see this type of activity suggested in modern children’s hobby books. Try it only at your own risk and remember that you’re responsible for any fires you start in the process. If you live in an urban setting or an area with a high risk of wildfires, don’t do it at all.)
There is quite a lot of information about activities involving real birds, like collecting bird nests and raising wild birds. (The modern view is that wild animals should be left wild and not kept as pets.)
There are also instructions for different types of hunting and how to make hunting weapons, including blow guns. In Meet Samantha from the Samantha, An American Girl series, she mentions that she read the instructions for how to make a boomerang in The American Boy’s Handy Book and that she wants to make and sell boomerangs to raise money to buy a new doll until her grandmother talks her out of it because that isn’t a proper activity for young girls. This is the part of the book where the boomerang instructions are, p. 190. Meet Samantha doesn’t say why Samantha was reading The American Boy’s Handy Book instead of The American Girl’s Handy Book in 1904, but that passage is mainly there to show the difference between what were considered acceptable activities for girls vs. acceptable activities for boys.
Autumn
The autumn section is much shorter than the previous two sections. It has information about trapping animals and practicing taxidermy. There is also a section about how to keep and train a pet dog. (Remember, that’s a commitment for life, not just for autumn.)
The part that I liked the best was the section about how to be a “decorative artist.” It teaches boys about photographic paper, how to make shadow pictures, and how to enlarge and reduce images.
Winter
The winter section has both indoor and outdoor activities, and the outdoor activities are designed for places with snow. (The author was born in the Midwest and lived on the East Coast of the United States, so these are the environments he considers for his outdoor activities.) He describes snowball fights, snow forts and houses, snow statuary, different types of sleds and sleighs, snow-shoes, and how to fish in winter.
For the indoor activities, there are instructions for making puppets and a script for a puppet show version of Puss-in-Boots. There are also tips for making costumes for people, so children could perform their own theatricals.
I particularly liked the sections about how to make and use magic lanterns and how to make different types of whirligig toys. The magic lantern was a kind of early slide projector. The whirligigs were homemade toys that would spin.
This is an early Victorian era book for girls (first published shortly before the beginning of the Victorian era in 1837 and reprinted during the era), giving instructions for games, activities, and handicrafts. I bought my copy, a reproduction of the original, at a historical museum in Indiana while I was visiting relatives, but it’s also available through Amazon (including a Kindle edition) and for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies). Different editions of the book have slightly different arrangements of the content.
Usually, I put the information about where to find the book at the end of the end of the review, and I give historical details after the plot summary in order to cut down on spoilers. However, in this case, I’m going to do it the other way around because it will help you to understand more about what this book is and what it’s not. I know you’re interested in the activities in the book, but first, you’re going to get a brief history lesson.
To really understand the goals of this book, it helps to understand who the author was.
About the Author
The author, Lydia Maria Child has a fascinating history. She was an American author, teacher, and journalist from Massachusetts. She was also an abolitionist and an advocate for women’s rights and the rights of Native Americans, disapproving of the concept of white supremacy and the United States’ policy of westward expansion. She wanted to expand the rights of women, but she believed that the end of slavery would have to come first, and her husband supported these beliefs as well. Child said that she didn’t believe in all-female societies. She believed that men and women should work together in equal partnership. Her beliefs about both women’s rights and slavery caused controversy in her time, but she was also a popular author, writing both fiction and nonfiction during the 1820s through the 1850s. Oddly, the one piece of her writing which is most familiar to modern people is a Thanksgiving poem which was later made into a song: Over the River and Through the Wood (1844, originally titled The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day). (Note: In the song, they’re going to grandmother’s house, but in the original poem, it said they were going to grandfather’s house. Now you know!)
The Girl’s Own vs. The Boy’s Own
As you might have guessed, there was a Boy’s Own before there was a Girl’s Own. Actually both of these phrases, or variations on them, have been used for different types of publications, particularly during the 19th century. However, I want to explain that The Girl’s Own Book and the earlier The Boy’s Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversions, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth by William Clarke (published in England in 1828 and in the US in 1829) were both older and not connected to later children’s magazines with similar titles like Boy’s Own Magazine (19855 to 1890), The Boy’s Own Paper (1879 to 1967). Both The Girl’s Own Book and The Boy’s Own Book were reprinted during the 19th century and helped to inspire later books and magazines for children with similar themes. (Later, I’m going to be covering some of the children’s activity books and how-to guides that came after these books for some comparison. I’m not going into much detail on The Boy’s Own Book yet because I haven’t gotten hold of a copy to do it.)
The full title of The Boy’s Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversions, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth explains basically what the book was about. It was a guide to boys’ sports, games, and activities to provide boys with wholesome fun and entertainment and some useful skills. The Girl’s Own Book basically does the same thing for girls. As the title suggests, it has more of a feminine focus than The Boy’s Own Book, but remember that the author believed in the equality of men and women and the expansion of women’s rights and education. What I’m trying to explain is that, even though this book was first published just before the beginning of the Victorian era and read and reprinted during the era, it’s not all about tea parties, proper dress and manners, and sewing stitches or the stuffy parts of Victorian society that modern people often think of. (Although there are sewing stitches in this book. That was pretty much a given.)
The author believed in exercise and healthy outdoor activities as well as practical indoor activities. There are quiet indoor activities, which would be necessary, given that the author lived in a place where it snows in the winter, and everyone would need to find ways to entertain themselves and keep busy indoors, but the book is not confined solely to that. In the preface to the book, Lydia Child describes how she tried to include a wide variety of activities and notes that, by trying to provide a selection that would appeal to a wide audience, she knows that she will not please everyone, but she explains her goals in doing so:
“Some will say there is too large a proportion of games; others will smile at the directions for sewing and knitting; some may complain that the frequent recommendation of active exercises will tend to make their children rude and disorderly; others will think too much is said about gracefulness and elegance; some will call the conundrums old, others will say they are silly, and others, that they should have been entirely excluded. I knew I could not avoid numerous criticisms, and therefore, I did not write with the fear of them before my eyes. In this land of precarious fortunes, every girl should know how to be useful; amid the universal dissemination of knowledge, every mind should seek to improve itself to the utmost; and in this land of equality, as much time should be devoted to elegant accomplishments, refined taste, and gracefulness of manner, as can possibly be spared from holier and more important duties. In this country, it is peculiarly necessary that daughters should be so educated as to enable them to fulfill the duties of a humble station, or to dignify and adorn the highest. This is the reason why I have mingled a little of every thing in the Girl’s Own Book.”
In other words, people often have different priorities about they want to spend their time and what they think is best for children. It was as true back then as it is today. Lydia Child tried to provide a variety of activities for a well-balanced approach (which I think sounds like a good idea), but she knew that there was always the chance that people would disapprove of at least some of what she recommended because of their own tastes and priorities. It also says something about Lydia Child’s priorities that, even while wanting greater equality for women, she still prizes gracefulness and elegance and wants to girls to maintain good manners, finer feelings, and a sense of femininity in their activities. However, she is not so narrow in her views of grace and femininity that she would excluded outdoor games and exercises for girls. Again, she tries to maintain a balance, although her balance isn’t quite the same as the modern view because tastes have changed over time.
As you read through the book, it becomes obvious that Lydia Child had city girls in mind as well as girls who lived in the countryside. During the 19th century, because of increasing industrialization, more people were moving to towns and cities for new employment opportunities. With these growing urban environments, parents were concerned that their children engage in wholesome pastimes and healthy exercise, learn useful skills, and have some knowledge of outdoor skills and nature, no matter where they lived. These concerns are reflected in this book and would continue to be reflected in later children’s activity books of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Although, some of the health and exercise advice is overly cautious compared to today’s standards.
So what about modern children? Would any of these activities appeal to modern girls and their families? In some cases, I think so. I think that the section that would be the most interesting to children, is the very first section, which is about games. There are many Victorian parlor games that are still played today, although some of them are played in different variations. Actually, I’ve been surprised at how many Victorian talking games or guessing games have become popular games to play on long car trips.
Other parts of the book contain outdated information and would probably be more of interest to adults who are interested in historical attitudes and habits of the Victorian era. In spite of Mrs. Child’s apparent egalitarian attitudes and anti-slavery attitude, there are a couple of parts of this book that are racially problematic, and I’ve made notes regarding them. I wouldn’t call them shocking, but I would say that some there is a short story near the end of the book that I found particularly distasteful and inappropriate for modern children.
I think that probably the best use of this book with children would be to select certain games or exercises for them to try and use some of the information in the book to explain what it was like to grow up in the 19th century.
Contents of the Book
The table of contents for my copy of the book (as in others I’ve seen) is organized more like an index than a table of contents. I mean that the activities are sorted alphabetically, not in the order in which they actually appear in the book, although the page numbers are given, so you can find them. However, as you read through the book, the contents are actually organized into sections which are not mentioned in the table of contents. Oddly, there are occasional bits and pieces inside different sections or between them that don’t seem to belong, probably because the author just couldn’t find a better place to put them. Some sections end with a poem related to the subject of the section. There are some illustrations, but they are small, and I wish that there were more of them to better explain some of the concepts in the book.
It would take too long to describe everything in this book in detail, so I’m just going to give some examples of the contents of each section. The lists below are not complete lists, just examples of what you’ll find in each section.
Games
This section in my book begins immediately after two songs are provided – Hot Cross Buns and Little Nancy. Some of the online copies I’ve seen go straight to the games without the songs. Again, this isn’t the complete list of games because there are just too many to describe, but these are some examples. This is a very long section, and there are many other games besides what I describe here. There are both outdoor games and indoor games.
The Butterfly and the Flowers – A short play to perform.
How Do You Like It? When Do You Like It? And Where Will You Put It? – A guessing game. I covered a variation of this game on my Historical Games site, in the Victorian section. (Yes, I know this is a game that could easily have a lot of innuendo because of the phrasing, depending on the mentality of the players, but this is intended to be a completely innocent game for children. How you play is up to you.)
Mr. Red-Cap – This game is basically the same as Who, Sir? Me, Sir?, except that version uses numbers in place of the names of the players, and in Mr. Red-Cap, all of the players call themselves by color of cap, like Mr. Red-Cap, Mr. Blue-Cap, etc.
Cries of Paris – The players pretend to be street peddlers in Paris, crying out their wares to sell. The author suggests that this can be used to practice French lessons for children learning the language. One player calls out to the peddlers, asking each in turn for something related to their wares (like a type of fruit from a fruit seller, a type of flower from a flower seller, or a type of fish from a fish seller). When a peddler’s name is called, they have to give the appropriate cry for their wares, then tell the first player that they don’t have whatever the player requested, and then name another player for that person to ask. If anyone forgets to cry their wares or if the asking player gets confused and asks someone for something that isn’t related to their profession or repeats the same request twice, that player has to perform a forfeit (a common feature of Victorian parlor games, something like the dares from a game of Truth or Dare).
The Musical Oracle, or Magic Music – One person leaves the room, and the other players decide on something that player should do when she comes back in. When the player comes back into the room, one of the other players begins playing some music on the piano, as the absent player tries to guess what the other players want her to do, the piano player tries to give the absent player hints by playing faster or louder when the person is close to guessing what to do and more softly when they’re guessing wrong.
Buz! – Now a classic car game for modern children. The players take turns counting up from one, but they have to replace every seven and every number that is a multiple of seven with “buz!”
Thus Says the Grand Mufti! – Similar to Simon Says.
I Spy! – This game is not the same as the modern I Spy car game, where you have to spot something that starts with a certain letter. The rules for 19th century I Spy are basically the same as modern Hide-and-Seek.
Hide and Go Seek! – Nope, this isn’t the same as I Spy or modern Hide-and-Seek. It’s actually more like Hunt the Thimble. One person leaves the room while the others hide some small object, like a thimble or handkerchief. Then, the player who left the room comes back in and starts looking for the object, while the others use a system of “hot” and “cold” to give hints to where it is.
Blind Man’s Buff – As the book notes, this game really is ancient. It’s been played for literally thousands of years, in one form or another. The rules are simple. One person is blindfolded and tries to grab hold of the other players, who dodge around the blindfolded person. If the blindfolded person grabs someone, she has to guess who she’s caught. If she guesses correctly, that person and the blindfolded person change places. If she guesses wrong, she has to let the person go and try again.
Shadow Buff – I included this one partly so I could include the following quote from the instructions: “This is the best kind to play in winter’s evenings. It is so quiet and safe that it disturbs no one: and good little girls will never play noisy games, without first ascertaining whether it will be pleasant to parents and friends. Thinking of the wishes and feelings of others, even in the most trifling things constitutes true politeness; and those who are habitually polite at home, will be so when they are abroad without any effort.” I think I can hear some snide remarks and snickers from modern people off in the distance. I don’t really mind this sentiment (except for the misplaced commas, which I copied as they appeared in the book). Personally, I think a lot of life’s stupidest problems and pettiest arguments could be avoided entirely by a little forethought for others’ feelings and a little direct communication (like actually asking somebody if they’re okay with something instead of just guessing or assuming they are), and these things do become habit the more you do them.
But, getting back to the actual game, all you need to play it is a white cloth (like a curtain, sheet, or table cloth) and a light source. Hang the white cloth up like a screen and have one person sit facing it. The light source is behind this person, and so are the other players (although I’ve heard of other versions where you can arrange this differently.) The other players have to walk between the seated person and the light source so that their shadows are cast on the white cloth. The seated person, without turning around to look at the other players, has to guess whose shadow is being cast on the cloth. The other players can make this harder by putting on hats or shawls or making cloth turbans for themselves or walking in strange ways in order to confuse the guesser.
French and English – This is basically tug-of-war without the rope. Divide the players in half and have the leaders of each team hold hands in the middle, over a line marked on the ground. The object is to pull the opposing team over the line. Games of London Bridge or Oranges and Lemons often end with a similar tug-of-war.
Lydia Child says, “This game being merely a trial of strength, may be thought unsuitable to little girls; but I know that families of brothers and sisters are very fond of it.”
Instructive Games
These are specifically games that are meant to teach something.
Geographical Game – This basically describes a map-based jigsaw puzzle, although the book doesn’t use that term. They paste a map onto wood and then cut it into pieces. This section also offers variations on the concept, like making little holes in the map boards in which you can put pegs with the names of cities in order to help children learn the locations of important cities.
The rest of this section describes games with different educational themes in which the movement of counters is controlled by a numbered teetotum (spinning top). From the description, I think that these are themed board games like the Game of Goose (which did exist), but I wish that there were pictures in this section to help explain.
Games of Memory
These are not meant to be educational games. In fact, Lydia Child goes on a rant about how memorizing words without understanding the sense behind them means nothing. Remember that Mrs. Child was also a teacher. She states, “I have known little girls who could remember anything you gave them to learn; but who in fact knew nothing. I have seen scholars who knew every word of their lessons, but did not know what the words meant.” I have to admit that I remember from my own student days that some students would just memorize things for the tests and promptly forget them afterward because they never really understood any of it and didn’t really care; it was just a required class, not one that they actually wanted to take. Lydia Child isn’t wrong.
As for the memory games here, most are about repeating phrases that are just nonsense or a rhyme that are part of the game, like The House That Jack Built. There are also some tongue twisters. Interestingly, she also includes similar games in French, which could be used to practice French lessons.
Forfeits
As I explained, this is a common feature of 19th century games, where someone has to perform a funny stunt, kind of like the dares in Truth or Dare, if they lose or make a mistake during a game. This section gives some particular examples of forfeits, similar to the ones I have listed on my Historical Games site.
Active Exercises
Lydia Child believed in healthy exercise for girls, but with some reservations. People back then were more cautious and protective of girls in terms of physical exercise. Again, I can’t list everything under this section because it would be too long, so this is a sample.
Swinging – This is one of the sections which sounds overly cautious by today’s standards. Making sure that the ropes are strong and that the seat is secured well is good advice when setting up a swing, but there is also a warning against racing on the swings, trying to swing higher than other girls (“a very foolish ambition”). I can see the sense that kids might fall off when swinging too high, but the warnings that I got as a child were against jumping off the swings in mid-air, which this book doesn’t even consider.
Jumping Rope – Mrs. Child believes that jumping rope is healthy as long as it is not carried to excess. She says that she has known girls to burst blood vessels after jumping an excessively high number of times (in the hundreds) because they challenged each other and kept gong even though they were really too tired. I’ve never seen that happen myself, but I suppose it’s possible. I came from a generation that was more likely to go inside and collapse in front of the tv when we got tired, but people could do many strange things when that wasn’t an option. In general, I would say, if you’re getting really tired while doing anything, and you can tell that you’re reaching your limits, it’s time to stop. Don’t just keep going to see what happens.
La Grace – This is an activity that I’ve often seen girls doing at living history museums. They use pairs of sticks to toss and catch a small hoop decorated with ribbons. As the book notes, this game is also called The Graces or The Flying Circle.
Snow-Balling – Lydia Child doesn’t really describe this activity very much, so I suppose it’s pretty self-explanatory: making snow balls. Mrs. Child says, “I like this exercise, because it is played in the open air. Endurance of cold is a very good thing: it makes the constitution hardy. But, rudeness and violence must never be allowed in this, or any other game: little girls should never forget that they are miniature ladies.”
Bow and Arrow – Mrs. Child says that archery is popular in England and that she hopes that more Americans adopt the hobby. “Of all things in the world, health is the most important. I fear our little girls do not take sufficient exercise in the open air.”
Calisthenics – “This hard name is given to a gentler sort of gymnastics suited to girls. The exercises have been very generally introduced into the schools in England, and are getting into favour in this country. Many people think them dangerous, because they confound them with the ruder and more daring gymnastics of boys …” These are simple exercises, like arm circles and toe touches. There are also a number of exercises to be done with a baton and instructions for using a horizontal bar (swinging from it by the hands and even letting go and catching it again) and a triangle (a bar suspended by strings attached to each end).
Dancing – “Many people object to dancing, because they consider it a waste of time; but I believe it is only wrong when too much time is given to it, to the neglect of more important duties. Children must have exercise; and dancing is healthy, innocent, and elegant.”
Baskets
This is exactly what it sounds like, how to make different types of baskets. The baskets are made with a variety of materials besides the typical straw baskets, including beads strung on wire, moss and, in a kind of odd science experiment, alum crystals coating a basket made of wire or willow.
Tacked on at the end of the basket-making section is a short section called “Witchcraft with Cards.” This has nothing to do with the occult or with baskets in any way. It’s more of a prank or magic trick, demonstrating how to arrange all of the cards in a deck of 52 cards so that you can memorize the order of all of them by using a mnemonic phrase and amaze your friends.
Ornaments
How to make decorative objects and how to decorate ordinary objects, like how to make regular glass tumblers look more like decorative china, how to make fancy paper or cardboard fans, how to cut paper in lace patterns, and how to decorate scrap boxes (boxes pasted with cut out pictures, like the one that Samantha makes in the American Girls book Samantha’s Surprise).
Puzzles, Riddles, Charades
This section contains riddles, both in English and French, and puzzles like rebuses, logogriphs, and anagrams and explains how to solve them. The answers to them are provided in a different section.
I had a moment of worry when I noticed that a couple of riddles mentioned Jews because I was afraid that they might turn out to be anti-Semitic jokes, but when I checked the answers, they just turned out to be really corny puns. (Ex. “Why is Mr. Bradford’s brewery like a Jewish tavern?” “Hebrews drink there. (He brews.)” Ha, ha.) Not great, but nothing really insulting or demeaning.
Automata
This section, in the form of a conversation between a girl and her aunt, explains different types of mechanical automata (which is the correct plural of automaton, as it carefully points out) that have been made in countries all over the world.
Needle-Work
This section gives tips for basic sewing and mending (Mrs. Child has some definite criticism for girls who don’t know how to properly assemble a garment and who resist learning) and also explains different types of needle crafts, like embroidery and knitting. There are several suggested beginning sewing projects, like different types of bags and pin cushions. I was amused by the notes on some of the projects, noting which ones Mrs. Child considers too much trouble to be worth the result. In fact, the section about embroidery says, “This is nearly out of fashion; and I am glad it is: for it is a sad waste of time. I call it a waste, because things so much more beautiful can be produced with so much less trouble than used to be bestowed upon tent-stitch, print-stitch, &c.” However, she does go on to discuss a type of embroidery that she does recommend and gives tips for working embroidery.
I think that the entire needlework section would have benefited from more detailed instructions and more pictures, but I also had the feeling that Mrs. Child assumed that the girls reading this would have been familiar with at least the basics of the concepts involved and/or would have their mothers to help guide them through any projects they decided to try. Therefore, much of this section is devoted to providing inspiration and advice for choosing projects to undertake and admonitions against bad working habits.
Bees
This section gives information about bees, describing how they live in colonies with a queen, except for certain types of solitary bees, and what their hives are like. It also describes what the stings of bees look like under a microscope, how bees do not sting unless threatened and die after stinging, and how to treat a bee sting. There is no activity associated with this section. It’s just interesting information.
Silk Worms
Like the section about bees, this section provides factual information. It describes the lives of silk worms and how people in China harvest the silk. I don’t know enough about it myself to know how accurate the information is, but the section ends with a commentary about Chinese children working in the silk trade: “The Chinese children are much employed in the manufactories (sic) of silk. Indeed, they are brought up always to be busy about something or other. A gentleman just returned from Canton, told me he never saw the children at play there; that they all look like little old men and women, whose minds were mighty full of business. I should like to send them a book of games — shouldn’t you? I think ‘all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.'”
This passage reminds me of Mrs. Mortimer’s Countries of the World Described series, which is full of the hearsay of travelers, a bit gossipy but with less of a condescending tone than Mrs. Mortimer. I don’t doubt the existence of child labor in China at this point in history, although sending a book of games is a rather simplistic approach to the problem, sounding rather naive. The US was using child labor at this time, too, and in the later photography of Lewis Hine (who was born 40 years after this book was written), which explored and exposed the conditions of working children, it does appear that child labor prematurely ages children. There were laws restricting the use of child labor in the US during the 1830s, when this book was written, but these laws didn’t stop the practice entirely, and they were not always enforced, partly because public opinion actually supported child labor, especially for children from poor families. Rural children regularly worked on their families’ farms, so rural families saw nothing wrong with children in other communities also working (although under very different conditions), and poor families did depend on the help of their children to make ends meet. This situation would continue to exist in the US for decades after this book was written, but it’s worth noting that some people were already becoming concerned about the problem.
On Keeping Animals
Mrs. Child advises only keeping domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats as pets. Children of this time sometimes tried to trap and keep small wild animals, like birds and squirrels, as pets (and I’ve read other guides which give advice for doing this), but Mrs. Child recommends against this, saying that wild animals are unhappy as pets. Mrs. Child tells girls who have wild pets to set them free because they will be happier and thrive better in their natural environment. She also recommends consulting an experienced person about how to properly feed animals because animals can die from eating the wrong foods.
Gardening
Mrs. Child recommends gardening as a good, healthy hobby and advises girls to do all or most of the work of their garden themselves so that they can truly call it their own. She says that girls should know the names of all of the plants in their garden and offers tips for caring for flowers.
May Morning
This section explains the history of the May Day holiday and gives tips for celebrating. This holiday used to be more popular in the US during the 19th century and early 20th century, and it was celebrated in schools. Mrs. Child remembers receiving flowers and verses of poetry from students on May Day, which she enjoyed. I’ve also seen old photographs of schools in my home town with students gathered around a May pole. Some US communities still hold May Day celebrations, but the celebrations are not as wide spread, and in other areas, it’s largely forgotten.
Miscellaneous
This section has short pieces if fiction, included two very short moral tales that were translated from Spanish to English, a poem about a kitten, a longer story about the adventures of an orphan girl called Mary Howard, and a fairy tale style story.
The Mary Howard story is one of those stories that features island “savages.” In spite of Mrs. Child’s otherwise progressive views for her time, this story has uncomfortable racial attitudes. Young Mary Howard’s wicked uncle tries to pay a sailor to drown her so that he can steal her money, but the sailor finds that he can’t bring himself to do it and instead takes care of her for a few years in New Zealand, where they live among “savages”, who treat her kindly, but the sailor worries about her future and the chief’s desire to marry Mary, even though she is still a young child. (Racist stories are often very concerned with dark-skinned “savages” wanting to marry blue-eyed white girls of varying ages.) Eventually, the sailor manages to help Mary connect to people who really love her in England, and she grows up to be a beautiful and accomplished young lady, unlearning the “rude habits” that she had acquired among the “savages.” I’m kind of surprised at finding this story in the book because it doesn’t seem like it would fit well with Mrs. Child’s otherwise progressive views for her time, but then again, maybe her views weren’t fully progressive in all areas or she simply thought that this would be something that would appeal to her audience because these elements were common features of popular literature of the time. It’s hard to say, but I thought modern readers should know about this story, so they can skip it or be prepared to encounter it or talk about it with their children.
I wasn’t entirely happy with the fairy tale, either. It’s called The Palace of Beauty. There are two princesses, Rose and Marion. Rose is beautiful, well-behaved, and praised by everyone. Marion is ugly (“dwarfish, dark-skinned, and deformed”) and bitter about all the praise that Rose receives. Her bitterness and jealousy cause her to misbehave and treat Rose badly. However, one day, she hears that Rose wandered into a magical fairy castle as a very young child and that the fairy queen dipped her in a special fountain, and that’s the secret of Rose’s beauty. Desperate to improve her situation, Marion seeks out the fairy castle herself. When Marion finds the fairy queen, she asks her for help to become as beautiful as Rose. The queen agrees, provided that Marion performs certain tasks. First, Marion must speak kindly to her sister for a week. Then, she must treat her sister as she would want to be treated herself (The Golden Rule) for a month. Then, Marion must refrain from entertaining wicked or envious thoughts for three months. The tasks are not easy for Marion, but she perseveres, growing pleased at the improved relationship between herself and her sister and pleased at finally receiving praise from others for her behavior as the note the changes she makes. When Marion has trouble maintaining good thoughts, she asks Rose for advice, and Rose says that reading the Bible and praying helps her, so Marion does that. The final test is for Marion to be good for an entire year just for the sake of being good, not in anticipation of the reward she expects to receive from doing it. This is the hardest task of all because Marion has wanted to be beautiful for so long, but finally, she succeeds. The reward is to realize that she no longer needs the magical fountain at all because her good character has made her into the beautiful person she really wanted to be.
I appreciate the moral of the story, which is that a good character and kind behavior can make a person a truly beautiful person. I’ve already reviewed a 20th century story, The Plain Princess, with similar themes. However, between the two, I prefer The Plain Princess because it was more clear in that story that the princess’s apparent “plainness” was based solely on her spoiled demeanor and uncaring behavior, and in this story, it’s not as obvious. The Plain Princess was merely a bit plain and frowning, not described as “dwarfish, dark-skinned, and deformed”, as Marion is. I don’t think that a person can become actually “deformed” due to a bitter personality, and the more I think about it, the more I’d like to see some accountability and lessons learned for the people around Rose and Marion for slighting Marion due to her “deformity” and “dark skin.” They’re really part of the problem. I think anybody would be a little bitter if they’d spent their whole lives being treated like a second-class citizen for just not being as pretty as someone else, and Rose has really had it easy her entire life for always being the favored one. Remember that Rose had help from the fairy queen when she was very small and has been heaped with admiration and praise her entire life, so she hasn’t really gone through the same trials of circumstance and character that Marion has. Rose is treated like a superior person who already has all the answers, but she hasn’t lived Marion’s life or endured the same struggles with self-identity; she’s just very privileged and had it easy from the beginning. The Plain Princess had a different tone. Nobody in that story was really ugly, and none of the changes in the princess herself were so unbelievably radical as a person suddenly becoming not deformed. Equating beauty and goodness is always a bit problematic because those qualities really don’t relate to one another in real life, and there are many examples of beautiful people with terrible characters and cruel, unethical behavior, partly because these beautiful people have acquired a sense of entitlement, thanks in part to the early favoritism they have experienced because of their looks. (Check out some of the people involved in the college cheating scandal and listen to the way some reporters described the clothes that some of these people wore to court to answer their fraud charges and then tell me that you don’t see the connection. Should guilt be determined or sentencing influenced on what was worn and who wore it better, and does any of that change or make up for what these people actually did?) The only time that I think this comparison can really work is if the conditions of “beauty” in the story are specifically named as being qualities associated with good behavior, like a kind smile and a nose that points down instead of up at the world, like in The Plain Princess. A story that tries to make skin color and/or unfortunate physical deformity into a moral issue just doesn’t do it for me.
Maxims for Health and Gracefulness
Mrs. Child is all about health and developing good, healthy habits. This section has tips and advice for maintaining good health, like getting up early, washing your face, brushing teeth twice a day, maintaining good posture, and keeping hair neat. She recommends giving children clothing that allows them to move easily, and says:
“Walking and other out-of-door exercises, cannot be too much recommended to young people. Even skating, driving hoop, and other boyish sports, maybe practised to great advantage by little girls, provided they can be pursued within the inclosure (sic) of a garden, or court; in the street, they would of course be highly improper. It is true, such games are rather violent, and sometimes noisy; but they tend to form a vigorous constitution; and girls who are habitually lady-like, will never allow themselves to be rude and vulgar, even in play.”
Mrs. Child is still somewhat progressive in her views of what types of athletics are appropriate for girls, but still within certain limits considered lady-like and appropriate for the time.
The oddest advice in this section is to keep children’s hair shorter until they are about nine or ten years old, and the reasoning seems to be based on an old wives’ tale, although Mrs. Child oddly tries to debunk a different old wives’ tale at the same time: “Physicians have agreed that it is better to keep the hair cut until the child is nine or ten years old. An abundance of hair at an early age, is apt to produce weak eyes, paleness, and head-ache; besides, the idea that hair is made coarse by frequent cutting in childhood, is entirely unfounded.”
The moral maxims at the end of the book have a particularly Christian and Biblical focus, and Mrs. Child ends by praising the German customs of even children giving presents at Christmas because it is an opportunity to encourage children to use their ingenuity to make presents to pleasantly surprise others.
The Little Witch’s Valentine Book by Linda Glovach, 1984.
Like other Little Witch Craft Books, this one gives holiday-themed craft instructions, party tips, and recipes. The book starts out with a brief explanation about the purpose and origin of the Valentine’s Day holiday and then gives a section about Valentine-themed crafts. Some of them also relate back to the witch theme of our craft hostess, like Valentine-themed witch hats, which is a little odd, but fun.
There is a section of crafts that you can make as small gifts for people or prizes for some of the party games given later. The small crafts include finger puppets, a box decorated with an owl with a heart-shaped head, and a butterfly pin with heart wings. There are also instructions for a Valentine-themed rag doll with a witch’s hat, and the instructions recommend that boys make an old man version of the doll by adding a beard. The dolls have heart-shaped faces.
Under the party suggestions, the book recommends having a Queen of Hearts Tart Party for an Alice in Wonderland tie-in. It gives instructions for making playing card costumes that are kind of like sandwich board signs.
There are two party games described in the book, both based on the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. One of the games is the “Off With Your Head Hunt” where players have to find missing heart halves with matching symbols on them that are hidden somewhere in the room. The name of the game comes from the person who will be playing the Queen of Hearts, who gives the players their instructions and shouts “Off With Your Head!” while the players hunt for the heart halves to appease the queen. (Yep, really.) The second game is the “Pass the Queen’s Red-Hot Heart Game.” It says that “The Heart is red-hot because it belongs to the queen.” It’s similar to the game Hot Potato. The players stand in a circle, passing a paper heart very quickly from one person to the next while someone plays music. When the music stops, the person who is holding the heart is out of the game. The game continues until only one person is left, and that person wins.
The recipes section offers treats that you can make for your Valentine’s Day party or just for fun, including Queen of Heart Tart Biscuits, Heart Cookies, Strawberry-Banana Valentine Monster Mash, and strawberry pancakes.
The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.
This book is part of a series by same author about children growing up in Colonial America. Each of the books is the series has photographs of historical reenactors portraying real people from Colonial history. This book focuses on two children who are traveling on the Mayflower in 1620, heading to what would become the Plymouth colony. One of the children is a girl who is a passenger on the ship, and the other is a boy who is part of the crew, a ship’s apprentice. In the section of historical information in the back of the book, the author explains that the girl was based on a real girl who was a passenger on the Mayflower, although the boy was not based on a specific apprentice; he is just meant to show what a ship’s apprentice would have been like at that time and to help explain the duties of the various crew members as he assists them.
The ship’s apprentice is called William Small. He is specifically apprenticed to the ship’s master, Christopher Jones (historical character). As an apprentice, he is learning basic navigation skills and assists the regular crew members with various tasks, including serving food.
The girl is named Ellen Moore. She and the other passengers are traveling in cramped quarters, and people are often seasick or trying to find ways to keep themselves occupied during the long journey. Ellen is traveling with younger siblings, and she plays with them in between performing routine chores, like sewing and preparing food.
During the voyage, there is a terrible storm, and the passengers are all confined below deck without light because lanterns and candles would pose too much risk of fire while the ship is rocked during the storm. William has to help the ship’s carpenter to repair leaks. Before the storm is fully over, Mrs. Hopkins, one of the passengers, gives birth to a baby she names Oceanus (historical person, the real Oceanus made it through the voyage although he sadly died young, possibly about age six, but the date of his death is uncertain).
The book ends with their arrival in the Americas. Because the storm blew them off course, the Mayflower did not arrive at its intended destination in Virginia but further north at Cape Cod in what is now Massachusetts. Because winter was setting in, the passengers decided not to risk further travel and established their colony there, 65 days after their ship first left England.
In the back of the book, the section with historical information explains more about both the characters in the story and the reenactors. The historical Ellen Moore and her siblings were traveling to the colony without their parents, under the guardianship of the other families, acting as young servants in their employment. The book mentions that the Moore children were without their parents because of a family tragedy but is not specific about what it was. I looked it up, and the story is both sad and bizarre. I can see why the author didn’t want to explain it in a children’s book. Apparently, the children’s parents had an arranged marriage and were not happy being married to each other. The children’s mother had a long love affair with another man, and also apparently, all of the children were the biological children of her lover. The mother’s husband began to notice that the children physically resembled his wife’s lover. The couple bitterly divorced, and after the husband was granted custody of the children (which, apparently, weren’t his anyway), he decided to send them away to the Americas with the departing pilgrims, paying for them to be taken on the voyage, never seeing them again. Sadly, Ellen probably did not survive the first winter at the Plymouth colony because she disappears from the historical record during that time. Out of the four Moore children traveling on the Mayflower, only one survived to adulthood, Ellen’s young brother Richard. Richard married twice in his life and had seven children of his own. He became a sailor and ship’s captain and eventually died an elderly man in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 1690s, not long after the Salem witch trials. None of this information about Richard is mentioned in the book, but I thought it was interesting background information. In the book, there is also additional information about the ship, The Mayflower, and the reproduction ship used in the pictures, The Mayflower II.
The book is available to borrow for free online through Internet Archive.
The Colonial Cookbook by Lucille Recht Penner, 1976.
This cookbook explains the history of food, cooking, and dining habits in Colonial America and provides recipes that readers can make themselves.
The first part of the book provides most of the historical background, although each section of recipes also has some additional information. The earliest European colonists in North America had to struggle to feed themselves. In many ways, they were unprepared for their lives as colonists, and not all of them had planned to stay as long as they did. The ones who hadn’t planned to stay long had heard stories about gold and silver in the New World, and they had hoped to stay only long enough to seek their fortunes and return home rich. The realities of life in North America did not meet their expectations and survival turned out to be harder than they thought.
The colonists ended up relying on Native Americans (called “Indians” in this book) to help them survive. As they used up the stores of salted beef and hard biscuits that they had brought with them, they began trading for food with the Native American tribes. From the Native Americans, they also learned farming, finishing, hunting, and foraging techniques that they used to help themselves survive. There were many edible plants and animals at hand, but the early colonists were unaccustomed to which plants in the Americas were edible and how to find them and where to find and trap animals. One of the chores colonial children were given was to gather wild plants for the family to eat, like nuts, mushrooms, dandelion greens, wild leeks and onions, and wild fruit, like plums, cherries, melons, and berries.
Gradually, as the colonies grew, the colonists established farms and farm fields. They needed more land for farming to support their population than modern farms would use to support the same number of people because farming has become more efficient since the colonial era. Later, new colonists came and brought livestock with them. Men and boys usually took responsibility for the livestock on family farms. After animals were butchered, the women and girls would clean and prepare them for eating. Food required much more work to prepare because the colonists had to do all the preparation themselves. Families would not only butcher their own animals but make their own cheese. The book provided details about the processes and tools that colonists used for making their food.
The more specific eating habits of colonists changed over time and varied depending on where the colonists lived in North America and where they had originally come from. For early colonists, meals were eaten off of trenchers made from pieces of stale bread, and the day began with a breakfast of mush or pudding with cider or beer to drink. Later, foods became more varied. People in New England often ate fruit pies for breakfast, and people in the Middle Colonies liked scrapple (a cornmeal mush with pork scraps) and oly koeks (a kind of holeless donut containing bits of fruit). (Neither scrapple nor oly koeks appear as recipes in this book, but there are recipes online.) Southern plantation owners had elaborate breakfasts with many different kinds of food, including ham, eggs, pastries, and more, but poor people typically had mush and scraps of leftovers.
The book provides a variety of recipes, organized by type. Most of the recipes in the book do not look too difficult, although some call for more unusual ingredients, like rosewater. You can still find it, although I’ve usually seen it at specialty cooking stores or import stores. The categories are soups, meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, puddings, breads, sweets, drinks, and sauces and relishes. Not all of the recipes look like things that would interest modern children. I don’t imagine that many children would be excited at the idea of making Scalloped Oysters, for example. (Seafood was an important food source for early colonists.) Even though children might recognize Pease Porridge from the rhyme, I’m not sure that a thick pea soup would be something that they would be excited to eat, either. Hasty pudding is mentioned in the song Yankee Doodle, but the recipe itself is a little bland. The book does mention that you can flavor it with maple syrup, and there are other cornbread pudding recipes that contain spices and sweeteners in the book.
However, there are some recipes that I think would be interesting to try. The book explains that pumpkins were a staple food for the early colonists, as shown by the old rhyme from the Plymouth:
We have pumpkin at morning And pumpkin at noon If it was not for pumpkin We would be undoon.
The book explains the different ways that colonists would prepare pumpkin. You can bake it and eat it in pieces with syrup, molasses, honey, or cream. The book explains how to cook it, and it also provides a recipe for Pumpkin Pudding, which can be made with either fresh pumpkin or canned pumpkin. I haven’t made it yet myself, but from the recipe, it reminds me of a pumpkin pie without the crust:
Johnny Cakes are a little like pancakes but made with cornmeal. The basic recipe is a little plain, but they can be served with butter and maple syrup.
This book was published in 1976, which was the United States’ Bicentennial celebration. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find an online edition yet.
The Little Witch’s Halloween Book by Linda Glovach, 1975.
This book is part of the Little Witch series of craft and hobby books. This one is all about Halloween activities and suggestions for Halloween parties. The book is divided into sections for cards and decorations, parties and celebrations, and trick or treat. The Little Witch’s Code in the beginning has rules for Halloween safety such as having an adult inspect Halloween treats before the child eats them and going trick-or-treating in a group instead of alone. It also advises collecting for charities while trick-or-treating and not playing tricks on people.
The section about cards has Halloween card designs in different shapes. The party section also has a pumpkin card design to use as an invitation, but really, any of the cards could be invitations or party decorations.
The party section has instructions for games and decorations. One of the games is a pumpkin cake eating contest and a recipe for a pumpkin cake, which oddly does not include any pumpkin, only the spices that are typically included in pumpkin pie. It’s more like a spice cake or gingerbread, and it’s decorated to look like a jack o’lantern face.
Other games and party treats include traditional ones, like dunking for apples and toasting marshmallows, but there are also some original games, like the Wicked Witch’s Candy House. That game involves party guests taking candy from a tray on top of a cardboard playhouse made from a large cardboard box while the “witch” inside tries to guess who they are. There is also a cute fortune-telling game.
The section about trick-or-treating has more recipes and instructions for making a treat bag and making jack o’lanterns out of oranges.
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
The Little Witch’s Black Magic Cookbook by Linda Glovach, 1972.
This book is part of the Little Witch series of craft and hobby books. This one is a cookbook with recipes that are simple enough for children to make (with some adult assistance). A note in the introduction says that this cookbook is good for boys as well as “little witches.” The Little Witch’s Code in the beginning has tips for understanding recipes, preparing to cook, and cleaning up after cooking.
At first, I thought that all of the recipes would be the types of food served at Halloween parties, but they aren’t. There is a special section about Halloween recipes, but there are also recipes for other occasions and some simple snacks and lunches.
Most of the recipes are really simple, like Pickled Peanut Butter Burgers, which are basically peanut butter sandwiches on hamburger buns with pickles. When I was a kid, I used to roll my eyes at people who thought things like that would be exciting or challenging for children. It probably depends on the age of the child, but I also wouldn’t have been impressed by the recipe for Cinnamon Toast. I used to make that by myself when I was little before turning on Saturday morning cartoons. My feeling is that kids who are old enough to read this book by themselves are probably old enough to know how to make these particular recipes by themselves. I guess everyone has to start somewhere, though.
I was more interested by the Halloween recipes and the Chicken Cones, which are listed in the lunch section. The Chicken Cones reminded me of the Tuna Cones recipe that I saw in a Klutz cookbook for children. The only difference is that this recipe uses a simple chicken salad in an ice cream cone instead of tuna salad.
In the section about birthdays, there is only one recipe for little birthday “cakes.” The “cakes” are actually chocolate wafer cookies, stacked with whipped cream, put in the freezer, and covered with more whipped cream. This is basically an old-fashioned icebox cake, a popular dessert from decades past. It’s not really a cake, but it does sound like a fun birthday treat!
The Little Witch’s Black Magic Book of Games by Linda Glovach, 1974.
This book is part of the Little Witch series of craft and hobby books. This one is all about games, but not board games. The games are more like party games or games that young children can play on playgrounds or while hanging out with friends. The Little Witch’s Code in the beginning has rules for playing fairly and keeping a good attitude while playing.
The games in the book are grouped first by the number of players, with some games that players can play alone and others for two or three players and some for larger groups. There are also some special games to play on holidays.
Most of the games are very simple and good for young children. Some of them are classics, like Sardine; Stay Serious; Duck, Duck, Goose; and Rock, Scissors, Paper. These are games that most American children play when they’re in school or in other youth groups like after-school programs/daycare, scouting groups, church groups, or summer camps. In other words, kids naturally learn those games from other kids anywhere kids meet. Some of these games exist in different variations around the world, although the book doesn’t go into that. It just explains how to play them.
There are other games in the book that I don’t remember playing or hearing about as a kid. I don’t think that I’ve heard of Turtle Tag or Alligator and Fish before. I looked them up, and other people on the Internet know about Turtle Tag or variations of it, but I couldn’t find other mentions of Alligator and Fish. I think they might have started as regional games that I didn’t know about as a kid because people didn’t play them where I grew up.
The section that I particularly liked was the section of holiday games. I like the idea of theme parties, and the story-telling game that the book recommended for Halloween could fit with other theme parties as well.
Kate Greenaway’s Book of Games by Kate Greenaway, 1889.
A book about children’s games with rules and general pastimes. The book doesn’t distinguish between the two, but I do because, to me, games have specific rules whereas more general pastimes and toys do not.
Many of the games and pastimes would be familiar to people in modern times and are still popular. Some games are like playground games (some of them are even still played on playgrounds today) that require running and motions, and others are more talking games (some of those have become classic road trip games, played in the car). Pastimes include making soap bubbles, flying kites, and using swings.
The book includes games like I Love my Love with an “A”, Blind Man’s Buff, Frog in the Middle, Russian Scandal (This is an old name for the Game of Telephone, before the invention of the telephone became really popular. I’ve also heard it as Russian Gossip, although I don’t know why it’s specifically “Russian.”), French and English (which is basically Capture the Flag), Oranges and Lemons (which is played like London Bridge is Falling Down, only with a different rhyme), and Twenty Questions. Some of the less familiar ones, especially to young Americans today, might be Puss in the Corner (a game that involves players running and changing places with each other and the person who is left without a place being “it” or the “puss”), Mary’s Gone A-Milking (a chase game with a song), What Is My Thought Like? (a talking/guessing game that involves creativity), and The Old Soldier and Judge and Jury (which are both talking games with words that are forbidden to say).
One of the interesting things about this book, besides noticing which games are still played and which are more obscure now, is that the children in the pictures are actually wearing clothes that are from an earlier part of the 19th century from when the book was written. This is a classic feature of Kate Greenaway’s illustrations, also seen in her other books. Modern people who are less familiar with the evolution of 19th century clothing might not notice that detail.
This book is still in print in modern times. It also available to borrow for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).
For more information about Victorian games in general, see the Victorian Games section of my Historical Games site. History and games are both hobbies of mine.
Felicity’s Craft Book by Rebecca Sample Bernstein and Jodi Evert, 1994.
This is a companion book to the Felicity, An American Girl series. It explains about the types of crafts that people would do in Colonial America and gives instructions for projects that readers can make at home.
In the beginning of the book, there is a brief history of crafting in America. It explains that, in the earliest days of the American colonies, people had to get most of their goods from Europe because they had to spend their time and energy on building homes and establishing farms in order to survive. However, as the colonies became more established, people were more able to make goods for themselves, both in their own homes and as professional craftspeople. By the time that Felicity lived, during the late 1700s, there were many skilled craftspeople, and those craftspeople also trained new people in their professions in apprenticeships.
Before presenting craft projects that readers can make, the book also offers a few tips for safety and neatness while making things. The crafts are also divided into sections relating to topics like writing, sewing, games and toys, and scented objects that you can make with plants.
The projects explained in this book include:
A quill
pen and two types of ink – The book gives instructions for making ink from
different types of berries (such as raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries,
which make red or purple ink) and walnut shells (which makes a brown ink).
A wax
seal – To be used with sealing wax or wax from a candle. These were used to
seal letters before the invention of envelopes with glue. (I know that there
are people and companies that still make these because I have one myself and
the sealing wax to use with it.)
Game of
Graces – A hoop with a pair of sticks that were used for a tossing game.
Cup and
Ball Game – A common toy in which a cup is attached to the end of a short stick
and a ball is tied to it. Players have
to move the toy around and make the ball swing into the cup.
Kites –
Made with lightweight paper.
Folding
Fan – Made with poster board and ribbon.
Fancy
Straw Hat – Explains how to decorate a hat with flowers and ribbon.
Fruit
Pyramid – Used as a table centerpiece.
Cross-Stitch
Sampler – A basic sampler using only the cross-stitch. (Colonial girls would create
more elaborate samplers to show off the range of stitches they could make.)
Sachet –
A small bag of potpourri (sweet-smelling dried plants). Colonists would put sachets into trunks and
wardrobes where they were storing their clothes to make them smell nice. (Some people still do this in modern times.) In a later part of the book, they also give instructions
for making potpourri with herbs and flower petals.
Friendship
Pincushion – An embroidered pincushion.
Tussie-Mussie
– A small bouquet, like the kind that bridesmaids and flower girls might carry. (The book says that people in Colonial times
might carry one or maybe a pomander ball if they went to visit a sick person
because they had an idea that breathing bad air would spread sickness and they
were trying to freshen the air with fresh scents. That’s not quite how sickness is spread, but
they were partly correct about sicknesses being airborn.)
Pomander Ball – An orange scented and decorated with spices and cloves. Besides freshening the air, they can also make nice decorations.
In the sections about different types of projects, there is additional historical information about life and crafts in Colonial America. Because, in the books, Felicity’s grandfather owns a plantation and one of the books takes place there, the craft book also has a section about plantations that includes a brief description of plantation life and slavery, noting that the lifestyle and pastimes that plantation owners enjoyed would not have been possible without their slaves to take care of the plantation chores for them.
The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 