WHEN MOTHE! LETS US CUT PICTURE MD IDA E. BOYD 1 WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES By IDA E. BOYD Teacher oj Art, Brooklyn Training School for Teachers ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1918 r N ' <\ Copyright, 1912, by MOFFAT. YARD AND COMPANY NEW YORK /*// rr^ A// reserved Piwt Printing April, 1912 Second Printing May, 1913 Third Printing September, 1915 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO NAOMI NORSWORTHY, PH.D., A GREAT INSPIREB OF TEACHERS 37843 CONTENTS PAOK INTRODUCTION 1 How TO CUT Our PICTURES 4 CHAIRS 7 THE TABLE OF THE THREE !BEARS 11 THE HOUSE OP THE THREE BEARS 14 STREETS 18 OUR VILLAGE 24 A PAPER BABY 34 A DEPARTMENT STORE 41 BOYS AND GIRLS 46 ANIMAL ARTISTS 66 MOVING PICTURE SHOWS 77 CHILDREN'S HAPPY DAYS 83 CHRISTMAS DECORATION 89 CHRISTMAS SECRETS .... 91 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE SEA-SAW Frontispiece DISHES SNIP 2 LITTLE SASH 3 A COLLAR AND SOME CHAIRS 6 MOTHER ROCKS THE BABY 8 THE TABLE OP THE THREE BEARS 10 THE PARTY 13 HOME OF THREE BEARS 15 A WALK IN THE WOODS 16 A BIRD HOUSE 17 WHIRLS . . 19 TREES 22 TREES 23 FENCES 25 SWING ON THE GATE 27 LAMPS 28 A STREET CAR 29 A COZY SPOT 30 THE FAMILY AUTO 31 WATCHING FOR MOTHER 32 THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL 33 BABY GROWS 36 MILLET 's FIRST STEP 38 I 'VE ADOPTED LITTLE TEDDY ........ 37 SHOES 40 ILLUSTRATIONS THE CHILDREN WHO LIVED IN THE SHOE BEADY TO WEAR ...... THE CHUMS ...... A LITTLE TENNIS PLAYER . THE GAME ...... *** MY FRIEND ...... HIGH IN THE AIR .... UP IN THE WORLD .... OUR INDIAN COUSIN HAPPY WALKING CHILDREN MY SHOVEL AND PAIL AND I AN AIDE-DE-CAMP .. THE GENTLE HORSIE . A WILLING MESSENGER .... go IN THE PLAY HOUSE .... FLOWER LOVERS ..... " 65 THE FRIENDS . . . . . MY CHUM AND I . . . " .' ' [ 6? BEAR LITTLE PUSSY ..... 69 HIDE AND SEEK ..... 70 AFTER THE BALL THE BIRD'S Music LESSON ..... 75 MOVING PICTURES ..... 76 FIE, LITTLE CHICKS ...... 78 BEST OF FRIENDS ...... 79 CONTENTMENT ...... OQ BIRTHDAY WISHES .... v o-j A PROUD MESSENGER ..... go CUPID IN GLEE ...... YOUR VALENTINE .... HALLOWE'EN INVITATIONS ..... HAS SANTA CLAUS FORGOTTEN ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PRECIOUS GIFTS 90 BOATS f BASTEE FLOWERS 9m Dishes. INTRODUCTION Do my little friends like to cut out paper dolls, soldiers, tents and such things? If they do, I am sure we shall have a happy time cutting many kinds of things out of paper. First of all, in the right hand take a pair of scissors, pointed scissors will be best. We must slip our thumb and second finger into the holes in the handle. The first finger helps to steady the scissors and will take care of itself. Open the scissors wide, then close them to the point. Try this several times, listening for the sound of the points as they come together. We shall never be able to do well unless our cuts are long and clean. We can use any kind of paper that we choose. I am sure mother will let us have the clean wrapping paper that comes around our bundles. Take the part of the paper that is not wrinkled much. By and by when we have learned to cut well we shall choose fresh paper that has never been used. While we are learning, wrapping paper and, perhaps, newspaper will do very well. 2 "WHEN 'MOTHER LETS rrs OUT OUT PICTURES Let me whisper something to you. When we are having a happy time ourselves, let us remem- ber not to make any work for any one else. Let us make mother glad because we never leave a scrap of paper on the floor. Little fingers, bright eyes and loving children will be quick to help everybody, every time and everywhere. Shall we have that for our secret ? Snip, snip, snip! How my nice sharp scissors do fly! Work, work, work! An artist I '11 be by and by. WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 3 Here's a little sash Only a little sash. Yes, it is white But it's cut quite right, Quite right! 4 .WHEN" MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES HOW TO CTTT OUT PICTURES. r Take a piece of paper (not too large a piece) and hold it in your left hand with the scissors in the right. With long clean cuts make a dolly's sash. Be careful to cut it straight. Cut another strip of paper like the sash. Do you know how some of father's stand-up collars look? Sometimes they look as if they were cut out of a straight piece of cloth, then sewed to a little band which is longer than the collar. Cut one where the band and collar are in one piece. To do this we must cut out little bits at the ends, thus making the band longer than the collar. The corners may be bent back or we may round them off with the scissors. With a wider piece of paper try some cuffs in the same way. Father often wears other kinds of collars. Do you think that you can cut out another kind? Choose white paper if you have some and try it. Make it large enough to be a real collar and cut a little hole at each end of the band for the collar button. When you do this, be careful to hold a finger under the paper on the other side as you press the scissors through. As soon as you feel a little prick from the scissors, take your finger away and gently press the scissors more until the buttonhole is large enough. Cut a button WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 5 hole in the middle of the collar, too. Put a collar button in it, leave it on father's dresser and see what he will say. Cut out an oblong piece of paper. Cut a flag with a nice long stick. Begin at the bottom of the flag stick and cut up the paper until the stick is as long as you wish it to be. Now, turn the paper around with the flag stick toward you and with a straight cut, cut to the end of the paper. If you have some colored crayons, you will have a happy time putting in our stripes and making a blue garden for our stars. Cut another flag. Turn it upside down, with the stick going up. What have you? A chair with a very tall back. Do you wish to cut off a piece of the back? A chair with a back as tall as this wouldn't look well, would it? WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES A Collar and Some Chairs. WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 7 CHAIRS. We have some chairs that look as solid as this. If you do not wish all the chairs to be like parlor chairs you can cut out the underneath part to let the legs show. If you wish to have a little rod join the legs, cut a piece out under where the rod will be. Then cut through one end of the rod up to the seat, across under the seat, down to the top of the part for the rod (be care- ful not to go through it), across the top of it and a piece of paper will fall out but the rod will stay. I am sure that now you will be able to cut the three chairs for the Three Bears. Try them and be careful to cut them so that each bear will know his own chair. Chairs stand on the floor and I believe that you will enjoy doing this although it is harder. Think; a little strip of paper, then the baby's chair; more strip of paper, then the mother's chair ; more strip of paper, then the father's chair. We shall always play that the strip of paper that holds all together at the bot- tom is either the floor or the ground. If you wish to show the legs and rounds of the chairs, cut as you did before but be careful to plan so that one leg of each chair is not cut away from the floor. Find the little chair that you like the very best. See if you can cut one that will look like it. Mother rocks the baby And sometimes she rocks me! Now she's tired, maybe So here's a chair she'll see. WHEN" MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 9 The first time you try it, do not cut it on the floor, do that the second time. If you cut the floor strip quite wide, you will be able to double that. The part that is turned under can be flat and your chair will truly stand. In this way you will be able to cut out all the chairs you want for your playhouse. Which is jnother's favorite chair? Cut it out just as carefully as you can. Put the cutting be- side her plate on the table to see how surprised she'll be. The Table of the Three Bears. WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 11 THE TABLE OF THE THREE BEARS. Shall we cut out the table that Goldilocks found in the house of the Three Bears ? I am sure you have found by this time that it is easier to cut away from you and that you must turn your paper every time you cut. Show the table on a floor line, cut up the leg until you get to the top which you will notice goes out a little more than the table legs do. Be careful about this, because without it your cutting will not look like a table. Cut across the top and down the other side. Be careful to make the second side just like the first. What a strange table it would be if all the legs were not of the same length! The table must stand well and be strong. For that reason it will be better not to cut under the bottom of the table legs. Decide how wide you want the leg to be and at the bottom very gently press the point of the scissors -through the paper as you did for your buttonhole. Carefully cut up the table leg to the thickness at the top, under the top, down to the bottom of the other leg and across the floor strip to the place where you started. A piece of paper will fall out. If you wish a shelf to go across between the legs, as I have done, you will have to cut out two pieces in- stead of one. I have cut the table of the Three Bears show- 12 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES ing the three bowls. I am sure that you will en- joy doing the same thing. Won't it be fun to make another cutting of this kind with a chair at each end of the table ! I believe you can do that by yourselves. Be- fore you begin, think how high the seat of your chair will be and also how tall you will want its back. Tour little bear won't be happy unless the chair is just right so he can sit at the table where he can easily reach his bowl and spoon. The table will often need other dishes besides bowls and spoons. Try to cut out all kinds of dishes. Platters and saucers must not be high, but very low. Although cups have different shapes, they almost always have a handle. Look at the pitcher. See the difference in the spout on the pitcher and that on the teapot. Have you some dolls' dishes? Try to cut their pic- tures. Be careful to cut so that the opposite sides will be alike. Will you come to my party To drink some real tea with me ? We'll use my cut out china And very polite we'll be. 14 WHE^ MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES THE HOUSE OF THE THREE BEARS. iWe can now cut tables, chairs and dishes for the Three Bears. So far we have tried no house for them. Let us cut a simple one first, WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 15 one that is not fastened to the ground. Let the bottom of the house be square, the roof pointed, and the eaves wide to let the rain run down to the ground. Cut a door and a window in the house and have a chimney at one side. In cut- ting the door, cut across one short side and one long side, the other side being folded so that it will act like a hinge and will open and shut. When your door is open, put your house on a table or a window seat, and it will stand. I have cut the house of the Three Bears. Goldilocks was here in the Little Bear's bed when the Big Bear's growl wakened her and she ran home dreadfully frightened. This kind of cutting may be too hard for you to do yet, but some of you may enjoy trying to do it. 16 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTUKES Suppose you try to cut the house that you would like to have the Three Bears live in. Cut it on a ground piece. If you make this piece wide enough to bend forward, the house will stand and will have a real sidewalk in front of it. A Walk in the "Woods. A Bird House. 18 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES STREETS. What kind of house do you live in? Can you cut a picture of it? If you didn't live where you do now, what kind of house would you like to live in? Look through your picture books and through mother's magazines to find a pic- ture of the house you like best. Make a cutting of it. It will be fun to cut many houses of many kinds. Plan for a sidewalk in front of each house, and have a little village. Arrange your houses in order so you will have a street. Will you build the houses close together or will you plan to have a yard for each one? Of course you will want a schoolhouse, some churches, some stores, and bird houses, too. When you make the streets, will they be nice and straight so that the people who walk through them will be able to find their way easily ? Will you have cross-walks connecting the streets? One day I heard a little boy whisper "May we cut a street car for this little town?" That was such a nice idea. Shall we cut an automobile, too ? But wheels to such things are round and before we can do this we must learn to cut round things. One day when I was walking in the woods, I saw a tall stem that had wound itself up into a little ball at the end. As the sun and the air Whirls. 20 WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES and the water played with, it, it gradually spread out and became a beautiful fern leaf. Another day I saw the house of the snail. Suppose we think of this kind of curve as we use our scissors to-day. Cut a square, size about three inches. Take the square firmly in your left hand. In your cutting begin near the top and as you cut around the corner, firmly but gently turn your paper. Turn it all the time you are cutting. Keep on turning and cutting until you get to the middle of your square. Find the picture of this on the opposite page. Try this several times until your cuts are round and even. Take a large piece of paper. Have it square in shape. Try cutting a large, round mat by cutting the corners off as you come to them. The only way that you can do this well, is by re- membering to turn the paper all the time. When you succeed in cutting this nice round mat, think of a way of cutting some fringe on it. You may like to color it with your crayons and use it in your playhouse. Suppose we play that we are going to the store. "We have a nice round penny in our hands. Let us see if we can cut a play penny that is as round as our real penny. In the store we shall see some round pink candies that we are going WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 21 to buy. Can you cut some of these, too ? Per- haps you will like to color them. Sometimes they are brown, sometimes pink, sometimes green, and sometimes white. These candies are on a pretty plate. It has two little green bands on it with a row of chil- dren between the bands. The candies on this plate are green, too. Let us cut a picture of the plate and be careful to have it nice and round and even. If we remember to turn our paper when we are cutting, I think it will have no nicks and no bumps, but will be round and smooth. Won't it be fun to make a lot of plates ? Perhaps mother will give you a round cookie to put on your plate, and you will have a real party. Trees. Trees, 24 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES OTJB VILLAGE. What has become of our village? We must surely plant trees there and now that we have learned to turn our paper, I think we shall be able to cut trees. What kinds of trees do you like best? Think how some trees look. Do you know what an apple tree looks like ? I am sure you do if you have ever been in the country. The trunk is strong and sturdy and the branches grow low. An elm tree is tall and slender and spreads out its branches like an umbrella. Like all other trees, it does catch the rain and keeps some of it from soaking the little birdies who are patiently waiting for mother bird and father bird to bring them a worm. The poplar tree goes straight up like a soldier pointing his gun upward. The great strong oak tree and the maple grow to be very large and are often rather round. But the tree that the chil- dren love best of all is the Christmas tree with its branches growing out straight. It almost seems that it is holding out its arms to take the pre- cious things that it so carefully guards. Each tree that is cut must have its own shape thought out. See if you can tell which trees I have cut for you. Try cutting them. Hunt up pictures that you think are well drawn and cut their pictures. Go out of doors, find the tree WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 25 that you like best, and cut a picture of that, too. Cut your trees with ground to grow from, and plant them near the house where you wish them to be. Fences. 26 WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES Houses that have yards around them have fences, too, sometimes. There are many kinds of fences. I think I shall try to cut a picket fence. The easiest way to cut this seems to be, first, to cut an oblong as high and as long as the fence is to be on one side of the gate ; second, to plan and to cut for the height of the gatepost and the width of the gate ; third, to cut a strip for the fence on the other side of the gate. If you cut this fence, take a large piece of paper and let the first cutting be a big one. I must make small cuttings to go in a small book, but your cuttings should all be large if you wish to get all the fun that you can out of doing it. If you make a picket fence, remember that gateposts are usually a little taller than the rest of the fence. In cutting the pickets the top may be. flat, pointed, or rounding. Be care- ful when you cut out the spaces between the pick- ets that you press the point of your scissors through carefully. If you are not careful to do this, your paper may tear. Be careful also to make the pickets of the same size and to see that the strip that joins them has the same width from beginning to end. If you wish the gate to open and shut, you must cut down the length of it at one side and across the bottom to the other gatepost. What other kinds of fences have you seen? Do you WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 27 remember how they look? Can you make a cutting of one of them? If you cannot remem- ber how they look, perhaps you will be able to find a picture of one that you will enjoy cutting. Be careful to have it strong and well built. When you cut out the fences to put around your yards, you must think how high you wish them to be. They must be high to keep the baby in the yard, and they must not be too high, because that will spoil the looks of the place. Swing on your gate and wave your wee flower ! Wave it on high, above your bright eyes ! Call to the birdies on branches swinging Near to the nest where mother-bird flies. Swing, little girl! Hold your wee flower! Dear little girl whose two dancing eyes Will sparkle and flash and each time she swings She'll hold for us sunbeams as sure's they rise. Lamps. WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 29 Think about this, for everything that we put in our little town must help to make it beau- tiful. Perhaps you may choose to have no fence at all. Now we are ready to call in the man who helps us light our streets. Before we do this we must have some street lamps. Look at the lamps in your neighborhood, choose the ones that you like best, cut them and plan for their placing. You are now ready for street cars and auto- mobiles. Look for pictures of them, watch them as they stand on the street. Look to see how they are made if you want to put them in your village. Look to see how the wheels are fastened to a street car and to an automobile. Are they put on in the same way? 'I I A Cozy Spot. WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 31 I believe you can really cut a picture of out- of-doors now. Some people take pictures, some draw them, some paint them and I believe that you can cut them. Let your first one be very simple. Have only a house and a tree in it. Think how near to your house you wish to plant your tree. What kind of a tree is it to be, and how tall do you want it? I have tried to cut an out-of-doors picture and to have it in a frame. This is harder to do because one is apt to cut into the frame. I do not wish to have my trees all alike nor to have them all the same distance apart. If you do try to cut a picture in a frame, show it to father and perhaps he will help you to surprise mother by having a white passepartout frame put on it. It will be nice to give to her at some particular time when you wish to make her very happy. It is such fun to surprise both mother and father. WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 33 There was a little girl; She made her scissors whirl Right in the middle of the morning. She cut the dishes out ; They're good without a doubt, So she really didn't need a warning. 34 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES A PAPER BABY, Who ever heard of a village without any peo- ple in it ? Of course we must have people there. Let us begin by cutting out some babies. Our first one will be very easy. Take an oblong piece of paper about three times as long as it is wide. Cut the head and the outstretched arms from the top of it. Tinder the arms of the nice long baby dress, begin with a slanting cut that will end at the two bottom corners of the oblong. When you try this again, make the baby's head a little longer, let the sleeves have some wrinkles and round the skirt off at the bottom. Perhaps you can draw a face on this baby. Look at the babies that you see. I think you will find that their eyes are halfway down from the top of the head. Dots will do for eyes at first if you make them large enough. A baby's nose comes halfway down below the eyes and two little dots for the holes will show that little nose. One larger dot quite near to the nose will be a little mouth. Sometimes we make this a little longer than a dot. Be careful not to make it too long because we wish our baby to have a sweet mouth. Babies are cross sometimes, but we love to remember them best when they are happy. Bend this paper baby so he will sit down on the edge of a chair. I think you will have to "WHEN MOTHEK LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 35 bend him twice. Perhaps you will like to have him stretch out his arms so his little mother will take him. All babies love to hold out their arms to those they love. If you have a happy time cutting this baby's picture out, perhaps you will want to cut a good many and play you are having a baby party. At first our baby wears long dresses. As he grows we shall put him in short clothes. Can you cut the baby out when he is wearing short dresses ? Perhaps the toes of his little shoes will just peep out below his dress. As he grows a little older we shall shorten his dresses still more. How grown up he will feel ! 36 WHEN. MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES Can you think of some things that a baby does sometimes*? I have cut out some babies doing different kinds of things. They are on the oppo- site page. Can you guess what they are doing ? By using your scissors see if you, too, can show something that a baby does. Cut out a dear lit- tle baby (use white paper for this), paste it on a piece of colored paper if you can find some, write under it "Baby loves you," and send it to someone you love who may be lonesome, tired or sick. Baby Plays. 38 WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES There once lived a great artist, named Millet. He loved children very much and drew many pictures of them. One of his pictures was called < ' The First Step. ' ' I have tried to cut it out for you. The mother with arms so strong and tender, Holds the small baby whose two dancing feet Would gladly go to her father's big arms, Stretched out so straight his own darling to greet. I've adopted little Teddy, But baby is my own ; I love them both already, So neither feels alone! Shoes. WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 41 A DEPARTMENT STOKE. Now for your shoes ! Do you know how they look*? Try to make a cutting of one of them. After you have done this, place your shoe in front of you and look at it. Look at the straight heel, how it curves in at the ankle and curves out on the higher part of the shoe. Look at the slant on the top part of the foot. See what a long toe there is on every shoe. If you wish to make a very nice looking shoe, you will be careful to cut the toe long. Look at the cutting you have made to see if you have made it long enough. "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe; She had so many children she didn't know what to do. To some she gave broth, to some she gave bread ; She kissed them all round and sent them to bed." Beady to "Wear. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES 43 Try to cut different kinds of shoes, low shoes, high shoes, and slippers. It will be fun to have a shoe store. If you wish to play store, take colored crayons and color some of the shoes that you have cut out.