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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1904)
1 ames to FjHay at jClBiristirrDastide ivl W HEN the nursery door swings open next Satur day evening In many an American household to the accompaniment of Joyous J-ivenue shouts, a surprise will halt the nsscmbled children In their wild rush to the Christmas tree. Acroaa the door will be a w 'ndrous spider's web, auch a one as they never paw before, for It will be of many colori. In an- look of amazed disappointment, nurse or them to look at the web and Rive each And then the fun swer to their mamma will tell a thread of different color to unravel begins. For strings of different color are wound from one room to another, crossing and recrosslng, with a prise at the end of each, which must be traced down to the Christmas tree. When the children have each wound up the end of the string that waa given them to unravel they find the prize waiting for them just where Santa placed It. Then when all have reached the goal and Joined In the exclamations of pleasure at their remembrances, nil go bark to the door and start with a new thread of the same color they had before. The rest with which they will cross and uncross the thread of their own particular color may be Imagined. Treasure Ship Holds Prize for All. In other households, where there is not room for st-ch an elaborate game In connection with the distribution of pres ents, the treasure ship will prove a novel and up to date game. In a vessel modi led In sliver colored cardboard, festooned with flowers and carrying a bevy of chocolate dolls. Is hidden a dollar. Each child Is allowed to point once to the portion of the ship lr. which he thinks the treasure Is concealed, and tho successful gucsscr carries ofl the prize. In order to make the game thoroughly popular, however, there are no bl inks at all, as each portion of the ship conceals some sort of prize, and each child, therefore, Is awarded a treasure. These guessing games are always popular with the chil dren, and one of th most exciting Is the floral chariot guess ing contest. A gold tinel cardboard chariot Is festooned with hundred of pink and white paper roses, with a dove of sugar holding the oiive branch fixed at the top of the car riage. Pretty little china dolls filled with sweets are placed among the roses, and eneh doll is given a name by the hostess, who distributes to the children a list of the names used. Competitors must say what name has been given to each doll. On the olive branch, which Is In reality a piece of green paper, the names of the dolls are Inscribed, and the success ful competitor who has contrived to apportion the names correctly carries off both the bird nnd the first prize. The dolls are also distributed to the unsuccessful contestants, so that none is disappointed. Another pretty and novel variation Is the coach, or " Tally Ho!" made of wicker work eir cardboard, covered with white roses or chrysanthemums. The passengers are made of sugar or chocolate, and, later on in the evening, are distributed among the children. Each child Is given an op portunity to guess the number of (lowers that festoon the coach. A prize is given to each successful boy or girl who guepses either the exact number or tho one that la the nearest. Games for the Afternoon. With Christmas coming on Sunday this year, many of tho games which would ordinarily be played on Christmas day will furnish amusement for Saturday afternoon. An excel lent one Is the target and wax bull game. A target. Into which a lumber of small tin spikes are Inserted. Is fixed to a clothes horse or wooden screen. Each child Is supplied with two or three wax balls co red with gayly colored short eiilll fiathers. and Is allowed three alms at the target. To the child whose ball most often hits the bull's eye c prize is awarded, and there are numereius consolation prizes given to the less suceessf 'il competitors. A musical contest Is yet another diversion which often finds high favor. A hurdy gurdy Is hired or borrowed, and one of the guests acts as organ grinder. The child who guesses correctly the names of the tunes Is awarded a prize, nnd those who cannot Identify any of the music have a monkey on a stick given to them by way of consolation. Hags of sweets are also distributed to the other comiKitltors. Fun Hanging Up the Hat. Every one knows the game where a donkey's paw or tail has to be pinned on to a picture of a donkey In the correct position while blindfolded, but a new form of this game, which never fails to arouse roars of laughter, Is to cut out of paper a hat and to dra.w on another large sheet of yuier a p?g. This Is then fastened on to a sheet or screen, and the child, who Is blindfolded, must walk up to the screen and fasten the hat on to the peg by means of a pin. To blow a soap bubble and make It rest on the top of a glass requires considerable skill, and Is a game that In terests both old and young. Hoxes can now be procured containing tho requisite soap and pipes, and prizes are awarded for the largest bubbles, which may be blown on to the top of a glass or over flowers on a plate. Children Like Games with Action. There ure a number of games where action Is required, which children always like, and which can be Joined In by s. . A -V . J i -m 1.1" - r- 4 - Jv Wu1 WilLsheoet a bull's eye n- ttielr elders. One of the best of these Is seeing who can walk under a stick without touching the ground. The stick must be held parallel with the ground, and about as high as the child's chest who ventures upon the feat, nnd he or she must bond back without getting so low that the knees touch the ground, and try to pass under the stick, with the head held right back, without touching It. A little practice makes this easy, and while causing endless amuse ment every time one of the competitors falls to the ground or knocks down the stick, it Is also good exercise for strengthening the spine. Gradually It will be found possible to accomplish the trick with the stick held lower and lower. 7 4-, o c Tfie spider's weo. Tlmree amirs ofl Twta Says IV THEODORE KAI.Pfl LLOYD AT THEODORE and Ralph Lloyd Baker, arriving unexpect edly at the home of William O. Baker. four mllea north of Lllylake. 111., on the night of Oct. 23, have Btlrred all Kane county. 1 UE.UUUHL LUIIU ' They are the third set of twins in the llaker family of eleven children, while only 400 yards down the road the Uoyd family baa a pair of twins also. " I'm going to move off this road altogether," Is the em phatic Judgment of Arthur Lloyd, father of the Lloyd twins. "I don't know what to do." Is the opinion of William Baker, father of the linker twins. Between these expressive sentiments It will be seen that twins are not the economical blessings they might be thought to be by the uninitiated. One dinner may be soothing, com forting, and tending to a benignant complacency. But to have to eat a second dinner on top of the first would mean Irrita tion, discomfort, and dyspectlo Irascibility. Children Entitled to Individual Birthdays. " I wouldn't advise twins," suld Mrs. Baker, as she sat pale and thoughtful in an armchair In the sitting room, watching the big, smiling nurse bustle around the twins In the cradle. "They are a little too much for the mother. Six Children and oaly three birthdays look like economy, but very child Is entitled to a birthday of his own. If I could have arranged things 1 would rather have ralsud eleven babies two years at) art, than to have ' eoonomlzud as we are accused of doing." But father and mother are greed that Interest li th Baker family under thoe cir cumstances might have been nothing. They admitted the suggestion that a stranger ? coming Into the room and told there was a baby In the oradle probably would sit out his visit without stirring from his chair, while with the annunce ment of two bablea In the cradle he probably would not alt down at all out of his curiosity. Individually these last twins of the three sets In the Baker household are espec ially Interesting. Ray Theodore at birth weighed B4 pounds, while Ralph Lloyd waa a bouncing second at T'4 pounds, la the average American t V They Me Noll ami Eeoeomncal Bflessfieg BEHTHA MAY household a single baby that weighs seven pounds at birth Is normal and thousands of the "ten pounders" to which the physician attests weigh less than six pounds by the marks on the scales. The " ten pound " baby Is a tradition, however, and the attending physician is spreading It wider every year. No Economy Beyond Physician and Nurse. Mrs. Baker, recognizing that In physician's fees and nursing charges twins art economical over single babies of corresponding weights, has not found by experience that this economy goes further than that. In the matter of twins, their distribution throughout the Hakcr family life has been to emphasize that " the unex pected happens." Not once have arrangements been thor oughly completed for the reception of the twin phenomenon, for the reason that other children have come between the sets In a reassuring sort of manner. While six children out of eleven have arrived at three births, five others have come singly into the home. There has been an upsetting of all calculation In both scientific and lay fields. The scientific scale of " twin chances " In the family was left In the lurch with the first pair In the household, while the folk lore of the neighborhood, based upon the observation that lightning never " strikes twice In the same place " was cast aside with the second set. This third set Is considered to approach a record. Unexpected Continually Happening. The merest tyro In marrlags, or the most confirmed of bachelors and spinsters having the least possible love for children, will recognize the sense of security under which the Bakers rested, simply by having an eye to the chrono logical order of family accretions: 18ttt-Marrled-Wllliam Q. Baker and Mary E. Haines. Born 1SH Edna Orace. 10 Bertha May. v lsni Ada MabeL lSD.'l Beryl and Berenice. 18t)5 Elmer Leroy. 1INN Oral Herbert and Olive Irene. 11KI2 Floyd Harold. i 1(M4 Ray Theodore and Ralph Lloyd. lit T or and t In Edna, Bertha, and Ada there was no suggestion of the possibilities of twins. The family was lulled into sense of absolute security. Beryl and Berenice arrived simultaneously after seven years and were welcomed as an Innovation and a novelty. The neighborhood was Interested widely. The whole section was so populated as to make the scientific) chances for twins almost nil. Everybody called to see and to wotuler and to congratulate. These first twins were an ex perience for the psrents. Berenice whs a delicate babe, however, and died within a month. Elmer Leroy Baker come In 113 as a reassurance, but In louo.the unexpected again happened In the Baker house hold and the name Oral Herbert was dug up for the boy and Olive Irene served for the girl. Floyd Harold arrived alone lr 1002 and only the other day Ray Theodore and Ralph Lloyd perpetuated the latest Joke upon the embarrassed parenta Lie Awake In Relays. " You might figure that you'd as well be kept awake by twins as to be kept awake by a single baby," argues the mother. " But It's different. One twin will sleep calmly one right while the other wears you out, and then while the first disturber rests the next night the other one tunes up. "When they get big enough to move about and when the mother might go somewhere if there was only the one baby, she finds two of them an Impossibility. Did you ever try to carry two babies In your arms at once? Did you ever try to carry only one and drive a gentle horse single to a buggy? There Is a whole lot of light on this subject for a man who will make either experiment. "On a farm especially one appreciates another lack of economy In twins. With four children distributed '.brough six years the mother has a chance at making over the clothes of the 6 year old to lit one of .", and the outgrown coat and shoes of the 5 year old will do for the child of 4 years, and so on down the line. It is an altogether different proposition with one pair of twins 2 years old and the other pair needing the cradle that the others are hxrdly out of. We havo been a little more fortunate than that, but our twins were mighty close together. "One physician and one nurse are on the economy side cf tha proposition, but these are soon forgotten In the after care of the children. One might fancy It was as easy to warm milk for two babies as It Is for one, but It Ixn't. The trouble la that both won't wake hungry at the same time; one will wake and yell for food and you don't dare wako the other one, but you can count on Its waking within thirty ORAL HERBERT FLOYD HAROLD OLIVE IRENE minutes. Just about the time the satisfied ono has gone to sleep and the milk in the pan Is cold. Twin Girls More Embarrassing. "It should be well known and widely circulated as a truth that a pair of twins consists of two babies at one and the same time. They will continue to be two babies of the same age and the same helplessness while they are young, and then they are two children of tho sumo degree of dependence upon you, after which, if girls, In their young womanhood they bring to the parents the problem of two marriages In the household pretty close together. "Accepting twins as the Inevitable with us, we have been fortunate in the sex. Two girls of the same age are em barrassing from the social side of life. You might Imagine a young man thinking so much of both of them as to hesi tate so long another young woman would step In and take his fancy from both. I have heard of Just such things. It was a loss to us when little Berenice died, but she had never been strong, and we had no hope of raising her. The second twins were boy and girl, simplifying the proposition Im mensely, and now with the third pair boys we shan't have much trouble reconciling ourselves to them. The boy on a farm Is worth more than a girl, if you want to take It that way, and at the sntno time he can look out for himself as a girl can't." "As to the next pair " began the questioner, at which Mrs. Baker held up both thin, white hands. " Don't don't," she said, appeallngly. Father Willing to Buy Cigars. The father of the third pair of twins on the Baker farm had to buy two whole boxes of Lllylake cigars when he took In the milk on the mori.lng of Oct. 24. But he smiles on both sides of his face nt all questions. "They are counting up pretty fast on me," he says. "That's all, as far us 1 am concerned. They are all right with me all of Vm," waving his hand around the kitchen, where seven of the nine living children of the family hovered laughing and talking, their blight faces full of appreciation of the mission of the Inquiring visitor. Every child of the eleven was rocked In the cradle In which the latest twins were nestled, feet to feet, and taking nourishment from bottles. For the third time in the history of the house It has been rigged up as a double header, swing ing from its top between the two uprights at either end. Lily lake Disbelieves Lightning Adage. The father of this interesting family Is 42 years old and was born on the farm of ISO acres which he now owns and runs as a dairy farm. Mrs. Baker Is only years old. Under the urging of friends they have been contemplating a letter to President Roosevelt. Further thnn this, however, they have no family intentions to announce beyond the immediate present. Just how the recurrences of twins in the Baker house hold have stirred the neighborhood of Lllylako and Kane county lends a good deal of color to the story. Lllylake Is Just forty miles out of Chicago, tnklng the record of the railroad for It as posted over the door of the station. At a guess It lias a population of forty-seven, and lr the bunch of houses among which a train stops by flagging ore a grocery store, n hardware store, nnd a milk car on a siding. You get to Lllylake by paying l.:il to the ticket agent In the Grand Central station In Chicago and you get back to Chicago by paying 1.:I7 to the ticket agent at Llly lake. Landing at Lllylake from a milk train, the scenery Is distinctly disappointing. There Is no lake. A depression of reventy-flve or loo acres south of the town on which' fodder Is shocked Is pointed out as the spot where the lake used to be. Occasionally a suspicious visitor who Is told what a it Ilk country It all Is asks where tho water of the lake went, but this ordinarily Is taken as a mere Joke. Kane County Making Records. Lllylake especially has been stirred by the story of the Baker twins. The town Is i specially susceptible to the old lightning adage and Its faultiiuNs for the reason that Aoram- son's hardware store was ' , JPr 1 s ' i . a a. tit H V L struck twice In tho same place only last Sept. ruber. Also Carpenter I-:. A. Way has been telling It nil over Lllylake and Canada Corners that his mother is nursing the fourth pair of twins near Elgin, In Kane county, fifteen miles away. I' a interhalter, In IJIy lake, occasionally has to open her house to tho chance vis itor to the place who can't nnd the hotel that Isn't there. An. I Mrs. Wlnlerhalter. speak ing for her own family of a girl of tl years, a boy of 4. and another boy of 10 month, says: "I had twin sisters a g dial )ounger than I. and nn mother's experience will di for me, thank you." But In the meantime Car penter Way fcix on te latf hUiiiI tho four pairs f near Elgin ss If it ! one of the greatest rtoii. i ui tho world