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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1904)
7 V Raines to FjDay at CSiirastirrQastndIe ; t t!! i : f 1 n M Kit 'o4 V 6 ? mm TfEN the nursery door swings oin next Hatnr- A M Jay evening In many an American houwhoM Jg I ,J the accompaniment of Joyous J'lvenue "VI shouts, a surprise will halt the assembled children In their wild rush to the Christmas tree. Across the door will be a w ndrnus spider's web. such a on as they never saw before, for It will be of many colors. In an swer to their looks of amazed disappointment, nurse or mamma will tell them to look at the web and Rive each a thread of different color to unravel. And then the fun begins. For strings of different colors 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 was 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, all go bark to the door and start with a new thread of the same color they had before. The zest 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 thpre Is not room for scch 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 silver colored cardboard, festooned with flowers and carrying n bevy of chocolate dolls, Is hidden a dollar. Each child I" allowed to point once to the portion of the ship In which ho thinks the treasure la concealed, and tho successful guesscr carries oft tha prize. In order to make the game thoroughly popular, however, there nre no bl inks at all, as each portion of the ship conceals some sort of prize, and each child, therefore, is awarded a treasure. 1 & These guessing games are always popular with the chil dren, and one of th most excittn Is the floral chariot guess Ing contest. A gold tinsel cardboard chariot Is fostoon'd with hundred of pink and white paper roses, with a dove of sugar holding the olive branch fixed at the top of the car riage. Tretty little china dolls filled with sweets are placed among the roses, and each 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 and the first prl2P. The dolls nre also distributed to the unsuccessful contestants, so that none Is disappoint d. Another pretty and novel variation Is the coach, or "Tally Ho!" made of wicker work or 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 flowers that festoon the conch. A prize Is given to each successful boy or girl who guesses either the exact number or tho one that Is the nearest. Games for the AUernoon. With Christmas coming on Sunday this year, many of the 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 nimber of small tin spikes are Inserted, la fixed to a clothes horse or wooden screen. Each child Is supplied with two or thn-e wax balls co red with gayly colored short iilll fiathers, and is allowed three alms at the target. To the child whose ball most often bits the bull's eye 6 prize la awarded, and there are numerous consolation prizes given to the less successful 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, and those who cannot identify any of the music have a monkey on a stick given to them by way of consolation. Rags of sweets are also distributed to the other competitors. Fun Hanging Up fhe 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 falls to arouse roars of laughter, la to cut out of paper a hat and to draw on another large sheet of yuper 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 la a game that In terests both old and young. Boxes can now be procured containing the requisite soap and pipes, and prizes nre awarded for the largest bubbles, which may be blown on to the top of a glasa or over flowers on a plate. Children Like Games with Action. There are a number of games where action la required, which children always like, and which can be Joined In by oat w 1. IP t-- .i-, iii 1 v in in 'I'll i i - HIM I HI, S ..'Til ' U-r A rr -A" ' Will she get J. 0 It. S. k vi "la i i u TO -'A rat 71 I 1 11 v ; their elders. One of the best of these la 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, and he or she must bend back without getting so low that the knees touch the ground, and try to paa 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. Oradually it will be found possible to accomplish the trick with the stick held lower and lower. 5 VT . VSn Mi KV ffli weo. C.TA. m. w m m m W W tf W W WW w 99 CSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS3 mm I Mom ttlV TBEUUOKE BAIPH LLUYD AY TIIEODOIIE and Ralph Lloyd Baker, arriving unexpect edly at the home of William O. Baker, four mile north of Lllylake. 111., on the night of Oct. 23, hnve stirred all Kane county. ni ,v. , i.i.j ., ,in. in the liaker family of woven children, while only 400 yards down the road the Lloyd family baa a pair of twins also. " I'm roln to move aft this road altogether," Is the era phatio 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 nnker twine. Between these expressive sentiments It will be seen that twina are not the economical blessings they might be thought to be by the uninitiated. One dinner may be oothlng. com forting, and tending to a benignant complacenoy. But to have to eat a aeoond dinner on top of the first would mean Irrita tion, discomfort, and dyspectlo Irascibility. Children Entitled to Individual Birthdays. " l wouldn't advise twine," said Mrs. Baker, as she sat ale and thoughtful in an armchair In the slttlug room, watching the big. imlllng 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 van child is entitled to a birthday of his own. If I could have vrranged things 1 would rather have ralBud eleven bablea two year apart, than nave ' economised as we accused of doing." But father and mother are agreed that intereet li' the Baker family under those 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 cradle probably would sit out his visit without stlrrlim from his chair, while with the annunce ment of two babies In the cradle he probably would not at all out of his OT OH TEuree Panirs oil TwMs Says Tluey Aire Rtott aim Eeoimom5eall Blessiegj- to are i sit down curiosity. Individually these last twins of the three sets in the Baker household are espec tally interesting. Ray Theodore St birth weighed bv; pounds,, while Ralph Lloyd woa A bouncing second at TVi pounds, la the sverag American N I .- BEBTHA 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. J, J, No Economy Beyond Physician and Nurse. Mrs. Baker, recognizing that In physician's fees and nursing charges twins re 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 Baker family life has been to emphasize that " the unex pected huppens." 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, baaed 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 marriage, or the most confirmed of bachelors and spinsters having the least possible love for children, will recognize the sense of security tinder which the Bakers rested, simply by having an eye to the chrono logical order of family accretions: 18So-Married-Wllllm Q. Baker and Mary E. Haines. Born ISSSEdna Grace. lSfto Bertha May. 1S01 Ada Mabel. lw.i.'i Beryl and Berenice. 1805 Elmer Leroy. 1000Oral Herbert and Olive Irene. l(M2Floyd Harold. , 1!XX Ray Theodore and Ralph Lloyd. 10 ? 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 wonder and to congratulate. These flrnt twins were an ex perience for the parents. Berenice was a delicate babe, however, and died within a month. Elmer Leroy Baker came In as a reassurance, but In llsjothe unexpected again happened in the Bakur house hold and the name Oral Herbert was dug up for the boy and Olive Irene served for the girl. Floyd Harold arrived alone Ir 1902 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 rennomy In twins. With four children distributed nbrough six years the mother has a chance at making over the clothes of the 8 year old to At one of ,1, and the outgrown coat and shoes of the B 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 hardly out of.. We have been a little more fortunate than that, but our twins were mighty close together. "One physician and one nurse are on the economy side f the proposition, but these are soon forgotten In the after care of ths children. One might fancy It was as easy to warm milk for two babies as it Is for one, hut it lnn't. The trouble Is that both won't wake hungry at the same time; one will wake and yell for food and you don't dare wake the other one, but you can count on its waking within thirty vr- ' "'f- " -P- ' OBAL HEBBEBT FLOYD HABOLD OLIVE IBENE minutes, Just about the time the satisfied one 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 the same 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 wns a logs to us when little Berenice died, but she had never been strong, and we hnd no hope of raising her. The second twins were boy and girl, simplifying tho 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 an me 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 mort.ing of Oct. 24. But he smiles on both sides of his face nt all cjiiestlons. "They are counting up pretty fast on me," he says. "That's all, as far as I 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 bright faces full of appreciation of the mission of the Inquiring vlaitor. 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. Lilylake Disbelieves Lightning Adage. The father of this Interesting family Is 42 years old and was bni on the farm of 1HO acres which he now owns and runs as a dairy farm. Mrs. liukur Is only III! years old. Under the urging of friends they have been contemplating a letter to President Roosevelt. Further than 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 Lilylake and Kane county lends a good deal of color to the story. Lilylake Is Just forty miles out of Chicago, taking 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 Ir the bunch of houses among which a train stops by flagging are a grocery store, n hardware store, and a milk car on a siding. You get to Lllylake by paying $1..ttl 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 auspicious visitor who is told what a irilk country it all Is asks where the water of the lake went, but this ordinarily Is taken as a mere Joke. Kane County Lllylake especially has I Baker twins. The town is lightning adage and its fault! Making Records. BERYL oen stirred by the slory of the specially susceptible to tho old tu as for the reason that Abr.im- son's hardware More, was struck twice In tho same place only last September. Also Carpenter E. A. Way haa been telling it H 11 over Lllylake and Canada Corners that his mother is nursing the fourth pair of twins near Elgin, In Kane county, fifteen miles away. , 1' s. Wlnterhaltor, in Llly lake, occasionally has to open her house, to the chance vis itor to the place who can't find the hotel that isn't there. Ami Mrs. Wlnterhalter, speak ing for her own family of a girl of 6 years, a boy of 4. and another boy of 10 months, says: " I had twin sisters a g"" 1 deal younger than I, and mv mother's experience will di for me, thank you." But in the meantime Car penter Way goes on telling atxmt tho four pajrs if twin near Kljrln a If It w f one of tha greatest slot k 4 in the world. f u ! v