Sand Castles (poetry)

1909

Sand Castles

By Elizabeth Ruggles

At midnight when the moon is bright,
And everybody out of sight,
The beach is filled with little folk,
Who think it a tremendous joke
To occupy the forts so grand
The children fashioned out of sand.
The snails are set on guard, for fear
Some mortal might approach too near.
And then the revelry begins:—
The fishes spread their shining fins,
And, standing upright, glide along
To join the merry-making throng.
The music from the Cricket Band—
By far the best in Fairy Land—
Accompanies the sprightly dance.
And moonbeams, shimmering, enhance
The beauty of the creatures fair,
Who gaily, madly revel there.
But hush! a sound of heavy feet,
And noiselessly, with motions fleet,
The merry dancers disappear,
For Mr. Boogy Man is near.
With one great stride he soon destroys
The scene of many earthly joys,
And when the children come next day,
They'll find their forts all swept away.
But gorgeous new ones soon they'll make
For all the little fairies' sake.

–The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Sept. 18, 1909, p. 24.

It's Time To Go Out On A Picnic

1919

Want to Have a Regular Picnic?
(By Ruth Baird.)

Do you know what fun it is to go picnicking? Take your family out to the woods the first pleasant evening and becoming acquainted with our glorious out-of-doors. They will tell you it is great fun and you, yourself, forgetting the hot routine task of preparing supper and washing dishes, will decide that after all, summer is a time to enjoy yourself.

There are picnics — and picnics, of course. You could spend all day preparing the lunch and then at the picnic small Billy might say, "My lemonade is warm and the creamed potatoes are going through my paper plate. What shall I do?"

Or tragedy of tragedies, your husband might confess that he was too rheumatic to sit on grassy hummocks or picturesque rocks.

Simple Dishes, But Mighty Good.

A little forethought, however, will guard against such possible objections. A menu like this would not require a day for its preparation and brings no problem of creamed sauce on paper plates.

Meat Loaf, Potato Chips, Pickles, Vegetable Salad, Bread and Butter Sandwiches, Fruit Cookies, Lemonade.

If you desire a simpler supper, sandwiches, cookies, and fruit, with perhaps hard boiled or stuffed eggs, are always good.

An elaborate equipment is not necessary but if picnics become a family habit, one of the many kinds of convenient picnic outfits on the market would add much to the joys of picnicking. All that would be necessary for our picnic could be found about the house; a basket or carton, cups, paper plates and napkins, a little silver as possible, paraffin paper for wrapping the sandwiches and cookies, a carrier for the lemonade or coffee, and a tablecloth or some clean fresh wrapping paper to use in its place. A thermos bottle is excellent for carrying the drink, be it hot or cold, but it is not essential. Lemonade can be chilled by ice carried from home or it may be made fresh at the picnic if pure spring water is close at hand.

Cool Weather Even Better.

If the weather should turn cool and we should decide to change our menu to include eggs or a meat to be cooked over the fire, and coffee, one of the chief charms would be the coffee brewing over a camp fire in your "second best" coffee pot or kettle.