Chapter XXXII: What to Make of Bananas, Oranges, and Apples

WHILE icy blasts are still sweeping through the cities of the North, while the snow lies deep on the ground, and the children, bundled up until little except their pink noses is visible, are coasting, sleighing, and snowballing, in the South soft breezes are sifting through the green leaves of the trees and gently stirring the beautiful flowers blossoming in the warm sunshine.

In the orange groves the great golden balls are ripening, and on the long-leaved banana trees hang the queer bunches of bananas, growing in their funny upside-down fashion. Pineapples, lemons and many other fruits are there, all growing and ripening that the children of the North may have them when their own delicious strawberries, peaches and plums have gone.

We are very glad of these Southern fruits, even the skins seem too good to throw away. And so they are.

=Save Your Orange, and Banana, and Apple Skins,=

too, and see what delightful things you can make of them.

Long, long ago, before there were any steamboats, sailboats or even rowboats in the British Isles, when men’s clothes were merely the skins of wild beasts tied on with leather thongs, the people went on the water in little circular boats called coracles. These boats were wickerwork baskets covered with the hides of animals and resembled bowls in shape. They were sent skimming over the water very rapidly by means of a paddle which was dipped in first on one side of the boat then on the other. The coracles were so small a man easily carried his boat on his back to transport it over dry land, looking, one would think, very much like a huge turtle walking on its hind legs.

It is a boat like this most primitive one that you can make of

=Half of an Orange Skin=

It will float, too, and ride safely the roughest waves of the bathtub sea. As it is perfectly water-tight, Miss Dolly need have no fear of wetting her dainty skirts as she sits in the bottom of the boat.

Cut an orange exactly in halves like Fig. 577. Slide the blade of a penknife around the edge, loosening the pulp from the skin, then cut the pulp in quarters and remove it piece by piece as in Fig. 578. When all is taken out you have your little boat (Fig. 579) and your orange besides.

Place the coracle in a basinful of water, put a small doll in it, stir the water round and round with a stick, and watch the boat glide along as swiftly as if its little occupant were paddling with all her might.

From the skin of the banana an almost

=Perfect Canoe=

can be made, which will look very much like those used by the Indians at the time when Columbus discovered America. You know, of course, that a banana has several ridges on its surface with wide, smooth spaces between and that the stem end curves up more decidedly than the other. Along the middle of the smooth space which takes the upward curve of the stem you must make a slit with the sharp point of your knife, as shown by the black line on the banana in Fig. 580. Open the slit carefully, cut the banana in small pieces and take out one piece at a time (Fig. 581).

Cut the sulphur ends off two matches (Fig. 582) and place the little sticks crosswise in the banana skin, one near each end, to act as braces in holding the sides apart (Fig. 583) and as a seat for the doll-man (Fig. 584). Fig. 584 shows both the canoe and the coracle in the water.

In selecting a banana for the canoe choose a symmetrical or even-sided one, that it may not tip but sit squarely on the water. In case the banana is not perfect and the canoe does tip to one side, place in it a small weight and the balance will be regulated.

The apple lantern, or

=Fairy Lamp=

(Fig. 585) requires a little more time and patience in its preparation than the boats, but it is not difficult to make. Find a rather small, perfectly round, red apple without bruise or blemish. Hold it in both hands and gently press it with your two thumbs, beginning close to the stem and gradually working down to the blossom end. Be careful not to break the skin, but press and press until every part is loosened and the apple feels pulpy like a grape—every part except the blossom; that holds fast because it is attached to the core. When no hard spots can be found cut a circle around the stem as shown in Fig. 586, and little by little dig out the apple until nothing but the skin remains (Fig. 587); then you will find a small lump at the bottom which must be left, since cutting it out would result in a hole in the skin. With a pair of sharp scissors trim away all unevenness or raggedness that may be found on the edge. This will make the opening a trifle larger.

=Cut a Slice from an Ordinary Candle=

about half an inch thick (A, Fig. 588) and hollow out the under side enough to allow the candle to fit over the lump in the bottom of the apple skin (B, Fig. 588). Fit the candle in place, and when it is lit you will have the prettiest, daintiest little fairy lamp imaginable. The light shining through the rosy, semi-transparent apple skin gives the effect of Bohemian glass and casts a red glow all around it.

The fairy lamp looks very pretty floating in water in a glass bowl, and a number of lamps around your birthday cake will be a new way of telling how old you are.