Material Required for Making a Boxville Residence: a deep, square letter-paper box with its cover, the cover of a flat letter-paper box about ten inches long, the cover of a drawer-like pill-box, some glacine or waxed paper, some artificial flowers, lace-paper cut from candy boxes, and some box rims.

See what a darling little house I have made for a Boxville Residence! The husband of Mrs. Doll, who owns the house, goes in his motor car to Boxville Station every morning. He commutes to Boxtown. You can see Mrs. Doll and her sister in the picture. Mr. Doll has gone to Boxtown, but in the picture of the garage that goes with the Boxville Residence you will see Mr. Doll’s motor and the chauffeur. Don’t you think it would be fun to make a Boxville Residence like mine? I will tell you how to do it.

First, of course, you will have to hunt for a deep, square letter-paper box, and the other materials that are needed to use in building. When you have found your box, turn it over so that it stands upside-down. Take off the cover. That will be the roof, but you are not ready yet to put the roof on to the building.

Upon two opposite sides of the box, mark off two window spaces. (For windows, see Diagram One AA, page 166.) Each window space measured off, with help of ruler and pencil, must be an inch and a half square. Have the bases of the windows, as well as their tops, made a uniform distance from the base of the box building. Each window should be an equal distance from the corner of the box nearest it.

When the two sides of the box are marked out with window spaces, you can begin upon the front of the house. Draw a door space about four inches high and two inches broad, and let it come an inch from the right-hand side of the box building that faces you. (For front door, see Diagram Two C, page 167.) Let the base of your door space come on the very outer rim of the front of the box. When you have outlined the door, draw a square in its upper part to indicate where the plate-glass window is to be in the door. Cut the top line of your door and down its right side. Then cut out the square you made for the window in it. There, the door will open and close, you see, when you bend it on the side where the hinge should be! Waxed paper pasted in a square under the window opening will make the glass window. Lace-paper makes curtains. A round-headed paper-fastener with its prongs pushed through the cardboard door and bent to one side will make a door-knob with a latch. By turning the knob you can open or fasten the front door tight.

After the door is finished, draw a window space half-way between the door and the corner of the building on the front of the house. Now, you can begin to cut out all the windows. Cut each one evenly, and paste a square of waxed paper or glacine paper back of each, inside the box, to make window-glass. You can outline the window-frames on the outside, using black ink or paint.

Doesn’t the box begin to look like a real house? Yes! But it has no roof yet! Where is the cover of your box? Slip it down over the building. There you are! The cover of a small drawer-like pill-box will make a fine chimney. Glue it on end to the top of the roof at the center.

Where is the flat letter-box cover? That is to be the porch. Place it on the floor or table, and then brush the rims of the box that is your Boxville Residence with paste or glue so that it will stand well back upon this veranda. Be careful not to have any paste under the door. See, there is the front porch. The veranda railing is just a box rim cut from a box and pasted to the edge of the veranda on the cover of the letter-paper box.

If you wish to have a step up to the front porch, a small box or its cover will make this.

My Boxville Residence has a garden. Mrs. Doll is very fond of gardens, and so is Mr. Doll also. I made the garden from a wreath of flowers that was on an old summer hat. I made an arbor. It was easy to make that. The arbor is cut from a candy box. It is just half the rim. I stood it up on its ends and trimmed it with the flowers. Of course, if you play out-of-doors with your Boxville Residence, you can have real flowers to play with. You can lay out walks with pebbles and gravel when you do not play in the house. I made a fountain or a pool for the garden from a hand-glass. At almost any penny store you can buy a little round mirror that will make a garden pool. You can make a sun-dial also. It is a spool with a pill-box placed over one end of it. You will have to mark off the face of the sun-dial with pencil.

Don’t you think that this makes a comfortable home for a Boxville resident? I do. I almost wish I were a little doll, so that I might open the front door and begin furnishing the inside of the house with box furniture and spools.