Then we began to play house.  Cecil and Dorothy were Mr. and Mrs. Harry, Sylvia was Mrs. Loo (husband at the war).  Josie was Nurse and I was Aunt Lizzie.  The dolls were Winnie Harry, and Jack and Doreen Loo.  Mr. and Mrs. Harry built themselves a house and so did we.  Cecil said, “But what is the name of the road?” Mrs. Harry chose 25 Brookfield Avenue, and Mr. Harry 7 Victoria Street, but he gave in and Mrs. Loo took his name for her house.  We had to put numbers on the houses; Sylvia could make 7, but the others could not make 25, so I put it on the board and they copied it.  Josie having also made a 7 wanted to use it, but Mrs. Loo objected, and said, “The mother is more important than the nurse,” so Josie fixed her 7 on the house opposite.

After lunch we bathed the babies and put them to sleep, and as it was time for the children’s own rest, we all went to bed.  When rest was over, we washed and dressed, and then Mrs. Harry asked for clay to make a water-tap for her house.  That made all the children want to make things in clay, so we made cups and saucers, plates, and a baby’s bottle, then scones and sponge-cakes, bread and a bread-board, and one of the children said we must put a B on that.

Then Mrs. Loo said, “But we haven’t any shelves.”  I had to leave my class in Miss Payne’s charge, and they spent the rest of the time fitting in shelves, water-taps, and sinks.

June 19.—­After sweeping, dusting, and washing and dressing the dolls, I read to the children “How the House was built.”  Then we all pretended to bake, making rolls and cakes as next day was to be the doll Winnie’s birthday.  We baked our cakes on a piece of wood on the empty fireplace.

The other children were invited to Winnie’s party, so we went out to shop.  The children wanted lettuces from their own garden, but the grass was too wet, so we pretended.  The shop was on the edge of the grass and we talked to imaginary shopmen, Cecil often exclaiming, “Eightpence! why, it’s not worth it!”

As neither of the houses would hold all the guests invited to the party, we had to have a picnic instead.

June 20.—­I must see that Sylvia and Dorothy do the sweeping to-morrow, and let Josie bath the doll; she is very good-natured, and I see that they give her the less attractive occupation.  I think too that the food question has played too large a part, so if the children suggest more cooking I shall look in the larder and say that really we must not buy or bake as food goes bad in hot weather, and we must not waste in war time.

The children have suggested making cushions, painting pictures, and making knives and forks, but we have not had time.