least two inches in diameter, with a focus of from two to three feet for
the larger glass; and another lens of from one-half to one inch in
diameter, and with a focus of one inch, for the smaller end. Having your
lenses, the next important step is to make your tubes; this is done by
bending a piece of pasteboard a foot long by seven inches wide in the
shape of a tube, whose diameter shall be about one-sixteenth of an inch
larger than that of your lens. Glue the edges firmly together, and tie a
piece of tape around to insure their keeping in place. Make two tubes of
this size and one rather smaller, that its ends may fit in the other
two. Lap these ends together, and paste or glue them in place (_see_
cut). Joining these sections together is simply to insure a proper
length of tube. If a piece of pasteboard can be found large enough to
make a tube three feet long, it will look much neater than the one
described above. Take a narrow strip of pasteboard and glue it around
the inside of the tube, half an inch from one end; put the large lens in
its place, and press it against the edge of this band. Now take another
strip, three-eighths of an inch wide, and paste around the inside
between the lens and the end of the tube. By this means the glass is
kept in place, it being held by the edges of the pasteboard on either
side.
[Illustration]
Another and smaller tube, five or six inches in length, and of a size
just sufficient to slide easily in the other end of the long tube should
now be made. Around the inside of one end paste a band of pasteboard, as
in the larger section, but much nearer the edge. When this is dry, paste
still another strip inside this one, making a wide edge for the lens to
rest against. As this tube is of much greater diameter than the glass,
inclose the latter between two disks of cardboard of the same size as
the opening in the tube, and each having a round hole cut in its center
for the eye to look through. Cover the inner side with paste, and press
it against the edges of the strips. Finally, cover the whole thing with
some dark-colored paper, pasting it carefully over the surface, and your
telescope is completed.
This instrument will present everything in an inverted position, but if
the lenses are carefully adjusted, objects at a long distance can be
very plainly seen, and a boy can derive a great amount of solid comfort,
not only while constructing, but from its subsequent use.
To find the focal distance of a lens, if for any reason the optician
does not give it, hold it in the sun, and observe at what distance from
itself it makes the smallest point of light. That, if measured, will be
its focal distance. The long tube should be from two to three inches
shorter than the focal distance of the larger lens.
―――――◀▶―――――
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.
“What shall we make for Christmas?” is the cry that arises from the
children all over this land and abroad, wherever the Christmas season is
known and observed; and many a boy would be glad to contribute his share
of labor toward making the others of his household happy, if he only
could think of something to make. In the following pages, I purpose to
give a few directions for some simple things, which boys of ordinary
ability can easily execute.
THE ORNAMENTAL EGG.
Procure a large, perfectly white, hen’s egg, and after making a hole
slightly larger than a pea in either end, blow the contents into a bowl
placed to receive it. Paint some little thing on both sides of the
shell—a bunch of forget-me-nots or pansies are very good subjects—or, if
well acquainted with the brush, a small landscape, inclosed in an oval,
is still prettier. After the painting is perfectly dry, varnish it with
a brush filled with “retouching varnish,” and, with a long hair-pin,
draw a piece of blue or pink ribbon through the holes, and get some lady
friend, who can keep the secret, to tie the ends in a pretty bow. A yard
of ribbon about an inch wide is required to complete this pretty
ornament.
TRINKET-HOLDER.
During your summer journeyings, collect any fine large shells you may
see; the large well-formed quahaug-shells (the common hard-shell clam),
or those of the beautiful sea clam, with their wonderful opalescent
linings. Scrape off all the outside you can possibly remove; then sketch
on the inside some pleasing marine view, or, if that is beyond your
powers, take any simple subject you are confident of doing well,
remembering that a very unpretending thing, well painted, is much more
pleasing, and indeed ornamental, than the most ornate subject
imaginable, if poorly executed or badly drawn.
In painting on egg or sea shell, or, in fact, on any hard substance of a
similar nature, use the paint as dry as is consistent with its flowing
freely, and allow plenty of time for it to dry. After the painting seems
firm and hard, give it a good coat of varnish, taking care to avoid
touching all the unpainted surface of the shell. This little
trinket-holder is easily made, costs nothing if one has a supply of
paints at command, and makes one of the most acceptable presents you can
offer to either an older sister or brother, as it is intended to stand
on the dressing-table, and hold rings, collar-studs, or sleeve-buttons,
when taken off for the night.
AN IDEA FOR BRACKETS.
In making a corner bracket, which, on the whole, is the most
satisfactory to make, let one side be as large as the other, with the
thickness of the wood in addition, and let the front of the shelf form
the arc of a circle. If no curtain or fringe is to be tacked on the
shelf to cover the uprights, some simple ornamentation on these is
desirable. If a scroll-saw is conveniently at hand, this is easily
accomplished. A design should first be drawn upon paper the exact shape
and size of the bracket desired. This should then be transferred to the
wood and the surplus portions carefully cut away. After the pattern is
sawed out, the edges should be rubbed down with sand-paper, or if left
very rough, a rasp would reduce this unevenness more readily; the
sand-paper should be used in that case, to give the final finish. After
the surface is as smooth as it is possible to make it, oil the whole,
and when dry put the three parts together with brads and glue. Then oil
the entire surface again, and when dry varnish if you like.
ANOTHER BRACKET.
If no scroll-saw is to be had, a pretty pair of uprights are made by
gouging a narrow stripe around the entire form, at equal distances from
the edge, and painting with gold paint a small stenciled form on the
middle of each, also filling the stripe with the same material. For the
stencil use a simple one of your own design, made according to
directions given in another place in this book. Should you and an older
sister desire to unite in making the present, she making the curtain,
and you the woodwork, no fancy design would be required. A simple
bracket, with well-proportioned supports nicely curving in front, and
well sand-papered, oiled, and varnished, would be all required, as the
curtain would hide the entire form.
THE CONE AND TWIG BRACKET.
One of the prettiest home-made brackets the writer ever saw was in an
old-fashioned country house, in a thinly settled region of
Massachusetts. The maker, a quiet, gentlemanly boy of fifteen, was a
cripple, and being obliged to remain much of his time within-doors, had
utilized these spare moments, and surrounded himself with many beautiful
things, made from materials which nature with so lavish a hand bestows
upon us all. This poor crippled boy loved the fields and meadows, lakes
and woods, with an intensity of feeling utterly inconceivable to his
more robust brothers and sisters; but his gentle, kindly manner won
their hearts, and the brightest and best the farm afforded, whether
fruit or flowers, minerals or young animals, found its way into “Ned’s
sanctum,” as his little room was called. Even the young calves and
colts, were brought around to his window, that he might admire their
rather doubtful beauty, and nearly every brood of newly-hatched chickens
spent several hours of their early life in a basket on the table at his
side. One day, the children brought home some beautiful spruce and larch
cones, and the little sufferer began, with the true artist’s sentiment,
to revolve in his mind how he could put them in a form, which should
always be in sight from his place by the window. At last he thought of
the bracket, and immediately set to work drawing designs for the
foundation. When these were quite satisfactory, he asked his brother to
saw the different pieces from old cigar-box wood, and nail them
together. The bracket was very simple in outline, but the arrangement of
the cones, half nut-shells, and tiny twigs, was extremely artistic and
pretty. They covered the two supports and the under-side of the shelf,
forming little pendants, like stalactites in some hidden cave. These
were glued firmly in place and afterward carefully varnished.
THE PEBBLE VASE.
On this bracket was a little vase, made by the same deft fingers. A
broken wine-glass held the water, and the vase was formed around this,
of that inexhaustible material, papier-maché, studded all over with bits
of colored glass and bright pebbles gathered from the sea-shore. From
earliest spring till the frost claimed the last lingering blossom, this
vase was filled with the fairest flowers of the seasons, and, with the
unique little bracket, seemed like a bit of the delightful out-door
world transferred to the pleasant corner of the sunny little room.
THE CONE AND TWIG HANGING-BASKET.
The fall after his experiment with the bracket, Ned made a
hanging-basket with the same materials, using a wooden bowl for the
foundation. This was also a success, but not as uncommon as the bracket.
The cocoanut-shell, cut evenly around near one end, forms a good
material to build upon. In either this or the bowl, be sure to bore
three holes near the top, at equal distances from each other, to attach
the chains or strings to the basket. This must be done before the cones
are glued in place. If a fourth hole is made near the bottom, and filled
with a round-headed peg which can be removed at will, but which forms a
part of the design, and receives its share of the final varnishing, the
plants growing in the basket will present a much more flourishing
condition, as the surplus water can be readily drawn off from their
roots.
―――――◀▶―――――
PAPER BOXES.
Many years ago, when our mothers were little girls and ready-made
playthings were not as common as at the present day, during the long
winter evenings they were obliged to invent their own amusements, and it
was not uncommon in a large family where there were several girls and
boys, for them to take turns in providing games for certain evenings in
the week. Even the little ones contributed their share to the general
amusement, and it was from one of these little girls, now grown to be an
old gray-haired lady, that I first learned to make these simple boxes.
[Illustration: Fig. 1]
[Illustration: Fig. 2]
[Illustration: Fig. 3]
[Illustration: Fig. 4]
[Illustration: Fig. 5]
[Illustration: Fig. 6]
[Illustration: Fig. 7]
Take a square of ordinary note-paper, fold it as in Fig. 1, and crease
it across; now open it and bring the two corners to the central point of
the crease, and making them just touch each other at that point, and
crease the folds, as in Fig. 2. Next fold between these folds and
between the last made, and the corners, as in Fig. 3, always remembering
to crease the folds when made. Now turn the paper and crease it seven
times across the other way, and you will find your paper is folded in
little squares. Then take your scissors and cut the little half squares
left out in Fig. 4. Then with your penknife or the sharp points of the
scissors cut the little slits 1 and 2; next, cut 3 and 4, 5 and 6 to the
first creases; last, 7 and 8, 9 and 10 to the dots, but no further. Now
fold the joint marked 9, 10, so that it will go through the slit 2, and
when you have passed it through, straighten it out and press the paper
in the shape of Fig. 6. Now pass the last point through the remaining
slit and your box is complete. Occasionally, we used to make “nests” of
these boxes, by commencing with very tiny ones, and gradually increasing
the size, making one over another until our paper gave out, or we became
tired of the amusement.
―――――◀▶―――――
A SHAVING-CASE.
Although generally considered girls’ work, many little boys delight in
working upon perforated paper, and they can put this pleasure to good
account in making a shaving-case for papa. Procure a piece of silver or
gold gilt perforated cardboard, of the coarsest variety, and cut it into
two similar pieces, five by seven inches in size. With double zephyr,
work an initial or some simple design on one of the pieces only, as the
other will form the back of the case. Then get half-a-dozen sheets of
different colored tissue-paper, and cut them up into pieces the exact
size of the case. When all are fitted, place them between the two
covers, and ask some lady in the family to sew them together at the top;
fasten a ribbon of the same color as the worsted to each top corner for
a handle, and cover the points of juncture with tiny bows. A little boy
in the writer’s family made one of these for a dear uncle, and it lasted
him a year without replenishing, forming one of the most useful presents
he received.
―――――◀▶―――――
LEATHER WORK.
How many of my young readers have seen the beautiful shoes, boxes, and
saddle-cloths, made of leather or velvet, and appliquéd with thinner
leather, in graceful traceries, which are occasionally brought over to
this country from Russia? These are mostly the work of the women and
children of the smaller Russian villages, and in many instances their
only means of support.
In those cold, desolate regions, where summer is very short, and the
long dreary winter extends over a greater part of their lives, their
occupations necessarily must be such as can be carried on in-doors, and
are in many instances executed in their own homes. Hence the children
seeing the simple processes going on around them, soon learn to help,
and long before they have reached the age when American boys begin to
think of working, they are earning their own living, and frequently
supporting others of the family by their industry.
Although leather work to a Russian boy is anything but play, to a bright
American it will be a source of considerable pleasure, and will serve
the same purpose of amusement and instruction, for which most of the
things in this book are intended.
The materials for leather work are very simple, consisting of the waste
scraps from the neighboring book-binders or shoe-makers; these can be
chosen without regard to shape or size.
To do the kind of work spoken of above, and known as “Kasan work,”
select the thinner kid pieces from your leather, and with a lead-pencil
mark upon the wrong side any design you may fancy. Then with a pair of
sharp-pointed scissors cut out the design, carefully following the
lines, and making the edges smooth and even. Lastly, wet the back with a
little glue or paste, and stick it upon the cloth. Care should be taken
not to move the pattern after it touches the cloth, as the glue might
besmear the material in the open places of the pattern, and thus ruin
the effect. After this has partially dried, get your mother or sister to
stitch the edges on the machine, and you will have a nice bit of
material, suitable for a shoe-bag or any other useful object you may
like.
Another kind of leather work which is better adapted for boys, and a
much more fascinating process than the above, is called by the French
name “Cuir Bouilli”—pronounced “queer bwea”—or boiled leather. The
scraps already gathered are suitable for this work, as any kind of
leather can be used, although the softer kinds, such as sheep or calf
skin, work much more easily. Soak this in hot alum water until it is
soft, remembering that thick, tough leather requires a much longer time,
as well as a hotter and stronger solution to soften, than the thinner
pieces you may have. After this leather has been reduced to mere pulp,
press it into any mold you may have at hand, taking care that it is
pressed into all the cavities. After it is partially dried, in two or
three days, remove the mold, and you have your object in firm hard
leather which can be painted or varnished as you like. Many toys for
your younger brothers and sisters can be made in this way, and are quite
indestructible. Should you chance to have a good-sized piece of skin,
much prettier things could be made from it, although a good worker in
leather will use his scraps as the boy in his papier-maché uses his bits
of paper, pasting them so nicely that no one would guess the number of
pieces used. The best paste for this work is made of dextrine, a cheap
substance, easily procured at any apothecary’s.
A PANEL OF LEATHER WORK.
As this is one of the simplest forms into which leather can be wrought,
and one that probably gives the most satisfaction when completed,
perhaps the description of a dining room panel, made by the writer’s
little son, may afford more real assistance to the reader than any
general rules which could be given for the work.
He had a sheet of calf-skin, nine by fourteen inches, which he soaked in
warm alum water till it was very soft and pliable. Before this, however,
he had prepared his foundation, which consisted of a thick piece of
pasteboard six by twelve inches. Upon this was nailed or glued a simple
design of a duck hanging by its legs, which he had drawn upon a thin
slab of wood—a cigar-box cover, I think—and had cut out with a
scroll-saw. Before tacking this on, he rounded off the edges of the
figure on the right side with his jackknife, and using an old newspaper
and a little paste, he built out the body of the bird, molding it with
his fingers and an old ivory paper-cutter until he obtained the desired
shape. After this had dried he covered his soaked leather with the
dextrine paste, and laid it evenly on the form. Beginning at the middle
of the panel, he carefully pressed the wet leather upon the figure,
using the dull edge of the paper-cutter for the lines and deep places
left in the foundation; always working from the center toward the edge,
and taking particular care that each part was firmly attached to the
wood. After the bird was done to his satisfaction, he proceeded to stamp
over the whole background, using for this purpose an old office-seal
which was at hand. In regard to the stamp, any ingenious boy can easily
make a good substitute, by taking a piece of hard wood with a flat end,
and cutting it across in parallel lines, re-cross these lines with other
parallel ones, forming a surface of even diamond-work upon the wood.
This, when pressed upon the wet leather, makes a very agreeable
background for almost any figure you may like. A wet sponge must be
constantly applied to the leather while working, to prevent its drying
too rapidly. After the surface was well covered with the stamping, the
leather was again rubbed with paste and pressed over the edge of the
pasteboard background; tiny triangular pieces were snipped from the
corners to allow of their lying quite flat on the under-side. Finally,
the whole thing was firmly glued upon a black-walnut slab bought for
that purpose. This panel is the natural color of the leather, but they
are frequently stained black, and for that purpose the “ebony black
stain” is the best material to use; but it is not necessary that they
should be black; any color can be used, the beautiful bronze powders
making very fine effects.
―――――◀▶―――――
TO TELL THE HOUR OF THE DAY BY THE LEFT HAND.
For the benefit of those boys who make frequent excursions into the
woods, or away from the sight and sound of town clocks and bells, I
write the following, which I found in an old book published early in the
present century:
Extend the left hand in a horizontal position, so that the inside shall
be turned toward the sky; then take a bit of straw or wood, and place it
at right angles at the joint, between the thumb and the forefinger. It
must be equal in length to the distance from that joint to the end of
the forefinger, and must be held upright, as represented in the figure
at _a_. Now turn the bottom of the thumb toward the sun, the hand being
extended till the shadow of the muscle which is below the thumb
terminates at the line of life, marked _c_. If the wrist or bottom of
the hand be then turned toward the sun, the fingers being kept equally
extended, the shadow of the bit of straw or stick will indicate the
hour.
[Illustration]
When the shadow falls on the tip of the forefinger, it denotes five in
the morning, or seven in the evening; at the end of the middle finger,
it denotes six in the morning or evening; at the end of the next finger,
seven in the morning, or five in the evening; at the end of the little
finger, eight in the morning, or four in the afternoon. At the nearest
joint of the little finger, nine in the morning, or three in the
afternoon; at the next joint of the little finger, ten in the morning,
or two in the afternoon; at the root of the little finger, eleven in the
morning, or one in the afternoon; in the last place where the shadow
falls, on that line of the hand marked _d_, which is called the table
line, it will indicate twelve o’clock at noon.
―――――◀▶―――――
STENCILS.
A dozen or more years ago I saw an advertisement from a Boston firm, of
a package, to be had for the small sum of twenty-five cents, which
contained several devices for entertaining children. As the
advertisement seemed attractive, I sent for the article, and received by
return mail a small box, which certainly contained all one could
reasonably expect for the money. Many of the smaller things I have
forgotten, but the idea of cutting stencils was so good, and gave the
children of our family so much pleasure, that I insert a few simple
designs, and give directions for cutting, hoping they may amuse the
little ones of other families as agreeably as those of ours.
[Illustration]
These designs, which require considerable care in the tracing, should be
first drawn upon tracing-paper, or some stiff, thin paper, with a
sharp-pointed lead-pencil; then, this being securely attached to a piece
of thin bristol-board, or a common business-card, carefully cut the
design, leaving the edges smooth and even. Particular care should be
taken to cut all the useless bits of paper from the pattern. After a
little practice, children learn to make designs for themselves, and
enjoy it much more than following those given by others. It is, however,
necessary that they should use those supplied at first, so as to
understand just how the lines are to be cut.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]