_A Musical Box._--This entertaining musical toy, capable of producing
the most beautiful sound effects, can quite easily be made with a few
broken wine glasses. So long as the bowl part of the glass is intact, it
does not matter to what extent the stem or foot part has been damaged,
provided there is enough of the stem remaining to insert in a wooden
block.
The sound effects are produced by rubbing the ball of the finger gently
round the rim of the glass. For this the finger-tip must be absolutely
clean, particularly of any grease, and must be thoroughly wet. Probably
for the first time or two of rubbing nothing will occur. If that is so,
continue wetting the finger, and rub it on an india-rubber sponge or a
piece of soft india-rubber. You will know at once when the finger-tip is
in the right condition, for it will commence to "drag" on the rim.
Eventually a most beautiful pealing note will be emitted, which note
will alter slightly in tone if water be poured into the glass.
If in this way you can secure eight glasses tuned exactly to an octave,
then you have the wherewithal to produce tunes. When you have obtained
the glasses, then it is quite easy to fit them into a box quite close
together, leaving just enough room for the fingers to move round. Blocks
of wood must be nailed to the bottom of the box, and holes bored in
these blocks just exactly large enough to admit the stem (see Fig. 93).
[Illustration: FIG. 93.]
_A Fleet of Nutshell Boats_ floating on a bowl of water makes a very
pretty little picture--nor are these little crafts at all difficult to
make. For the hull a nice evenly-shaped walnut shell is required: this
should be cleaned out, trimmed with a sharp knife, and scrubbed with a
stiff brush. For the mast a match stick will suffice. To keep this in
position glue two match sticks right across the widest part of the
hull--one on each side of the mast--and then put a daub of glue at the
bottom of the hull and others where the cross-bars touch the mast.
The sail consists merely of a piece of paper with two holes through
which the mast passes. A glance at Fig. 94 will reveal the method of
fitting up, and show what a trim little craft can result from such a
simple origin.
[Illustration: FIG. 94.]