paper. Lay the leaf on this; then, over that, a sheet of paper. Press
this down over all the leaf. Lift the leaf and lay it on a piece of
soft, white paper; press it down as before, with a paper over it, on
which you rub with one hand while the other keeps it from slipping; lift
the leaf, and on the lower paper you will find a beautiful line-drawing
of the leaf, done in black ink; which, once it is dry, will never rub
out or fade away.
At one corner write down the date and the name of the leaf.
TALE 80
Bird-boxes
[Illustration: Bird-boxes]
You can win honours in Woodcraft if you make a successful bird-box. That
is one made by yourself, and used by some bird to raise its brood in.
There are three kinds of birds that are very ready to use the nesting
places you make. These are the Robin, Wren, and Phoebe. But each
bird wants its own kind exactly right, or will not use it.
First the Robin wants a shelf, as in the picture. It should be hung
against a tree or a building, about ten feet up, and not much exposed to
the wind. It should also be in a shady place or at least not where it
gets much sun.
The nails sticking up on the floor are to hold the nest so the wind will
not blow it away. The Phoebe-shelf is much the same only smaller.
The Wren-box should be about four or five inches wide and six inches
high inside, with a hole exactly seven eighths inch wide. If any bigger,
the Wren does not like it so well, and other birds may drive the Wren
away. Many Wren-boxes are made of tomato tins, but these are hard to cut
a hole in. The Wren-box should be hung where the sun never shines on it
all summer, as that would make it too hot inside.
TALE 81
A Hunter's Lamp
[Illustration: A Hunter's Lamp]
In the old pioneer days, every hunter used to make himself a lamp, for
it was much easier to make than a candle. It is a good stunt in
Woodcraft to make one. Each woodcrafter should have one of his own
handiwork. There are four things needed in it: The bowl, the wick, the
wick-holder and some fat, grease, or oil.
For the bowl a big clam shell does well.
For wick a strip of cotton rag rolled into a cord as thick as a slate
pencil, and about two inches long; a cotton cord will do, or perhaps the
fibrous bark of milkweed or other native stuff is the truly woodcraft
thing.
For wick-holder get a piece of brick, stone, or a small clam shell about
as big as a half dollar. Bore a hole through the middle to hold the
wick. It is not easy to get the hole through without splitting the
stone, but sometimes one can find a flat pebble already bored. Sometimes
one can make a disc of clay with a hole in it, then burn this hard in a
fierce fire, but the most primitive way is to rub the bump of a small
clam shell on a flat stone till it is worn through.
For oil use the fat, grease, lard, or butter of any animal, if it is
fresh, that is without salt in it.
Fill the bowl with the grease, soak the wick in grease and set it in the
holder so that half an inch sticks up; the rest is in the grease. The
holder rests on the bottom of the bowl.
Light the end that sticks up. It will burn with a clear, steady light
till all the oil is used up.
To have made a lamp that will burn for half an hour is counted an
"honour" in Woodcraft, and may win you a badge if you belong to a
Woodcraft Tribe.
TALE 82
The Coon Hunt
Take a little bundle of white rags, or paper, as large as a walnut; call
this the "Coon." While all the young folks hide their eyes or go out of
the room, the Guide puts the Coon on some place, high or low, but in
plain view; then, going away from it, shouts "Coon!"
Now the young scouts have to find that Coon, each looking about for
himself. As soon as one sees it, he says nothing, but sits down. Each
must find it for himself, then sit down silently, until all are down.
Last down is the "booby"; first down is the winner; and the winner has
the right to place the Coon the second time, if the Guide does not wish
to do it.
This is often played indoors and sometimes a thimble is used for the
Coon.
TALE 83
The Indian Pot
This is something everyone can make, no matter how young, and each,
including the Guide, should make one.
Get a lump of good stiff clay; yellow is better than blue, only because
it is a better colour when finished.
Work the clay up with water till soft, pick out all stones, lumps, and
straws. Then roll it out like a pancake; use a knife to cut this into
laces a foot long and about as thick as a pencil.
Dip your fingers in water, take one of these laces and coil it round and
round as in "a," soldering it together with water rubbed on and into the
joints. Keep on adding, shaping and rubbing, till you have a saucer
about three inches across and a quarter of an inch thick. Put this away
in some shady place to set, or harden a little; otherwise it would fall
down of its own weight.
After about an hour, wet the rim, and build up on that round and round
with laces as before, until you have turned the saucer into a cup, about
four inches across, and, maybe three inches high. Set this away to
stiffen. Then finish the shape, by adding more coils, and drawing it in
a little. When this has stiffened, make a "slip" or cream of clay and
water, rub this all over the pot inside and out; use your fingers and a
knife to make it smooth and even. When this is done, use a sharp point,
and draw on the pot any of the Indian designs show in the sketches,
using lines and dots for the shading.
[Illustration: The Indian Pot]
Now set the pot in some shady place to dry. High above the stove in the
kitchen is a good place, so long as it is not too near the stove-pipe.
After one day bring it nearer the heat. Then about the second day, put
it in the oven. Last of all, and this is the hardest part to do, let
the Guide put the bone-dry pot right into the fire, deep down into the
red coals at night, and leave it there till next day. In the morning
when the fire is dead, the pot should be carefully lifted out, and, if
all is well, it will be of hard ringing red terra cotta.
The final firing is always the hardest thing to do, because the pots are
so easily cracked. If they be drawn out of the fire while they are yet
hot, the sudden touch of cold air usually breaks them into pieces.
Now remember, O Guide! A pot is made of the earth, and holds the things
that come out of the earth to make life, that feed us and keep us. So on
it, you should draw the symbols that stand for these things. At the foot
of preceding page you see some of them.
TALE 84
Snowflakes, the Sixfold Gems of Snowroba
[Illustration: Snowflakes]
You have heard of the lovely Snowroba, white calm beautiful Snowroba,
the daughter of King Jackfrost the Winter King, whose sad history was
told in the first Tale. You remember how her robe was trimmed with white
lace and crystal gems, each gem with six points and six facets and six
angles, for that is one of the strange laws of the white Kingdom, the
sixfold rule of gems. I did not give a good portrait of the White
Princess, but I can show you how to make the Jewels which sparkled on
her robe.
Take a square of thin white paper three or four inches wide (a). Fold it
across (b), and again, until it is a square (c), half as wide as "a."
Mark on it the lines as in "d," and fold it in three equal parts as in
"e." Now with pencil draw the heavy black lines as in "f, g, h." Cut
along these lines with scissors, open out the central piece, and you
have your snow-gems as on facing page.
You can see for yourself that these are true to the gem-law of the White
Kingdom, if, when next the snow comes down, you look for the biggest
flakes as they lie on some dark surface. You will find many patterns all
of them beautiful, and all of them fashioned in accordance with the law.
Are You Alive?
Little boy or girl, are you all alive? Just as alive as an Indian? Can
you see like a hawk, feel like a blind man, hear like an owl? Are you
quick as a cat? You do not know! Well, let us find out in the next eight
tales. In these tests 100 is kept in view as a perfect score in each
department, although it is possible in some cases to go over that.
TALE 85
Farsight
1. Hold up a page of this book, and see how far off you can read it. If
at 60 inches, measured with a tapeline from your eye to the book, then
your eye number is 60, which is remarkably good. Very few get as high as
70.
2. Now go out at night and see how many Pleiades you can count; see Tale
52. If you see a mere haze, your star number is 0; if you see 4 little
pin points in the haze, your number is 8; if you see 6, your number is
12. If you see 7 your number is 14; and you will not get beyond that.
3. Now look for the Pappoose on the Squaw's back, as in Tale 50. If you
do not see it, you score nothing. If you can see it, and prove that you
see it, your number is 14 more.
Now add up these, thus: 60 plus 14 plus 14; this gives 88 as your
_farsight_ number. Anything over 60 means you can see like a hawk.
TALE 86
Quicksight
Take two boards, cards or papers, each about half a foot square; divide
them with black lines into 25 squares each, i. e. 5 each way; get 6 nuts
and 4 pebbles, or 6 pennies and 4 beans; or any other set of two things
differing in size and shape.
Let the one to be tested turn his back, while the Guide places 3 nuts
and 2 pebbles on one of the boards, in any pattern he pleases, except
that there must be only one on a square.
Now, let the player see them for 5 seconds by the watch; then cover it
up.
From memory, the player must place the other 3 nuts and 2 pebbles on the
other board, in exactly the same pattern. Counting one for every one
that was right. Note that a piece exactly on the line does not count;
but one chiefly in a square is reckoned to be in that square.
Do this 4 times. Then multiply the total result by 5. This gives his
_quicksight_ number, to be added to his _aliveness_ score.
TALE 87
Hearing
Can you hear like an owl? An owl can find his prey by hearing after
dark. His ears are wonderful. Let us try if yours are.
1. _Watch-test._ First, you must be blindfolded, and in some perfectly
quiet place indoors. Now have the Guide hold a man's watch (open if
hunting-cased), near your head; if you can hear it at 40 inches,
measured on a tapeline, and prove that you do, by telling exactly where
it is, in several tries, your hearing number is 40, which is high. If at
20 inches, it is low (20 pts.); if at 60 inches (60 pts.), it is
remarkable. Anything over 50 points means you can hear like an owl. In
this you go by your best ear.
2. _Pindrop-test._ Sometimes it is difficult to get a good watch-test.
Then the trial may be made with an ordinary, silvered brass stick-pin,
1-1/8 inches long, with small head. Lay the pin on a block of wood that
is exactly half an inch thick. Set this on a smooth polished board, or
table top of hardwood, not more than an inch thick, and with open space
under it. Set it away from the edge of the table so as to be clear of
the frame and legs. After the warning "ready," let the Guide tip the
block of wood, so the pin drops from the block to the table top (half an
inch). If you hear it at 35 feet in a perfectly still room, your hearing
is normal, and your hearing number is 35. If 20 feet is your farthest
limit of hearing it, your number is 20, which is low. If you can hear it
at 70 feet, your number is 70, which is remarkable.
You can use either the watch-test or the pin-test. If you use both, you
add the totals together, and divide by 2, to get your _hearing_ number.
TALE 88
Feeling
1. Have you got wise fingers like a blind man?
Put 10 nickels, 10 coppers and 10 dimes in a hat or in one hand if you
like. Then, while blindfolded, separate them into three separate piles,
all of each kind in a separate pile, within 2 minutes. If it takes you
the full 2 minutes (120 seconds), you are slow, and your feel number is
0. If you do it without a mistake in 1 minute and 20 seconds, your feel
number is 40, one point for each second you are less than 2 minutes. But
you must take off 3 points for every one wrongly placed, so 3 wrongly
placed would reduce your 40 to 31. I have known some little boys on the
East Side of New York to do it in 50 seconds without a mistake, so their
feel-number by coins was 70. That is, 120 seconds minus 50 seconds
equals 70. This is the best so far.
2. Now get a quart of corn or beans. Then when blindfolded, and using
but one hand, lay out the corn or beans in "threes"; that is, three at a
time laid on the table for 2 minutes. The Guide may move the piles aside
as they are made. Then stop and count all that are exactly three in a
pile (those with more or less do not count at all). If there are 40
piles with 3 in each, 40 is your number, by corn.
3. The last test is: Can you lace your shoes in the dark, or
blind-folded, finishing with a neat double bow knot?
Arrange it so your two shoes together have a total of at least 20 holes
or hooks to be used in the test, i. e., which do not have the lace in
them when you begin. Allow 1 point for each hole or hook, i. e., 20
points, finish the lacing in 2 minutes, in any case stop when the 2
minutes is up; then take off 2 points for each one that is wrongly
laced, or not laced. Thus: Supposing 4 are wrong, take off 4 times 2
from 20, and your blindfold lacing number is 12; if the number wrong was
10 or more, your lacing number is 0; if you had 3 wrong, your number is
14.
Suppose by these three tests--coins, corn, and laces--you scored 40,
30, and 14; add these together and they give your _feel_ number; 84.
TALE 89
Quickness
Put down 12 potatoes (or other round things) in a row, each one exactly
6 feet from the last, and the last 12 feet from a box with a hole in it,
just large enough to take in one potato. Now at the word "go," run and
get the first potato, put it through the hole into the box; then get the
second, bring it to the box, and so on, one at each trip. After one
minute, stop. Now multiply the number of potatoes in the box by 10, and
you have your _quickness_ number. If you have 8 in the box, you score 80
points, you are as quick as a cat. Very few get over 80. No one so far
has made 100 points.
TALE 90
Guessing Length
Take two common nails, or other thin bits of metal, and lay them on a
table or board, at what you guess to be exactly one yard (36 inches)
apart. Then let the Guide lay the tape-line on it, and, allowing 20
points for exactly right, take off 1 point for each half inch you are
wrong, over or under. Do not count quarter inches, but go by the nearest
half-inch mark. Do this 5 times, add up the totals, that will give your
_guessing-length_ number.
Thus, if your first guess turns out to be 37 inches, that is, 2
half-inches too much, 2 from 20 gives 18 points. Your next guess was 34
inches, that is 4 half-inches too little, 4 from 20 gives 16 points.
Your next guess gave 12 points, your next 17, and your last 19. The
total, 18 plus 16 plus 12 plus 17 plus 19, equals your number of
_guessing length_ or 82.
TALE 91
Aim or Limb-control
Take 25 medium-sized potatoes, and set up a bucket or bag whose mouth is
round and exactly one foot across. Draw a line exactly 10 feet from the
bucket or bag. Toe that line, and throw the potatoes, one by one, into
the bag. Those that go in, then bounce out, are counted as in. Do it
four times, then add up all the four totals of those that went in; that
gives your _aim_ or _control_ number.
For example, suppose that in the 4 tries you got 10 in the first time,
15 in the second, 20 in the third, 19 in the fourth. Add these together,
it gives your arm-control or _aim_ number as 64.
Now add up all these high numbers:
Farsight 88
Quicksight 50
Hearing 50
Feeling 84
Quickness 80
Guessing Length 82
Aim 64
Your aliveness number is 498
But very few can score so high. If you can score 400 you are surely
alive; you can see like a hawk, you can take in at a glance, you can
hear like an owl, you can feel like a blind man, you are quick as a cat,
you are a good judge of size, and you can aim true; That is, you are as
_alive as an Indian_.
TALE 92
A Treasure Hunt
Make 24 little white sticks, each about three inches long, and as thick
as a pencil. They are easy to make of willow shoots, after the bark is
peeled off. While the young folk hide their eyes, the Guide walks off in
the woods, ties a white rag on a tall stake or limb, for the point of
beginning. Then, one step apart and in a very crooked line, sets each of
the little white sticks in the ground, standing straight up. Under the
last stick should be buried the treasure; usually a stick of chocolate.
This the players are to find by following the sticks.
When the young folk get used to it, the line should be longer, the
sticks farther apart, and the last one may be ten steps from the last
but one.
When they are well trained at it, scraps of paper, white beans, corn, or
even chalk marks on trees, instead of sticks, will serve for trail; and
still later holes prodded in the ground with a sharp pointed cane will
do.
This game can be played in the snow; in which case, the track of the
Guide, when he hides the treasure, takes the place of the sticks.
Finally it makes a good game for indoors on a rainy day. In which case
we use buttons, corn, or scraps of white cotton for trail sticks. Of
course the trail now should be upstairs and down, and as long and
crooked as possible.
TALE 93
Moving Pictures
One of the best developers of imagination is the Moving Picture.
Sometimes called Pantomime, or Dumb-show which means all signs without
sounds.
The one who is to put on the "movie" is given a subject and must then
stand out on the stage or Council Ring, and carry all the story to the
spectators, without using any sound and with as few accessories as
possible.
The "print between the reels" is supplied by the Guide who simply
announces what is needed to explain.
The following subjects have been used successfully (unless otherwise
stated they are for one actor each):
Miss Muffet and the Spider--the well-known
Nursery Rhyme
Old Mother Hubbard
Little Jack Horner
Mary and her Little Lamb
Red Ridinghood--walk through the woods,
meeting the wolf, etc.
Robinson Crusoe--finding the track of a man
in the sand
A Barber Shop--shaving a customer (two actors)
The Man's First Speech at a Dinner
The Politician who was rotten-egged after vainly
trying to control a meeting
Joyride in a Ford Car--ending in a bad upset
(two actors)
The Operation--a scene in a hospital following
the accident (two or more)
The Professor of Hypnotism and His Subject (two actors)
The Man who Found a Hair in His Soup
The Young Lady Finds a Purse, on opening it a mouse
jumps out and she remembers that it is 1st of April
A Young Man Telephoning to His Best Girl
A Man Meeting and Killing a Rattlesnake
Lighting a Lamp
Drawing a Cork
Looking for a Lost Coin--finding it in one pocket or
shoe
A Musician Playing His Own Composition
The Sleeping Beauty and the Prince (two actors)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
William Tell and the Apple (best rendered in caricature
with a pumpkin and two actors)
Eliza Crossing the Ice
The Kaiser Signing His Abdication
The Judgment of Solomon (three actors)
Brutus Condemning His Two Sons to Death.
TALE 94
A Natural Autograph Album
If you live in the country, I can show you an old Woodcraft trick. Look
for a hollow tree. Sometimes you can pick one out afar, by the dead top,
and sometimes by noting a tree that had lost one of the biggest limbs
years ago. In any case, basswoods, old oaks and chestnuts are apt to be
hollow; while hickories and elms are seldom so, for once they yield to
decay at all, they go down.
Remember that every hollow tree is a tenement house of the woods. It may
be the home of a score of different families. Some of these, like Birds
and Bats, are hard to observe, except at nesting time. But the fourfoots
are easier to get at. For them, we will arrange a visitors' book at the
foot of the tree, so that every little creature in fur will write his
name, and some passing thought, as he comes to the tree.
How?
Oh, it is simple; I have often done it. First clear and level the ground
around the tree for three or four feet; then cover it with a coat of
dust, ashes, or sand--whichever is easiest to get; rake and brush it
smooth; then wait over one night.
Next morning--most quadrupeds are night-walkers--come back; and you
will find that every creature on four feet that went to the tree
tenement-house has left us its trail; that is its track or trace.
No two animals make the same trail, so that every Squirrel that climbed,
every 'Coon or 'Possum, every Tree-mouse, and every Cottontail that went
by, has clearly put himself on record without meaning to do so; and we
who study Woodcraft can read the record, and tell just who passed by in
the night.
TALE 95
The Crooked Stick
Once upon a time there was a girl who was very anxious to know what sort
of a husband she should get; so, of course, she went to the old
wood-witch.
The witch asked a few questions, then said to the girl: "You walk
straight through that woods, turn neither to right nor left, and never
turn back an inch, and pick me out a straight stick, the straighter the
better; but pick only one, and bring it back."
So the girl set out. Soon she saw a fine-looking stick close at hand;
but it had a slight blemish near one end, so she said: "No; I can do
better than that." Then she saw another that was perfect but for a
little curve in the middle, so she passed it by.
Thus she went, seeing many that were nearly perfect; but walking on,
seeking one better, till she was quite through the woods. Then she
realized her chances were nearly gone; so she had to take the only stick
she could find, a very crooked one indeed, and brought it to the witch,
saying that she "could have got a much better one had she been more
easily satisfied at the beginning."
The witch took the stick, waved it at the girl and said: "then this is
your fortune; _through the woods and through the woods and out with a
crooked stick_. If you were less hard to please, you would have better
luck; but you will pass many a good man by, and come out with a crooked
stick."
* * * * *
Maybe some of our Woodcraft girls can find an initiation in this. Put it
just as the witch did it, but let it be considered a success if the
stick is two feet long and nowhere half an inch out of true line. Let me
add a Woodcraft proverb which should also have its mead of comfort--The
Great Spirit can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.
TALE 96
The Animal Dance of Nana-bo-jou
For this we need a Nana-bo-jou; that is, a grown-up who can drum and
sing. He has a drum and drumstick, and a straw or paper club; also two
goblins, these are good-sized boys or girls wearing ugly masks, or at
least black hoods with two eyeholes, made as hideous as possible; and
any number of children, from three or four up, for animals. If each has
the marks, colours, etc., of some bird or beast, so much the better.
First, Nana-bo-jou is seen chasing the children around the outside of
the circle, trying to catch one to eat; but failing, thinks he'll try a
trick and he says: "Stop, stop, my brothers. Why should we quarrel?
Come, let's hold a council together and I will teach you a new dance."
The animals whisper together and the Coyote comes forward, barks, then
says:
"Nana-bo-jou, I am the Coyote. The animals say that they will come to
council if you will really make peace and play no tricks."
"Tricks!" says Nana-bo-jou, "I only want to teach you the new songs from
the South."
Then all the animals troop in and sit in a circle. Nana-bo-jou takes his
drum and begins to sing:
"New songs from the South, my brothers,
Dance to the new songs."
Turning to one, he says: "Who are you and what can you dance?"
The answers are, "I am the Beaver [or whatever it is] and I can dance
the Beaver Dance."
"Good! Come and show me how."
So the Beaver dances to the music, slapping the back of his flat right
hand, up and under his left hand for a tail, holding up a stick in both
paws to gnaw it, and lumbering along in time to the music, at the same
time imitating the Beaver's waddle.
Nana-bo-jou shouts: "Fine! That is the best Beaver Dance I ever saw. You
are wonderful; all you need to be perfect is wings. Wouldn't you like to
have wings so you could fly over the tree-tops, like the Eagle?"
"Yes," says the Beaver.
"I can make strong medicine and give you wings, if all the animals will
help me," says Nana-bo-jou. "Will you?"
"Yes," they all cry.
"Then all close your eyes tight and cover them with your paws. Don't
look until I tell you. Beaver, close your eyes and dance very fast and I
will make magic to give you wings."
All close and cover their eyes. Nana-bo-jou sings very loudly and,
rushing on the Beaver, hits him on the head with the straw club. The
Beaver falls dead. The two goblins run in from one side and drag off the
body.