SOME OTHER SPRING AMUSEMENTS, NOT FORGETTING STILTS
It is said that hoops are loosing their popularity, but be that as it
may, I am very sure they will never go out of fashion with the young
folk who delight in a good outdoor run, while at the same time they
find work for the eyes and the hand.
Neat iron hoops, with a crooked iron hook to propel, I find much in
use, but--and it may be because I am a bit old-fashioned--I much
prefer the well-made, wooden hoop with a wooden stick. Why, I've had
no end of fun with a wooden barrel hoop, but I could never make the
iron barrel hoop respond to my urging.
Some makers have attached bells and other jinglers to hoops, but no
boy fit to wear boots cares for these baby contrivances. Small light
wheels--they can be had from a retired baby carriage--are excellent
things to trundle, and some of them require more skill than does a
hoop. Even tin-can covers or the top of a blacking box may be made
to afford fun and test skill.
When I was a boy, and I am sure boys do so still, we used to make buzz
wheels out of circular tincan tops. Two holes, about an inch apart,
were cut near the center of the tin. Through both openings a string
was passed and the ends tied. By trowling, the strings--its ends were
held one in each hand--are made to twist. When tight enough, the ends
are drawn, and the buzzer starts off with such force that it half
winds itself up on the other start.
THE SUCKER
is a good philosophical toy, for it illustrates air pressure and
affords some fun. If you don't know how to make one, this is the way:
Get a piece of thin sole leather, about four inches square. Trim off
the corners till the shape is nearly round; next lay the leather on a
flat substance and bevel off the edges until they are as thin as you
can make them.
Now, without cutting through to the under side, cut a hole through the
top of the leather, just large enough to force the end of a strong
string through. Before using, soak the leather till it is soft. Next
find quite a flat stone or brick, force the sucker to the top with
your foot, taking care that there is no turned edge, then you can
walk off with that stone, forgetting that it is not the stick of the
sucker, but the air pressure--some fifteen pounds to the square inch--
that holds the two together.
STILTS
are as old and as world-wide in their use as marbles, tops and kites.
These are the things that set the boy up in the world without making
him too proud. The first stilts I ever used--I was brought up on a
farm--I cut "with my little hatchet." They were made from two beech
saplings, with the section of a branch retained at the same height on
each for foot rests, and the length sufficient to come under the arms
and be easily grasped. These were rude makeshifts, but they did to
start with, and on them I learned to balance.
Much better stilts can be made from sticks or board strips, of
sufficient length for grasping with the hands, and with foot rests
nailed at any required height from the ground part. In the "Gadabout"
stilt you will notice that the stilt above the foot rest is strapped
to the leg, just below the knee, which leaves both hands free. Any boy
with tools, timber and leather for straps can make "Gadabouts," and
the arm stilt is still simpler. The natives of the Marquesas Islands
use very high stilts, and they become so expert in their use as to
dance with them and to wear them in wrestling matches. The shepherds
on the flat plains in the south of France use stilts to enable them to
look over a wide stretch of country, and they become so expert in
their use that they can travel twice as fast as an ordinary walker on
foot. They carry a long pole for balancing purposes and to take
soundings when wading through bog or water.
SPANISH STILTS
differ from the "Gadabouts" in that they reach to the hips, and are
strapped securely about the thighs. These can be made at home, but it
requires much practice to become expert.