84), over which slip a barrel (Fig. 85) which has previously had both
its heads removed. If you have no barrels a box, similarly treated,
will answer the purpose, and in case you have no boxes, cribs, made in
the form of boxes open at the top and bottom, may be used. Should you
be ambitious to build in
[Illustration: FIG. 85.--Placing the Barrel.]
True Robinson Crusoe Style,
drive a number of long stakes securely, in the form of a circle, in the
bottom of the pond, as in Fig. 84, and then with grape-vines and other
creepers weave a basket (Fig. 86). “Crusoe” should know how to do all
these things. “The Parrot” should have charge of the transportation of
material, and “The Goat” collect the lumber, cobblestones, stakes, and
vines. All kinds of vines and creepers are good for basket-work, and
almost any sort of stakes will answer, but “The Goat” must see that
neither poison-sumac nor poison-ivy is used. Both of these plants must
be avoided in any work of this kind, as they are extremely dangerous to
comfort, and may cause an amount of irritation which will confine the
victim to his bed for days.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.--The Basket.]
Where vines are scarce, almost any sort of green branches may be made
to answer the purpose, willow being especially adapted for basket-work;
but all the larger branches should be split in half to make them
pliable enough to bend without breaking. You may now
Weave a Basket
by passing the vine alternately inside and outside of the stakes in
the circle (Fig. 86), and when the end of the first piece in hand is
reached you must duck your head under water and push the vine to the
bottom of the stakes. Beginning where the last piece ended, weave a
second piece of vine and push it down to the bottom, and so on until
the top of the water is reached. It is great fun to make these cribs,
and not at all difficult work, and when they are done and filled with
cobblestones they make fine piers for a club-house or an artificial
island.
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--The Foundation.]
The Foundation Posts
of the club-house should be four or five inches in diameter and
sharpened at their lower ends, but even then you will probably find
that the united strength of several boys is not sufficient to force
them far enough into the bottom to prevent swaying. Drive your
foundation posts in the middle of the basket-crib and then
Fill the Crib with Stones.
When the cribs are full, as the barrels are in Fig. 87, they wall form
durable stone piers. Four such piers will support a house big enough
for from two to four boys. In this case the foundation posts should be
long enough to form the four corners of the house. To make the posts
steady, nail two diagonal binders on the posts, from corner to corner,
crossing them in the centre (Fig. 87).
Let these diagonals be just above the water, and above these, and out
of reach of waves, nail four
More Binders,
in the form of a square, as A, B, C, D, in Fig. 88 are arranged. These
form the support for the floor, and four more at the top of the corner
or foundation poles will make a support for the roof. The rest of the
work is simple; it is only necessary to lay a floor, put on a roof,
and to board up the sides to have as snug a cabin as boys need want in
summer-time. By using more piers you can make a foundation of any size.
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--A Finished Foundation.]
When
The Bottom of the Pond
is hard sand, or stones, the basket-cribs may be built on shore in the
same manner as described, but in this case it is neither necessary
nor advisable to drive the stakes far into the earth. When finished
the crib will hold together and may be removed from the land without
dislocating the stakes, as the vines will hold them tightly in the
structure.
[Illustration: FIG. 89.--Barrel Cribs.]
You cannot possibly force your corner posts into the soil through hard
sand or stones, and you must, therefore, be content to rest their
lower ends upon the bottom, in which case make a stand for them by
spiking two short boards, in the form of a cross, on the lower end of
the posts, then slip your cribs over the posts (Fig. 89). While two
boys hold the post and crib in place the others can fill the crib with
cobble-stones, which will steady the post until it is made entirely
secure by diagonal braces and the four binders, A, B, C, D. No matter
how uneven the ends of the posts may be at first, the top of the
binders, A, B, C, D, must be exactly level.
The water, when calm, is
Always Level,
and if you measure three feet from its surface, and mark the point on
each post, you can make the binders exactly level by nailing them with
their top edge exactly even with the three-foot mark on the corner
posts. The posts may now be sawed off even with the binders (Fig. 88)
and the floor laid.
In a Large Building,
four extra binders nailed to the top of the crib (E, F, G, H, Fig.
88), will give finish to the structure, especially if they are floored
over to the edge of the top floor, thus making a step at the surface
or under the water. Stairs may be built, as shown in Fig. 88. On hard
bottoms they are anchored at the lower end by a large stone placed
upon a board, which joins the lower ends of the side-boards; but on
soft bottoms the stairs may be first nailed to two stakes, which are
afterward driven into the mud. Fig. 90 shows the platform finished,
and skeleton house erected. To build this house place the two two-inch
by four-inch strips, J, N and M, Q, on the platform at the required
distance apart, and “toe-nail” them in place--driving the nails
slantingly from the sides into the floor (Fig. 92).
[Illustration: FIGS. 90-92--Frame of House.]
Temporary Diagonal Braces
may be used until you have your skeleton house far enough advanced
to fit in some horizontal cross-pieces between the uprights, and to
“toe-nail” them in place. Put in two sets of braces on each side, one
above and one below the window openings, and in the front frame, J, K,
L, M, one over the proposed doorway, and two more in the rear frame,
N, O, P, Q, the latter extending from the upright, N, O, to the upright
P, Q, and parallel to N, Q, as explained by Fig. 91. When these braces
are in place your frame will be stiff enough to nail on the sidings of
slabs, boards or poles, and after they are in position the roof may be
put on with no fear of the structure’s falling. The roof may be made of
boards, as described in the underground club-house.
An Artificial Island
can be made, by erecting the corner cribs and bracing them, as
described for the club-house, and then packing brush, loaded with
stones, between the boundaries of the foundation.
Lay the brush with the stems pointing one way and place stones on top,
one layer of weighted brush over another, until you have reached a
level two feet above the water. Cover the top brush with hay, straw, or
old leaves, and place a layer of sods over the leaves.
Upon this foundation you can place as much earth as your industry will
permit, and you will have a substantial little island, upon which grass
or plants will grow, and beneath which the little fishes can live amid
the submerged brush.
[Illustration: Moving in for the Summer.]
CHAPTER X.
HOW TO HAVE FUN AT A PICNIC.
If feasible take hammocks and ropes for swings along with you and don’t
forget a
“Joggling-Board.”
This is a very popular invention, from South Carolina, and consists of
a pine or hemlock plank, one inch thick, one foot wide and ten feet
long, which, when supported at each end by solid supports, or ropes
from the limb of a tree, forms a seat which responds to every movement
of the person sitting in the centre, with a gentle, delightful joggle.
[Illustration: The Joggling Board.]
If you use a wagon, stage, or omnibus, to reach the picnic ground,
start a game of
Turnpike Loo.
First divide your party into two sides, the lefts and the rights,
including the driver. Each side names and counts all animals passed
upon their respective sides--a dog, cat, sheep, pig, cow, horse, or
domestic fowl, each counts one; a man, woman or child, five; an animal
with a bell, fifteen; an animal looking out of a barn or stable window,
twenty; and a dog, cat, or baby in a farm-house window counts fifty;
the game is two hundred.
The Driver
will endeavor to pass all animals upon his side; but the leader of
the left will get out at times and thwart the driver, by chasing and
coaxing the creatures to his side. The game is exciting, producing much
mirth for the picnickers and amazement among the farmers and live-stock.
A great improvement upon the old-fashioned hamper of heavy dishes is the
Modern Pasteboard Box,
cheap wooden pie-plates, and paper napkins. Wrap your sandwiches in
a damp linen napkin and with an outside wrapper of confectioners’
paraffine paper and pack them, and everything else you can, in
pasteboard boxes. Salads and similar foods may be carried in
wide-mouthed glass jars; mayonnaise dressing, sliced cucumbers and
tomatoes in the same manner.
Pack the Ground Coffee,
with an egg rolled in paper, in the coffee-pot. Make the egg into a
bundle large enough to fit on top the coffee, with no room to roll
or jolt about. The butter or other grease, left after the feast, may
be melted and poured into the small paper or wooden boxes; a wick of
twisted paper or rag, thoroughly soaked with the grease, will make a
lamp. Name the lamps, set them afloat, and the light which goes out
last is supposed to be your truest admirer.
The Rhode Island Clam-Bake,
the Pennsylvania Pond-Stew, the Virginia Soup, and the Kentucky Burgoo,
are about the jolliest forms of picnics known in this country.
Resting in the laps of the high hills and mountains of Pennsylvania
are many small lakes. Here the picnickers spend the forenoon capturing
what edible aquatic creatures their skill can procure, all of which
are put into the stew-pan along with vegetables, thus making a sort of
fresh-water chowder of the most appetizing nature.
Burgoo.
In Virginia and Kentucky it was an old-time custom for the gentlemen to
spend the forenoon hunting and fishing, and the slaves in the afternoon
cooked the game and fish in great iron pots, hung over blazing wood
fires, thus making a most savory dish for the ladies who joined the
party toward evening. This is the origin of the Virginia Soup and the
Kentucky Burgoo.
The latter is the most famous, and has been enjoyed by all great
Kentuckians, from Marshall, Clay, and Lincoln, to the present day.
Since the practical extermination of game, domestic fowls are used
as a substitute for wild birds. When you have a Burgoo ask a certain
number of guests to each bring a raw dressed chicken, duck, or goose,
and others to bring vegetables, peeled and ready for the pot. The
head cook, or Burgoo-Master, brings herbs, salt, freshly ground black
pepper, salt pork, olives, and lemons.
[Illustration: The Burgoo.]
As a substitute for the old-fashioned, cumbersome iron kettle, take a
large, pail-shaped
Clothes-boiler,
bought new for the occasion. Build your fire between two green logs,
and use the logs to support the boiler over the flames. Half fill the
boiler with water and pour in all the vegetables and meats, and allow
them to boil slowly until the bones settle to the bottom and the other
ingredients are reduced to a pulp.
It Takes Time to Properly Cook a Burgoo,
and the contents of the pot must be constantly stirred, especially when
nearly cooked, in order to prevent the vegetables and meat from burning
and imparting a scorched flavor to the soup.
The stirring is done with long-handled paddles, crudely whittled by
the men. The young people who take turns in stirring, walk around the
steaming caldron to the time of vocal music, and should any maid, by
accident or design, click her paddle against one in the hands of a
young man, the young man may claim a penalty.
When the Soup is Cooked
it is seasoned to taste, and must be served hot. The olives are
extracted from the olive jar, and one olive placed in each cup, with a
slice of lemon. The olive liquid remaining in the jar is poured into
the hot soup and then the soup is ladled out and poured over the lemon
and olive in each cup. If the Burgoo-Master has attended strictly to
his work the picnickers will find it one of the most delicious soups
which they have ever tasted.
The preparation of the Burgoo does not employ all hands of a large
party all the time, and the idle ones may amuse themselves with
A Game of Jack-Fagots.
An armful of fagots is held a foot from the ground and allowed to fall,
and then the first player, with a crooked stick, hooks out as many
fagots as possible, without disturbing the remainder. The slightest
movement of a fagot, not hooked, ends the turn, and, after counting
the score, the fagots are bunched and allowed to fall for the next
player. The sticks successfully removed by each player constitute the
individual scores.
[Illustration: Jack Fagots.]
In the afternoon all must join in some games--little folks, old folks,
and young folks. Choose some of the games children play, such as
Old Dan Tucker.
By lot, or by old-fashioned counting out verses, let chance decide who
is to be “It,” or Tucker, and let all the other males, big and little,
select partners as they would for a dance, and form a ring around
Tucker. At a signal from “It” each player must face his partner and
sing
“Hipperty-Hop, Hipperty-Hop!
Joyfully now we sing,
As we hop to the right and hop to the left,
Around Dan Tucker’s ring!”
Keeping time with the music the players go, with a hipperty-hop step,
to the right of the first and to the left of the second, weaving in and
out until the partners meet; then right-about-face and back again in
the same manner to their places. Next all join hands and
Circle Around Tucker, Singing
“Go round and round old Tucker,
Go round and round old Tucker,
Go round and round old Tucker,
As we have gone before!”
When the couples are again back in their places the song is changed,
and suiting the action to
The Words, They Sing
“I put my right hand in,
I put my left hand out,
I give my right hand a shake, shake, shake,
And turn myself about!”
Using the same verse the girls now sing, “I put my pretty face in,”
etc. Then their partners sing, “I put my ‘ugly mug’ in,” etc. Then all
sing “I put my right foot in,” etc., and after the last shake of the
right foot all again join hands and advancing and
Crowding on Tucker
from all sides, and back again to places, they sing
“Go in and out the window,
Go in and out the window,
Go in and out the window,
As we have done before.”
Changing the refrain, they next sing
“Go Stand and Face Your Partner,”
repeating three times, and ending with “as we have done before.” At
the last word they face their partners and give them their right hand,
their left hand to the next, and, giving hands right and left, sing
“Hipperty-Hop Hipperty-Hop,” ending this time with
“Now Let Old Tucker Join Us.”
As soon as Tucker has secured the partner he wants he shouts
“Get out of the way for old Dan Tucker,
You’re too late to get your supper,”
and the boy or man left without a partner is “It” for the next game.
The tunes for the verses can be obtained from the children. This is all
taken from children’s games.
Pitch-peg-pin Pitching
is a great game for hilarious fun. The pegs are sticks, two feet long,
sharpened at one end, and nine in number. Put the pointed ends in the
ground, forming a diamond, with each peg two feet from its nearest
neighbor, and the one at one apex about twenty feet from a taw-line.
Let All the Girls,
big, little, married, and unmarried, form one side, and an equal number
of boys, old and young, form the other side. The boys then choose a
First Lady, who is to lead their opponents, and the girls choose a
First Gentleman, who is to command the men. With three short clubs in
her hands the First Lady toes the taw-line and endeavors to knock all
the pegs down, in three consecutive throws with the clubs.
The pegs are then reset, the score recorded, and
The First Gentleman Takes
the clubs and his turn. When all have had a turn the individual scores
are compared, and the right arm of each man or boy is bound with a
pocket-handkerchief to the left arm of the girl, woman or matron whose
score most nearly approaches his own, and the First Lady and First
Gentleman choose up for sides, taking a couple at each choice. In the
order of their score number, the couples now take their turn pitching
clubs at the pins, the man, of necessity, using his left hand and the
woman her right to throw the clubs, which they do simultaneously.
The Scores
are again compared and the couples bound into fours, and the fours
into sixes, until each side is bound into a continuous line, with only
the left hand of the end man and the right hand of the end woman to
pitch-peg-pin with, and make the final score of the game.
Lawn Hab-enihan.
Mark with a whitewash brush upon the grass, scratch with a stick upon
the bare ground or hard sand of a shore, twelve concentric circles.
Number the rings from the outside to the centre.
Supply each player with a dozen smooth stones, about the size of the
palm of one’s hand. If you can get flat, water-washed stones, with
rounded edges, they make the best “Habs.” Standing upon the taw-line at
the distance from the target agreed upon, each player in turn pitches
a hab at the target, or “Enihan,” leaving a stone inside the circle
struck. But if his hab rests upon a line which bounds the rings he
loses his turn after the first shot. The player may remove a hab from
the circle last struck, or set another hab in it, or, counting from
where any one of his habs rests, can move that hab as many circles
toward the centre as corresponds with the number of the circle last
struck.
If this moves the hab to the centre and leaves some figures over he can
place a new hab forward as many rings as correspond with the numbers
left over. If any player can cast two habs into a circle occupied by
some other player’s hab, the successful player captures the other hab
and removes it. The game consists of any specified number of points,
and when any one of the players has no habs on the enihan the game is
ended. Then each player counts the number of his habs in the centre
and the number of captured habs, and whoever has the most adds to his
or her individual score the number of habs left on the enihan. The
players have three objects constantly in view: to protect his or her
habs from capture by getting more than one in the same circle, to work
to the centre, and to capture the opponent’s habs. This is an exciting
outdoor game, which may be played with the material at hand, and when
two players have each a hab in the same circle, and each hab is moving
nearer and nearer the centre, the danger of a lucky shot and capture
keeps them “guessing.”
CHAPTER XI.
HOW TO BUILD AND HOW TO FURNISH A DANIEL BOONE CABIN.
Imagination is a great thing and can do wonders; it can surround the
most commonplace objects with an atmosphere of romance, in which
nothing is impossible or improbable. A whiff of smoke from the
fireplace where wood is burning, means nothing but a faulty chimney;
yet, as the smell of burning wood reaches the nostrils, Association
sets the wheels of
Imagination’s Mill
whirring, and all unbidden come visions floating through our minds of
camps, camp-fires, fish--pickerel, bass, and trout; quail, rabbits,
and venison-steaks, broiling over the hot coals. My, it makes a fellow
hungry to think of such good things! Roasted ears of sweet-corn,
flapjacks, and corn-dodgers, “piping hot,” pass in a procession before
us, and, as the sparks fly up the chimney,
The Ghosts of the Fireplace
troop in: and a hale and husky lot of ghosts they are, with their
coon-skin caps, buckskin clothes, and beaded moccasins. Each ghost
wears a strap slung over his shoulder, from which hang a bullet-pouch
and a curiously engraved cow-horn powder-flask; as they file by, with
their long single-barrelled flint-lock rifles, we are not surprised to
see among them the great Daniel Boone, his friend Simon Kenton, and the
unique, dashing, Davy Crockett.
[Illustration: Home of Young Pioneers.]
All in vain do the trucks thunder by our windows, and futile are the
efforts of the clanging cable-car bells and the roar of the great city
to recall us to the present humdrum times. We are under the spell of
the king of magicians, and our minds are wandering free in the wild
woods; we can even hear the distant wolves howl, and the blood curdling
yell of the painted savage. Is it a wonder that we love the generous
old-fashioned fireplace? Is it strange that the log-cabin is dear to
the hearts of American boys?
The Log-House
saw the birth of our nation; its rude interior sheltered our great men,
and beneath its slabbed roof heroes were born. To-day it is still the
most practicable, durable, and simply constructed house invented for a
forest home, and any boy can build a log-house large enough to form a
comfortable camp for vacation days. For muscles unaccustomed to such
exercise it is hard work to cut down large trees, and, unless the young
woodsman has served an apprenticeship on a farm or in a lumber-camp, it
is dangerous work to fell big timber; but any lad may cut down
Trees of a Smaller Growth,
without danger to life or limb. Small-sized logs save much labor in
chopping, sawing, rolling, and “snaking” to camp; besides all this,
logs of small diameter look best for a house of small dimensions.
Therefore, in selecting the material for your proposed house, choose
only such trees as are best suited to the strength of the builders.
There is no rule which fixes the diameter of a log or pole, so a
log-house is a log-house, no matter whether the diameter of the
log from which it is built be four inches or four feet. When a log
is hauled by men, horses, or oxen, through the woods, it is called
“snaking.”
The “Skid”
is two or more logs laid on the ground, upon and across which the other
logs are piled up for use. Common-sense will direct you to select only
the timber which comes nearest being straight, and also to cut the logs
considerably longer than the length marked on the plan.
[Illustration: Happy Days.]
Fig. 93 shows the plan of a simple cabin, 6 feet wide by 10 feet long,
inside measurement.
[Illustration: FIGS. 93 and 94.]
Fig. 95 is a rough sketch and plan of two such cabins under one roof,
with a hallway, or “gallery,” as they call it in the South, between
them. Fig. 96 is a plan of the saddle-bag. In this sketch you will
see how your house may be enlarged, at any time, by the addition of a
duplicate house, with a roofed space between the two.
[Illustration: FIGS. 95 and 96.]
First decide upon the exact spot where you intend to
Locate Your Cabin,
then stake out the cabin according to your plans, and clear the ground
for the house.
To facilitate rolling the logs as you need them, arrange some skids
close by the site of the house, and allow them to slant toward the
proposed cabin.
If there are any stones handy,
Build a Foundation
by making a pile of stones a foot or two high, at each of the four
corners, in such a manner that the logs resting on these supports will
be at the same level at each end, level with each other, and exactly
six feet apart.
For Floor-Joists
take a number of strong poles, and, with a sharp hatchet, give them a
flat side for the floor-boards to rest upon, and trim off each end,
wedge-shaped, as shown by Fig. 94, the rough sketch at the bottom
right-hand corner of Fig. 93.
You understand, of course, that
The Floor-Supports
must be of sufficient length to reach from the front sill-log to the
back sill-log. Nail each joist at each end to the sill-logs, and place
them about two feet apart. If it is thought that the flooring of the
cabin makes too much work, you may build one with a “mud-sill,” by
using the hard earth for floor and foundation. Abraham Lincoln lived
in a “mud-sill” house, and there are hundreds of such houses in the
Southern States.
With the exception of the sill-logs, all the logs are notched at both
ends and on both sides (Figs. 97 and 98); the sill-logs are notched at
both ends, but only on one side, as shown by Fig. 98. Logs of the same
diameter as the sill-logs can be laid between them on the bare ground
and used for joists, but the best plan is a stone foundation, and a
plank floor at least a foot or two above the earth.
Log-Rolling.
Now is the time to invite all your friends to a grand old-time
log-rolling; ask the girls to come and cook the coffee and make the
sandwiches.
The two end-logs may first be rolled down from the skids, notched and
fitted in place across the ends of sill-logs (Fig. 93), and then the
next two side-logs, and so on, alternating until the walls are built;
but you must remember to allow for the doors, windows, and fireplace
openings. When the walls are so high that it is a difficult task to
lift the logs in position, put up a couple of skids and roll the logs
up the incline, which is better than wasting your strength in trying to
lift such burdens. When the walls have reached the height of the top of
the lowest opening, nail some
Door and Window Opening
planks, temporarily, close to the proposed opening on both sides of it,
and on the inside and outside of the house; this is to hold the logs in
position while the opening is being cut. A, in Fig. 99, shows a binder.
After the binders are in place, saw the top log through at the proposed
opening, to allow room for the saw, and then proceed to build as
before. See Fig. 98, showing opening over door and window; the binders
are not shown in this diagram.
[Illustration: FIGS. 97 and 98.]
A Fireplace
is by no means an absolute necessity for a summer cabin, but an open
fire is a great addition to a house, and upon cool evenings, even
in the summer-time, its genial warmth is not to be despised. The
protruding ends of the logs, at the four corners of the cabin, may
be left as they happen to be until the house is finished, no matter
how irregular their appearance. With a two-handled saw, and a boy at
each end, the ends may be cut off evenly; this will give a finished
appearance to the cabin. You can have
Any Sort of a Roof
which suits your fancy; it may be framed, as described in Chapter VII.,
or, by using round poles, it may be framed as shown by Fig. 98 and
roofed with slabs or planks, as shown by Fig. 100, or the roof may be
shingled with “clapboards,” a name used for shingles or boards, about
three feet long, and laid on as ordinary shingles are--first course at
the eaves, second course breaking joints and overlapping the first, and
so on, until the roof-tree is reached.
If shingles, clapboards, and planks are out of reach, the roof may be
shingled with bark; if birch bark is used, it can be held in place
by poles laid upon the outside of the roof, as I have often seen the
hand-rived clapboards held in place where they use no nails in the
construction of their homes.
The Most Essential Piece of Furniture
for the house, if you are to live in it, is the bed or bunk. This can
be made in various simple and effective patterns. At the Sportsmen’s
Show in New York there was an elaborately constructed bedstead, made of
the rough branches of trees, but however ornamental this style of couch
may be, it is not essential to comfort, and requires time and skill to
manufacture, neither of which the average boy is willing to lavish on
camp furniture.
The Bunks
shown in the plan (Fig. 93), are made with two horizontal poles,
flattened at the ends and upon one side, after the manner of the rough
sketch at the Fig. 94. These poles extend from side to side of the
cabin, and rest upon the logs of the wall, to which they are securely
nailed. The ends are further supported by a cross-plank, or pole,
fastened to the walls, as a support for the side-rods of the bunk.
Slats are made of sticks split in half and nailed to the side-bars, as
shown in the plan. One bunk is placed over another, until there is no
room for more, and then the three or more bunks are filled with straw,
hay, or spruce boughs, over which the blankets are spread, and the bed
is made.
With a mud-sill house you can
Make a Lincoln Bed.
Abraham Lincoln’s father had no bedstead, and no means of getting
one but to make it, and no tools but an auger and axe to make it
with. A stake was driven in the ground, near the corner of the cabin,
about four feet from one of the walls, and six feet from the other.
Auger-holes were then bored in the wall opposite, and poles driven into
them, the other ends meeting on the stake; across these were laid laths
rived from an oak, and upon them rested the straw-bed of our great
President.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.--Binder and Jamb for Opening.]
When Your House is Crowded,
the floor offers space for sleepers, and you may “choose up,” for first
choice. As a rule the top berth is first choice, as in it you feel less
cramped for breathing-space, for there is nothing but the roof above
you. Unless the boys are more than usually expert builders, there will
be no lack of fresh air, even when your house is crowded. To prevent
too much wind entering, it is well to
Stuff all the Spaces Between the Logs
with mud or clay, mixed with moss, and while some of the boys are in
the woods gathering the moss, and others mixing and dampening the clay,
the more skilled mechanics can
Make the Door
and hang it in the doorway, which, with the other proposed openings,
may be now sawed out and heavy jambs nailed on, before the binders are
removed. The wooden hinge of the door can be made of ash, hickory, or
oak, and may be simply a straight stick or rod about six and a half
feet long and two inches in diameter (Fig. 105). Bore a hole in the
upper log over the doorway, about six inches deep; if the log is of
less diameter than this, bore the hole through the log. Bore a hole in
the lower, or sill-log, but make it only deep enough to securely hold
one end of your hinge-rod, and then trim the rod to fit in this hole,
making it a trifle shorter than the distance between the end of the top
hole and the end of the sill hole. Flatten one side of the hinge-rod,
so that it may fit neatly along the edge of the door, but do not fasten
it on the door until after the rod is in place. Spring the rod in place
by slipping the top end into the top hole as far as it will go, and
then pushing the bottom end over the sill hole. When it slips in place
set the door up, in the position it would be when wide open, and fasten
it to the flattened edge of the hinge-rod, with good strong screws.
Close the door and mark the edge on the jamb, then nail a narrow strip
of wood along the line, to prevent the door swinging any farther than
it is necessary for it to swing when closed; or make it as shown by
Fig. 105, and hang it with iron hinges, as doors at home are hung.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.--Board or Slab Roof.]
If You Have Money to Spend,
and men to work under your directions, you can have the regulation
door, floor, and roof; the cracks in the wall calked with mortar, and
a stone or brick chimney and fireplace built. In fact, you can make a
palace of logs, with plate-glass windows, but _you will not have a
log-cabin, and you will miss all the fun to be derived from creating
something by your own labor_, which is the highest sort of joy--the joy
of the artist! Any “chump,” with money, can hire men to build houses
which would be impossible for his stupid brain and clumsy hands to
accomplish. Besides which, the men he hired to do the work would be the
only ones who derived any real pleasure from the construction of the
houses.
You must not understand from this that you are to use
Oiled Paper for Glass, in Your Windows,
if you can obtain real glass, but that in case you cannot, the paper
makes a good substitute, and one which was used in many a pioneer’s
cabin. In Virginia there are log-houses, still occupied, which have not
even a paper window--a hole, closed in bad weather by a wooden shutter,
being the only opening besides the doors, and the moonshiners of the
mountain districts seldom have windows at all, but depend upon a front
and rear door to supply light for the house, and when these doors are
closed the fire supplies the illumination.
The Lamps
they use, when they have any, are small pans or saucers filled with
melted fat, in which a piece of rag is placed, and furnishes a wick for
this primitive light. In 1897 I was given one of these “Betty lights”
by a mountain host, to light me to bed.
Every boy’s log-house should be supplied with lanterns and candles, but
the candles must be stored in tin boxes, otherwise
The Brownies Will Eat Them.
Brownies are the wild wood-mice and flying-squirrels which will use
your house during your absence, and not only eat the candles, but
anything else you may leave unprotected. They ate up my soap, and then,
for dessert, went to the kitchen and ate up the stove-polish. In small
houses you will probably not have stove-polish, or stoves.
After the opening in the wall of the cabin for the fireplace is sawed
out, you may build up a good, strong wall, on the three outer sides of
The Fireplace
(Figs. 106 and 107). Build these walls as you did the cabin walls,
and fit the ends of the logs neatly against the cabin logs, and put
“chunks” in between the logs at the cabin end, to level them. When the
walls are as high as the opening in the cabin, you are ready to begin
the work of building the inside clay-lining.
It will take a considerable quantity of clay to finish your fireplace
and chimney, and a rough box, like the mortar-box used by builders,
will be found most convenient for mixing the clay.
Saw off the ends of some sticks of wood and make some
Wooden Hammers, or Mauls,
of them, by boring holes through the pieces you have sawed off and
putting handles in the holes. These mauls may vary from three to five
inches in diameter, and will be found to be the most convenient sort
of tool for breaking the dry clay before it is dampened, and they will
also be of great service in beating the clay down, for the fireplace
and hearth. Make the floor to the fireplace and the hearth by spreading
the damp clay over the space and hammering it down until it is hard;
add more clay, and beat it until the hearth and fire-floor (Figs.
107 and 108) are level and firm. You may then put on enough water to
make the surface slippery, and smooth it off with a trowel made
of a shingle and a branch, after the manner of the one shown in the
foreground of Fig. 98.
[Illustration: FIGS. 101-105.]
Next Build Your Clay Walls
on the inside, against the log outside walls, and extending to the
inside of the cabin wall. Make the clay into the form of bricks and
build up the jambs and lining, about one foot thick, to the top of the
fireplace, using wet clay for mortar.
[Illustration: FIGS. 106 and 107.]
For the Chimney
split some sticks and make them about one inch wide by one and one-half
inch thick, and with clay for mortar build the chimney, log-cabin style
(Fig. 106), to the required height, leaving a space between the chimney
and outside wall of the house. Plaster it well with clay, especially
upon the inside, and be careful to keep it plumb.
A short time ago, while on a sketching trip through the mountains of
East Tennessee and Kentucky, I saw hundreds of these
Stick Chimneys
which have done service for years. Some of them were beautiful
specimens of skill, while others had a decided list to port or
starboard, as a sailor would say, and were apparently carelessly made.
In the mountains the fireplaces are lined with stones, in place of
clay, but in Illinois, where stones are scarce and mud plenty, the
old-time log-cabin hearth and fireplace were always made of clay.
Besides the berths or bunks already described, a table and some
benches, or three-legged stools, will be found very useful articles of
furniture. In a small house a
Table Takes Up Needed Room,
and as it is principally used at meal-time, a contrivance that may be
put away when not in use is most desirable; such a table can be made of
two wooden horses, with boards laid across them. When the weather is
fair the table may be set out-doors, and when the weather is foul it
can be placed in-doors. The horses and boards may be kept on the porch,
if you have one, or in a shed or on the rafters overhead.
Three-Legged Stools.
A piece of two-inch plank, with three oak, ash, or hickory sticks
driven into three holes bored for the purpose, makes a stool which
will last a lifetime. Two such stools have been in use for twelve or
thirteen years in my Pike County (Pa.) cabin, and are just as good as
new to-day.
Now, when your work is done and you balance yourself on a three-legged
stool, and rest from your labors, remember you are sitting on what has
before now proved to be the incipient Presidential chair.
General Camp Notes for Old Boys.
If the boys suppose that their parents are not interested in out-door
life, they are mistaken, for the author never fails to receive a batch
of letters from grown-up people, whenever he publishes an out-door
article for the boys. That the boys may answer the questions put to
the author by the parents, and incidentally profit themselves by the
information, the following suggestions to campers are given.
It will be observed that, when talking to the old people, the question
of having sufficient funds is not taken as strictly into account as it
is in all the plans for the boys themselves.
When You Start for Camp
leave artificialities and fripperies behind, packed up in camphor, and
bring only your free, untrammelled self with you, and ho! for a frolic,
for flapjacks and coffee, sweet-scented spruce boughs, camp-fires, and
the fireside song, and the music of the banjo. Let your first care be
to secure cheerful, happy companions, as the most important articles
for your camping outfit.
White flannel trousers and blazers are for the seaside and summer
resorts, not for camp. You go to camp for health and fun, not for
display; therefore leave your good clothes in your trunk at the last
railroad station, to be called for when you quit the woods and once
more enter the land of creased trousers and starched shirts, of
stocks, long skirts, and ties.
How the Women Should Dress.
A woman’s camp-dress should consist of a scant, short skirt, bloomers,
leggings, and stout, broad-soled shoes, loose shirt-waist, and Norfolk
jacket, the latter plentifully supplied with pockets. Whatever
prejudice a woman may have against short skirts and bloomers is soon
overcome after she has tried to climb fallen trees and rocks, or made
her way through thick underbrush, encumbered with the absurd long
skirts of the house or street, or after she has tramped to camp with a
wet and bedrabbled skirt flapping around her ankles, caused by a walk
in the dewy morning, or a paddle in a leaky boat. Women should have
their dresses made of strong material, with “lots of pockets,” like a
man’s hunting-clothes. They will find their capabilities for enjoyment
greatly enhanced by this, and the men, at least, will think them just
as bewitching and far better companions than they would be if they were
dressed in city gowns, hats and feathers, and low shoes.
The Requirements for a Camp.
Each person in camp should be supplied with a good, big-bladed
jack-knife; a woodsman, or, what is about the same thing, a person with
good common-sense, can supply himself with food and shelter, with no
other ready-made tool than a good strong knife.
Salt, pepper, and sugar, must be put on the list; then flour in sack,
oatmeal, cornmeal, rice, and lard; crackers, beans, coffee in tin,
tea in bag, cocoa, condensed milk in cans, evaporated cream in cans,
butter in pail, pickles, dried fruit in bags, a bag of potatoes,
molasses, pork, boneless bacon, and, if you are fond of it, a few jars
of orange marmalade; sal-soda for sweetening “dubs,” and ginger for
medicinal purposes; several cakes of common soap for dish-washing, some
dish-towels, and some soap for toilet purposes; also a tin coffee-pot,
a long-handled frying-pan, a small griddle, a nest of tin pails, the
smallest capable of holding a quart or less, and the largest a gallon
or more; two or three paper pails or water-buckets, two or three iron
kitchen spoons and forks, and a camp boiler, a firkin and a wooden
spoon, also a strong axe and a hatchet.
From the Stand-point of Health.
It is presupposed that people who intend to spend their vacation
in camp are lovers of the beautiful; consequently, in selecting a
camping-place, a spot should be chosen which gives the finest possible
view of mountains, lakes, or rivers, even if some inconvenience must
be suffered in the selection. The camp must be dry and well-drained,
so that in case of sudden storms there will be no danger of the water
flooding the tents, wetting the bedding or spoiling the food. A gentle
sloping ground is best. Avoid locating in the track or below the mouths
of innocent-looking gullies or ravines, that may, in case of rain,
be developed into torrents of muddy water, and sweep the camp like a
cloudburst.
A supply of pure water contributes as much to the enjoyment of the
campers as to the preservation of health. Common-sense will direct
that the camp be selected within easy reach of some bubbling spring
or fresh, uncontaminated brook of running water, but there is another
thing of paramount importance, and that is a handy supply of fuel. The
latter is of even more importance than that of water. With a wooden
man-yoke, water is easily transported for quite a distance, but no one
who has not tried it can realize the difficulty of carrying fuel even a
short distance.
Making the Shack or Shelter.
The Adirondack camp is made from the materials furnished by the forest,
and it is put together in the form of a shack or shelter, by the
woodsmen or guides. Spruce-trees, eight or nine inches in diameter, are
cut down, quickly stripped of their bark, and one of them suspended
between two trees eight or ten feet from the ground, or is supported by
forked sticks. Others are then laid standing up to it, and the incline
is shingled with the bark, to keep out the rain. Your bed is on the
ground beneath the bark roof. Put a log at the head, and a smaller
one at the foot, and cover the intervening space with a thick layer
of flat spruce boughs, neatly laid, with all the unnecessary sticks
thrown out; chop down some young balsams and strip them of all their
twigs; selecting all those of about twelve inches in length, begin at
the foot of the bed and work up, sticking the butt-ends of the balsam
twigs into the spruce boughs. Place them as close together as possible,
with their tops slightly inclining to the foot of the couch. After all
the balsam is planted scatter the fine tips of some hemlock boughs over
the balsam, and spread your blanket over all. Any bag or pillow-case,
filled with hemlock and balsam tips, makes a good, sweet-scented
pillow. All that then remains to be done is to fill up the ends of the
shack with brush, roll a back-log in front of your camp, and start
the fire. At night spread your blankets on the spruce twigs, stretch
yourself out and watch the dying embers of the fire until you gradually
drift into the sweet slumber of the camper.
The Brush-Covered Lean-to
is a triangular tent, open in front, made of one piece of canvas
fastened to a horizontal pole in front, to the ground in the rear, and
hanging down at the sides. Over this a rude, shack-like Adirondack camp
is built, not to keep out rain but to protect the canvas, with the
green brush, from sparks from the camp-fire. In no case must the brush
touch the cloth, for during a rain the canvas will leak wherever any
object is resting against it, either from the inside or outside.
A tent is the favorite abode of all campers. They are transported with
much greater ease than the most simply-constructed portable house. A
tent may be erected with the expenditure of less labor than any of
the preceding camps, and furnishes a comfortable shelter all the year
round. Even in the bleak mountains of Alaska tents are often used by
miners, wintering near their mines. A good wall-tent, with a fly and a
wooden floor, is protection enough for the most delicate of persons.
Standard drills and yacht twills are better adapted to the camper’s
purposes than heavier materials, and besides are less expensive. The
list prices of wall-tents, from nine by nine feet to sixteen and a half
by fourteen feet, are from $14 to $26. The flies are listed at from
$4.50 to $9.70.
In Tents with Roofed Verandas.
The Amazon tents are in the form of a lean-to, with a roofed veranda,
so to speak, in front.
Shanties are small houses of plank, roofed with plank, and are built by
the natives, at costs varying with the price and accessibility of the
lumber. A good, water-tight shanty ought to be erected in most sections
for about $25. Bunks of planks are built in the shanties, one above
the other, and, when filled with straw and covered with a blanket, make
comfortable sleeping-quarters.
Portable houses are now manufactured of all forms and sizes, from a
child’s small playhouse to a two-story frame store. These buildings
are made in sections; all parts are numbered and labelled, and may
be put together and taken apart at will. Many of these houses are
designed especially for camps, and may be shipped to the camping-ground
with little trouble and erected with little loss of time. At the same
factory may be purchased terra-cotta chimneys, in sections, ready to
be stacked up for use. Some people prefer to build a chimney of stone
or brick and leave it standing when the house is moved, others making
stovepipe serve for a chimney.
What is Needed for Table and Larder.
For table furniture select white blue-rimmed cups and saucers, and
plates of granite-ware. The gray enamelled ware is not as good, for
many reasons. These enamelled or granite-ware dishes are as easily
cleaned as china, but, unlike china, they will not break. Nickel-plated
teaspoons are in every way as good as silver for camp purposes, and
should not cost more than three cents apiece. Knives and forks to match
can easily be found. Be sure they are modern ones with three tines.
[Illustration: FIG. 108]
Lay in a supply of candles, and two or three common stable lanterns.
You may add to these items as many luxuries as your baggage will
supply room for, or your purse or taste dictate. Fruit syrups, such
as are used at reputable soda-water fountains, make very pleasant and
healthful drinks when combined with good, cold spring-water. Lemons
will keep in a cool, dry place for two weeks, and as a garnish for
fish or soup not only give an appetizing look, which, as a rule, is
unnecessary in camp food, but they add to the taste and relish, which
is a property that persons blessed with good appetites appreciate, even
when on a camping expedition.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XII.
A FLAT-BOATMAN’S HORN.
It was in the golden age of whittling that wooden bugles and the Wabash
horns were in their prime.
It is hardly an exaggerated figure of speech to say that the United
States, with all its power and wealth, has been whittled out of the raw
material by our ancestors, with their Barlow knives.
I think I have already told the readers, in one of my other books, that
the practice of
Whittling
was not formerly confined to the youth of the country; lawyers,
merchants, and statesmen, were adepts in the art, and on the counter
of every well-regulated tavern was always to be found a heap of
sweet-smelling cedar sticks for the guests to whittle, after meals.
Even as early as Puritan times the jack-knives were busy, and the
little conscience-stricken Nathaniel Mathers confesses that “of the
manifold sins which then I was guilty of none so sticks upon me as
that, being very young, I was _whittling on the Sabbath day_, and for
fear of being seen I did it behind the door.”
Times have changed since this poor little chap hid behind the door to
whittle a stick, and some of the less conscientious descendants of the
Puritans would not dare now to whittle on Sunday, or any other day,
for fear of cutting their clumsy, untrained fingers. But the fingers
of the readers of this book, I trust, are skilful in the use of a
pocket-knife, and for them it will not be a difficult task to make a
Wabash, or Flat-boatman’s, wooden horn.
The wooden horn was the particular favorite of the jolly, reckless
flat-boatmen. Its soft musical notes sounded especially sweet and
mellow in the early morning, when the boatmen were casting loose their
cables from their moorings. From Pittsburg to New Orleans the reveille
of the boatmen’s horns announced the dawn of another day.
Descriptions of these horns have come to us from our pioneer
grandparents, and printed accounts can only be found by rummaging among
old Western papers. The Frankfort (Kentucky) _Commonwealth_, in 1836,
published some verses extolling the boatman’s music:
Oh, boatman, wind that horn again!
For never did the joyous air
Upon its lambent bosom bear
So wild, so soft, so sweet a strain.
And this horn was made of the same material as the boat. They performed
upon a wooden bugle of long conical shape, constructed of small
wooden staves, which, according to all accounts, produced sounds of
a wonderfully sweet tone. On a beautiful, clear and still morning
the echoes of the boatmen’s trumpets, prolonged at a great distance
through the neighboring woods and hills which bordered the river, are
said to have possessed a charm and enchantment which none can realize
but those who have heard them.
The Western boatmen were not the only ones who used
Wooden Bugles,
for there is an instrument of this kind still preserved in Kentucky,
and is now, or was a few years ago, in the possession of Mrs. Annie
Mayhall, a granddaughter of Captain Robert Collins.
[Illustration: FIGS. 109 and 110.]
Colonel Richard Johnson made a famous charge in the war of 1812, and
Captain Bob Collins sounded the charge on his home-made cedar horn.
If there are any illustrations of this charge, the bugler will no doubt
be represented as blowing on the regulation brass instrument; but you
must remember, boys, that the artists were not in that fight. Artists
have a way of doing things up fine, as may be seen by the pictures of
our
Revolutionary Soldiers,
all in regulation uniforms, when the truth is that there was scarcely a
uniformed regiment in the army. The grand old fellows fought in their
hunting garb, or the dress they wore on the farm, in the store, the
church, or the tavern; and while they may not have used wooden horns,
it is very probable that many a Continental bugler carried an old
cow’s-horn, with which to sound the reveille.
[Illustration: FIG. 111.]
But the bugle which sounded the death-knell of the great Indian chief
Tecumseh was
The Old Wooden Horn of Captain Bob Collins.
It was made of two cedar slabs, three-sixteenths of an inch in
thickness, and these were trimmed and bent so that when their edges
were joined they formed a funnel-shaped instrument which was about four
inches in diameter at the bell or larger end, and tapered down to a
convenient size at the small end, or mouth-piece. The two cedar slabs
were held in place by hoops made of cow’s-horn.
Whether it was a habit acquired in the army, or whether Captain Bob
was once a flat-boatman, is not recorded, but certain it is that the
doughty Captain always sounded the reveille at sunrise, and it was not
until 1864, when death called the old man home, that the neighbors, for
miles around, saw the sun rise unheralded by the notes of the quaint
instrument.
To make a horn like Captain Bob’s requires nice work in steaming,
bending, and joining the cedar slabs, but Captain Bob belonged to the
Barlow-knife age, and undoubtedly knew how to use one.
Fortunately for boys less skilful than this old pioneer, our ancestors
have furnished us another kind of horn, which any boy can make. The
original sketches, from which the accompanying diagrams are drawn, were
made for the author by a very old gentleman who was himself once a
flat-boatman and used the Wabash horn.
This instrument is known as
The Wabash Horn,
(see illustration), for it was among the boatmen from that river that
it was always found.
[Illustration: FIG. 112.]
Since the introduction of the house-boat as a popular summer vacation
boat, there is no reason why the Wabash horn should not be rescued from
the legends of the West and hung under the eaves of every American
boy’s house-boat, to be used to summon the crew, as it was in the good
old times before Fulton filled the waters with his steam-boats and the
air with their ear-splitting whistles.
The Wabash horn is one of the most primitive affairs possible; it is
simply a long box, open at both ends, and differs from an ordinary box
in the fact that one end is very much smaller than the opposite end;
the big end is the bell of the horn, and the small end is the part you
put to your lips.
Among the Flat-boatmen
these horns were made of pine, and sometimes they were as much as eight
feet long; but five or six feet will be long enough for any ordinary
boy.
Fig. 109 shows a six-foot slab, smoothed and trimmed into proper
form. It should be less than a quarter of an inch thick, and made
of red-wood, pine, or cedar, which is free from knots, cracks, or
blemishes of any kind. Make it four or five inches wide at the big end
and two inches wide at the small end, outside measurement. See that the
edges are perfectly straight and true; otherwise your horn will leak,
and not only be difficult or impossible to blow, but if you do succeed
in making a noise with it the notes will be flat and unpleasant. The
other three slabs are of the same form as the one described, but to
make the openings square two sides must be of dimensions given, and
with the other two you must allow for the thickness of the wood, and
make them just that much narrower than the first two (Fig. 110).
For a Mouth-piece,
to fit the end of the horn, take a cedar block (Fig. 111) of such
dimensions that there will be no risk of splitting it with an auger,
and bore a hole through its centre, after which it may be trimmed down
to any required dimensions. Next put three sides of your box together
and fasten them securely, with small brads.
You can now see the exact form of the small end, and can whittle your
cedar mouth-piece (Fig. 112) to fit the little end of the box, and
round off the protruding end, as shown in the diagram.
The diagrams of the block and mouth-piece are drawn on a much larger
scale than those of the slab and box, that they may be better
understood.
With a piece of sand-paper, wrapped around a pine stick, sand-paper the
hole in the cedar mouth-piece until it is perfectly smooth. Put the
mouth-piece in place, tack on the remaining side to the box, and your
Wabash horn is finished.
You can now practise until you learn the bugle-calls, and then hang
it under the eaves of your boat, with a just feeling of pride in the
knowledge that you are not only a boatman, and a modern wide-awake boy
of to-day, but that you lack neither the skill nor the self-reliance of
the boy of the day before yesterday.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE AMERICAN BOY’S HOUSE-BOAT.
When the great West of the United States began to attract immigrants
from the Eastern coast settlements, the Ohio River rolled between banks
literally teeming with all sorts of wild game and wilder men: then it
was that the American house-boat had its birth.
The Mississippi, Ohio, and their tributaries furnished highways for
easy travel, of which the daring pioneers soon availed themselves.
[Illustration: FIG. 113.]
Lumber was to be had for the labor of felling the trees. From the
borders of the Eastern plantations to the prairies, and below the Ohio
to the Mississippi, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, was
one vast forest of trees. Trees whose trunks were unscarred by the axe,
and whose tall tops reached an altitude which would hardly be believed
by those of this generation, who have only seen second, third, or
fourth-growth timber.
When the settlement of this new part of the country began it was not
long before each stream poured out, with its own flood of water,
A Unique Navy.
There were keel-boats, built something like a modern canal-boat, only
of much greater dimensions; there were broad-horns, looking like
Noah’s arks from some giant’s toy-shop, and there were flat-boats and
rafts, the latter with houses built on them, all recklessly drifting,
or being propelled by long sweeps down the current into the great
solemn, unknown wilderness.
[Illustration: Bound for a Good Time.]
Every island, had it a tongue, could tell of wrecks; every point or
headland, of adventure.
The perils were great and the forest solemn, but the immigrants were
merry, and the squeaking fiddle made the red man rise up from his
hiding-place and look with wonder upon the “long knives” and their
squaws dancing on the decks of their rude crafts, as they swept by into
the unknown.
The advent of the steam-boat gradually drove the flat-boat, broadhorn,
keel-boat, and all the primitive sweep-propelled craft from the rivers,
but many of the old boatmen were loath to give up so pleasant a mode of
existence, and they built themselves house-boats, and, still clinging
to their nomadic habits, took their wives, and went to house-keeping on
the bosom of the waters they loved so well.
[Illustration: FIG. 114.]
Their descendants now form what might well be called a race of
river-dwellers, and to this day their quaint little arks line the
shores of the Mississippi and its tributaries.
Some of These House-Boats
are as crudely made as the Italian huts we see built along the
railroads, but others are neatly painted, and the interiors are like
the proverbial New England homes, where everything is spick-and-span.
Like the drift-wood, these boats come down the stream with every
freshet, and whenever it happens that the waters are particularly high
they land at some promising spot and earn a livelihood on the adjacent
water, by fishing and working aboard the other river-craft, or they
land at some farming district, and as the waters recede they prop up
and level their boats, on the bank, with stones or blocks of wood
placed under the lower corners of their homes.
The muddy waters, as they retire, leave a long stretch of fertile land
between the stranded house and the river, and this space is utilized
as a farm, where ducks, chickens, goats and pigs are raised, and where
garden-truck grows luxuriantly.
From a boat their home has been transformed to a farm-house; but sooner
or later there will be another big freshet, and when the waters reach
the late farm-house, lo! it is a boat again, and goes drifting in its
happy-go-lucky way down the current. If it escapes the perils of snags
and the monster battering-rams, which the rapid current makes of the
drifting trees in the flood, it will land again, somewhere, down-stream.
Lately, while on a sketching trip through Kentucky, I was greatly
interested in these boats, and on the Ohio River I saw several making
good headway against the four-mile-an-hour current. This they did by
the aid of
Big Square Sails,
spread on a mast planted near their bows, thus demonstrating the
practicability of the use of sails for house-boats.
The house-boats to be described in this article are much better
adapted for sailing than any of the craft used by the water-gypsies of
the Western rivers.
For open and exposed waters, like the large lakes which dot many of our
inland States, or the Long Island Sound on our coast, the following
plans of the American boy’s house-boat will have to be altered, but the
alterations will be all in the hull. If you make the hull three feet
deep it will have the effect of lowering the cabin, while the head-room
inside will remain the same. Such a craft can carry a good-sized sail,
and weather any gale you are liable to encounter, even on the Sound,
during the summer months.
[Illustration: FIG. 115.]
Since the passing away of the glorious old flat-boat days, idle people
in England have introduced the
House-Boat as a Fashionable Fad,
which has spread to this country, and the boys now have a new source of
fun, as a result of this English fad.
There are still some nooks and corners left in every State in the
Union which the greedy pot-hunter and the devouring saw-mill have as
yet left undisturbed, and at such places the boy boatmen may “wind
their horns,” as their ancestors did of old, and have almost as good
a time. But first of all they must have a boat, and for convenience
the American boy’s house-boat will probably be found to excel either a
broadhorn or a flat-boat model, it being a link between the two.
The simplest possible house-boat is a Crusoe raft,[11] with a cabin
near the stern and a sand-box for a camp-fire at the bow. A good time
can be had aboard even this primitive craft. The next step in evolution
is the long open scow, with a cabin formed by stretching canvas over
hoops that reach from side to side of the boat (see Fig. 113).
Every boy knows how to build
A Flat-Bottomed Scow,
or at least every boy should know how to make as simple a craft as the
scow, but for fear some lad among my readers has neglected this part of
his education, I will give a few hints which he may follow.
Building Material.
Select lumber that is free from large knots and other blemishes. Keep
the two best boards for the sides of your boat. With your saw cut
the side-boards into the form of Fig. 114; see that they are exact
duplicates. Set the two pieces parallel to each other upon their
straight or top edges, as the first two pieces shown in Fig. 115. Nail
on an end-piece at the bow and stern, as the bumper is nailed in Figs.
116 and 117; put the bottom on as shown in Fig. 115, and you have a
simple scow.
Centre-Piece.
In Fig. 115 you will notice that there are two sides and a
centre-piece, but this centre-piece is not necessary for the ordinary
open boat, shown by Fig. 113. Here you have one of the simple forms of
house-boat, and you can make it of dimensions to suit your convenience.
I will not occupy space with the details of this boat, because they may
be seen by a glance at the diagrams, and my purpose is to tell you how
to build the American boy’s house-boat, which is a more elegant craft
than the rude open scow, with a canvas-covered cabin, shown by Fig. 113.
The Sides of the House-Boat
are 16 feet long, and to make them you need some sound two-inch planks.
After selecting the lumber plane it off and make the edges true and
straight. Each side and the centre-piece should now measure exactly 16
feet in length by 14 inches in width, and about 2 inches thick. Cut off
from each end of each piece a triangle, as shown by the dotted lines at
G, H, I (Fig. 114); from H to G is 1 foot, and from H to I is 7 inches.
Measure from H to I, 7 inches, and mark the point. Then measure from H
to G, 12 inches, and mark the point. Then, with a carpenter’s pencil,
draw a line from G to I, and saw along this line. Keep the two best
planks for the sides of your boat, and use the one that is left for
the centre-piece. Measure 2 feet on the top or straight edge of your
centre-piece, and mark the point, A (Fig. 114). From A measure 8 feet
10 inches, and mark the point C (Fig. 114).
With a carpenter’s square rule the lines A, B and C, D, and make them
each 10 inches long, then rule the line, B, D (Fig. 114). The piece A,
B, C, D must now be carefully cut out; this can be done by using the
saw to cut A, B and D, C. Then, about 6 inches from A, saw another line
of the same length, and with a chisel cut the block out. You then have
room to insert a rip-saw, at B, and can saw along the line B, D until
you reach D, when the piece may be removed, leaving the space A, B, D,
C for the cabin of the boat (see Figs. 116 and 117).
[Illustration: FIG. 116.]
At a point 9 inches from the bow of the boat make a mark on the
centre-piece, and another mark 5 inches farther away, at F (Fig. 114).
With the saw cut a slit at each mark, 1 inch deep, and with a chisel
cut out, as shown by the dotted lines; do the same at E, leaving a
space of 1-1/2 feet between the two notches, which are made to allow
the two planks shown in the plan (Fig. 116), to rest on. These planks
support the deck and the hatch, at the locker in the bow. The notches
at E and F are not on the side-boards, the planks being supported at
the sides by uprights, Figs. 116 and 117.
All that now remains to be done with the centre-piece is to saw some
three-cornered notches on bottom edge, one at bow, one at stern, and
one or two amidships; this is to allow the water which may leak in to
flow freely over the whole bottom, and to prevent it from gathering at
one side and causing your craft to rest upon an uneven keel.
Next select a level piece of ground near by and arrange the three
pieces upon some supports, as shown in Fig. 115, so that from outside
to outside of side-pieces it will measure just 8 feet across the bow
and stern. Of 1-inch board
Make Four End-Pieces,
for the bow and stern (see A, A′, Fig. 115), to fit between the sides
and centre-piece. Make them each a trifle wider than H, I, Fig. 114,
so that after they have been fitted they can be trimmed down with a
plane, and bevelled on the same slant as the bottom at G, I, Fig. 114.
It being 8 feet between the outside of each centre-piece, and the sides
and the centre-piece being each 2 inches thick, that gives us 8
feet - 6 inches, or 7-1/2 feet as the combined length of A and A′
(Fig. 115). In other words, each end-piece will be half of 7-1/2 feet
long--that is, 3 feet 9 inches long. After making the four end-pieces,
each 3 feet 9, by 9 inches, fit the ends in place so that there is
an inch protruding above and below. See that your bow and stern are
perfectly square, and nail with wire nails through the sides into A
and A′; toe-nail at the centre-piece--that is, drive the nails from the
broad side of A and A′ slantingly, into the centre-piece, after which
trim down with your plane the projecting inch on bottom, to agree with
the slant of the bottom of the boat.
[Illustration: FIG. 117.--Cross-Section of Boat.]
Now for the Bottom.
This is simple work. All that is necessary is to have straight, true
edges to your one-inch planks, fit them together, and nail them in
place. Of course, when you come to the slant at bow and stern the
bottom-boards at each end will have to have a bevelled edge, to fit
snugly against the boards on the flat part of the bottom of the boat;
but any boy who is accustomed to shake the gray matter in his brain can
do this. Remember, scientists say that thought is the agitation of the
gray matter of the brain, and if you are going to build a boat or play
a good game of football you must shake up that gray stuff, or the other
boys will put you down as a “stuff.” No boy can expect to be successful
in building a boat, of even the crudest type, unless he keeps his wits
about him, so I shall take it for granted that there are no “stuffs”
among my readers.
[Illustration: FIG. 118.]
After the boards are all snugly nailed on the bottom, and fitted
together so that there are no cracks to calk up, the hull is ready to
have
The Bumpers
nailed in place, at bow and stern. See the plan, Fig. 116, and the
elevation, Fig. 117. The bumpers must be made of 2-inch plank, 8 feet
long by about 9 inches wide; wide enough to cover A and A´ of Fig.
115, and to leave room for a bevel at the bottom edge to meet the slant
of the bow and stern, and still have room at the top to cover the edge
of the deck to the hull (see Fig. 117).
The Hull May Now be Painted,
with two coats of good paint, and after it is dry may be turned over
and allowed to rest on a number of round sticks, called rollers.
If you will examine Fig. 116 you will see there
Twenty-odd Ribs.
These are what are called two-by-fours--that is, 2 inches thick by 4
inches wide. They support the floor of the cabin and forward locker, at
the same time adding strength to the hull.
The ribs are each the same length as the end-board, A and A´ of Fig.
115, and are nailed in place in the same manner. Each bottom-rib must
have a notch 2 inches deep cut in the bottom edge to allow the free
passage of water, so as to enable you to pump dry. Commencing at the
stern, the distance between the inside of the bumper and the first rib
is 1 foot 6 inches. This is a deck-rib, as may be seen by reference
to Figs. 116 and 117. After measuring 1-1/2 feet from the bumper,
on inside of side-board, mark the point with a carpenter’s pencil.
Measure the same distance on the centre-piece, and mark the point as
before; then carefully fit your rib in flush or even with the top of
the side-piece, and fasten it in place by nails driven through the
side-board into the end of the rib, and toe-nailed to centre-piece. Do
the same with its mate on the other side of centre-piece.
The Cabin of this House-Boat
is to fit in the space, A, B, D, C of the centre-piece, Fig. 114. There
is to be a 1-inch plank at each end (see Fig. 117), next to which the
side-supports at each end of cabin fit. The supports are two-by-twos;
so, allowing 1 inch for the plank and 2 inches for the upright support,
the next pair of ribs will be just 3 inches from A B, Fig. 114, of the
centre-piece (see Figs. 116 and 117). The twin ribs at the forward end
of the cabin will be the same distance from D C, Fig. 114, as shown in
the plan and elevation, Figs. 116 and 117. This leaves five pairs of
ribs to be distributed between the front and back end of the cabin.
From the outside of each end-support to the inside of the nearest
middle-support is 2 feet 6 inches. Allowing 2 inches for the supports,
this will place the adjoining ribs 2 feet 8 inches from the outside of
the end-supports. The other ribs are placed midway between, as may be
seen by the elevation, Fig. 117.
There is another pair of
Deck-Ribs
at the forward end of the cabin, which are placed flush with the line
D, C, Fig. 114 (see Figs. 116 and 117). The two pairs of ribs in the
bow are spaced, as shown in the diagram. This description may appear
as if it was a complicated affair; but you will find it a simple thing
to work out if you will remember to allow space for your pump in the
stern, space for the end-planks at after and forward end of cabin, and
space for your uprights. The planks at after and forward end of cabin
are to box in the cabin floor.
The Boat May Now be Launched
by sliding it over the rollers, which will not be found a difficult
operation.
The Plans Show Three Lockers
--two in the bow under the hatch and one under the rear bunk--but if it
is deemed necessary the space between-decks, at each side of the cabin,
may be utilized as lockers. In this space you can store enough truck
to last for months. A couple of doors in the plank at the front of the
cabin opening, under the deck, will be found very convenient to reach
the forward locker in wet weather.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.]
The Keel
is a triangular piece of 2-inch board, made to fit exactly in the
middle of the stern, and had best be nailed in place before the boat
is launched (see Fig. 117). The keel must have its bottom edge flush
with the bottom of the boat, and a strip of hard-wood nailed on the
stern-end of the keel and bumper, as shown in the diagram. A couple of
strong screw-eyes will support the rudder.
After the boat is launched the
Side-Supports for the Cabin May be Erected.
These are “two-by-twos” and eight in number, and each 5 feet 9 inches
long. Nail them securely at their lower ends to the adjoining ribs. See
that they are plumb, and fasten them temporarily with diagonal pieces,
to hold the top ends in place, while you nail down the lower deck or
flooring.
Now fit and nail the two 1-inch planks in place, at the bow and
stern-end of the cabin, each of which has its top one inch above the
sides, even with the proposed deck (see dotted lines in Fig. 117).
Use Ordinary Flooring,
or if that is not obtainable use 3/4-inch pine boards, and run them
lengthwise from the bow to the front end of the cabin and along the
sides of the cabin. Then floor the cabin lengthwise from bow to stern.
This gives you a dry cabin floor, for there are 4 inches of space
underneath for bilge water, which unless your boat is badly made and
very leaky, is plenty of room for what little water may leak in from
above or below. The two side-boards of the cabin floor must, of
course, have square places neatly cut out to fit the uprights of the
cabin. This may be done by slipping the floor-board up against the
uprights and carefully marking the places with a pencil where they will
come through the board, and then at each mark sawing two inches in the
floor plank, and cutting out the blocks with a chisel.
The Hatch.
Now take a “four-by-four” and saw off eight short supports for the two
1-inch planks which support the hatch, Figs. 116 and 117. Toe-nail
the middle four-by-four to the floor in such a position that the two
cross-planks (which are made to fit in the notches E and F, Fig.
114) will rest on the supports. Nail the four other supports to the
side-boards of your boat, and on top of these nail the cross-planks, as
shown in the diagrams.
The boat is now ready for its
Upper Deck
of 1-inch pine boards. These are to be nailed on lengthwise, bow and
stern and at sides of cabin, leaving, of course, the cabin open, as
shown by the position of the boys in Fig. 117, and an opening, 3 feet
by 2, for the hatch (Fig. 116). The two floors will act as benches for
the uprights of the cabin, and hold them stiff and plumb.
To further stiffen the frame, make two diagonals for the stern-end, as
shown in Fig. 118, and nail them in place.
The Rafters,
or roof-rods, should extend a foot each way beyond the cabin, hence cut
them two feet longer than the cabin, and after testing your uprights,
to see that they are exactly plumb, nail the two side roof-rods in
place (see dotted lines in Fig. 117). The cross-pieces at the ends, as
they support no great weight, may be fitted between the two side-rods,
and nailed there.
[Illustration: FIG. 120.--Inside View of Door.]
The roof is to be made of 1/2-inch boards bent into a curve, and
the ridge-pole, or centre roof-rod, must have some support. This is
obtained by two short pieces of 2-by-4, each 6 inches long, which are
toe-nailed to the centre of each cross-rod, and the ridge-pole nailed
to their tops. At 3 feet from the upper deck the side frame-pieces
are toe-nailed to the uprights. As may be seen, there are three
two-by-fours on each side (Fig. 117).
The space between the side frame-pieces, the two middle uprights, and
side roof-rods, is where the windows are to be placed.
Use 1/2-inch (tongue and groove preferred) pine boards for sidings, and
Box in your Cabin
neatly, allowing space for windows on each side, as indicated. Leave
the front open. Of the same kind of boards make your roof; the boards
being light you can bend them down upon each side and nail them to
the side roof-rods, forming a pretty curve, as may be seen in the
illustration of the American boy’s house-boat.
This Roof,
to be finished neatly and made entirely water-proof, should be covered
with tent-cloth or light canvas, smoothly stretched over and tacked
upon the under side of the projecting edges. Three good coats of paint
will make it water-proof and pleasant to look upon.
[Illustration: FIG. 121.--Side-View of Door.]
The description, so far, has been for a neatly finished craft, but I
have seen very serviceable and comfortable house-boats built of rough
lumber, in which case the curved roof, when they had one, had narrow
strips nailed over the boards where they joined each other.
To Contrive a Movable Front
to your cabin, make two doors to fit and close the front opening,
but in place of hanging the doors on hinges, set them in place. Each
door should have a good strong strap nailed securely on the inside,
for a handle, and a batten or cross-piece at top and bottom of inside
surface. A two-by-four, run parallel to the front top cross-frame and
nailed there, just a sufficient distance from it to allow the top
of the door to be inserted between, will hold the top of the door
securely. A two-by-four, with bolt-holes near either end to correspond
with bolt-holes in the floor, will hold the bottom when the door is
pushed in place, the movable bottom-piece shoved against it and the
bolts thrust in (see Fig. 120, view from inside of cabin. Fig. 121,
side-view). It will be far less work to break in the side of the cabin
than to burst in such doors, if they are well made. These doors possess
this advantage: they can be removed and used as table-tops, leaving the
whole front open to the summer breeze, or one may be removed, and still
allow plenty of ventilation. A moulding on deck around the cabin is
not necessary, but it will add finish and prevent the rain-water from
leaking in.
To lock up the boat you must set the doors from the inside, and if you
wish to leave the craft locked you must crawl out of the window and
fasten the latter with a padlock.
Fig. 122 shows the construction of
The Rudder,
and also an arrangement by which it may be worked from the front of the
boat, which, when the boat is towed, will be found most convenient.
The hatch should be made of 1-inch boards, to fit snugly flush with the
deck, as in the illustration, or made of 2-inch plank, and a moulding
fitted around the opening, as shown in Fig. 117.
A Pair of Rowlocks,
made of two round oak sticks with an iron rod in their upper ends,
may be placed in holes in the deck near the bow, and the boat can be
propelled by two oarsmen using long “sweeps,” which have holes at the
proper places to fit over the iron rods projecting from the oaken
rowlocks. These rowlocks may be removed when not in use, and the holes
closed by wooden plugs, while the sweeps can be hung at the side of the
cabin, under its eaves, or lashed fast to the roof.
Two or more Ash Poles,
for pushing or poling the boat over shallow water or other difficult
places for navigation are handy, and should not be left out of the
equipment. The window-sashes may be hung on hinges and supplied with
hooks and screw-eyes to fasten them open by hooking them to the
eaves when it is desired to let in the fresh air, as shown in the
illustration of the finished boat.
Two bunks can be fitted at the rear end of the cabin, one above the
other, the bottom bunk being the lid to a locker (see Fig. 117).
The Locker
is simply a box, the top of which is just below the deck-line and
extending the full width of the cabin. It has hinges at the back, and
may be opened for the storage of luggage.
Over the lid blankets are folded, making a divan during the day and a
bed at night.
The top bunk is made like the frame of a cheap cot, but in place of
being upholstered it has a strong piece of canvas stretched across it.
This bunk is also hinged to the back of the cabin, so that when not in
use it can be swung up against the roof and fastened there as the top
berth in a sleeping-car is fastened. Four 4-by-4 posts can be bolted
to the side-support at each corner of the bottom bunk; they will amply
support the top bunk, as the legs do a table-top when the frame is
allowed to rest upon their upper ends. This makes accommodation for
two boys, and there is still room for upper and lower side bunks, the
cabin being but six feet wide. If you put bunks on both sides you will
be rather crowded, it is true, but by allowing a 1-foot passage in the
middle, you can have two side bunks and plenty of head room. This will
accommodate four boys, and that is a full crew for a boat of this size.
On board a yacht I have often seen four full-grown men crowded into a
smaller space in the cabin, while the sailormen in the fo’castle had
not near that amount of breathing-room.
[Illustration: FIG. 122.]
Figs. 118, 119, and 120 show
A More Simple Set of Plans.
Here the cabin is built on top of the upper deck, and there are no
bottom-ribs, the uprights being held in place by blocks nailed to the
bottom of the boat, and by the deck of the boat. This is secure enough
for well-protected waters, small lakes, and small streams. Upon the
inland streams of New York State I have seen two-story house-boats, the
cabin, or house, being only a frame-work covered with canvas. One such
craft I saw in central New York, drifting down-stream over a shallow
riff, and as it bumped along over the stones it presented a strange
sight. The night was intensely dark, and the boat brightly lighted. The
lights shone through the canvas covering, and this big luminous house
went bobbing over the shallow water, while shouts of laughter and the
“plinky-plunk” of a banjo told in an unmistakable manner of the jolly
time the crew were having.
Canvas-Cabined House-Boat.
If you take an ordinary open scow and erect a frame of uprights and
cross-pieces, and cover it with canvas, you will have just such a boat
as the one seen in central New York. This boat may be propelled by
oars, the rowers sitting under cover, and the canvas being lifted at
the sides to allow the sweeps to work; but of course it will not be as
snug as the well-made American boy’s house-boat, neither can it stand
the same amount of rough usage, wind, and rain as the latter boat.
In the illustration the reader will notice a stove-pipe at the stern;
there is room for a small stove back of the cabin, and in fair weather
it is much better to cook outside than inside the cabin. When you tie
up to the shore for any length of time, a rude shelter of boughs and
bark will make a good kitchen on the land, in which the stove may be
placed, and you will enjoy all the fun of a camp, with the advantage of
a snug house to sleep in.
For the benefit of boys who doubt their ability to build a boat of
this description, it may be well to state that other lads have used
these directions and plans with successful results, and their boats now
gracefully float on many waters, a source of satisfaction and pride to
their owners.
Information for Old Boys.
On all the Western rivers small flat-boats or scows are to be had at
prices which vary in accordance with the mercantile instincts of the
purchaser, and with the desire of the seller to dispose of his craft.
Such boats are propelled by “sweeps,” a name used to designate the
long poles with boards on their outer edges that serve as blades and
form the oars. These boats are often supplied with a deck-house,
extending almost from end to end, and if such a house is lacking one
may be built with little expense. The cabin may be divided into rooms
and the sleeping apartments supplied with cheaply made bunks. It is
not the material of the bunk which makes it comfortable--it is the
mattress in the bunk upon which your comfort will depend. The kitchen
and dining-room may be all in one. An awning spread over the roof will
make a delightful place in which to lounge and catch the river breezes.
The Cost of House-Boats.
The cost of a ready-made flat-bottomed house-boat is anywhere from
thirty dollars to one or more thousands. In Florida such a boat, 40
by 20 feet, built for the quiet waters of the St. John’s River or its
tributaries, or the placid lagoons, will cost eight hundred dollars.
This boat is well painted outside and rubbed down to a fine oil finish
inside; it has one deck, and the hull is used for toilet apartments
and state-rooms; the hull is well calked and all is in good trim. Such
expense is, however, altogether unnecessary--there need be no paint or
polish. All you need is a well-calked hull and a water-tight roof of
boards or canvas overhead; cots or bunks to sleep in; chairs, stools,
boxes or benches to sit on; hammocks to loll in, and a good supply of
provisions in the larder.
House-boats for the open waters are necessarily more expensive. As a
rule they need round bottoms that stand well out of the water, and
are built like the hull of a ship. These boats cost as much to build
as a small yacht. From twelve to fifteen hundred dollars will build a
good house-boat, with comfortable sleeping-berths, toilet-rooms, and
store-rooms below; a kitchen, dining-room and living-room on the cabin
deck, with wide, breezy passageways separating them.
If a bargain can be found in an old schooner with a good hull, for two
or three hundred dollars, a first-class house-boat can be made by the
expenditure of as much more for a cabin. The roofs of all house-boats
should extend a foot or more beyond the sides of the cabin.
For People of Limited Means.
For people with little money to spend, these expensive boats are as
much out of reach as a yacht, but they may often be rented for prices
within the means of people in moderate circumstances. At New York I
have known a good schooner-yacht, 84 feet over all, to be chartered for
two weeks, with crew of skipper and two men, the larder plentifully
supplied with provisions and luxuries for six people and the crew,
making nine in all, at a cost of thirty-six dollars apiece for each of
the six passengers. An equally good house-boat should not cost over
twelve dollars a week per passenger for a party of ten. In inland
waters, if a boat could be rented, the cost should not exceed seven or
eight dollars a week per passenger.
A canal-boat is a most excellent house-boat for a pleasure party,
either on inland streams or along our coast.
Street-Car Cabins.
Since the introduction of cable and trolley cars the street-car
companies have been selling their old horse-cars, in some instances at
figures below the cost of the window-glass in them; so cheap, in fact,
that poor people buy them to use as woodsheds and chicken-coops.
One of these cars will make an ideal cabin for a house-boat, and can be
adapted for that purpose with little or no alterations. All it needs is
a good flat-boat to rest in, and you have a palatial house-boat.
FOOTNOTE:
[11] See p. 100, “The American Boy’s Handy Book.”
CHAPTER XIV.
A BACK-YARD SWITCHBACK.
The back-yard affords an opportunity to build a summer toboggan slide,
or its equivalent, commonly known as a
“Switchback,”
the difference being that, in place of toboggans, cars are used, and in
place of ice and snow you coast down a railroad track.
The Wheels
of the back-yard “switchback” car must be made of thick, sound wood,
and if there is a wood-working factory in your neighborhood it will
save you time and trouble to go there and have the wheels sawed out
with the machinery which they have built for that kind of work. But
if you must do it yourself, then select a piece of two-inch plank,
and after driving a tack in the centre, fasten a string to the tack
and attach a soft pencil to the opposite end of the string. With this
describe a circle about nine inches in diameter, or measuring about
four and a half inches from the tack to the pencil.
With a hand-saw roughly cut out the wheel, using great care to only
touch the circle with the saw, but in no case to cut through the
circumference. You will now have an irregular wheel, with a number of
flat surfaces for its edge (Fig. 123 A).
In this way you may continue to saw off the triangular corners until
you reduce the wheel to a condition where it only needs the application
of a sharp knife to round the edge until it corresponds with the pencil
circle.
[Illustration: FIGS. 123-126.--The Wheel.]
What is called
The Flange
of the wheel is practically another wheel, made of thinner material
(Fig. 124), which is securely nailed to the first wheel (Figs. 125 and
126), with the grain of the wood of the flange crossing the grain of
the wood of the wheel proper at right angles. The flange is made of
one-inch board, and to prevent its splitting is reënforced by a strip
of wood fastened on across the grain, with screws, as shown in Fig. 124.
When the four wheels are finished, and a hole large enough for a good
strong axle is bored in the exact centre of each, you will be ready to
begin work upon the car.
Set the Car-Bed Low.
The smallest boy will understand that the lower the bed of the car is
put the less the danger of an upset, so instead of putting the axle,
under the car, run them through the bed, as shown by Fig. 128.
[Illustration: FIGS. 127 and 128.]
Build the Axles
of four-by-four timber, and by the aid of a drawing-knife or a good,
strong, sharp jack-knife, trim off the ends of the timber to the form
shown in the diagram.
When the ends are small enough to allow the wheels to revolve freely,
saw out places in the side-boards of the car (Figs. 127 and 128), into
which the square part of the axle will snugly fit.
The Bottom of the Car
may be made of half-inch boards, which can be joined and nailed on to
the car, with their irregular ends protruding, after which, with a
hand-saw, cut off the ends even with the side-boards, as in Fig. 129.
Then nail in place the head and tail-boards, and in the same manner saw
off their protruding ends, even with the side-boards (Fig. 129). To
finish your car it is only necessary to slip the wheels upon the axles.
The wheels may be held in place by pegs of hard-wood driven through
holes in the hub, made for that purpose, as shown in Fig. 130. You will
then have a car, but no track to run it upon. However, if you build
the toboggan slide which is described in the next chapter, you may lay
rails, made of two-by-four timber, down your toboggan slide and thus
transform it into a back-yard “switchback.”
[Illustration: FIG. 129 and 130.]
But if you have no toboggan slide you will have to build a tramway for
your car against the back fence, wood-shed, or any other suitable place.
In the diagram (Fig. 135) here given, the slide is shown as it would be
if built against the back fence, extending forward through the middle
of the yard. But you must have a
Starting Platform.
You will need four pieces of timber, seven feet long and two inches
thick by four inches wide, for the uprights or corner-posts (A and
B, Fig. 131), unless the posts and rails of the back fence are on
your side of the yard, as in Fig. 132. In this case you need only two
seven-foot sticks and two short ones, to fit on the top rail of the
fence. The tops of these short posts should be just seven feet from
the ground. Nail them securely in place, about five feet apart, as
in Fig. 132, and then see that the fence-boards, to which the posts
are nailed, are secure. If they are not secure, climb over the fence
and put in a few good wire nails, for if the fence is not strong your
structure will be weak. Additional strength may be gained by making
each of the uprights of two pieces of two-by-four, nailed together,
thus making the posts four-by-four.
[Illustration: FIG. 131.]
[Illustration: FIG. 132.]
It is a good plan to erect one of the posts directly over one of the
fence-posts; this will add strength and stiffness to the structure.
If you have any doubts about the ability of the fence to support the
platform, erect two seven-foot posts, as in Fig. 131, and spike them
to the top and bottom rail of the fence. Next take two pieces of
two-by-four and notch them, as E and F are notched in Fig. 133. Nail F
to the top of A and B, and E to the ends of C and D, the two seven-foot
posts of two-by-four. Near the other ends of these last posts nail a
cross-piece (G, Fig. 133), and then, to stiffen the frame, turn it over
and nail on two diagonal pieces of lighter material.
[Illustration: FIG. 133.]
Erect this frame about five or six feet from the fence and secure it in
place by the two diagonals, H and H (Fig. 133), which are nailed near
the top of C and D, and “toe-nailed” to the bottom rail of the fence.
[Illustration: FIG. 134.]
From the bottom rail of the fence, and level with it, run the two J
pieces of board to C and D, and nail them securely, as in Fig. 134;
then nail on the two top side-pieces, K and K, and the framework of the
starting platform is ready for its floor. Nail boards across the top,
from E to F, and saw off the protruding ends, as in Fig. 134.
[Illustration: FIGS. 135, 136, and 137.]
The Track
must be a “straight-away,” which means no curves to round, hence you
must build it in the position which will give the longest run for your
trouble.
A Curved Track
means more difficult work on the tramway and cars, for the car must
have a movable axle in order to be able to round the curve. But with a
straight track the play of the wheel upon the hub should allow enough
freedom of motion to overcome the little inaccuracy which may occur in
the rails. Experiment will teach you just what is needed. I cannot
give exact rules, because the material and location will differ with
each builder, and I have found that when I give positive rules, the
rules are followed, even when the material and location are entirely
unsuited to the directions given. For this reason it is best for each
boy to experiment for himself.
Erect the Uprights
first, and brace them with the diagonal boards, as shown in the diagram
(Fig. 135). When you are certain the structure is firm and can stand
the strain and weight of a loaded car, lay the two-by-four rails upon
the ground, and fit them to the car-wheels by pushing the car over
them, to see that they are just the right distance apart. If you make
your track too wide the car-wheels will slip off the rails and run
between them, and if you lay your track with too narrow a gauge the
rails will pinch the flanges of the wheels so tightly that the car will
stop, or the rails spread.
When one section of the track is laid and it is found that the car runs
freely upon it, nail cross-ties of ordinary boards across from rail to
rail, like a ladder. Then take the ladder, and turning it over so that
the rails are on top (Fig. 136), adjust it to the tramway (Fig. 135),
and fasten it securely, by nailing the cross-ties to the side-boards of
the tramway.
In Fig. 135
The Cross-ties, or Sleepers,
are put in position, to show how they will look when the track is laid,
but in reality the cross-ties must be nailed to the rails while the
latter are upon the level ground, as I have already stated.
When each section of track is fastened in place, from the top of the
tramway to the ground, and as much farther as your space or lumber will
admit, load your car with stones, or some equally heavy freight, and
start it down the “switchback.”
If the car reaches its journey’s end with no mishap, you can with
safety get in the car for the next trip and coast down yourself and a
jolly good coast it will be.
The plans (Figs. 135 and 136) may be altered so that the car will run
down one hill and mount another not quite so high, and many other
improvements will suggest themselves to the young civil engineers who
build this “switchback,” but the first track you erect should be as
simple as is consistent with strength and safety, and the improvements
left to some future time.
Ticket-Chopper’s Box.
You may then take a square box, with a lock and key attached, and bore
a hole in one end large enough to admit a good-sized marble; use this
as the railroad and ferry-men use a ticket-chopper’s box, let every boy
who wants a ride drop a marble in the box.
Some thirty years ago a certain boy built a “switchback” in his
back-yard, very much like the one here described, and great fun he had
with it; but as he was not rich, and the lumber cost him something, he
issued a number of tickets at one cent each, every ticket entitling
the holder to three rides on the “switchback.” In this way he was soon
repaid all the expense he had been under during the erection of his
wonderful railroad.
This is what that boy told the writer, and as the former young engineer
is now no longer a lad, but a grave D.D., who wears solemn black
clothes and preaches long sermons, the writer believes him.
[Illustration: Under Full Headway.]
But whether you charge a cent, a marble, or nothing, for a ride, you
and your friends are bound to have a rollicking good time on the
back-yard “switchback.”
CHAPTER XV.
HOW TO BUILD A TOBOGGAN-SLIDE IN THE BACK-YARD.
Toboggans and sleds are not always used on snow and ice, neither is
coasting confined to winter weather.
At most of the summer resorts you may coast down an artificial hill,
upon real toboggans, over a slide of hard-wood rollers, and end with a
whoop and a splash in the water of the bathing-pool.
Slipperies.
All through the southwestern part of this country the summer drought
causes the rivers to subside, leaving more or less high mud or clay
banks, which are utilized by the youngsters as mud-slides, and called
by them “slipperies.” The boys use neither sled nor toboggan, but make
a slide by pouring water over the dry mud until they have a long,
slippery track, down which they coast, ending with a splash in the
river.
A War-Time Slippery.
A good many years ago a battalion of Union soldiers were camped on the
river-bank, near where some Kentucky boys were having fun on a long
slippery, and one day, before the lads knew what had happened, two
thousand naked men suddenly made their appearance, jostling each other,
for a slide down the mud-track. It was a great sight to see these
men-children coasting down the mud-bank, and the show the soldiers made
for them repaid the boys for their labor in building the slide.
[Illustration: FIG. 138.--The Toboggan-Slide.]
Tropical Toboggan-Slide.
Under the torrid zone, away out on the Islands of the Pacific Ocean,
the natives coast down-hill, in the hottest weather, on the dry grass,
and where that does not exist they build themselves toboggan-slides,
with slabs of smooth lava. Hundreds of these tracks line the
mountain-sides near the native villages. The sled these daring coasters
use is from seven to twenty feet long, and as narrow in proportion
as a shell-boat, there being only a few inches of space between the
very hard, polished wooden runners. It takes both skill and pluck to
ride one of these cranky tropical sleds, or toboggans, but the natives
possess both of these qualities, and without a thought of failure pick
up their primitive machine, take a short, swift run, and throw the sled
and themselves together, headlong down the lava-slide. There follows a
wildly exciting and breathless ride down the incline, and a scoot over
the level country, until gradually the queer sled slows up and comes to
a stop; and then there is a long climb back, for another daring coast
to the quiet valley below.
In the United States we have no smooth lava with which to build slides
on our native hills, and if we did have the lava-slides only a few of
our boys would have an opportunity to use them.
When the snow covers the ground it is not every boy who can find a
convenient hill where he may enjoy the healthful fun of coasting. A
great many boys live in a level country, and hundreds and thousands
of others have their homes in cities and towns, where heavy carts,
policemen, and trolley-cars, make coasting a forbidden pleasure.
However, with a real toboggan-slide in the back-yard, a boy may snap
his fingers at a level country, lumbering carts, death-dealing cars,
and meddlesome guardians of the peace.
In a day’s time three boys can build a slide; but, of course, it cannot
be built without some labor. If it could, it would be of no value. The
labor consists only in sawing a few pieces of timber and driving a few
nails to hold the frame together, and it is effort well-spent.
If Your Back-Yard is Wide
enough you can run the toboggan-track alongside the back fence, with
the starting platform built in the fence-corner, backing against the
side fence. In this way your slide will occupy but little space.
But if Your Yard is Long and Narrow,
build your platform against the back fence (as described in Chapter
XIV.), and let the track run along one of the side fences.
The most difficult part of the work is now finished. Make
A Frame,
on the pattern of C, E, D, G (Figs. 133 and 134, Chapter XIV.), and
about half the height of the platform (see L, M, N, Fig. 138).
Erect this frame in front of the platform, and at such a distance from
it as will allow your longest boards to span the intervening space, as
in Fig. 138. Nail two diagonals--one at each top end of the frame M, L,
N, and fasten the opposite ends of the diagonals to the bottoms of C
and D.
Long boards may be laid from the ground to the top of M, N, L, and
nailed securely to the frame, and other boards laid over the upper ends
of the first, and the top of E, where they can be securely nailed, and
the slide is ready for use.
The Incline May be Lengthened
by using a carpenter’s wooden horse for another frame, and allowing
the boards from the ground to rest on this, and another set of boards
run from this to L, M, N, as in Fig. 138, or as described for the
switchback, in the preceding chapter.
With plenty of snow on the ground it will not hurt a strong boy to fall
from this track. But there may not be much snow on the hard, frozen
ground, or your little brothers and sisters may be fond of coasting. To
prevent any mishap, a guard-rail, such as is shown on one side of the
slide in Fig. 138, should be nailed on each side of the inclined plane,
as shown in the diagram.
The posts for the railing around the platform are “toe-nailed” to the
floor, and the rail is nailed on top of them. In case the rail seems
weak, a diagonal or two, like those on the slide-frames, will make it
sufficiently strong.
A Toboggan Room.
By boarding up around the posts, under the platform, a small room will
be made, at a trifling additional cost and labor, which can be kept
warm, and will afford a means of shelter and a place to lock up the
sleds.
An excellent plan for
“Packing” the Slide, or Chute,
is to mix sawdust and snow together, in equal parts, using just enough
water to cause it to pack solidly, as a foundation for the top crust
of snow or ice. This foundation will make the top ice or snow last
much longer, in thawing weather, than it would if spread directly on
the wooden bed of the slide. If the snow in the chute is properly and
smoothly banked up on this composition foundation, moistened and frozen
hard, with the addition of half an inch of fresh snow on top, the
slide, in ordinary weather, will last all winter.
It is a Wise Plan
to be ready for any emergency. You may have visitors who come without
sleds, and who would have but a chilly time watching the others coast
down the wonderful toboggan-slide. To prevent the chance of any such
disagreeable occurrences, knock an old barrel to pieces and build
yourself a supply of toboggans with the staves. Two barrel-staves,
fastened together by a cross-bar in front and a piece of board for a
seat in the rear, will make a most excellent toboggan.
The boy in the foreground of Fig. 138 is building toboggans of barrel
staves, and a glance at this cut will tell you how they are made.
PART II
RAINY DAY IDEAS
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XVI.
A HOME-MADE CIRCUS.
To the typical American boy every object he sees suggests to him
possibilities of amusement, and to him an up-to-date bath-room is as
full of such suggestions as a dictionary is of words. The great white
tub affords an excellent sea for his gun-boats to do battle upon, or
offers a straight-away course over which his home-made yachts may sail,
while a fan fills their sails with everything from a light breeze to a
ripping gale.
What boy has not discovered, for himself, that
The Bath-tub is a Splendid Receiving-Tank
for the occasional water-animals captured by him in creek or pond, or
at the fish-market?
The laundry tubs are also useful and, not being in demand as frequently
as the bath-tub, are for this reason often more convenient.
If the grown people would only let the bath-room alone, there is no end
to the fun which an ingenious lad could have in that useful little room.
As a Lake for His Fleet,
and as a receiving-tank for his water-pets are only two of the uses
which the bath-tub suggests to a bright boy. When he sees the faucet he
realizes that this can afford him power for all sorts of machinery, if
he can arrange a water-wheel under it to transmit the power.
Every country boy knows how to make water-wheels, and every summer
the springs and brooks all over the land turn these little wheels in
exactly the same manner which the larger streams turn the big wheels
for the factories and mills on their banks.
But there are thousands of boys in our great cities who have never seen
A Water-wheel,
and for the use of these boys the accompanying illustrations were drawn.
[Illustration: FIGS. 139-141.]
Fig. 139 shows a four-sided soft-pine stick, with square ends, and
if you have a good sharp knife it requires but little work to trim
off the four edges of this stick until it has the form of a six-sided
lead-pencil (Fig. 140), after which but little skill is required to
whittle the ends down to the size of the hole in a thread-spool (Fig.
141).
The Shaft.
You will see, on examining the illustration, that the middle is left
with the six sides untouched.
An Old Cigar-Box
will not only furnish you with excellent wood for the paddles of your
wheels (Fig. 142), but, if carefully taken apart, it will also furnish
you with just the right sort of nails with which to fasten your paddles
to the shaft.
[Illustration: FIG. 142.]
Make Six Paddles,
all of the same size and same pattern, and nail one to one of the six
sides of the shaft (Fig. 142).
Turn the shaft around to the next face or side, and nail another paddle
in place; continue this work until you have the paddle-wheel shown in
Fig. 143.
[Illustration: FIG. 143.]
On to one or both ends of the shaft you may now slip wooden spools,
pushing them up the stick until they fit tightly, and leave a
projecting end of the shaft sticking out of the end of the spool.
Hanging-Bars.
Next take a lath or stick of some kind, which is of such length that it
will rest securely when laid across from side to side of the bath-tub.
To this stick tack two others, as shown in Fig. 144.
These hanging-bars must be long enough to allow the water-wheel to
be suspended just below the faucet of the bath-tub. Strengthen your
hanging-bars (Fig. 144) by two diagonal pieces.
Fig. 145 shows how to cut a notch near the lower end of one
hanging-bar, and a hole is bored near the end of the opposite
hanging-bar.
[Illustration: FIGS. 144 and 145.]
To adjust the wheel, place the top bar across the bath-tub and then
slip the shaft in the hole in the hanging-bar, sliding the other end
of the shaft into the slot shown in Fig. 145.
[Illustration: FIGS. 146-149.]
If the water is now allowed to run slowly from the faucet and fall upon
the inside paddles it will set the wheel in motion, and this motion can
be transmitted to any small and simple piece of machinery by means of a
belt running from the spool which is attached to the wheel to a similar
spool, attached to the machine.
[Illustration: The Circus Performers.]
If you Make a Frame,
similar to that which holds the water-wheel, (Fig. 144) and make it
with much shorter hanging-bars, it will not be necessary to support
them with the diagonal pieces. This second frame can be reversed over
the first frame, so that the hanging-bars will set upright upon the
cross-bar, and when in that position a small horizontal bar may be
made to revolve by connecting a spool placed upon this bar with the
spool upon the wheel-shaft, by means of a string loop. If this string
is not too loose, nor yet too tight, it will turn the top spool as
soon as the water sets the wheel and the bottom spool in motion. The
illustration on page 196 shows how a number of funny animals and men
can be made to do circus tricks on the bar, to the great delight of the
spectators.
[Illustration: FIGS. 150-153.]
Figures Which Move.
To make these figures so that they will move with comical, but natural,
movements, place a piece of transparent paper over the diagrams and
trace the outlines, then blacken another piece of paper, upon one side,
with a soft pencil; next place a piece of clean card-board under these
figures, over the card-board spread the paper, with the blackened side
next to the card-board, and over this put the tracing paper, and then,
holding it so that it will not slip, follow the lines of the clown,
ape, and donkey, with the point of a hard pencil. When the card-board
is removed the bodies of the clown, ape, and donkey will appear traced
upon the white surface.[12]
In the same manner make tracings of the legs and arms of the puppets,
and with your scissors cut these figures out. Using the legs and arms
cut from the card-board as patterns, trace around each of them upon
another piece of card-board with a pencil, and cut these duplicates
out. You will now have two each of Figs. 147, 148, 151, 152, 155 and
156.
With the point of your hard pencil, or a darning-needle, punch holes in
all these parts, at the points marked by black dots.
Next take a small piece of string and make
A Neat, Round Knot
in one end of it, and thread the other end through the clown’s arm,
at the dot in his shoulder; then thread the string through the dot in
the clown’s body, near his collar (Fig. 146). Now thread through the
hole in the shoulder of the duplicate arm. When this much is done,
place the clown upon a table, with the knot underneath, and drawing
the string up, while holding the clown’s body down with your other
hand, bring the knot snugly against the lower arm and tie another knot
tightly against the upper arm. This last knot can be made by making a
large loop, and then holding the string in place with one finger until
the knot is slid down against the pasteboard arm and drawn tightly in
place; a second and third knot, tied over this, will make it large
enough for the purpose, and the arms will be found to move freely, up
or down (See Fig. 289, Chapter XXIV.).
[Illustration: FIGS. 154-157.]
Attach the legs in the same manner; if you will now thrust a small
stick through both the clown’s fists you can make him take all the
positions of a trained circus-man, by twirling the horizontal stick
between your fingers.
When the water-wheel sets the bar twirling, the donkey, ape, and clown
go through their “stunts,” in a most laughable manner.
FOOTNOTE:
[12] Another plan is described in Chapter XXIV.
CHAPTER XVII.
GOOD GAMES WITH TOOTHPICKS AND MATCHES.
The genuine American lad needs no costly toys with which to amuse
himself, for he has inherited from a long line of pioneer ancestors
a sturdy self-reliance. When the inclemency of the weather, or some
slight illness, confines him to his home, he can pass away the time
with toys of his own construction.
[Illustration: FIG. 158.--Rainy Day Fun.]
A Toy is a Plaything,
and a plaything is any old thing which chance throws in our way, with
which to play.
Wooden Toothpicks
offer many opportunities for amusement. I have seen grown men, in the
reading-rooms of our great hotels, amuse themselves and companions for
hours with only a handful of wooden toothpicks.
Suppose that mumps have invaded the household, and the younger members
of the family are, consequently, confined indoors, with their youthful
jaws tied up in bandages. If they have no ingenuity they will be
fretful and annoying to their parents and themselves, but if they have
inherited true Yankee grit and invention they will spend their enforced
imprisonment in a very jolly manner.
Here is
A Simple Toothpick Example,
Fig. 159. Let us see you take away five toothpicks and leave three
perfect squares.
[Illustration: FIG. 159.--Toothpick Puzzle.]
It is a simple problem, and one glance at Fig. 160 shows how it is
done, but you must remember that the other fellows or girls to whom you
put the question are not supposed to know the solution, and unless the
puzzle-workers are very bright it will take some thinking to work out
the problem--at least it will take enough thought to be a source of
amusement to all concerned.
[Illustration: FIG. 160.--Solution.]
When the toothpicks are removed and the problem solved, ask them to
Lift Three Safety-Matches with One Toothpick.
Be sure to use safety-matches, if they are to be had; if not, use burnt
matches, for there is no fun playing with toys which are liable to
ignite and cause much more serious results than a case of mumps.
[Illustration: FIGS. 161-165.]
After all the party have tried in vain to lift the three matches with
the aid of one toothpick, you may show them how the trick is done.
Explanation.
Fig. 161 shows the first match, which has been split at the tail-end
with the blade of a pocket-knife; Fig. 162 shows another match, which
has had the tail-end whittled to a wedge-shaped edge, and Fig. 163
shows the two matches joined by forcing the wedge end of one match into
the split end of the other. Fig. 164 shows the third match, placed
across the ends of the other two matches.
If you will now pass the toothpick under the first two matches and
over the last, as illustrated by the diagram, Fig. 164, it is a simple
task to lift the three matches and show your playmates how a seemingly
impossible proposition becomes a thing of great simplicity when it is
solved (Fig. 165.)
A Spring-Bed.
Now take a toothpick, Fig. 166, and place another one across it, as in
Fig. 167; cross these two toothpicks, in their centre, with a third,
as in Fig. 168; then run a fourth under the ends of the two side
toothpicks and over the end of the middle one, as in Fig. 169.
[Illustration: FIG. 166 and 167.]
When the fifth toothpick is run under the other ends of the two
crossed picks and over the free end of the centre toothpick, you will
have Fig. 170.
[Illustration: FIGS. 168 and 169.]
What is Fig. 170? Well, it is almost anything you wish: it is a gate,
a section of a fence, or a spring-bed. Fig. 171 shows the spring-bed,
and to prove that it is a real spring-bed, if you will set it on the
hearth, where there can be no danger from fire, you may light one
leg of the bed with a match, then stand back and watch the flame eat
its way to the first joint. When this joint is reached the spring is
freed, and the bed flies to pieces, which proves that it is really a
spring-bed.
[Illustration: FIGS. 170 and 171.]
Artificial Water.
If you wish something to represent water, take a small looking-glass
and place it flat on the floor or a table. Upon the surface of your
glass lake you can place paper boats, and build shores by heaping books
around the edge. Spanning the water you may have a beautiful bridge of
toothpicks or safety-matches.
A Bridge of Matches.
This bridge requires patience and deft fingers to build, but both
patience and skill are necessary in golf, football, boating, the
school, the counting-house, and in art or music, so you must not be
discouraged if your frail match bridge falls to pieces just when you
think the thing is about finished. Remember that an occasional failure
is more than half the fun; start over again by placing two matches on
the table and placing a third match across them, as in Fig. 172; then
another match under them, as in Fig. 173. Some matches are made of such
brittle stuff as to be unsuited for this, and others are too short
and thick to bend, but good slender matches can be used, and wooden
toothpicks are even better.
[Illustration: FIGS. 172 and 173.]
Fig. 174 shows the next step is to thrust two matches under the under
match and over the match which is on top and across the first two; the
spring in the matches will hold this frame together. More and more
matches may be added, in the same manner as the first (Fig. 175), until
the arch is of the required length: that is, until it is long enough to
reach from shore to shore of the looking-glass lake.
[Illustration: FIG. 174.]