The next tool—and the last I shall have to indicate—is a pair of sharp and delicately made scissors. Do not calculate on family resources, taking the first pair of scissors that may come to hand: get a pair of your own. See that they are first-rate when you are about it, and you cannot buy scissors of this sort at random at any hardware shop. Go to a surgical instrument shop, where you will be able to get what you want.

And now I leave your cupro-ammonium to brew, and you to get together the few tools indicated. When you are quite ready, we will proceed to see what to do with it.

The first exercise I shall put to you is the manufacture of an artificial wooden bottle. There will be no particular use in the thing when made, but it will be a curiosity, and the making of it is the very best exercise that suggests itself to me after many years’ experience.

You will perhaps here call to mind what I have told you about the pungent smell of our working fluid, cupro-ammonium, if one chances to get a sniff at it, and how that inconvenience may be avoided by a little management. In addition to that memory, please now bear in mind that the intensity of the smell of odorous things is in proportion to the surface exposed. Presently, in order to use your cupro-ammonium fluid, some must be poured out into a vessel into which you can dip little pieces of paper. Now it is evident that the smell of a pint of cupro-ammonium, or of any other smelling fluid, will be less intense if the vessel be a comparatively narrow-mouthed jug than if it be a basin; but supposing a basin to be desirable for collateral reasons, then much smell may be avoided by providing yourself with a temporary cover, say a glass pane, which may be laid over the surface, resting on the basin rim at the intervals when the dipping of your pieces of paper must be interrupted.

Next as to the paper you are to use in making this bottle of artificial wood. The best for your purpose will be what is known as printing demy. Writing-paper, having a glazed surface, is not favourable. The glaze is produced by animal size, a material that does not go well with cupro-ammonium. It matters little, practically nothing at all, whether the printer’s demy be new or whether it be printed upon. I have made excellent artificial wood out of, I believe, all the London daily morning papers; so choose your paper, and let us fall to work. Theoretically and scientifically it matters not what shape you cut your paper into, but practically, and present purpose regarded, there can be no doubt but that discs of a circular shape, and scored with cuts all round the circumference, are most convenient. The discs may conveniently run about the accompanying size.

The basis or model of our bottle about to be, or rather flask, shall be a common oil-flask. Provide yourself, then, with one of these, and cleanse it thoroughly from all oil, the least touch of which would be fatal to the success of our workings. Having done this, provide some sort of stand, into which the neck of the flask being stuck, the whole may be turned round and round in the progress of working. It matters nothing what this movable stand is. A candlestick does very well, if you can find a candlestick with candle-socket big enough to admit the neck of the flask. A marmalade pot holding sand can always be got, and into the sand the mouth and neck of the flask being stuck, every necessary purpose will have been answered.

Preliminaries being thus seen to, you pour out some of the cupro-ammonium in, let us say, a basin. Do not be sparing as to the quantity you pour out, for a reason to be explained presently. Take now one of your paper circular discs, and, with your forceps nipping it quite at the edge, dip it into the cupro-ammonium bath. For how long? Ah! that is a question to be solved. Assuming your stock of cupro-ammonium to be in good working order—assuming it to have been brewing with the copper wire for not less than a month, air having been furnished to it day by day, as already enjoined—then about three seconds will be long enough for each immersion. Nothing but practice will settle the point, and after only a little practice the operator cannot be mistaken. Immerse, then, for trial a paper disc, and, withdrawing it after about three or four seconds, lay it upon the crown of your flask and spread it out regularly by means of your forceps and rubber-protected finger. If it feels slippery like an eel the fluid has come to condition; but otherwise, if the disc instead of feeling slippery give the impression of harshness, then the conditions are not all that one would desire them to be. The main question is this: will the next disc, when steeped in the bath, removed, and pressed down, stick satisfactorily to the preceding disc?

This we shall now see. I have shown you here how the discs must overlap each other like the scales of a fish. You need not be particular in aiming at the mathematical symmetry of the scale lying on a fish’s skin; it would be folly to attempt such a result except your discs had been mathematically cut to pattern, and extremely difficult of execution in any case. Supposing the adhesion to be satisfactory, you can go on covering the entire surface of the oil-flask, and I should think common sense would suggest that when you have come down a certain distance in your working it will be more convenient if you take the flask out of its support and reverse it on a tumbler thus:—

When one course of overlap disc-layering has been finished in the way described, I would advise you, this being your first experience, to lay your work aside and let it dry. It will be easy now to see whether the overlap adhesion by all that was desired, and what the process is capable of. You are to remember, please, that we aim at no mere sticking together comparable to the result of gumming or pasting, but to an actual incorporation of material, so that junction being once effected, the layers can never more be separated by any known means. Were it otherwise, a thick material resulting from aggregated sheets of paper would have no claim to the designation ‘artificial wood.’ It would be simply papier-maché, reducible to paper pulp by mere steeping in water; whereas the material you and I are now engaged upon may be not only steeped in water, but actually boiled, and will never come to pieces. It will behave under those circumstances exactly like natural wood—that is to say, will soften a little to a certain depth, no more.

Cupro-ammonium is a very funny thing to work with, and has many curious ways. One curious point is this: Capable of effecting such complete adhesion—nay, more, incorporation, actual, bodily, as we have seen it to be—yet that quality ceases after only a few minutes’ removal from the bath. If you ask me the why and wherefore, frankly, I am unable to tell you, not myself knowing, though I have worked at this material for more than twenty years. So whatever work has to be done with cupro-ammonium has to be quickly done.

Another point of very highest importance is the following: Do you remember my telling you not to be sparing in the quantity of cupro-ammonium poured from the ‘brewing bottle,’ as we will call it, into the dipping basin? The fact is that every bit of paper you immerse and withdraw weakens the original solvent power of the bath, so in proportion as the bath liquor is smaller in quantity, by so much more speedily will its working power be lessened. For a long time that working power can be, and in practice is, restored by additional copper steepage, but it cannot be restored indefinitely.

Now pour back your bath-liquor; put away your tools, hereafter to renew your bottle building. Go on adding layer to layer until your bottle is as thick as you wish it to be, then giving the thing a sharp crack with the hammer, the glass flask will crumble almost to sand, which, when shook out, your own flask of cuproxylene, or artificial wood, will remain without support, but quite able to take care of itself.

CHAPTER XXXIX.—How to Make an Astronomical Telescope.
BY FRANK CHASEMORE.

The investigation of astronomical phenomena can only be made with the aid of a good telescope, the purchase of which is attended with considerable cost. It is my purpose in this chapter to give such directions as will enable any boy with average ingenuity to make for himself, at the cost of a few shillings, an instrument with which he can observe the more interesting of these phenomena.

This telescope will be of the simple non-achromatic class—that is, the colour effect of the unequal refraction of light is not corrected. Object-glasses of the achromatic construction are very expensive. All refracting telescopes were of the simple class up to 1758, when Mr. John Dollond, who had a few years before set up in business in London as optician, discovered a way to correct the colour effect on the image. This was by making the object-glass compound, or of two or more lenses fitted to each other, each being made of a different quality of glass from the other and having a different refracting power, one lens correcting or neutralising the dispersing caused by the other. The lenses for our telescope can be had from Messrs. Dollond and Co., descendants of the above John Dollond, No. 1, Ludgate Hill, who have given me some valuable hints with regard to the construction of this telescope.

A refracting telescope consists of an eye-piece, a tube, and an object-glass; these are mounted on a firm stand. The object-glass at one end of the tube collects the rays of light, reflected from an object, to a point, in the focus of the eyepiece, which magnifies the image that is there formed, enabling the eye, placed at the orifice of the eyepiece, to see an enlarged image of the object.

The stand must be firm, so as not to vibrate when any one passes along the floor of the room, and it must have a vertical and lateral motion connected with it. Fig. 1 shows what our instrument will be like when finished.

The first thing to be made is the tube; this must be thirty-nine inches long and two inches in diameter inside. Get a wooden roller four feet long and two inches wide. A piece of curtain rod will do. Now mix some strong glue. If you have not a glue-pot, mix it in a jar placed in a saucepan of water. Get some sheets of stout brown paper and well damp them. Take a strip of brown paper, that has not been damped, thirty-nine inches long and seven inches wide. Rub the roller all over well with powdered chalk and put this dry paper strip round it to form a case, lapping and gluing the edges together, but being very careful not to let any glue touch the roller. Now take your damped paper and rub it all over on both sides with hot glue, and roll it on the roller; roll it tightly and rub the glue well in, and rub each layer of paper well in to the under one, so that when dry it will form a mass of paper and glue. Put on enough paper to form a casing a quarter of an inch thick. When you have done papering set the whole on one side to get quite dry and hard. While this is drying we can be making the eyepiece and stand. For the eyepiece we shall want a piece of brass tube four inches long and large enough for the larger of the two lenses that form the eyepiece to go inside; that will be a little more than an inch in diameter inside. Get your lenses before getting the tube. This tube can be bought at the ironmonger’s.

Now for the lenses. Go to Messrs. Dollond and ask for a two-inch simple object-glass, forty inches focus. This will be one shilling and sixpence. For the eyepiece ask for two plano-convex lenses—one of one-inch focus, the other of two-inch focus. These will be three shillings and sixpence the pair. The object glass is to be double convex. Now, having got your lenses, we will fix them in the tube.

Cut a piece of cardboard three-quarters of an inch wide, and long enough to go all round inside the tube tightly, and not to lap. Push this in to form a lining at one end, and forming a shelf out of the thickness. This shelf is to be about two inches from the end. Now turn the other end of the tube up and drop the larger of the two lenses—which is called the field lens—on to the shelf with the rounded side downwards. Now push in on the top of it another cardboard lining three-quarters of an inch wide. Push this lining quite down on to the flat side of the lens to keep it firm. On to the shelf formed by this lining place a disc of cardboard the size of the inside of the tube, and with a hole cut in the centre half an inch in diameter. This hole must be cut quite clean. On to this disc push in a cardboard lining one inch wide to keep all firm. Now cut two discs of cardboard, one the exact size of the inside of the tube, with a hole in the centre a trifle smaller in diameter than the small lens, which is called the eye-lens; the other a quarter of an inch smaller, and having a hole in the centre the exact size of the eye-lens. Glue these two discs together (as in Fig. 2), being careful to get them concentric. When this is dry push the eye-lens into the ledge formed, the flat side downwards, and put the cardboard discs on to the lining in the tube, the rounded side of the glass inside the tube. Fasten the disc and lens in place with a narrow strip of cardboard, going all round just inside the tube.

Fig. 3 will show the arrangement of lenses and disc in the tube. The lenses are to be an inch and three-quarters from edge to edge; the disc is to be an inch from the eye-lens. Now get a tinman to make you a cap of thin brass plate (like Fig. 4). This is to fit tightly on the end of the tube over the eye-lens, and is to have a hole in the centre of the top three-eighths of an inch in diameter.

Now the eyepiece is finished, and we will get on with the stand.

Let two circular pieces of beech five inches in diameter and one and a half inches thick, each to have a hole bored in the centre an inch in diameter, and going right through the wood. Take one of these pieces, and on the under side fasten, by three strong brass hinges that work stiffly, three legs, made of inch and a half square pine (Fig. 5). These legs are to be four feet six inches long.

Take the other piece of beech and fasten a rod or roller of wood, two feet and a half long and one inch diameter, into the hole, so that one end is flush with the top side of the wood (Fig. 6). Now fasten two uprights to the top, letting them into the wood (Fig. 6). These are to be three-quarters of an inch thick, and four and a half inches high, and are to be three and a half inches apart.

Bore a hole in each upright about half an inch from the top and about one quarter of an inch in diameter. Now get nine screw stair-eyes at the ironmonger’s, and about seven feet of brass wire one eighth of an inch thick. Get this wire straightened. Into the inside of each leg, and one foot from the top, screw one of the brass stair-screws. Now get a piece of wood, circular, three inches diameter and one and a half inches thick (a ribbon roller will do very well), and bore a hole right through the centre, one and a quarter inches in diameter. Round this piece of wood at equal distances screw three more of the screw-eyes. Now cut from your brass wire three lengths of fourteen inches, and turn a ring at each end of each piece, and hook one end of each piece into a screw-eye in the circular block, and the other end into the eye in each leg, closing up the rings so that they will not come unhooked. This arrangement will keep the top from tilting. Now the stand is finished, and we will take the tube in hand if it is quite dry and hard. Before drawing out the roller, cut the ends off quite square with a sharp knife, leaving the tube thirty-seven and a half inches long. Now draw out the roller without breaking the tube. We must next fix the object-glass. Cut a strip of cardboard half an inch wide, and long enough to go all round inside the tube without lapping, and to fit tightly. Push this inside, so that it will form a shelf half an inch inside the end of the tube. Glue this in its place. Upon this place the object-glass, and fix it there by gluing a strip of cardboard all round inside the tube on the top of the lens. To fix the eyepiece, cut from the roller used to make the tube on, a piece one inch long, and bore a hole right through the centre of it the exact size of the eyepiece tube. Glue this block in the other end of tube. Push the brass tube in this hole with the field-lens inwards. The telescope can be focussed by pushing in or drawing out the brass tube. Get a piece of deal eight inches long and three and a half inches wide and two inches deep. Cut a groove along the top as Fig. 7, one inch deep and a little more than two and a quarter inches wide, to fit the outside of the tube. Glue this block on the tube, so that one end is thirteen inches from the front end of the tube (the eyepiece end). Put the block in its place between the uprights on the stand, and fix it there by two screws passing through the holes in the uprights and screwing into the block. Pass the rod attached to the uprights through the hole in the top of stand and through the hole in the block underneath.

Now we have only to make the arrangement for elevating the telescope. For this you will want the rest of the brass wire and the remaining three stair-eyes as well as two pieces of thin brass plate, four and a half inches long, half an inch wide, and one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Bend these pieces of plate as in Fig. 8, making the bent parts one inch long, and get the ends cut as in the figure, and have holes drilled in the bent parts a little larger than the brass wire. Cut your wire into two lengths of eighteen and a half inches, and take them to the tinman and get him to cut a screw-thread nearly the whole length of each, leaving about two inches to each. At this end of each get him to turn a ring, and get him to close these two rings into one of the screw-eyes. Get him to make a screw-nut for each wire about the size of a farthing, but about twice the thickness. Screw the eye carrying these wires through the tube into the eyepiece block, screw the remaining two screw-eyes into two of the legs of the stand, on the outside of each leg and about one foot from the top of each. Bend the cut part of the brass plates into rings and close them in these screw-eyes. Now put the screw-nuts in their places in the brass plates, and put the screw wires through the holes in the top, and turn the nuts to the left, which will draw down the wires and with them the eyepiece of the telescope. To turn the telescope to the left turn the right-hand nut to the right, and the other to the left, and to turn it to the right reverse the action of the nuts. In making this telescope you must be very careful in fixing the lenses. They are to be placed so that the centres are to be in one straight line, which line is to be at right angles to the lenses. You can cover your tube with coloured paper to give it a finish. It will be advantageous, in using the instrument, by keeping out all light not wanted, to make a cardboard tube about six inches long and large enough to slide easily on the end over the object-glass and to project about five inches. The telescope is now finished, and will with ordinary care last for years.

It may be well to add that astronomical telescopes show the image inverted; this is done to save the use of erecting glasses which absorb light, and consequently make the image faint. If you wish to make yours useful for terrestrial purposes, you must insert in front of the field lens, and about four inches from it, a lens of the same focal length; this will turn the image right way up. The blurring of the image is sometimes caused by the two lenses composing the eye-piece not being at the distance apart proper for their focal lengths.

CHAPTER XL.—The Kaleidoscope, and How to Make it.
By W. J. Gordon.

The kaleidoscope is the most successful scientific toy of modern times. Immediately after its patenting by Sir David Brewster over three hundred thousand were sold in three months. Essentially it consists of a couple of mirrors arranged at an angle forming some even sub-multiple of three hundred and sixty. The angle usually chosen is the sixth, or sixty degrees.

Before proceeding to make a kaleidoscope for home use, it would be well to try a few experiments with two common pieces of looking-glass. Arrange them as in the diagram (Fig. 1), and placing an object at A, or standing them on a piece of colour work, notice the beautiful geometrical pattern formed by the various reflectors. Having experimented with various articles at the angle given, try the effect at another angle, and note how the slightest change affects the design.

Having grasped the general principle you can proceed to make one of the commoner varieties of the instrument as usually sold. These have three mirrors.

Cut three pieces of common glass into the shape here given. Let them be seven and a half inches long, one inch and five-eighths wide at A, and one inch wide at B (Fig. 2). If they are silvered on the back so much the better; if they are not, paint them black on one side. A very good black paint for the purpose is made by mixing vegetable black with gold size until it is as thick as cream. Seven-pennyworth of gold size and a pennyworth of vegetable black, obtained from the nearest oil-shop, will give you enough paint for a dozen kaleidoscopes, and be useful for other purposes into the bargain. The three mirrors are to be arranged in a tube, with their blackened sides outwards (see Fig. 3); and the tube is to be made accordingly. An old copy-book cover can be rolled into the shape, or a well-pasted strip of newspaper rolled round and round on a stick, as described in the chapter on the telescope, will give the tube with very little trouble. To fit the mirrors we have cut the tube should be eight and a quarter inches long, two inches in diameter at the broad end, and one inch and an eighth in diameter at the narrow. Of course the tube is not absolutely necessary; a square box two inches wide and eight inches and a quarter long will answer every purpose, but then the mirrors, instead of being kept in position by the sides of the case, will have to be wedged up by pieces of cork or balls of paper.

Having made the case, fix an eyepiece of tin or cardboard at one end, so that a hole a quarter of an inch in diameter comes in the centre of the angle made by the mirrors. This hole is shown in position in Fig. 4, which represents the top of the tube or box.

At the other end of the tube a round piece of clear glass is to be fixed, and if the box is used a square piece will take its place. The round can be easily made from the square by chipping off the corners. An American glass-cutter, costing sixpence, can be obtained from most tool-shops, which will be found very useful in cutting glass for this and many other purposes. The secret in working wheel glass-cutters of all kinds is to keep the handle as nearly upright as possible and to bear firmly and equally on all parts of the work.

Having cut the plain glass end and fitted it close up against the broad end of the mirrors, the next thing is to cut a piece of ground-glass of the same size to fit over it. This ground-glass may be patterned, as in the kaleidoscopes of commerce. It is, however, more satisfactory to have it plain. Between the glasses you place the pieces of broken glass to form the designs.

‘The objects which give the finest outlines by inversion are those which have a curvilinear form, such as circles, ellipses, looped curves like the figure 8, curves like the figure 3 and the letter S; spirals and other forms, such as squares, rectangles, and triangles, may be applied with advantage. Glass, both spun and twisted, and of all colours and shades of colours, should be formed into the preceding shapes; and when these are mixed with pieces of flat coloured glass, blue vitriol, native sulphur, yellow ochre, and differently coloured fluids, enclosed and moving in small vessels of glass, they will make the finest transparent objects for the kaleidoscope. When the objects are to be laid upon a mirror plate, fragments of opaquely-coloured glass should be added to the transparent fragments, along with pieces of brass wire, of coloured foils, and grains of spelter. In selecting transparent objects, the greatest care must be taken to reject fragments of opaque glass, and dark colours that do not transmit much light; and all the pieces of spun glass, or coloured plates, should be as thin as possible.’

As far as the harmony of colour is concerned, it may be as well to note that the deepest red harmonises with an equal mixture of blue and green; that red goes best with green and blue, the blue being predominant; that orange-red requires a blue with a good deal of indigo; that orange-yellow wants pure indigo; that light yellow is best with violet and indigo half and half; that greenish-yellow shows off best by the side of pale violet; that green goes with a full violet; that greenish-blue combines with violet and red; blue with orange and red; indigo with orange-yellow; and violet with green.

Satisfactory effects can, however, be produced with almost anything bright and shining. The first kaleidoscope we, in the thirst for knowledge, took apart was found to have for its objects about forty pieces of red, green, blue, and brown stained glass, smashed up into irregular fragments of about a quarter of an inch in width and length, and as the shapes were varied and the colours crude, the patterns at every shake were almost as startling as those produced by a sixpenny catharine-wheel on the 5th of November.

The ground glass should be fitted into a cap, so as to be removable at pleasure, and the fragments of coloured glass to form the patterns should be left free to move between the glasses.

Having made this kaleidoscope, and coaxed it into acting properly, experiments with other contrivances should be made. Mirrors should be arranged at ninety, forty-five, and forty-five; at ninety, sixty, and thirty, and other angular combinations. A lens should be fitted at the end of the tube for magnifying purposes, and the tube should be attached to a magic lantern, and the patterns, almost equalling the chromatrope, thrown on the screen.

Having worked the fixed mirrors to the point of weariness, shifting mirrors should be tried, and then two mirrors, made to alter their angles by an arrangement of screws (see Fig. 5), as in the adjustable form of the instrument, should be experimented with.

You will soon find that when the inclination of the mirrors is not an aliquot part of 360 the reflections will not join, and then the following table from Sir David Brewster’s manual of the kaleidoscope may prove useful:—

CHAPTER XLI.—HOW TO MAKE A PORTABLE STAGE AND FIGURES FOR THE LIVING MARIONETTES.
By F. Chasemore.

These funny little people when well managed will afford great amusement at holiday and Christmas-tide gatherings. To see these little ladies and gentlemen dancing and singing and even lecturing on the miniature stage is very laughable, especially as they are only eighteen inches high. The following hints will enable any lad to make the figures, as well as a portable stage, for this entertainment.

For the stage you must get some deal strips 1¹⁄₄ inches square, and cut into four lengths 3 feet 6 inches long for the front and back cross-pieces; four 3 feet long for the uprights; and four 2 feet 6 inches long. These are to be fitted together with a mortise and tenon at each end of the cross-pieces, as in Fig. 2. The uprights are to have plain ends, with a screw-hole in each end. A screw-hole is to be made right through each corner of the top and bottom frames to screw them to the uprights by. Fig. 3 will show how the corners are fitted, in which A is the upright, B is the top front cross-piece, and C is one end cross-piece. The stage is formed of some half-inch board cut long enough to rest on the back and front bottom cross-pieces, as seen in Fig. 1, which is a view of the stage when finished and ready for use. You may, if you would like it more ornamental, put on a cardboard proscenium, but it would be in the way of portability, as when removed to take the stage to pieces it would get broken. The top, ends, and back are closed in with curtains, each curtain fastened by hooks to the cross-pieces, so that they can be taken off for packing purposes. The back curtain is to be long enough to hang down about one foot below the stage, and is to be put on very full, with numerous pleats. In the middle of this back curtain, cut a vertical slit about one foot long and about nine or ten inches above the stage, and round this slit stitch some elastic cord. This slit can be seen in Fig. 1. The front of the stage is closed with two curtains which meet in the middle, and can be drawn up to exhibit the figures. Fig. 4 is a back view of these curtains, with a part of the upper frame to show how they are drawn up by the cords.

The curtains are fastened permanently to the inside of the front top cross-piece. The cords are sewn one on each, at the edges that meet in the middle when the curtains are down, at a distance down from the top equal to the width of the top of each (as in Fig. 4). Six small rings are sewn on the inside of each curtain in a diagonal direction to the top corner, and the cords are threaded through these rings. On the inside of the cross-piece and at each end and in the middle are screwed small picture-rings (as seen in the figure); and underneath the back cross-piece at the left-hand corner is screwed another picture-ring. The cord of the left-hand curtain is passed through the left-hand ring; the right cord is passed through the right-hand ring, and led through the middle ring, and then through the left-hand ring also, and then the two cords are knotted together and passed through the ring in the back cross-piece. A loop is made in the end of the cord to pull the curtains up by. At the bottom of the left-hand back upright a brass hook or screw is screwed in to hook the loop on to, to keep the curtains up. Now the stage is finished and ready for the figures. The curtains at back and sides must be of some dark material. The figures must be about twelve inches high without the head, and must be made headless. The body and limbs must be made of some light material, and yet solid. Virgin cork is a very good material to make them of, and is easily worked. Fig. 5 will show you how the body and limbs are made. The arms have no joint at the elbow; the legs are jointed at the knees. The arms and thighs are hung to the body by tapes, and the knee-joints are also made of tape. All these joints must be very loose and free. The upper end of each arm and the upper ends of the thighs must have a hole bored into them about two inches deep (as shown by the dotted lines in Figs. 5 and 6). The fore-fingers of your hands are to be inserted in these holes through the curtain at the back, and through holes in the clothes of the figures left for that purpose, and by moving your fingers you can make the figures gesticulate or dance at pleasure. Fig. 7 will show you how this is managed. Fig. 6 is a back view of the body and a side view of the limbs. The body has a recess cut in the upper part of the back (as in Fig. 6). This is to allow of your neck fitting into it to let your head take the place of the head of the figure. The shoulders of the body are worked out to project a little over the arms, and the lower part of the body is cut away (as in Fig. 6) to allow of the legs fitting in their places. The hands can be made closed or open, but a good plan is to have the right hand closed and a hole bored through it (as in Fig. 6), when a stick can be placed in it. The body and limbs should be carved carefully, and to as good a shape as your anatomical knowledge will allow. The figures must be dressed in fancy costume—in coat, waistcoat, breeches, stockings, shoes, etc. The female figures must be dressed in light materials. In all the figures the clothes are fastened up the back, and the collar of the coat and the necktie are prolonged into a band to fasten round your neck with a button (as seen in Fig. 7). You must make this part of the dress very carefully, so as to disguise as much as possible the junction of the real with the artificial figure. This will be aided by the curtain at the back being very full, as the folds will hang closely round your neck. You must paint your face to suit the character of the figure, and put on fancy hats, also in character.

To use the stage and figures. First put your frame together and screw it securely. Then put on your curtains and put in the stage-boards, which need not be fastened. Thread the cords through the rings, and see if they work properly. When all is right, place the stage on a table with the back towards you, and flush with the back edge of the table, and hang a tablecloth over the table, hanging to the ground at the front and sides to hide your legs. Place your figures on the ground underneath the table, and have a chair to sit down on behind the stage. Now choose your first figure, make your face up, put on a suitable hat, and hang the figure round your neck, as in Fig. 7. Now push the figure and your head through the slit in the back curtain, and your fingers in the holes in the legs and arms; and, while some one is playing a lively air on the piano, pull the curtain up, and commence your performance. If you can have help in pulling the curtain, do so, as it will leave your hands free. The legs can be worked with one hand, but the arms must have one hand each; but while the figure is gesticulating his legs will be still, so that you will have both hands at liberty. And if you use your left hand for the legs (using the two first fingers, one to each leg), you will be able to make the figures move one arm at the same time it is dancing. Of course you will have to learn one or two songs to suit the characters of the figures. You need not have more than two figures, as, if you have an assistant he can be changing the clothes of one while you are exhibiting another.

With this stage and figures, a lad with a good voice and plenty of comicality will be able to give from half to an hour’s entertainment. When the performance is over, take the stage to pieces and pack it up, rolling it up in the curtains. It will go into a very small compass.

CHAPTER XLII.—HOW TO MAKE A PANTAGRAPH.

Take four flat sticks—size or material does not matter, but for an example let them be of deal—eighteen inches long, half an inch wide, and a quarter of an inch thick, and plane them up true and smooth. At an inch from the end of each stick make a dot, and divide the sixteen inches between the dots into inches, half inches, etc., as if the sticks were measuring rules. Using the dots as centres, bore in each stick a round hole just large enough to hold a piece of brass or other tubing whose internal diameter is that of a pocket pencil. Into one end of each stick fit a section of the tube, opening the edge as in eyeleting to prevent the quarter-inch ring so made from slipping out. Take a pair of the sticks, and hinge them together at the ends which have not been so treated with a piece of the tube—it will be about half an inch deep—eyeleting as before. Hinge the other pair together in the same way.

Now take a half-inch block of wood of any shape you please, but not more than two inches across; bevel it round its upper edge, and through its centre from the back drive an inch screw whose threaded part will just fit into the holes in the sticks. Screw it in till the head is flush with the bottom of the block. You now want a tracer or stile, for which take a similar screw, and cut off its head by filing the smooth part down to a gently tapering point. Slip the screw into the hinge of one of the couples, and keep it in its place by a leather washer above and below, making the distance between the under side of the wood and the point exactly that of the thickness of the block.