CONTENTS.

PART I.
FAIR WEATHER IDEAS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Tree-Top Club Houses[3]
The River Rats, [5]; A Tree-top Retreat, [6]; The Secret Grape-vine Route, [7]; A Club-house in the Tree-tops, [8]; A Two-tree House, [9]; How to Build the Foundation, [14]; The One-tree House, [16]; A Three- and Four-tree Foundation, [18].
CHAPTER II.
Hunting Without a Gun[19]
How to Capture and Trap Small Live Animals, [19]; Rodents or Gnawers, [21]; A Smudge, [22]; Flying Squirrels, [23]; White-footed Mice, [25]; Short-tailed Meadow-rats, [26]; Jumping Mice, [27]; Woodchucks, [27]; A Box Trap, [30]; Musk-rats, [31].
CHAPTER III.
The Back-yard Zoo[33]
The Study of Living Animals, [33]; Size of Lot, [35]; Galvanized Iron Wire Cloth or Netting, [36]; The Mesh, [36]; To Make a Cage of Galvanized Wire Netting, [39]; The Door, [40]; The Doors for the Runway, [40]; Toads, [43]; Frogs, [44]; Peepers, [44]; The Tree-frog, [45]; The Anderson Frog, [45]; Lizards, [45].
CHAPTER IV.
A Back-yard Fish-pond[48]
How to Make a Fish-pond, [48]; By Sinking a Wooden Tank in the Ground, [49]; Best Form for Such a Tank, [49]; To Prevent Wood from Decay, [50]; When to Stock, [52]; Fresh-water Clams, [53].
CHAPTER V.
Pigeon Lofts and Bantam Coops[54]
A Pigeon Loft and Bantam Coop, [55]; Lumber, [56]; Pigeon-loft Floor, [56]; Shutter Frames, [56]; Roofing Material, [57]; Doors, [58]; The Shutters, [59]; Cleanliness, [59]; The Hen’s Nest, [59]; The Pigeon’s Nest, [60]; For a Hen Roost, [60]; Drinking Troughs, [61]; Flying Cage, [62].
CHAPTER VI.
How to Make a Back-yard Aviary[63]
Birds’ Nests in Washington’s Coat, [63]; Nests in Speaking Horn, [63]; A Woodpecker’s House, [64]; Martin Houses, [66]; The Wren House, [66]; Tin-can Bird-house, [68]; A House of Straw, [68]; A Barrel for a Martin House, [68].
CHAPTER VII.
A Boy’s Back-yard Workshop[72]
How to Make Buildings Plumb and Level, [72]; Tools, [73]; A Level, [74]; A Foundation, [76]; How to Build the House, [77]; Corner Posts, [81]; The Window, [82]; Side Plate, [82]; The Rafters, [84]; Machine-Shop, [85]; Tool Rack, [86].
CHAPTER VIII.
How to Build an Underground Club-house[89]
A Doorway at the Top, [89]; The Trap-door, [90]; Dimensions of House, [90]; New Lumber, [92]; Framing, [92]; Passageway, [93]; Windows, [94]; The Roof, [94]; A Ventilator, [95]; Dangerous Caves, [96].
CHAPTER IX.
A Boys’ Club-house on the Water[97]
Crusoe Clubs, [97]; Foundation of Club-house, [97]; The Building Material, [98]; The Foundation Posts, [100]; The Bottom of the Pond, [101]; Temporary Diagonal Braces, [103]; An Artificial Island, [104].
CHAPTER X.
How to Have Fun on a Picnic[105]
Joggling Board, [105]; Turnpike Loo, [106]; Dinner Box, [106]; Rhode Island Clam Bake, [107]; Pennsylvania Pond Stew, [107]; Burgoo, [107]; How to Cook a Burgoo, [108]; A Game of Jack Fagots, [110]; Old Dan Tucker, [110]; Pitch-peg-pin Pitching, [112]; Lawn Hab-enihan, [114].
CHAPTER XI.
How to Build and How to Furnish a Daniel Boone Cabin[116]
The Ghosts of the Fireplace, [116]; The Log House, [118]; Suitable Timber, [118]; The “Skid,” [118]; The Foundation, [120]; Floor Joists, [120]; Floor Supports, [120]; Log Rolling, [121]; Door and Window Openings, [121]; The Fireplace, [122]; The Roof, [123]; The Bunks, [123]; A Lincoln Bed, [124]; The Door, [125]; The Lamp, [127]; The Chimney, [130]; A Table, [131]; General Camp Notes for Old Boys, [132]; How the Women Should Dress, [133]; The Requirements for a Camp, [133]; Making the Shack, [135]; The Brush Covered Lean-to, [136]; Tents with Roofed Verandas, [136]; What is needed for Table and Larder, [137].
CHAPTER XII.
Flat-boatman’s Horn[137]
Whittling, [137]; Wooden Bugles, [141]; The Old Wooden Horn of Captain Bob Collins, [142]; The Wabash Horn, [143]; How to Make a Wabash Horn, [144]; The Mouth-piece, [144].
CHAPTER XIII.
The American Boy’s House-boat[146]
Building Material, [150]; The Centre-piece, [151]; The Sides, [151]; The Bottom, [154]; The Cabin, [157]; Deck-ribs, [157]; The Keel, [159]; Flooring, [159]; The Hatch, [160]; Upper Deck, [160]; The Rafters, [160]; The Rudder, [163]; Rowlocks, [163]; Ash Poles, [164]; The Locker, [164]; Canvas-cabined House-boat, [166]; The Cost of House-boats, [167]; For People of Limited Means, [168].
CHAPTER XIV.
A Back-yard Switchback[170]
The Wheels, [170]; The Flange, [171]; The Axles, [172]; The Bottom of the Car, [172]; Starting Platform, [173]; The Track, [178]; A Curved Track, [178]; Cross-ties or Sleepers, [179]; Ticket-chopper’s Box, [180].
CHAPTER XV.
How to Build a Toboggan-slide in the Back-yard[182]
Slipperies, [182]; A War-time Slippery, [182]; Tropical Toboggan-slide, [184]; A Frame, [185]; A Toboggan Room, [186]; Packing the Slide or Chute, [186].
PART II.
RAINY DAY IDEAS.
CHAPTER XVI.
A Home-made Circus[191]
The Bath-tub as a Receiving-tank, [191]; A Water-wheel, [192]; The Shaft, [192]; Paddles, [193]; Hanging-bars, [194]; Figures which Move, [198].
CHAPTER XVII.
Good Games with Toothpicks and Matches[201]
A Simple Toothpick Example, [203]; To Lift Three Safety-matches with One Toothpick, [203]; A Spring-bed, [204]; Artificial Water, [206]; A Bridge of Matches, [206]; The Piers, [207]; The Approaches, [207]; The Roof, [207]; A Pioneer Settlement, [208]; The Chimneys, [208].
CHAPTER XVIII.
Fun with Scissors and Pasteboard and Paper[210]
How to Make the Sleigh, [211]; How to Make the Horses, [212]; To Cut out the Horse, [213]; The Pole, [213]; The Driver’s Whip, [215]; Pasteboard Soldiers, [215]; Stirrups, [216]; How to Make the Soldiers, [216]; To Make an Army, [217]; Grandmother’s Reticule, [218]; To Cut a Five-pointed Star with One Clip of the Scissors, [220]; To Make a Cross Into a Square with Two Cuts, [221].
CHAPTER XIX.
How to Prepare and Give a Boys’ Chalk-talk[222]
The Name Chalk-talk, [224]; Drawing-board, [225]; Size of Board, [226]; Height of Easel, [226]; The Drawings Themselves, [227]; How to Begin, [227]; A Stationary Object, [229]; Motion, [230]; Evolution of the Ape, [234].
CHAPTER XX.
A Christmas Novelty for Boys[237]
How to Build and Decorate a Fireplace for Santa Claus, [237]; The First Start, [237]; Back of the Chimney, [238]; The Front Frame, [240]; The Covering, [243]; To Line the Inside of the Fireplace, [243]; Our American St. Nicholas, [243]; Costume for Santa Claus, [245]; How to Put on the Clothes, [246].
CHAPTER XXI.
How to Make Two Boys into One Santa Claus[248]
How the Legs are Made, [249]; The Wig and Beard, [249]; The Curtains, [249]; The Sleigh, [250]; The Signal for Legs, [251]; The Distribution of the Presents, [251].
CHAPTER XXII.
A Circus in the Attic[253]
How to Make the Horses and Other Animals, and How to Make the Costumes, [253]; The Goat, [253]; The Arab Steed, [254]; The Neck-bones, [255]; The Ribs, [255]; The Frame, [256]; The Reins, [256]; To Make the Giant Bird of New Zealand, [257]; The Manicora, [257]; The Ring-master and his Costume, [259]; Making Up, [262].
CHAPTER XXIII.
A Boys’ Stag-party[263]
Target Shooting, [263]; To Make the Target, [263]; Carpet Tacks as Darts for the Blow-gun, [264]; Vegetable Bonbon Boxes, [265]; A “Fake” Cake, [266]; The Shooting, [267]; The Spread, [268]; The Explosion of the “Fake” Cake, [268].
CHAPTER XXIV.
A Wild West Show in the House[270]
How to Reproduce the Patterns, [270]; Making the Cowboy, Horse, and Indian, [273]; For a Bridle, [274]; The Indian Horseman, [275]; The Buffalo, [276]; The Stage, [277].
CHAPTER XXV.
How to Have a Panorama Show[278]
Choice of Subject, [278]; Hunting Suitable Pictures, [279]; Colored Figures, [280]; The Works of the Panorama, [281]; The Stage, [282]; Footlights, [282]; How the Panorama Box is Built, [283]; The Rollers, [284]; Show-bills, [286]; The Lecture, [287].
Index[289]

PART I.

FAIR WEATHER IDEAS.

The Jack of All Trades.

CHAPTER I.
TREE-TOP CLUB HOUSES.

It is now over thirty years since the writer was first initiated into the delights of a boys’ club-house in the tree-tops, and it happened in this way:

The war of the Rebellion was over; for four years the fathers, big brothers, teachers, and policemen of the border States had had so much serious fighting on their own hands that little or no attention was paid to the growing generation of boys, and they were left to fight their own battles in their own way.

For four eventful years these boys were under practically no other restraint than the little their poor half-distracted mothers could enforce. The boys, however, did not appear to miss the discipline, nor desire it, and, as far as their physical health was concerned, they throve and developed into lusty lads, though many of them recognized no law but that of physical force.

Gangs of young toughs, under the leadership of local bullies, frequented the play-grounds and roamed along the river-fronts, where they hunted down, pillaged, and beat every unprotected lad they could catch out of sight of his own home.

In spite of the fact that the river-fronts were the favorite resorts of the lawless element, those places presented so many attractions to the juvenile mind that they were the popular play-grounds of all the boys living within reach of their muddy banks and turbid waters.

About this time three boys of a Kentucky town, who were devoted to boating and bathing, put their curly heads together to devise a plan by which they might enjoy their favorite pastimes, and at the same time secure a safe place of refuge where they could hide when the enemy approached in numbers too strong for the three boys to resist.

After many conferences, and references to “Robinson Crusoe,” “Swiss Family Robinson,” “The Coral Islands,” and other undoubted authorities, they decided to build an underground house,[1] and armed with spades and shovels, they immediately began work right in the heart of the enemy’s country.

They worked, as only boys can when they think their work is fun, and soon excavated a great hole in the river-bank. Not far off were the remains of a flat-boat, and to the heavy pieces of timber the boys harnessed themselves and hauled the lumber over the top of their cave to serve for a roof.

With spade and shovel they carefully concealed the timber by a thick layer of earth, leaving only a square hole with a trap-door as an entrance and exit. The dirt was then smoothed down, and drift-wood, dried weeds, and other rubbish scattered over in such a manner that no one, without careful inspection, would suspect that the bank had been tampered with.

But the enemy was alert, and spies had been stealthily watching the work progress, and patiently waiting the completion of the secret hiding-place. No sooner was the last handful of rubbish strewn over the roof than, with wild yells and whoops of delight, the “River Rats” charged upon the surprised workers.

“Big Red” Resmere in the lead, with “Squinty” Quinn and “Spotty,” the freckled-face, close behind, while the rear was brought up with a rabble of less noted characters, who more than made up for their own lack of courage by their terror-inspiring yells. It was too formidable a crowd for the three cave-diggers to parley with, so they ingloriously fled up the bank, leaving the product of their hard work in the hands of the despoilers.