The Chimneys
in all log-cabins are built outside and against one end of the house, and are usually made of sticks and mud, or stones and mud; but as the rooms in an ordinary dwelling or flat furnish neither stones nor clay, you must do as our ancestors did: use the material at hand; which, in your case, will probably be spools from your mother’s work-basket. Set the spools, one on top of another, against the end of your match-stick house and your work is done.
Not only is your work done, but, if you have followed all these directions, probably the day is also done, and you are ready for bed and to dream of living in safety-match houses near the shores of a looking-glass lake; and as you listen you will hear the glass waves breaking on the shore, and the howl of the toothpick timber-wolves as they steal among the rocky crags, made of spelling-books, arithmetics and dictionaries; or you may be startled from your sleep by the crack of a match-gun and the answering boom of a spool-cannon; but these things will only make your sleep the more peaceful and refreshing.
Figs. 175 and 176.—The Toothpick Bridge.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FUN WITH SCISSORS AND PASTEBOARD AND PAPER.
In winter there are always some blustering, windy days, when the raw winds from off the ocean howl through our streets, making the lives of pedestrians miserable; or days when slush and sleet cause us to wish that we could stay in the house until winter was packed away in last year’s almanac.
During such weather there is no fun to be had outdoors, and we must look for our amusement inside the four walls of our homes.
It is not every city boy who has an old-fashioned attic to romp in during bad weather, nor even a basement where he can seek to amuse himself building sleds or other outdoor appliances, for use when the weather will permit.
Many lads are confined in the narrow rooms of flats, and must needs fret and worry when the bad weather imprisons them in their narrow home-quarters.
But if such boys will stop quarrelling among themselves, and cease for a moment teasing the cat, or in other ways adding to the worries of their dear mamma, they may, by following the directions given here, find amusement and fun—not only for this particular bad day, but for all the stormy weather of the winter.