THE BOSTON CLAPPER.
Take a piece of soft wood, five or six inches long, and whittle out of one end a hollow box, open at the top and outer end, like that represented in the illustration. Cut a groove around the inside, near the top, for the cover to slide in. Make this cover of a very thin piece of tough wood, and one-third as long as the opening, pushing it, when completed, well up against the inner end of the box; see b, in the figure, for size and position of cover.
The handle, f, is simply for convenience in holding the instrument. Pass a piece of strong string or fish-line twice around the box at the point d, and after drawing it as tightly as possible, tie it firmly on the under side.
Out of hard, tough wood make a thin, slender tongue, c, and place this between the two strings at e. Now twist this tongue over and over, each time drawing out the longer end, to allow of the other sliding by the edge of the cover. At each revolution of c the string is twisted tighter around the box, and if the end of c is touched, the other end strikes with more force upon the cover b.
When sufficiently tight, grasp the handle with your left hand, and having the point well over the cover, commence with the third finger of your right hand and strike down on the end c with the fingers in their order, giving quick and repeated blows, like the successive taps of a drum. The music produced, if not strictly melodious, is quite enchanting to the average American school-boy.
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