A Mystery Sounding Glass
Procure a thin, tapering drinking glass, a piece of thin, black thread, about 2 ft. long, and a long lead pencil. Cut a small groove around the pencil near one end. Make a slip noose in each end of the thread and slip one into the notch and place the thin glass in the other with the thread near the top. When the pencil is revolved slowly the thread will be wound on it slightly and it will slip back with a jerk that produces a ring in the glass. This may be kept up indefinitely. The movement necessary is so small that it is imperceptible. The glass can be made to answer questions by two rings for “yes” and one ring for “no.”
¶A lighted match held to the outside of a fish-pole joint causes an expansion of the outer ferrule and allows the pole to be readily pulled apart.