Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun

by Various

WONDERFUL TRUMPET.

The wonderful trumpet is a very simple toy, and to those who like practical joking, affords amusement, except to the one against whom the joke is made. Get a tube made of tin, wood, or cardboard, a piece of cork, and the hollow part of a quill. Cut a slice about half an inch in thickness off the cork, and place it about half-way down the tube, as at a b in Fig. 1 in the illustration. Next cut a second slice from the cork, making notches round its edge, and a hole in the centre through which to pass the quill. When this is done fix it at the points c d, contriving so that the quill will extend about two-thirds of the way down the upper compartment of the tube. Instead of closing up the compartment e with a piece of cork at the point c d, wood, tin, or cardboard may be used, it only being necessary that a number of small notches or holes should be cut in the material used. The trumpet is then complete, and should be represented by Fig. 2.

Fig. 1.—Section of Wonderful Trumpet.

The following is the use to which it is put:—Place flour, or some harmless dust or powder, in the compartment of the tube marked e, block up as instructed the end at c d, hand the trumpet to him against whom the joke is to be directed, and instruct him that by blowing through the end of the quill protruding an effect both marvellous and unexpected will be produced. "Blow hard," say; "the harder the better." If he carries out his instructions the flour or powder will come through the holes or notches at the point c d, covering the face of the poor unfortunate victim. Viciousness in the use of this instrument should be sternly condemned—a little flour in a boy's face will not harm him, but great care should be taken to ascertain the effects of the material placed in the tube, as certain powders lodging in a person's eyes might do serious injury. Practical joking is not to be much encouraged, but, practised occasionally, and with fun only for its object, is not to be entirely condemned.

Fig. 2.—Wonderful Trumpet.

---

In winding up the section on Toy Games and Toy-making, it is appropriate to quote the remarks of some of the jurors of the Great International Exhibition, held in London in 1862, who said in effect, when speaking of toys generally, in setting forth their views on the subject, "that toys should be vivid, innocent, and delightful; fitted to teach children to open their eyes, to compare and to observe, and to make them aware how rich and varied are the phenomena of the fair world into which they have been placed, and how much happiness is to be obtained in it."

The manufacture of children's toys forms a very considerable item in the leading industries of the world. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland alone imports foreign toys to the amount of upwards of £200,000 annually, and this is entirely in addition to the considerable support given to our extensive home manufacture. Among the miscellaneous toys referred to at the commencement of this section were "Noah's Arks," and much wonder has frequently been expressed at the small sum for which toys of this nature are to be purchased. They are usually the product of the skill of the Germans and the Tyrolese. In the Valley of Grödnerthal, in the Tyrol, where almost every cottage is a carver's workshop, Noah's Ark animals are made in very large quantities from a species of pine. The wood is cut into slabs, of from fifteen inches in diameter by three inches thick, the grain of the wood being in the direction of the thickness. A circular piece, six inches in diameter, is cut out of the centre, leaving a ring four or five inches broad. This ring is turned in a lathe, with chisels and gouges, over every part of the surface, on both sides, and on the inner and outer edges. The curvatures, ridges, &c., are very remarkable, but are perfectly understood by the workmen, and by them only. The outer ridge is then cut up radially into slices, each of which slices presents the outline of some animal on both surfaces, the shaping of the wood in the lathe having been such as to bring about this result. Each separate piece is ultimately brought to completion by hand-carving. One of the museums in Kew Gardens, near London, contains specimens of this singularly ingenious manufacture, in various stages of progress.