To fire the Cannon, slip a match into the open end of the tube with the head toward E, and hold a lighted match at the closed end. As soon as the heat ignites the phosphorus, the match will shoot out of the open end of the tube.
Fig. 295.
Firing Fireworks from Kites presents a novel feature for a Fourth of July celebration, the aërial display making a very pretty spectacle, and the boy who sets off his fireworks in this manner will have something different from the rest of the neighborhood.
[Figure 295] shows the manner in which a Roman-candle can be attached to a kite-string. A piece of punk about an inch and one-half long should be bound to the fuse of the candle, and as the fuse is rather short it is necessary to cut through the paper bound around it, and set the punk into the end of the candle, as shown in the drawing. Attach a piece of twine two feet long to the other end of the candle, and then, after getting your kite up, attach the end of this string to the kite-string and light the punk, being very careful in doing so not to ignite the fuse of the Roman-candle. After attaching the candle and lighting the punk, let out the kite-string as rapidly as possible, so that by the time the punk has burned down to the fuse end, the Roman-candle will be well up in the air. As soon as the candle begins to explode, shake the kite-string so as to make the balls shoot into the sky in different directions.
A Pack of Fire-crackers with a piece of punk attached to the fuses may also be suspended from a kite-string and fired in mid-air.
Other fireworks may be set off similarly, and colored lights produce a fine effect.
Nigger-chasers shot into the air by means of a [cross-bow], such as is described in Chapter XVII, present another novelty.
Japanese Lanterns hung from kite-strings are also a pretty sight, and, while they give somewhat the same appearance as fire-balloons, they are lasting and can be saved for another year.