Now take a punch and make a hole in the body at the shoulder, whilst two holes must also be made in the arm, as at A and B in [Fig. 11]. Get five cents’ worth of quarter-inch iron rivets, and place one in the hole B of the arm. Make a loop in a piece of No. 9 size wire and place it over this rivet in the arm. Next bend the rivet with a pair of pliers, and fasten the wire as shown in [Fig. 12]. Put a rivet through A in the corresponding holes in body and arm, and bend the rivet head over as before. Your crossing-sweeper is now complete.
Fig. 14.—The elephant.
By pulling the wire, which should run down one leg, and thus be invisible to the spectators, the arm can be raised or lowered from below, and the figure will appear to be sweeping vigorously.
Upon this plan every other puppet may be constructed, making as many joints in a similar fashion as are required.
Fig. 15.—A crocodile.
[Fig. 13] shows how to make a bear, which can rear upon his hind legs and also open his mouth. He will serve as an example for making all animals such as the elephant ([Fig. 14]), or the crocodile ([Fig. 15]).
Set pieces such as a church or a house can be easily constructed from cardboard, as in [Fig. 16], whilst a very good effect can be obtained from a windmill with movable sails ([Fig. 17]).
It is scarcely necessary to add that the puppets needed depend entirely upon the piece you desire to represent.