A Toy Boat
The bowsprit (J), a quarter of an inch in diameter, should be three and a half inches long, two inches of which project beyond the bow. Screw it firmly to the boat. You have now to shape the boom (F) and gaff (D), which must have a fork at the end, as in Fig. 4, to embrace the mast, the ends of this fork being joined by string. The boom should be eight and a half inches long and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and the gaff five inches long and a quarter of an inch in diameter. The gaff is kept in position, about three inches from the mast-head, by the throat halyards and peak halyards, to which we now come. The peak halyards (H), throat halyards (G), and foresail halyards (F) should be of very fine fishing-line. After being tied respectively to the gaff and foresail, they pass through small holes in the mast, down to eyelets screwed into the bulwarks on each side of the mast.
The foresail sheet (L) and main sheet (M), which are some four inches long, are hitched to eyelets screwed into the deck amidships, one just in front of the mast, as already explained, and the other about two inches from the stern. The sails must be of thin calico, neatly hemmed round. Both sails should come to about three inches of the head of the mast. The foresail is fastened only to the tip of the bowsprit, the foresail halyards, and foresail sheet; the mainsail to the gaff, all along, and to each end of the boom.
Nothing has been said about a rudder, because a boat built and rigged in the manner described would balance herself, and so keep on any course on which she was laid. With a very little wind she ought to cross and recross a pond without any hitch, all that will be necessary being to let the sails have plenty of play, by loosening the foresail sheet and main sheet, and to give her a steady push.
Walnut Shell Boats
To make a boat from a walnut shell, you scoop out the half shell and cut a piece of cardboard of a size to cover the top. Through the middle of this piece of cardboard you thrust a match, and then, dropping a little sealing-wax into the bottom of the shell, and putting some round the edge, you fix the match and the cardboard to it. A sail is made by cutting out a square of paper and fastening it to the match by means of two holes; but the boat will swim much better without it.
Walnut Fights
Here it might be remarked that capital contests can be had with the empty halves of walnut shells. A plate is turned upside down, and the two fighters place their walnuts point to point is the middle. At the given word they begin to push, one against the other, by steady pressure of finger and thumb on the stern of the shell. The battle is over when the prow of one shell crashes through the prow of the other. This always happens sooner or later, but sometimes the battles are long and severe. At the end of each contest the number of shells defeated by the victor should be marked on it, and it should be carefully kept for the next conflict. At school we used to have tremendous excitement when two champions met, a walnut with a record of 520, for instance, and another with 700. The winner in such a battle as this would, of course, be numbered 1,221, because you always add not only your defeated adversary to your score, but all his victims too.