"Not a bad idea either; we can find lots of boys who would be glad to join and come here Saturdays to work in the shop."
"There would be no trouble to get candidates; the trouble would be to take care of them. They would fill the yard and overflow into the street," said Ralph.
"But why couldn't we——"
"Come now, let's do one thing at a time; you are supposed to be learning mechanical drawing. We'll leave the organization of the A. O. J. W. till another time. I'm going to show you how to use the compasses."
While they were drawing the circle, quarterfoil, heart, and oval, shown in [Fig. 20], Ralph reviewed his pupil on the meaning of diameter, radius, circumference, etc. "If you want to cut hearts out of paper or wood, I would advise you to wait until St. Valentine's Day, and reserve the oval or egg until Easter.
Fig. 20
"The circle is a wonderful figure. By marking the radius off on the circumference, with the compasses, we find that the former divides the latter into exactly six equal parts, and by connecting the points, we have a perfect hexagon. By connecting the alternate points we obtain a perfect equilateral triangle, and by connecting the remaining points we get another triangle of the same size. The two triangles form a six-pointed star. ([Fig. 21].)
"Now," said Ralph, "I am going to give you a problem by dictation; all you have to do is to obey orders. First draw a circle 31⁄2 inches in diameter."