The principal contributor to this book is an amateur carpenter, boat-builder, and mechanician as well as an artist and writer. One editor has had a wide practical experience in almost everything that has to do with out-door amusements. Another has camped and fished in the four corners of our country and in Canada. All their experience has been combined to prepare a convenient out-door handy-book free from unnecessary words and details, and filled with the latest and best methods, which will be indispensable to every American boy who likes the fun of doing things for himself.
Part I
IN BOUNDS
OUT-DOOR BOOK FOR BOYS
Chapter I
BACK-YARD PLEASURES
Since home is the natural centre of life, it will be most helpful if we find out what we can do just outside the house. In large cities there is usually no front yard, and even where such space exists its use as a play-ground is apt to be undesirable. But the back yard even in cities often affords some chances not only for gardening on a small scale but also for making and using a variety of things which will furnish constant amusement.
A Wigwam
For boys who like to “play Injun” in the back yard, here are some ideas for tepees and wigwams that may easily be followed cut at a very small cost for the poles and canvas.
Canvas can be bought at a dry-goods or country store, and poles may be cut in the woods; or one-and-one-half-inch-square spruce sticks may be purchased at a lumber-yard and dressed round with a draw-knife and plane. When cutting poles for a wigwam it is necessary to select very straight ones, preferably of pine, for crooked or knotty poles are unsightly and make an uneven exterior.
The real Indian tepee is made from buckskin or other strong hides lashed together with rawhide thongs; but as this covering is beyond the reach of the average boy, the next best thing to use will be heavy twilled canvas or stout unbleached muslin that can be had for about ten cents a yard. The regulation wigwam is perhaps the most satisfactory kind of a tent, for it is roomy, will shed water, and it is about the only tent in which a fire may be built without smoking out the occupants. The tepee will not blow over if properly set up and stayed with an anchor-rope, and it is easily taken down and moved from place to place.
