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THE BOOMERANG.
The boomerang is a weapon which has long been known as peculiar to the Australian savages, who are wonderfully skilled in its use.
It consists of an irregular shaped piece of hard wood, so constructed that by its aid, the unsuspecting game can be killed at an angle widely diverging from the line of direction in which it was thrown. Instances have been cited in which the boomerang, in the hands of these untutored savages, has accomplished wonderful feats. One of the favorite ways of throwing consists in sending the weapon in such a manner that it shall skim along just above the ground for about a hundred feet, then, rising in the air, double back upon its course, and hit a mark only a few feet in front of the thrower. Of course we do not expect to equal the savages in its use, when recent investigations show that it has taken the experience of generations upon generations of men and hundreds of years, to bring it to its present degree of excellence; but every boy may derive much fun from practicing with the little cardboard boomerang cut of stiff pasteboard in either of the forms given in the preceding page. To throw this, place it upon a book, one end extending beyond the edge; then, with a ruler or small stick, strike it forcibly upon the edge, and it will fly through the air and back again, in an amusing, lively manner, quite unlike any other missile in a boy’s collection. It may be sent on its way by simply snapping it with the forefinger of the right hand while it is held on the book in your left. If you should try making one of wood to use out-of-doors, try it in the middle of a large open lot, for there is no telling what mischief it might do if it only had the chance.
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THE MAGIC TELESCOPE.
The following, although requiring considerable skill in joining, can readily be made by any boy of fifteen, if he is at all skillful in the use of carpenter’s tools, and has a fair endowment of those two excellent qualities, patience and perseverance, so absolutely indispensable to success in almost any undertaking.