The little ornamental lines on the cab are made with the yellow paint. A large round-headed brass screw driven through a low flat spool (such as is used for button-hole twist), into the top of the boiler in front of the cab, makes a good steam-chest and whistle, and adds the finishing touch to this indestructible little toy. If you anticipate making this train of cars for a Christmas present, begin it in time, as paint dries much more slowly in winter than in summer, and it is absolutely necessary that each coat be perfectly dry before the next is applied. Varnishing greatly improves the durability and appearance of the painted surface. Shellac dissolved in alcohol makes the best varnish for this kind of work. It should be made moderately thick, and if intended for light-colored work, white shellac should be used, as the dark leaves a slight stain upon the surface. I forgot to add in its proper place that a brass button, caught in on top by a stiff wire, is made to represent a bell. The wire should be first bent into the shape seen in the illustration; the button then hung in position, and the wire finally driven into the holes made to receive it.
The tender consists of a piece of wood the same width but only half the length of one of the cars, and one inch high. This is painted black with a narrow band of yellow running around the sides near the top, and is fastened to the locomotive and car by means of the screw-eye and hook.
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A FREIGHT TRAIN.
The locomotive for this train can be made like the one already described, and the cars are cut from a rectangular stick, in the same manner as the passenger cars. These should receive a thick coat of Indian-red paint, and if this does not cover well, that is, if any of the wood shows through, another coat should be given. After the paint is perfectly dry, put on one edge of the side, near the top, a number in white, and two or three letters in the same color, to represent the sides of the freight cars on different lines. If desired, the cars can be painted different colors, and the side decorations copied from the car you mean to represent. Give the whole a good varnishing with the shellac dissolved in alcohol, and allow plenty of time to elapse before the toy is used, for it to become perfectly dry and hard.
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A LOT OF PAPER WINDMILLS.
Take a thin stick of wood a foot and a half or two feet long, and nail to it four cross-pieces, graduated in length and six or seven inches apart. The shorter, at the top, should measure about six inches. Cut out of stiff, colored paper (the greater the variety the prettier the effect) fifteen pieces, each three inches square, and slit each piece as indicated by the diagonal lines in the figure. Out of pretty tissue-paper cut three round pieces for each mill, about the size of a silver dollar, and with a dull knife scrape their edges, that they may slightly curl like the petals of a rose; crinkle them at the center if intended for a rose, or from the edge toward the center if for asters or marigolds, and thrust a large, strong pin through the middle of each disk, drawing the flower well down over the head; then, bending the opposite corners of each square of paper so that they shall all rest over the central dot marked on each (Fig. 1), force the pin with the flower on its head, down through the five thicknesses of paper, driving it well into the wood of the frame. In doing this care should be taken to avoid creasing the curved edges of the windmills. They are placed upon the frame-work as indicated in the cut.