This idea may be varied by using a large wide-mouthed bottle or small jar, instead of the tumbler, and covering the outside nearly up to the top with tin-foil. If that rare treasure, a bullet-mold, is to be had, a ball may be formed on the end of a stout wire, and used instead of the spoon, the end with the ball being the projecting one, thus making an article corresponding more nearly to the regular professional pattern.
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THE PITH DANCER.
This fastidious little skipper never dances except to piano music. It is fashioned from pith, cork, or other light material. Generally it has a human head and body; but when we consider its dancing extremities, we must regard it as a quadruped, or even a tripod, as the case may be; for it stands on three or four stout hog’s bristles. These may be borrowed from the floor-brush, and should be even at the lower ends, that the dancer may stand erect. It should be painted in a gay and conspicuous manner, to compensate for its diminutive size, and a mantle of colored tissue-paper may add to its consequence. When the image is complete, stand it on the sounding-board of the piano, which should be operated with vigor. The dancer will respond to the lively notes with edifying briskness and vivacity.
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THE OBEDIENT BOTTLE.
Fashion a shape like a small bottle, out of pith, paper pulp, or some other light substance. Cut a bullet in two, and fasten the base of the bottle to the flat portion of one of the halves. A straight piece of large wire, the length of the bottle, should be provided, and a hole made down through the center of the bottle, into which it will slide readily, and remain with the end out of sight. This hole may be made with greater ease before attaching the bullet. This object can be made to yield apparent obedience to the commands of its maker. If he orders it to remain upright, he will place it on the table without inserting the wire, when nothing but constant pressure will induce it to lie prostrate. Then, taking it into his hands, and skillfully introducing the wire while the attention of the observers is directed elsewhere, he next orders it to lie flat; and, as the weight of the wire overbalances it, it will tumble over as often as it is set up.
The bullet should be covered with thin paper as smoothly as possible, and the whole affair painted, to better conceal the modus operandi.