Cut a forked stick five inches long and push the end in a button-mould (Fig. 409); glue the button-mould down tight to the board at the right-hand side six inches from the well; then make a straight, slender pole five inches long from a twig, and a well-sweep from a heavier twig. The well-sweep should be fourteen inches long and much heavier at one end than at the other. On the light end of the sweep attach the slender pole, which has previously had a hole burned through the lower end with the red-hot end of a hairpin. Glue a small strip of brown muslin from one stick to the other, not allowing the ends of the stick to meet (Fig. 410). Wrap and glue the sides of the cloth around the two poles, forming in this way a hinge, which will allow the slender pole to hang straight down from the sweep (Fig. 411).
Tie an
Acorn Bucket
Fig. 412. (Fig. 412) on the end of the pole, pass a string under the handle of the bucket and through the hole in the poles then fasten securely. Pierce one of the forked ends of the stick (Fig. 409), with a pin, measure seven and a half inches from the smaller, light end of the sweep, and insert the pole sweep at this point between the forked ends shown in Fig. 413. Push the pin entirely through the sweep and the second fork of the support, where it will act as a hinge. Try moving the sweep up and down to see if it works all right.
Should the bucket drop into the well and remain there when your hand is removed from the pole, it shows that the heavy end of the sweep is too light. Remedy this by increasing the weight. Tack and glue a small box on the end (Fig. 414), resting the pole exactly on the centre of the inside bottom of the box. Fill the box with small stones until the weight is sufficient to keep that end on the ground, glue the stones in tight (Fig. 413). Now try the sweep again; pull the pendant pole down, bringing the bucket into the well just as the real ones are worked. You can pretend that the well is very deep, containing the clearest and coldest of drinking water, and that the acorn bucket is in reality the original “Old Oaken Bucket.” That famous bucket actually hung from just such a sweep as you have made, only, of course, a very much larger and stronger one.
Fig. 413.
Let some of
The Trees