Second, that he wants not toy tools, but good tools. If an expert wants a good tool, how much more a beginner.
Third, that he ought to have a reasonably dry and comfortable place to work in, and the help and advice of the village carpenter or blacksmith.
Fourth, that he ought not to be allowed to potter with his tools, but to make something really sensible and useful, and not begin a dozen things and finish none.
Fifth, that the making of apparatus to show scientific facts is more useful than making bootjacks for his father or workboxes for his mother.
And, lastly, that a little money spent in this way will keep many a young rascal from worrying his sisters and stoning the cat; and when the inevitable time comes at which he must face the young man’s first trial, The Examiner, he will often thank his stars that he learned in play the fundamental formula S = 1/2 g t², and that he knows the nature of “harmonic motion,” the two most important principles in the measurement of time.
THE END.
Appendix on the Shape of the Teeth of Wheels.
Fig. 74.