A Prancing Horse.—Carve the figure of a horse, and having fixed a bent wire to the under part of its body, place a small ball of lead upon the end of the wire. Place the hind legs of the horse upon the table, and it will prance to and fro. Sometimes the figure of a man is treated in the same way and in Yorkshire it used to be called a “Saaging Tommy,” to saag being an old word meaning to saw or see-saw.
Boats Made of Pasteboard.—Pasteboard is not a very satisfactory material of which to construct model boats, if these are wanted to sail, but it is possible to make them. The best plan for making pasteboard waterproof is to paint it with a solution of sealing wax. To make this, take sealing wax of the colour you prefer, break it into small pieces and place it in a wide-mouthed bottle. Now pour in some methylated spirits and shake occasionally until the wax is all dissolved. If too thick, add more spirit; if too thin, more wax. Apply with a brush. Owing to the evaporation of the spirit, this paint dries hard and glossy in an hour.
A Simple Top.
A Simple Top.—Procure a piece of white cardboard, two inches square, and cut it into a sexagon, as shown in Fig. 1. Now bore a small hole in the middle, into which push an ordinary match. You may number the sections of the sexagon and see who scores the highest number, counting the figure resting against the table as it falls. Fig. 2 shows the top complete.
The Apple or Potato Mill
The Apple or Potato Mill.—This is made by boring a hole in a nut, just large enough to pass a thin skewer through; the kernel should then be extracted, and another hole bored in the side of the nut, as in the diagram. A skewer should next be cut large enough at the top to form a head. A piece of string is then tied to the skewer, and passed through the hole in the side of the nut, and an apple or potato stuck on the end of the skewer. The mill should be twirled round in the same way as the humming top to wind up the string, holding the nut stationary between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand. When this is done, the string must be pulled out rapidly, and the mill will spin. Many other toys may be made upon the same principle, and some of these we will now describe.
