Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun

by Various

In winding up the section on Toy Games and Toy-making, it is appropriate to quote the remarks of some of the jurors of the Great International Exhibition, held in London in 1862, who said in effect, when speaking of toys generally, in setting forth their views on the subject, "that toys should be vivid, innocent, and delightful; fitted to teach children to open their eyes, to compare and to observe, and to make them aware how rich and varied are the phenomena of the fair world into which they have been placed, and how much happiness is to be obtained in it."

The manufacture of children's toys forms a very considerable item in the leading industries of the world. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland alone imports foreign toys to the amount of upwards of £200,000 annually, and this is entirely in addition to the considerable support given to our extensive home manufacture. Among the miscellaneous toys referred to at the commencement of this section were "Noah's Arks," and much wonder has frequently been expressed at the small sum for which toys of this nature are to be purchased. They are usually the product of the skill of the Germans and the Tyrolese. In the Valley of Grödnerthal, in the Tyrol, where almost every cottage is a carver's workshop, Noah's Ark animals are made in very large quantities from a species of pine. The wood is cut into slabs, of from fifteen inches in diameter by three inches thick, the grain of the wood being in the direction of the thickness. A circular piece, six inches in diameter, is cut out of the centre, leaving a ring four or five inches broad. This ring is turned in a lathe, with chisels and gouges, over every part of the surface, on both sides, and on the inner and outer edges. The curvatures, ridges, &c., are very remarkable, but are perfectly understood by the workmen, and by them only. The outer ridge is then cut up radially into slices, each of which slices presents the outline of some animal on both surfaces, the shaping of the wood in the lathe having been such as to bring about this result. Each separate piece is ultimately brought to completion by hand-carving. One of the museums in Kew Gardens, near London, contains specimens of this singularly ingenious manufacture, in various stages of progress.

MECHANICAL PUZZLES.

It would be impossible to give a complete list of the subjects that might be fairly classed under Mechanical Puzzles. What is a puzzle to one generation is none to the next, and so on; new puzzles are constantly being invented and found out. There are a few old ones around which a considerable amount of interest must centre because of their intrinsic merit, and which should find a place in every book prepared for the amusement and recreation of youth; there are also new ones not yet much known, which should be mentioned more because of their newness, perhaps, than their merit.

BALANCING PUZZLES.

A few Balancing Puzzles have been included in the section allotted to Toy Games and Toy-making; for inasmuch as a certain amount of making was necessary, it seemed proper to place them there, and it is sufficient now to refer the reader to that section for some varieties in Balancing Puzzles that are not to be found here.

Fig. 1.—The Balanced Pail.

The Balanced Pail (Fig. 1.)—To balance a pail suspended by its handle on a stick, less than half of which rests on its support, would seem to be an impossible feat. It is to be done, however, if the following instructions be carefully followed:—Take a stick (C D), over which the handle of the bucket or pail is to be placed, and place the stick about two-fifths of its length on a table (A B). The handle of the pail should be so placed over the stick as to be in an inclined position shown by the letters H I, and so that the edge of the pail may touch the edge of the leg or side of the table. To make the pail retain its position, another stick (E F G) will be required, the one end of which should reach to the bottom of the pail, the other end being fitted into a notch previously cut at the point E, in the first stick (C D). The stick (E F G) should rest on the edge of the pail at the point F. The bucket will thus be kept safely balanced, and may, provided the sticks are fairly strong, without risk be filled with water.