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

by Various

The toy known as the Cut-Water is made in the following manner:—Cut a circular piece of tin or sheet-lead, three inches or so in diameter, into the form of a circular saw; bore two holes in it along the diameter at about an inch apart; through these holes pass the two ends of a string, tie the ends of the string together, and the toy is made. To use it, the string is to be taken up in the two hands, the metal saw being allowed to hang loosely at the middle of the string, and then thrown round and round until the string becomes very tightly twisted. Upon the hands then being drawn outwards, the string untwists, and the metal saw rapidly revolves. So soon as the string is all untwisted, the hands should be allowed to go slightly nearer each other, when it will be found that the Cut-Water will revolve in the opposite direction. Again, when the string has become once more twisted, the hands should be drawn outwards, then inwards, and again outwards, and so on alternately. The name of "Cut-Water" is derived from a common way of playing with the toy. It is dipped a little below the surface of water whilst being spun, and it then sends showers of spray towards the player who spins it, or away from him, according to the direction in which it may be spinning.

Cut-Water.

An imitation Cut-Water may be more readily, and indeed often is, made by passing a piece of string through two of the holes of a common breeches' button, and treating the toy so made as explained above.

DANCING HIGHLANDER.

The Dancing Highlander, like the Apple Woman and a few other imitations described among the toy games, is really a hand performance supplemented by a few accessories. For the performance of the Dancing Highlander, get an old glove and cut off the tops of the first two fingers down to about the second joint; next will be required a very small pair of baby's socks, which are to be painted some plaid pattern, and fitted to the first and second fingers. Draw on the glove, then pull the socks on the first two fingers, padding out that for the first finger so as to be equal in length to that for the second. The figure of a Highlander in his national costume, which should have been first prepared out of cardboard and appropriately coloured, is then to be pasted on to the back of the glove; the tops of the two first fingers of the gloves should do duty for shoes, and the uncovered portions of the performer's fingers will show as the bare knees of the kilted Scot, who may then be made to dance or perform any of those wild antics usually attributed to the Highlander when his foot is on his native heath.

DANCING PEA.

A common pea, two small pins, and a piece of the straight stem of a broken clay tobacco-pipe, are the requirements for making this curious little toy. Run the pins crosswise through the pea, and cover their points with a little bit of sealing-wax, to prevent mischief in the event of the pins striking any one's face. Put the point of one of the pins down the stem of the tobacco-pipe, so that the pea will rest thereon. Place the other end of the pipe in the mouth, holding the head back and the pipe stem perpendicularly. Upon then blowing steadily the pea will dance amusingly in the air.

DART AND TARGET.

The apparatus required for this game is easily made. The dart is a straight piece of stick, about six inches long, with a pin stuck in at one end, and a paper guide at the other. The pin, which should be an ordinary large-sized pin, must have the head removed, and be pushed into the end of the stick, with the point outwards, and then secured in its place by a piece of twine or sealing-wax. The guide is made of a square piece of paper folded twice from corner to corner, and then inserted in cross slits made at the opposite end of the stick. The target is best if made of a piece of soft wood board, and should have painted on it three or four concentric circles of different colours, with a bull's-eye in the centre. The darts should then be thrown at the target from some distance to be agreed upon, and scores made according to the nearness of the darts to the bull's-eye. Each circle should be differently numbered, the outer circle counting one, the next two, and so on, an extra allowance being made for the bull's-eye.