Chapter 7

three-spool columns; the intervening spaces form the open windows of the car.

Leave windows on the opposite side of the car in the same way, and place a row of spools close up against the bottom spools of each side of the car to form the car seats. Roof the car with a piece of cardboard cut off square at one end and rounded at the other. On top of each side of this roof place one row of six buttonhole-twist spools, the spools of each row separated equal distances (Fig. 76). Stand a spool on the front of the car platform for the motorman's wheel and you have a car like that in the photograph.

When the trolley is taken apart use the spools in building

=A Bridge=

Fig. 77 shows that the piers can be built to a good height and be solid and substantial.

Stand three large-sized spools together, forming a triangle, with one point turned to face the opposite pier. This group of three spools is the foundation of one of the two columns, which together form one pier of the bridge.

About two inches distant and on a line with the triangle of spools stand a group of three more spools, and build up each group into a column four spools high. You will need two more columns for the opposite pier of the bridge; build them as you did the first, and place the second pier exactly opposite to and as far from the first as you desire the span should reach--say about fourteen inches.

Lay a strip of pasteboard six inches wide across from pier to pier, allowing the ends to rest on the piers, but not extend beyond the outside end edges of the piers; then if your span is fourteen, inches long, cut from a pasteboard box two more strips fourteen inches long and of the same width as the span; score each strip across one end, one inch from the edge, bend slightly and fit the bent edge of each strip on one end of the bridge, allowing the other end of the strip to extend away from the pier and rest on the floor, forming an inclined approach to the bridge proper as in Fig. 77.

When your pasteboard strips are well settled in place, continue building up the piers on top of the pasteboard, making each group of three spools two layers high; then build up one spool two layers high on top of the four columns.

Complete the archway by spanning the two columns of each pier with a narrow strip of stiff white paper bent up into a point at the centre and out into a flap at each end (Fig. 78). The flaps rest on top of the spools. The photograph shows how the entire bridge should look, and in the photograph you will find a little lady hurrying across the bridge on her way home, and following in her wake Mr. Clothespin and Mrs. Clothespin. A paper boat under the bridge would make the scene more realistic.

Next build

=A Memorial Arch=

(Fig. 79), something like the one which was erected in New York City. Commence with two groups of spools a short distance apart; have three in each group, two in the back and one in the front. Build up columns four spools high; then lay a strip of pasteboard across from one to the other. On top of the pasteboard place two more groups of smaller spools a little nearer together than the first groups. Make these columns two spools high and crown each with a single spool decorated with a bright-colored paper flag fastened on a stick pushed down into the spool. At the base of the arch add three more spools on each side, _o_ and _o_ (Fig. 79), and the structure will be completed. This is not exactly like the original, but for a spool arch it is fine, and a spool procession will feel honored to march through it.

=The Parthenon=

If you have enough spools, you can make a miniature representation of one of the most beautiful temples ever built. Begin by standing four spools in a row for the first end of the building, allowing about the width of a spool between each two. Place eight in a row for the first side, four for the other end, and eight for the second side (Fig. 80). Have the spools all of the same size, that the walls may be alike and perfectly even, because, as you know, the walls are to be formed of columns, not as many as in the original, but enough to give an idea of the Greek temple. Build up the spools three deep into pillars; then lay a piece of pasteboard on the top of the columns for a ceiling. Bend another piece of pasteboard lengthwise through the centre for the roof, and stand it tent-like on top of the ceiling. You can measure the correct size of the ceiling by laying a piece of pasteboard down flat on the floor along the eight-columned side of the Parthenon to obtain the length, and placing it flat on the floor across the four-columned side to mark the width. Make the roof the same length and a little wider than the ceiling, to allow for the height of the bend through the centre.

You must imagine a space immediately beneath the roof of the little Greek temple filled in with the most beautiful statuary, and think of the spools as white marble columns, and you should see, in fancy, another row of stately columns inside the ones you have built. Tell all about the real Parthenon and hunt up a picture of the temple that all may see just how near you came to making the little model look like the wonderful Parthenon on the Acropolis, in Athens.

After admiring the building for a while, pretend that a left-over spool

=Is a Venetian Shell=

shot from a cannon, and toss it gently against the roof at one end of the temple, then see the columns totter and fall, leaving only a portion of the Parthenon standing, in the same way that the real marble columns fell when the original structure was shattered and practically destroyed by the soldiers.

You can

=Blow Bubbles with a Spool,=

beautiful bubbles, which float and glide in the air with all the charm of clay-pipe bubbles. Mix strong soap-suds, dip one end of a large spool in the water, wet the spool, then blow. If the bubble refuses to appear, dip the spool in the water again, put your head down to the spool and blow a few bubbles while the spool is in the water, then quickly raise it and try again. Nine times out of ten you will succeed, and a bubble will swell out from the spool as in Fig. 81. These wooden bubble-blowers last a long time, with no danger of breaking when accidentally dropped on the floor, and you can always find enough to provide one for each of the players who meet for a trial of skill in bubble-blowing.

Now try

=Pretty Butterflies=

which fly from spools. Cut a butterfly (Fig. 82) from bright-colored tissue paper or thin writing paper, bend at the dotted line and paste on the large end of a very small cork. Fit the small end of the cork into the top of the hole of an empty spool (Fig. 83). Then blow through the spool and see the butterfly ascend rapidly to the ceiling and float down again. A number of different colored butterflies in the air at one time fill the room with charming bits of fluttering brightness that will delight the children.

Take another empty spool and stick a common wire hairpin partially into the hole, bend the hairpin slightly down against the edges of the hole, do the same with three more hairpins, and you will have a spool with a funnel-like opening of hairpins at the top (Fig. 84). In the funnel place a small, light-weight ball made of a crushed bit of bright paper wound around with thread. Raise the spool to your lips and blow gently (Fig. 85). The ball will rise and fall in mid-air, in the same way that you have seen one of rubber dance at the top of a small fountain or jet of water.