New Ideas for American Boys; The Jack of All Trades

When the great West of the United States began to attract immigrants from the Eastern coast settlements, the Ohio River rolled between banks literally teeming with all sorts of...

Imagination is a great thing and can do wonders; it can surround the most commonplace objects with an atmosphere of romance, in which nothing is impossible or improbable. A whif...

After you have had a rollicking-circus in the attic, and a roaring Wild West show in the basement, you can explain to your parents that a panorama is a show of a “highly moral”...

Bitter experience and terrible examples of man’s ferocious cruelty to all wild animals have taught even the most humble and inoffensive of them to dread the approach of the bloo...

By a workshop is meant a place where a boy can build a boat, sled, box-kite, man-kite,[8] mend a golf-club, a broken bicycle, his mother’s rocking-chair, his aunt’s umbrella, or...

The war of the Rebellion was over; for four years the fathers, big brothers, teachers, and policemen of the border States had had so much serious fighting on their own hands tha...

A boy who can spend part of his time out of town, and is the fortunate owner of a mongrel cur, forms a combination for enjoyment and fun hard to be beaten by anything in nature....

This is a very popular invention, from South Carolina, and consists of a pine or hemlock plank, one inch thick, one foot wide and ten feet long, which, when supported at each en...

In winter there are always some blustering, windy days, when the raw winds from off the ocean howl through our streets, making the lives of pedestrians miserable; or days when s...

of the back-yard “switchback” car must be made of thick, sound wood, and if there is a wood-working factory in your neighborhood it will save you time and trouble to go there an...

To Mr. Clement C. Moore we are indebted for the creation of that jolly little gnome, the Americanized Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, or Saint Nicholas. When “The Night Before Christ...

In all mimic circus performances the boys of a generation ago were sadly handicapped by the want of horses; sometimes goats and dogs were pressed into service, but these animals...

The best place in the world for boys is out-doors, breathing good fresh air, and the best place in the world for pigeons and chickens is out-doors, breathing good fresh air. Our...

A natural taste or talent for art is almost universal. If any of my readers doubt this statement let them supply all the youngsters in their neighborhood with colored chalks and...

The muffled sound of voices, interrupted by peals of hollow laughter, issuing from the apparently solid earth, is a sufficiently startling phenomenon of itself; but when a group...

We cannot all be Robinson Crusoes, and real desert islands are scarce, but with a little work we can build artificial islands, upon which Robinson Crusoe cabins of novel designs...

It is hardly an exaggerated figure of speech to say that the United States, with all its power and wealth, has been whittled out of the raw material by our ancestors, with their...

The genuine American lad needs no costly toys with which to amuse himself, for he has inherited from a long line of pioneer ancestors a sturdy self-reliance. When the inclemency...

To the typical American boy every object he sees suggests to him possibilities of amusement, and to him an up-to-date bath-room is as full of such suggestions as a dictionary is...

It was before the directors of the Brooklyn Institute had met with success in their silly work of introducing the house-sparrow (known here as the English sparrow) to this count...

The only difference between the bald-headed, bearded boy and his younger brother in knickerbockers is that the latter is fond of fun and owns up to it, while the former is fond...

At most of the summer resorts you may coast down an artificial hill, upon real toboggans, over a slide of hard-wood rollers, and end with a whoop and a splash in the water of th...

There are many boys to-day who have never seen an Indian, and while it is impossible for us all to view the real Wild West, it is not difficult for us to get up a little Wild We...

Although the writer has made frequent journeys to the wonderful dreamland of his boyhood, and has ruthlessly taken and brought to earth many of its air-castles for the use of th...

If your time for preparation is limited, and you still wish to have a live Santa Claus, you may do so by dispensing with the artificial fireplace altogether, and allowing the ol...

The Ghosts of the Fireplace, 116; The Log House, 118; Suitable Timber, 118; The “Skid,” 118; The Foundation, 120; Floor Joists, 120; Floor Supports, 120; Log Rolling, 121; Door...

How to Make the Sleigh, 211; How to Make the Horses, 212; To Cut out the Horse, 213; The Pole, 213; The Driver’s Whip, 215; Pasteboard Soldiers, 215; Stirrups, 216; How to Make...

Building Material, 150; The Centre-piece, 151; The Sides, 151; The Bottom, 154; The Cabin, 157; Deck-ribs, 157; The Keel, 159; Flooring, 159; The Hatch, 160; Upper Deck, 160; Th...

How to Make the Horses and Other Animals, and How to Make the Costumes, 253; The Goat, 253; The Arab Steed, 254; The Neck-bones, 255; The Ribs, 255; The Frame, 256; The Reins, 2...

How to Build and Decorate a Fireplace for Santa Claus, 237; The First Start, 237; Back of the Chimney, 238; The Front Frame, 240; The Covering, 243; To Line the Inside of the Fi...

The Study of Living Animals, 33; Size of Lot, 35; Galvanized Iron Wire Cloth or Netting, 36; The Mesh, 36; To Make a Cage of Galvanized Wire Netting, 39; The Door, 40; The Doors...

A Pigeon Loft and Bantam Coop, 55; Lumber, 56; Pigeon-loft Floor, 56; Shutter Frames, 56; Roofing Material, 57; Doors, 58; The Shutters, 59; Cleanliness, 59; The Hen’s Nest, 59;...

Joggling Board, 105; Turnpike Loo, 106; Dinner Box, 106; Rhode Island Clam Bake, 107; Pennsylvania Pond Stew, 107; Burgoo, 107; How to Cook a Burgoo, 108; A Game of Jack Fagots,...

A Simple Toothpick Example, 203; To Lift Three Safety-matches with One Toothpick, 203; A Spring-bed, 204; Artificial Water, 206; A Bridge of Matches, 206; The Piers, 207; The Ap...

Choice of Subject, 278; Hunting Suitable Pictures, 279; Colored Figures, 280; The Works of the Panorama, 281; The Stage, 282; Footlights, 282; How the Panorama Box is Built, 283...

The River Rats, 5; A Tree-top Retreat, 6; The Secret Grape-vine Route, 7; A Club-house in the Tree-tops, 8; A Two-tree House, 9; How to Build the Foundation, 14; The One-tree Ho...

Birds’ Nests in Washington’s Coat, 63; Nests in Speaking Horn, 63; A Woodpecker’s House, 64; Martin Houses, 66; The Wren House, 66; Tin-can Bird-house, 68; A House of Straw, 68;...

How to Make Buildings Plumb and Level, 72; Tools, 73; A Level, 74; A Foundation, 76; How to Build the House, 77; Corner Posts, 81; The Window, 82; Side Plate, 82; The Rafters, 8...

The Name Chalk-talk, 224; Drawing-board, 225; Size of Board, 226; Height of Easel, 226; The Drawings Themselves, 227; How to Begin, 227; A Stationary Object, 229; Motion, 230; E...

How to Capture and Trap Small Live Animals, 19; Rodents or Gnawers, 21; A Smudge, 22; Flying Squirrels, 23; White-footed Mice, 25; Short-tailed Meadow-rats, 26; Jumping Mice, 27...

Target Shooting, 263; To Make the Target, 263; Carpet Tacks as Darts for the Blow-gun, 264; Vegetable Bonbon Boxes, 265; A “Fake” Cake, 266; The Shooting, 267; The Spread, 268;...

How to Make a Fish-pond, 48; By Sinking a Wooden Tank in the Ground, 49; Best Form for Such a Tank, 49; To Prevent Wood from Decay, 50; When to Stock, 52; Fresh-water Clams, 53.

A Doorway at the Top, 89; The Trap-door, 90; Dimensions of House, 90; New Lumber, 92; Framing, 92; Passageway, 93; Windows, 94; The Roof, 94; A Ventilator, 95; Dangerous Caves, 96.

The Wheels, 170; The Flange, 171; The Axles, 172; The Bottom of the Car, 172; Starting Platform, 173; The Track, 178; A Curved Track, 178; Cross-ties or Sleepers, 179; Ticket-ch...