CHAPTER XVI.

A HOME-MADE CIRCUS.

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 of words. The great white tub affords an excellent sea for his gun-boats to do battle upon, or offers a straight-away course over which his home-made yachts may sail, while a fan fills their sails with everything from a light breeze to a ripping gale.

What boy has not discovered, for himself, that

The Bath-tub is a Splendid Receiving-Tank

for the occasional water-animals captured by him in creek or pond, or at the fish-market?

The laundry tubs are also useful and, not being in demand as frequently as the bath-tub, are for this reason often more convenient.

If the grown people would only let the bath-room alone, there is no end to the fun which an ingenious lad could have in that useful little room.

As a Lake for His Fleet,

and as a receiving-tank for his water-pets are only two of the uses which the bath-tub suggests to a bright boy. When he sees the faucet he realizes that this can afford him power for all sorts of machinery, if he can arrange a water-wheel under it to transmit the power.

Every country boy knows how to make water-wheels, and every summer the springs and brooks all over the land turn these little wheels in exactly the same manner which the larger streams turn the big wheels for the factories and mills on their banks.

But there are thousands of boys in our great cities who have never seen

A Water-wheel,

and for the use of these boys the accompanying illustrations were drawn.

Fig. 139 shows a four-sided soft-pine stick, with square ends, and if you have a good sharp knife it requires but little work to trim off the four edges of this stick until it has the form of a six-sided lead-pencil (Fig. 140), after which but little skill is required to whittle the ends down to the size of the hole in a thread-spool (Fig. 141).

The Shaft.

You will see, on examining the illustration, that the middle is left with the six sides untouched.

An Old Cigar-Box

will not only furnish you with excellent wood for the paddles of your wheels (Fig. 142), but, if carefully taken apart, it will also furnish you with just the right sort of nails with which to fasten your paddles to the shaft.

Make Six Paddles,

all of the same size and same pattern, and nail one to one of the six sides of the shaft (Fig. 142).

Turn the shaft around to the next face or side, and nail another paddle in place; continue this work until you have the paddle-wheel shown in Fig. 143.

On to one or both ends of the shaft you may now slip wooden spools, pushing them up the stick until they fit tightly, and leave a projecting end of the shaft sticking out of the end of the spool.

Hanging-Bars.

Next take a lath or stick of some kind, which is of such length that it will rest securely when laid across from side to side of the bath-tub. To this stick tack two others, as shown in Fig. 144.

These hanging-bars must be long enough to allow the water-wheel to be suspended just below the faucet of the bath-tub. Strengthen your hanging-bars (Fig. 144) by two diagonal pieces.

Fig. 145 shows how to cut a notch near the lower end of one hanging-bar, and a hole is bored near the end of the opposite hanging-bar.

To adjust the wheel, place the top bar across the bath-tub and then slip the shaft in the hole in the hanging-bar, sliding the other end of the shaft into the slot shown in Fig. 145.

If the water is now allowed to run slowly from the faucet and fall upon the inside paddles it will set the wheel in motion, and this motion can be transmitted to any small and simple piece of machinery by means of a belt running from the spool which is attached to the wheel to a similar spool, attached to the machine.

If you Make a Frame,

similar to that which holds the water-wheel, (Fig. 144) and make it with much shorter hanging-bars, it will not be necessary to support them with the diagonal pieces. This second frame can be reversed over the first frame, so that the hanging-bars will set upright upon the cross-bar, and when in that position a small horizontal bar may be made to revolve by connecting a spool placed upon this bar with the spool upon the wheel-shaft, by means of a string loop. If this string is not too loose, nor yet too tight, it will turn the top spool as soon as the water sets the wheel and the bottom spool in motion. The illustration on page 196 shows how a number of funny animals and men can be made to do circus tricks on the bar, to the great delight of the spectators.

Figures Which Move.

To make these figures so that they will move with comical, but natural, movements, place a piece of transparent paper over the diagrams and trace the outlines, then blacken another piece of paper, upon one side, with a soft pencil; next place a piece of clean card-board under these figures, over the card-board spread the paper, with the blackened side next to the card-board, and over this put the tracing paper, and then, holding it so that it will not slip, follow the lines of the clown, ape, and donkey, with the point of a hard pencil. When the card-board is removed the bodies of the clown, ape, and donkey will appear traced upon the white surface.[12]

In the same manner make tracings of the legs and arms of the puppets, and with your scissors cut these figures out. Using the legs and arms cut from the card-board as patterns, trace around each of them upon another piece of card-board with a pencil, and cut these duplicates out. You will now have two each of Figs. 147, 148, 151, 152, 155 and 156.

With the point of your hard pencil, or a darning-needle, punch holes in all these parts, at the points marked by black dots.

Next take a small piece of string and make

A Neat, Round Knot

in one end of it, and thread the other end through the clown’s arm, at the dot in his shoulder; then thread the string through the dot in the clown’s body, near his collar (Fig. 146). Now thread through the hole in the shoulder of the duplicate arm. When this much is done, place the clown upon a table, with the knot underneath, and drawing the string up, while holding the clown’s body down with your other hand, bring the knot snugly against the lower arm and tie another knot tightly against the upper arm. This last knot can be made by making a large loop, and then holding the string in place with one finger until the knot is slid down against the pasteboard arm and drawn tightly in place; a second and third knot, tied over this, will make it large enough for the purpose, and the arms will be found to move freely, up or down (See Fig. 289, Chapter XXIV.).

Attach the legs in the same manner; if you will now thrust a small stick through both the clown’s fists you can make him take all the positions of a trained circus-man, by twirling the horizontal stick between your fingers.

When the water-wheel sets the bar twirling, the donkey, ape, and clown go through their “stunts,” in a most laughable manner.

FOOTNOTE:

[12] Another plan is described in Chapter XXIV.