CHAPTER XVII.

GOOD GAMES WITH TOOTHPICKS AND MATCHES.

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 of the weather, or some slight illness, confines him to his home, he can pass away the time with toys of his own construction.

A Toy is a Plaything,

and a plaything is any old thing which chance throws in our way, with which to play.

Wooden Toothpicks

offer many opportunities for amusement. I have seen grown men, in the reading-rooms of our great hotels, amuse themselves and companions for hours with only a handful of wooden toothpicks.

Suppose that mumps have invaded the household, and the younger members of the family are, consequently, confined indoors, with their youthful jaws tied up in bandages. If they have no ingenuity they will be fretful and annoying to their parents and themselves, but if they have inherited true Yankee grit and invention they will spend their enforced imprisonment in a very jolly manner.

Here is

A Simple Toothpick Example,

Fig. 159. Let us see you take away five toothpicks and leave three perfect squares.

It is a simple problem, and one glance at Fig. 160 shows how it is done, but you must remember that the other fellows or girls to whom you put the question are not supposed to know the solution, and unless the puzzle-workers are very bright it will take some thinking to work out the problem--at least it will take enough thought to be a source of amusement to all concerned.

When the toothpicks are removed and the problem solved, ask them to

Lift Three Safety-Matches with One Toothpick.

Be sure to use safety-matches, if they are to be had; if not, use burnt matches, for there is no fun playing with toys which are liable to ignite and cause much more serious results than a case of mumps.

After all the party have tried in vain to lift the three matches with the aid of one toothpick, you may show them how the trick is done.

Explanation.

Fig. 161 shows the first match, which has been split at the tail-end with the blade of a pocket-knife; Fig. 162 shows another match, which has had the tail-end whittled to a wedge-shaped edge, and Fig. 163 shows the two matches joined by forcing the wedge end of one match into the split end of the other. Fig. 164 shows the third match, placed across the ends of the other two matches.

If you will now pass the toothpick under the first two matches and over the last, as illustrated by the diagram, Fig. 164, it is a simple task to lift the three matches and show your playmates how a seemingly impossible proposition becomes a thing of great simplicity when it is solved (Fig. 165.)

A Spring-Bed.

Now take a toothpick, Fig. 166, and place another one across it, as in Fig. 167; cross these two toothpicks, in their centre, with a third, as in Fig. 168; then run a fourth under the ends of the two side toothpicks and over the end of the middle one, as in Fig. 169.

When the fifth toothpick is run under the other ends of the two crossed picks and over the free end of the centre toothpick, you will have Fig. 170.

What is Fig. 170? Well, it is almost anything you wish: it is a gate, a section of a fence, or a spring-bed. Fig. 171 shows the spring-bed, and to prove that it is a real spring-bed, if you will set it on the hearth, where there can be no danger from fire, you may light one leg of the bed with a match, then stand back and watch the flame eat its way to the first joint. When this joint is reached the spring is freed, and the bed flies to pieces, which proves that it is really a spring-bed.

Artificial Water.

If you wish something to represent water, take a small looking-glass and place it flat on the floor or a table. Upon the surface of your glass lake you can place paper boats, and build shores by heaping books around the edge. Spanning the water you may have a beautiful bridge of toothpicks or safety-matches.

A Bridge of Matches.

This bridge requires patience and deft fingers to build, but both patience and skill are necessary in golf, football, boating, the school, the counting-house, and in art or music, so you must not be discouraged if your frail match bridge falls to pieces just when you think the thing is about finished. Remember that an occasional failure is more than half the fun; start over again by placing two matches on the table and placing a third match across them, as in Fig. 172; then another match under them, as in Fig. 173. Some matches are made of such brittle stuff as to be unsuited for this, and others are too short and thick to bend, but good slender matches can be used, and wooden toothpicks are even better.

Fig. 174 shows the next step is to thrust two matches under the under match and over the match which is on top and across the first two; the spring in the matches will hold this frame together. More and more matches may be added, in the same manner as the first (Fig. 175), until the arch is of the required length: that is, until it is long enough to reach from shore to shore of the looking-glass lake.

If you will now build

Two Piers,

or abutments, of matches, by placing a couple of sticks on each side of the water for the foundations--the two sticks to be parallel with each other--and two more across the ends of these, log-cabin fashion, until the piers are about two inches high, facing each other from opposite sides of the looking-glass, you may set your arch across, from pier to pier.

Two Approaches to the Bridge

must now be built, in the same manner as the arch, so that the arch can be reached from the shore (Fig. 176), and you will then have a pretty little structure, spanning a calm and dainty sheet of water.

If you are still not satisfied with the results of your skill, you may

Add a Roof

to each of your bridge piers, by erecting sides made on the pattern of Fig. 170, and either capping them with a paper roof or log-cabin built pyramids, composed of pieces of matches of different lengths, growing smaller toward the top.

A Paper Flag,

upon the end of a broom-straw, will add dignity and effect to your bridge; erect it by thrusting the lower end of the flag-staff through the roof and pier.

Tiring of bridges and puzzles, you can lay out

A Pioneer Settlement,

and with toothpicks and matches build log-cabins, such as those in which our ancestors lived when this land was covered with vast forests of trees and populated with painted Indians and wild beasts. Roof your houses with cards bent in the shape of a roof, and build your chimneys at one end of the house.

The Chimneys

in all log-cabins are built outside and against one end of the house, and are usually made of sticks and mud, or stones and mud; but as the rooms in an ordinary dwelling or flat furnish neither stones nor clay, you must do as our ancestors did: use the material at hand; which, in your case, will probably be spools from your mother’s work-basket. Set the spools, one on top of another, against the end of your match-stick house and your work is done.

Not only is your work done, but, if you have followed all these directions, probably the day is also done, and you are ready for bed and to dream of living in safety-match houses near the shores of a looking-glass lake; and as you listen you will hear the glass waves breaking on the shore, and the howl of the toothpick timber-wolves as they steal among the rocky crags, made of spelling-books, arithmetics and dictionaries; or you may be startled from your sleep by the crack of a match-gun and the answering boom of a spool-cannon; but these things will only make your sleep the more peaceful and refreshing.