CHAPTER XVIII.

FUN WITH SCISSORS AND PASTEBOARD AND PAPER.

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 slush and sleet cause us to wish that we could stay in the house until winter was packed away in last year’s almanac.

During such weather there is no fun to be had outdoors, and we must look for our amusement inside the four walls of our homes.

It is not every city boy who has an old-fashioned attic to romp in during bad weather, nor even a basement where he can seek to amuse himself building sleds or other outdoor appliances, for use when the weather will permit.

Many lads are confined in the narrow rooms of flats, and must needs fret and worry when the bad weather imprisons them in their narrow home-quarters.

But if such boys will stop quarrelling among themselves, and cease for a moment teasing the cat, or in other ways adding to the worries of their dear mamma, they may, by following the directions given here, find amusement and fun--not only for this particular bad day, but for all the stormy weather of the winter.

How to Make the Sleigh.

Fold a card or a piece of card-board in the middle, and with a pair of shears cut a curved piece off one end, as in Fig. 177.

Now take a sharp penknife and cut along the black lines of Fig. 178. When you spread out the card you will have Fig. 179, and if you bend up all the flaps and bend down the runners, giving the latter a pinch where they meet in the centre, you will have as dainty a little sleigh as old Santa Claus ever owned (Fig. 180).

The seats to the sleigh are simply made, being two strips of card-board with the corners bent down (Fig. 181).

How to Make the Horses.

The horses are more difficult to make, especially for boys who do not know how to draw a horse; but if such youngsters will read the preceding chapter it will tell them how to make a tracing, and they may make an exact reproduction of this horse by reversing the tracing and placing a clean piece of card-board underneath it, and then, with a lead-pencil, drawing over all the lines as they are in the illustration. When the card-board is removed they will find a faint outline of the horse upon the card-board.

To Cut Out the Horse,

commence at A (Fig. 182), and cut down to B; then fold the card-board carefully along the line of the back of the horse, BC.

BC will now be the top fold and ED will be down to the feet of the horse, while AB will stand up above the back, because AB has not been folded.

The rest is not hard work, for any child can follow the outline with the scissors, and the result will be a paper horse with four legs, upon which it can stand (Fig. 183).

Figs. 184, 185, and 186 can be traced in the same manner as the horse, and afterward cut out, leaving a pointed piece of card-board hanging down, which we stick through slits cut in the seats (Fig. 181), and in this manner make the driver and the passengers sit firmly in the sleigh.

The Tongue, or Pole.

A small, smooth stick will answer for the pole to the sleigh, and it may be fastened with a piece of thread to the centre of a wooden toothpick which has been previously thrust through the front runners of the sleigh, as in Fig. 191. The harness and reins are simply strings tied to wooden whiffletrees and run through holes punched in the horses at the proper places.

A broom-straw, pushed through a hole in the driver’s hand, will do service for a whip, and you may now have a grand spiked team of five horses, if you choose to make that number, or a simple two-horse or even one-horse sleigh, as you may choose to make it: the number of horses being limited only by the industry of their creators.

The Pasteboard Soldiers.

For a bold soldier man, make the horse just as you made the sleigh horse, but a cavalryman needs a saddle, and if you cut out the protruding front of the saddle first and then fold it as you did with the horse, you may make a saddle similar to Fig. 188. The girth and stirrups are put on after the saddle is cut out, the girth being a band of ribbon run through slits in the saddle and fastened around the paper horse.

The Stirrups

are cut out of card-board, and fastened to the saddle with short strings. The saddle-cloth, Fig. 189, is a piece of paper, folded as shown in the diagram.

Trace the soldier, Fig. 187, in the manner already described, then cut him out and set him upon his saddled charger.

Make reins of string and run the string through a hole punched in the horse’s mouth--where the bit should be--and through a hole punched in the soldier’s hand. Put the cavalryman’s feet in the paste-board stirrups and you have Fig. 190--a bold soldier man, ready for a parade, or to fight with the English or against them. In fact, so perfect a soldier and

Such an Ideal Soldier

is this pasteboard man, that he will never question your orders, but fight on any side you choose to put him, and when he is worn out in the service he will utter no complaint if he is buried in the waste-paper basket, or even used for the purpose of kindling the kitchen fire.

Make an Army.

If you are successful in making one soldier, with industry you may make a whole regiment of them, and then stand them in battle array and shoot them down with a pea-shooter.

Your conscience need not bother you in the least, if you slay a whole regiment, for the poor fellows won’t care a cent, and they will leave no widows and orphans behind to mourn for them. In fact, you can bring them all to life again, the next time you want a battle, by simply setting them upright upon their horses once more.

It sometimes happens that boys tire of soldiers and their murderous weapons, although both the soldier and his arms be but harmless paper.

At such a time the reader can put away his paper warriors and proclaim to his playmates that he is a wizard, and can

Walk through the Centre of a Visiting Card.

He may prove that this is no vain boast by folding the card, Fig. 192, across its centre (Fig. 193), and with scissors cutting slits where the lines are drawn on Fig. 193.

When the card is unfolded it will be found to resemble Fig. 194, and may be stretched carefully until it can be passed over the head, down over the body to the feet; then as the self-proclaimed wizard steps out of the card he may truthfully say that he has walked through a visiting card.

After this he may entertain his playmates by making a

Grandmother’s Reticule

of a square piece of paper (Fig. 195), which he folds at the dotted centre line (Fig. 196), and folds again across its centre (Fig. 197). The next fold is a diagonal one, from corner to corner (Fig. 198).

With the scissors he cuts Fig. 198, as shown by the ruled lines on Fig. 199.

Carefully unfolding the paper he puts a marble or some other weight in the centre, which stretches the paper to the form of a paper reticule, Fig. 200.

Speaking of grandmothers reminds us of old times, when above the open grate fireplace the mantel and panelling was painted a sombre black.

The boys then used to amuse themselves by folding pieces of paper in the form of Fig. 198, and then cutting

“Any Old Thing”

out with the scissors--the result being that when the paper was unfolded the meaningless “thing” resolved itself into a beautiful geometrical pattern, which showed to great advantage when stuck upon the black woodwork of the mantel.

Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, and Thomas Lynch, Jr., were appointed a committee by the Continental Congress to design a national flag for the baby United States, and you all know that in the little old house, 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Betsey Ross made the

First American Flag.

You have also probably read the legend so frequently published, which tells us that the stars in the original design were six-pointed, and were only changed because some one showed how

To Cut a Five-pointed Star with One Clip of the Scissors,

by folding Fig. 201 in the form of Fig. 202, and folding the latter in the form of Fig. 204, again folding in the shape of Fig. 205, and then making a cross-cut at the dotted line. When the paper was unfolded it appeared in the form of Fig. 210, a five-pointed star.

Another Way to Cut a Five-pointed Star,

is to fold a circular disk of paper (Fig. 206) across its diameter (Fig. 207), and fold this in the form of a fan (Fig. 209), which when pressed down flat will be Fig. 208. One cut, where the dotted line is shown on Fig. 208, will produce the five-pointed star (Fig. 210). If, as according to the legend, it was because of the simplicity of this one clip of the scissors that the five-pointed star was adopted, the old legend needs revision, for

A Six-pointed Star can be made with One Cut,

with no more trouble than it takes to make the five-point.

Fold the paper as in Figs. 195, 196, and 197 (see Reticule). Fold the form (Fig. 197) fan-wise, at the dotted lines on Fig. 211, making the divisions equal (Fig. 212). Press the folds down until they are flat (Fig. 213), and make the cut at the place indicated by the dotted line. When the paper is unfolded you will have the six-pointed star, Fig. 214.

This is the star of the East, which guided the wise men to the lowly manger--the Star of Bethlehem, a grander and better symbol than the irregular five-pointed star. The six-pointed star stands for Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men. The magicians of old called the six-pointed star the “pentacle” of Solomon.

One of the oldest and most venerated symbols is

The Cross,

and if you make one of the proportions of five squares, each of the three arms of equal size, and equal to the square space in the middle, you may, by

Two Cuts, make the Cross into a Square.

This will, at first glance, look like an impossibility, but if you find the middle of the top end of the cross (Fig. 215), and lay a straight-edge from the middle point E, touching the corner F, and rule the line E F G, then rule a line from H to F, and cut where the lines are ruled, you will have four irregular pieces, A, B, C, and D, which you may fit together in the form of a square (Fig. 216).

This is amusement enough for one rainy day, and for the next one you may try something more artistic, and consequently more difficult and interesting.