Part 27
Draw the narrow slip of the leather through the hole, and the string and buttons may be easily released.
12. ANSWER TO THE QUARTO PUZZLE.
Divide the figure in the direction shown by the lines, and you will have four pieces of the same size and shape.
13. ANSWER TO THE PUZZLE OF FOURTEEN.
14. ANSWER TO THE SQUARE AND CIRCLE PUZZLE.
15. THE SCALE AND RING PUZZLE.
The puzzle consists in releasing the ring; to effect which, you have only to reverse the former process, by passing the loop through the holes D, C, B, and A, in the manner before described.
16. ANSWER TO THE HEART PUZZLE.
Loosen the string, and draw the loop through the hole No. 2; pass it behind, and bring it through No. 1, and slip it over the smaller heart; then the string may be easily drawn out.
17. ANSWER TO THE CROSS PUZZLE.
18. ANSWER 10 THE YANKEE SQUARE.
Arrange the pieces as shown in the figure above.
19. ANSWER TO THE CARD PUZZLE.
In order to take the pipe off, the card must be doubled (as in Fig. 2), the slip passed through it, until there is sufficient of the loop below the pipe to allow one of the square ends of the slip (Fig. 3) being passed through it. Fig. 3 is then to be taken away, and the pipe slipped off. The card for this puzzle must be cut very neatly, the puzzle handled gently, and great care taken that, in doubling the card to put on the pipe no creases are made in it, as they would in all probability spoil your puzzle, by betraying to an acute spectator the mode of operation.
20. ANSWER TO THE THREE SQUARE PUZZLE.
Takeaway the pieces numbered 8, 10, 1, 3, 13, and three squares only will remain.
21. ANSWER TO THE CYLINDER PUZZLE.
Take a round cylinder of the diameter of the circular hole, and of the height of the square hole. Having drawn a straight line across the end, dividing it into two equal parts, cut an equal section from either side to the edge of the circular base, a figure like that represented by the woodcut in the margin would then be produced, which would fulfill the required conditions.
22. ANSWER TO THE FOUR TENANTS.
My ground is divided, My tenants at work, And he'll profit most Who does not labor shirk So let them toil on Till cabbages rise, And carrots and turnips To gladden their eyes. Gooseberries and currants, And raspberries too, Shall amply repay The work they may do.
23. THE PUZZLE WALL.
24. ANSWER TO THE NUN'S PUZZLE.
25. HORSE SHOE PUZZLE.
By cutting off the upper circular part containing two of the pins, and by changing the position of the pieces, another cut will divide the horse shoe into six portions, each containing one pin.
26. ANSWER TO CARD SQUARE PUZZLE.
27. THE DOGS PUZZLE ANSWERED SEE DOTTED LINES.
28. PUZZLE OF THE TWO FATHERS.
The first father divided the land in this way:
The second father divided the land in the following manner:
The different colors represent the several sons' portions.
29. THE TRIANGLE PUZZLE.
The solution of this puzzle may be easily acquired by observing the dotted lines in the engraving; by which it will be seen that four triangles are to be placed at the corners, and a small square made in the center. When this is done, the rest of the square may be quickly formed.
30. ANSWER TO CUTTING OUT A CROSS PUZZLE.
Take a piece of writing paper about three times as long as it is broad, say six inches long and two wide. Fold the upper corner down, as shown in Fig. 1; then fold the other upper corner over the first, and it will appear as in Fig. 2; you next fold the paper in half lengthwise, and it will appear as in Fig. 3. Then the last fold is made lengthwise also, in the middle of the paper, and it will exhibit the form of Fig. 4, which, when cut through with the scissors in the direction of the dotted line, will give all the forms mentioned.
31. ANSWER TO ANOTHER CROSS PUZZLE.
32. ANSWER TO THE FOUNTAIN PUZZLE.
33. ANSWER TO THE STAR PUZZLE.
Good-tempered friends! here _nine_ stars see: _Ten_ rows there are, in each row _three!_
34. THE COUNTER PUZZLE ANSWER.
Place 4 on 7, 6 on 2, 1 on 3, and 8 on 5; _or_, 5 on 2, 3 on 7, 8 on 6, 4 on 1, &c.
35. ANSWER TO THE JAPAN SQUARE.
36. ANSWER TO THE CABINET MAKERS' PUZZLE.
The cabinet-maker must find the center of the circle, and strike another circle, half the diameter of the first, and having the same center. Then cut the whole into four parts, by means of two lines drawn at right angles to each other, then cut along the inner circle, and put the pieces together as in the above diagram.
37. ANSWER TO THE STRING AND BALLS PUZZLE.
Draw the loop well down, slipping either ball through it. Push it through the hole at the extremities, pass it over the knot, and draw it through again. The same process must be repeated with the other ball; the loop can then be drawn through the hole in the center, and the ball will slide along the cord until it reaches the other side. The string is then replaced, having both balls on the same side.
There is another and perhaps a neater way of performing this trick. Draw the loop through the central hole, and bring it through far enough to pass one of the balls through. Having done this, draw the string back, and both balls will be found on the same side.
38. ANSWER TO THE DOUBLE-HEADED PUZZLE.
Arrange them side by side in the short arms of the cross, draw out the center piece, and the rest will follow easily. The reversal of the same process will put them back again.
39. ARITHMETICAL PUZZLE.
The four figures are 8888, which being divided by a line drawn through the middle, become 0000/0000, the sum of which is eight 0s, or nothing.
40. GRAMMATICAL PUZZLE.
Take away L in the subjunctive "Let" at the beginning of the first line, and substitute S, and so turn it into the imperative "Set," when the changes which necessarily follow will be immediately apparent.
41. ANSWER TO THE TREE PUZZLE.
42. ANSWER TO AN EPITAPH ON ELLINOR BACHELLOR, AN OLD PIE WOMAN.
Beneath in the dust The mouldy old crust Of Nell Bachellor lately was shoven: Who was skilled in the arts Of pies, custards, and tarts, And knew every use of the oven. When she'd liv'd long enough, She made her last puff, A puff by her husband much prais'd: Now here she doth lie, To make a dirt pie, In hopes that her crust will be rais'd.
43. ANSWER TO A CURIOUS LETTER.
"Sir, between friends, I understand your overbearing disposition; a man even with the world is above contempt, whilst the ambitious are beneath ridicule."
44. ANSWER TO THE PUZZLE INSCRIPTION.
By the use of the single vowel E, the following couplet was formed,
PERSEVERE YE PERFECT MEN, EVER KEEP THESE PRECEPTS TEN.
THE MAGIC OF ART.
"Tired at first sight with what the Muse imparts, In fearless youth we tempt the height of arts."
An almost endless source of amusement, combining at the same time a considerable amount of instruction, may be obtained in the following manner. Take a card or piece of pasteboard, or even stiff paper, and draw upon it the form of an egg--an oval in outline. The dimensions of the oval are immaterial, and the experimenter may suit his own fancy in this respect. With a stout needle, or tracing point, prick quite through the outline, for the purposes of tracing. Some of our readers may be unacquainted with the mode of tracing an outline, and it may be advisable to particularize one method among many. Having pricked out the oval upon the card, get a little red or black lead, powdered, and placing the card upon apiece of drawing paper--any white paper will however do--rub it over the pricked-out oval, which will be found to be transferred to the white paper beneath, thus:
The powder may be applied either with a piece of wool or wadding, or by means of a dry camel's-hair pencil; care should be taken not to let the tracing-powder get beyond the edge of the pricked card, as in that case a soiled, dirty appearance is given to the tracing. The pierced card will serve, if carefully done, for hundreds of tracings, and it is obviously the best plan to take a little extra pains with that in the first instance.
With this traced oval for a basis, (a little further on we shall speak of other figures, to be used singly or in combination with each other) any one with a very little skill will be able to form an infinite number of objects.
The best drawing tool will be found to be an ordinary black lead pencil.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are very easy results, suggestive also of others. The rules of procedure are the same in all. Leaving the traced-out oval at first in its dotted form, with the pencil you draw a horizontal line as the basis of your figure. Let this and the other lines, which serve merely as the scaffolding of your figure, be done faintly or in dots. Next, draw a line through the center of the oval and perpendicular to the first. These will ensure your making the object square and properly balanced. After this you may draw lines parallel to the others: but these are not so material, although they serve as guides.
Now the imagination and fancy may step in to produce forms having the oval for a foundation; and not only is a very rational source of amusement opened out, but the opportunity is given to a cultivation of the noble art of design, whether as applied to utility or ornament.
It is obvious to remark that the hand of many an amateur artist will readily be able to form the oval without having recourse to the pierced card; but as this portion of our work is intended for _all_, we have suggested the above mode as sure to succeed under every circumstance.
Following the same plan in every particular, we subjoin some examples of what may be done with the square.
The dotted lines (_figs._ 7, 8) represent the traced or sketched square and plan lines; the firmer lines suggest objects formed upon that figure. In the same way the thin square outline (_fig._ 9) suggests the inner sketch of a church.
I stated before that the size of the fundamental oval or square made little difference; but I would recommend my younger readers to get these as large as possible, or convenient. If a large black board, such as is used in most schools, could be obtained, and the tracings prepared proportionably large (pounded chalk being used instead of the black or red powder in transferring the forms thereto), and the designs made upon these with a piece of chalk, so much the better. However, this matters little; and each one will suit his or her own taste in that respect. I now proceed to submit some examples of what may be done with other rudimentary forms.
Following the instructions previously given, in place of the square suggested in Figs. 7, 8, 9, describe a circle. This may be done with a pair of compasses, or simply sketched or traced by means of any round object, such as a coin laid flat upon the paper. Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, are given merely as suggestions, the circle forming an important part of their figure. The mind of the experimenter will immediately revert to other objects--thousands such are to be met with around us--having the circle or the sphere for their basis. And it will be no mean result of my labors, if any number of my younger readers are led thereby to a habit of observation, whereby they will not fail to notice that nearly all natural objects have the curved line for a basis, if they are not actually distinguishable thereby from those that are artificial.
Fig. 16 is drawn upon two circles in combination with each other. The dotted lines of the plan will be readily perceived; but lest there should be any difficulty, they have been drawn separately in Fig. 17. With this duplex figure little skill will be required to present the lord of the farm yard. The three outlines, Figs. 18, 19, 20, are based upon the square turned diamond-wise, and will need no further remark: examples upon this plan may be multiplied easily. Those given will serve as hints in the several directions of flowers, foliage, and landscapes generally.
Before proceeding to show what may easily be done by a simple combination of the figures we have constructed, _i. e._, the oval, square, and circle, let me introduce another, which enters, by a kind of natural law, into almost all forms or groups of forms, namely, the triangle. Observe in the annexed cut, Fig. 21, how naturally, although unconsciously, the girl seats herself within one.
A moment's reflection will show, that from the little nymph in the cut to the great pyramid, everything that rests solidly upon the earth must take the form, more or less, of this broad-based tapering figure. Roofs of houses, churches, and towers, are all triangular in their form, as are all great trees, differing from each other only in the width of their angles.
Construct a triangle,[14] and trace it according to former directions, and from the examples, Figs. 22, 23, 24, look around you for others, and make various exercises upon this foundation.
Now, to proceed to something more complicated. Suppose you had either in your mind, or sketched out upon paper, the plan of a garden; that is to say, suppose you had the dimensions of a piece of ground, and intended to lay it out as a garden, allotting so much space to this and that bed, so much to gravel walks, and wanted to see how such an arrangement would look in perspective,--in other words, in reality, for perspective, however alarming it may look in books, with its net-work of lines, cross and across, like an insoluble riddle or a monster cobweb, is nothing more than the actual representation of things as they meet the eye.
Let your plan be what is shown in the square portion of Fig. 25; at the top of this plan place your triangle, draw a line through the center of the square upwards, until it meets the top A of the triangle. Next draw lines from the corner of the beds parallel to the center line until they meet the base line of the triangle. From thence continue all these lines to the point A. These give you the width of the beds _in perspective_. The other sides of their figure may be easily enough found. Fig. 26 is the perspective view sought, and is what your experimental drawing would be if, having done the plan and guide-lines in pencil and the rest in pen and ink, you had erased the former with a piece of india rubber.
I do not know whether my readers regard the matter in the same light, but it appears to the present writer that this little figure--the triangle--is capable of working wonders in the hands of an amateur draughtsman, if only properly used. Of course, those regularly educated, or submitted to a long course of training as artists, are not referred to, but only the general public, which by the by, means nineteen out of every twenty individuals. I ask whether the preceding cut is any exaggeration on the average sort of result attained, not only amongst very juvenile experimenters, but those of maturer age?
Everybody possessed of vision can tell, ordinarily, whether a building or other object is upright, or in the position proper to it, or necessary to its stability. By accustoming the hand to form lines, ovals, circles, squares, and triangles, and by habituating the mind to form comparisons between objects, and these and other figures, a person is put imperceptibly, as it were, in the way of depicting them with accuracy.
To proceed--let us take the above misrepresented country residence, and applying to it the previously given rules, see what we can make of it. We would first draw or trace the parallelogram shown in dotted lines; over this, we place a triangle; then drawing an upright line through the center of both, make that the base of another and lengthened triangle, as shown (see Fig. 28). Thus we get the three lines of the side and roofs; and if we knew the proportionate height of the side window, by marking the same at a, b, and carrying the lines from those points to the apex of the triangle, we get its true perspective dimensions.
The difference between the two results is as great as possible.
In Fig. 29 the triangle placed at the side of the soldier in front gives the perspective of the whole line.
Fig. 30 shows how two parallelograms in combination assist in giving the perspective of a block of stone or bale of goods.
Fig. 31 exhibits the parallelogram and triangle in combination.
Perhaps nothing is more puzzling to the tyro in sketching than the interior of rooms and halls. In Fig. 32 a very easy method is given. Trace the outer parallelogram, and within it, a smaller one; then connect the corners of the two as shown in the cut.
Fig. 33 is the application of the preceding.
By the present paper I intend to let you into a great secret, the secret, namely, of Comic or "Funny" Drawing--a method, in fact, which is at the bottom of all humorous, or caricature sketching. Don't let any one be alarmed, and suppose that it is intended to set you quizzing and caricaturing your friends. Far from it.
Draw the oval, Fig. 34. Divide it by transverse lines into about equal portions. You have now the basis for a face. Let the central line (across) mark the position of the eyes, the line above that the top of the forehead, the one below the bottom of the nose. By Fig. 35 you will see this worked out, and have what is considered a well proportioned face.
Now oddity of feature or expression is simply the result of a deviation from this regularity; and if, as you will perceive by the other Figs., 36, 37 and 38, these lines are placed higher or lower, or out of their, strictly speaking, _proper places_, you have, as a necessary result of such disarrangement, oddity, or comicality, which is founded upon irregularity or incongruity in things.
I shall carry out this hint more fully, at present merely pointing out, in reference to the next two figures, how the end is attained by placing a pair of dark spectacles upon a regularly-featured face, or adding a little flesh to the lower portion of that at Fig. 39.
But not to forget the "Art" in the "Sport," let me add, that by sketching the plain oval, and remarking whereabout the lines of their features would cut it, you may, without difficulty, attempt likenesses of your friends and companions.
Now fill your slates or sketch-books with ovals, and try the effects of which the above are but indications. Your imaginations will furnish an endless variety of subjects. The omission of one eye, or its being covered by a shade, or closed while the other stares; the nose slightly on one side, the mouth a little wider than usual--these are all sources of the humorous, which, however, is far from being heightened by _ugliness_. Indeed, it should be borne in mind, that great distortion or hideousness, so far from contributing to humor, destroys it by raising painful images in the mind. True humor is closely allied to kindness.
Now let us take the simplest elements of the profile or side face. This is also formed upon the oval, with a slight variation. And here we must go a little more into the "Art" than at first sight the "Sport" seems to warrant. You will perceive by Fig. 41 that the oval used for profile purposes is divided as before into four about equal portions, which are appropriated in the same manner. That is to say, the central line across is for the eye, and the other two for the limit of the hair and the bottom of the nose.
But take notice that portions are cut off--_e. g._, at the back where the neck is inserted; a little has to be added for forehead, chin, and hair; and some modification takes place about the region of the eye.
Suffice it that the oval forms essentially the basis of the structure of a well proportioned face, such as is shown in the Fig. (41). Draw for yourself, or trace from Fig. 41, a figure for your basis. Next make a number of these tracings upon a clean sheet of drawing paper, and marking them in very lightly, in pencil, proceed as directed in the case of the front face in the last lesson; altering the feature lines, lengthening or shortening the chin, nose, and forehead according to your fancy. This will be a sufficient guide for you, and illustrations of this are accordingly omitted here.
Let us proceed a step further. The last hint only dealt with the depth relatively of the several parts of the face. Now, as to their prominence. How very easily, by means of a few magic touches, which, by this time, you are magicians enough to impart, may you summon up our ancient acquaintance Mother Hubbard, or the modern hero Punch. (See Figs. 42, 43.)
Observe that the peculiarity of these comic physiognomies consists merely in their deviation from the regularly formed head of Fig. 41. They are constructed upon that figure, which may be seen underneath in dotted lines. The variety of ways in which this exercise may be worked is infinite. Subjoined are a few. In Figs. 44 and 45, beards, mustaches, eyebrows, the hair cut absurdly short, or left redundant, joined to the sinking in of the facial angle, produce the effect of comicality. In Figs. 46, 47, the same end is attained by the simplest means, and with even less exaggeration. And here I again repeat, that the less deviation there is from the proper proportions the better.
As a pendant to the comical landscape given No. 27 I give you the annexed (Fig. 48).
Every one will recognize it as a model drawing--such as is to be found upon walls, and occasionally upon the margins of school-books. This the artist (!) intends from a comic drawing. Of course it is no such thing.
We will new take up the grandest object of art the Human Figure. In designing the human figure, there are three principal rules to be observed:
First, the standard height of the human body may be reckoned as eight times the length of the face. Dividing the entire length by eight, as shown in the annexed diagram (Fig. 49), it will be perceived that the face comprises one of the spaces: the second reaching to the chest: the third, to above the hips; the fourth cuts the entire length into two equal parts; the fifth extends to the center of the thigh: the sixth, to the knee joint; the seventh to half way down the leg; and the eighth, to the sole of the foot.
The second rule is, that no part of the body, viewed laterally, is more than twice the thickness of the head. In very young children, however, the rule is, that where the head will go, any part of the body will follow, as the experience of most people has tested.