PREFACE.
CHAPTER I. TREE-TOP CLUB HOUSES.
The River Rats
A Tree-top Retreat,
The Secret Grape-Vine Route.
Dangerous Toughs.
A Club-House in the Tree-tops,
The Desired Spot
A Two-Tree House.
How To Start.
A Blocks,
The B Poles
The Corbel Piece D
How to Build the Foundation.
Frame, Walls, and Roof.
A Rustic House.
The One-Tree House
A Three- and Four-Tree Foundation,
CHAPTER II. HUNTING WITHOUT A GUN.
How to Capture and Trap Small Live Animals.
Chipmonks and Woodchucks!
Camp-Fire Club,
“Receiving-Cage.”
Rodents or Gnawers.
A Smudge
Flying-Squirrels,
The Cloth Bag
Short-Tailed Meadow-Rats
Utilizing Last Summer’s Birds’-Nests
White-Footed Mice as Pets.
Short-tailed Meadow-Rats
Jumping-mice,
Woodchucks
A Box-Trap, or Figure Four,
Musk-Rats
CHAPTER III. THE BACK-YARD ZOO.
Our Reputation among the Brutes.
This Gory Method of Study
Worshipped with Canine Devotion,
Can Appreciate Kindness.
Lot Twenty-five Feet Wide
Crow and Dog did the Bossing
Galvanized Iron Wire-Cloth or Netting
The Mesh
A Pair of Foxes
Each Cage
To Make a Cage of Galvanized Wire-Netting,
The Door
The Doors for the Runway
A Reptile House
An Old Piece of Canvas,
Your Whole Collection
Silly Superstitions of Hoop-Snake Age.
Toads: Useful and Harmless.
Neither Do Toads Make Warts;
Frog Market.
Peepers
The Tree-Toad,
The Anderson Frog,
The Frog Has Teeth.
Lizards.
The Receiving-Cage.
The Value of Room.
CHAPTER IV. A BACK-YARD FISH-POND.
A Shallow Pond,
If You Dig a Hole
By Sinking a Wooden Tank
Best Form for Such a Tank
Two Runners.
To Prevent the Wood from Decay
In the Shadiest Spot
When to Stock.
Handy for the Pets.
Catch Your Own Fish
Fresh-Water Clams
Avoid Salt-Water Sand,
CHAPTER V. PIGEON-LOFTS AND BANTAM-COOPS.
Need Shelter
Chickens,
A Pigeon-Loft and Bantam-Coop
Rough Lumber Will Answer.
Pigeon-Loft Floor
Shutter Frames.
Roofing Material.
Doors.
The Shutters
Keep Clean.
The Hen’s-Nest
Pigeon-Nests.
For a Hen-Roost,
Drinking-Troughs.
Old Lard-Can,
Flying-Cage.
CHAPTER VI. HOW TO MAKE A BACK-YARD AVIARY.
Bird’s-Nests in Washington’s Coat.
Bird’s-Nests in Speaking-Horn.
A Woodpecker’s House.
The Perforated Door
The Hinged Door
Bring the Martins Back
The Gourds for Bird’s Houses
Paint the Gourds
The Wren-House
Tin-Can Bird-Houses.
A House of Straw.
A Barrel for a Martin-House
Old Knot-holes
An Available Supply of Moist Clay
Little Native American
CHAPTER VII. A BOY’S BACK-YARD WORKSHOP.
How to make Buildings Plumb and Level.
The Success of Americans
A Good Oil-stone,
A Hatchet
Use the Best Tools You Can Get.
A Level,
A Convenient, Home-Manufactured Plumb
A Workshop;
A Foundation,
How to Build the House.
Set Your Posts
Floor the Foundation
Make Your Ridge-Plank and Rafters
The “Purlins” and “Collar”
Examine the Corner-Posts
The First Stud
Make Your Door
The Window,
Side-Plate
The Skeleton of Your Shop.
The Rafters
Nail a Green Bough to your Roof-tree,
The Machine-shop,
Tool-rack
The Carpenter’s Bench,
To Protect your Auger-bits
Care of Shavings.
A Place for Tool-racks.
To Keep Small Things.
A Famous Old Rack,
CHAPTER VIII. HOW TO BUILD AN UNDERGROUND CLUB-HOUSE.
American Gnomes
A Doorway at the Top
The Trap-Door
Dimensions of the House.
A Cross-Section
The Boys’ Underground Club-House
New Lumber,
Pitch to the Roof,
Framing.
Passageway.
There Are No Windows
The Roof
Gumption.
A Ventilator,
After the Grass Begins to Grow
Dangerous Caves.
CHAPTER IX. A BOYS’ CLUB-HOUSE ON THE WATER.
Crusoe-Clubs,
Foundation of the Club-House Submerged,
The Building Material
A Soft Bottom,
True Robinson Crusoe Style,
Weave a Basket
The Foundation Posts
Fill the Crib with Stones.
More Binders,
The Bottom of the Pond
Always Level,
In a Large Building,
Temporary Diagonal Braces
An Artificial Island
CHAPTER X. HOW TO HAVE FUN AT A PICNIC.
“Joggling-Board.”
Turnpike Loo.
The Driver
Modern Pasteboard Box,
Pack the Ground Coffee,
The Rhode Island Clam-Bake,
Burgoo.
Clothes-boiler,
It Takes Time to Properly Cook a Burgoo,
When the Soup is Cooked
A Game of Jack-Fagots.
Old Dan Tucker.
Circle Around Tucker, Singing
The Words, They Sing
Crowding on Tucker
“Go Stand and Face Your Partner,”
“Now Let Old Tucker Join Us.”
Pitch-peg-pin Pitching
Let All the Girls,
The First Gentleman Takes
The Scores
Lawn Hab-enihan.
CHAPTER XI. HOW TO BUILD AND HOW TO FURNISH A DANIEL BOONE CABIN.
Imagination’s Mill
The Ghosts of the Fireplace
The Log-House
Trees of a Smaller Growth,
The “Skid”
Locate Your Cabin,
Build a Foundation
For Floor-Joists
The Floor-Supports
Log-Rolling.
Door and Window Opening
A Fireplace
Any Sort of a Roof
The Most Essential Piece of Furniture
The Bunks
Make a Lincoln Bed.
When Your House is Crowded,
Stuff all the Spaces Between the Logs
Make the Door
If You Have Money to Spend,
Oiled Paper for Glass, in Your Windows,
The Lamps
The Brownies Will Eat Them.
The Fireplace
Wooden Hammers, or Mauls,
Next Build Your Clay Walls
For the Chimney
Stick Chimneys
Table Takes Up Needed Room,
Three-Legged Stools.
When You Start for Camp
How the Women Should Dress.
The Requirements for a Camp.
From the Stand-point of Health.
Making the Shack or Shelter.
The Brush-Covered Lean-to
In Tents with Roofed Verandas.
What is Needed for Table and Larder.
CHAPTER XII. A FLAT-BOATMAN’S HORN.
Whittling
Wooden Bugles,
Revolutionary Soldiers,
The Old Wooden Horn of Captain Bob Collins.
The Wabash Horn,
Among the Flat-boatmen
For a Mouth-piece,
CHAPTER XIII. THE AMERICAN BOY’S HOUSE-BOAT.
A Unique Navy.
Some of These House-Boats
Big Square Sails,
House-Boat as a Fashionable Fad,
A Flat-Bottomed Scow,
Building Material.
The Sides of the House-Boat
Make Four End-Pieces,
Now for the Bottom.
The Bumpers
The Hull May Now be Painted,
Twenty-odd Ribs.
The Cabin of this House-Boat
Deck-Ribs
The Boat May Now be Launched
The Plans Show Three Lockers
The Keel
Side-Supports for the Cabin May be Erected.
Use Ordinary Flooring,
The Hatch.
Upper Deck
The Rafters,
Box in your Cabin
This Roof,
To Contrive a Movable Front
The Rudder,
A Pair of Rowlocks,
Two or more Ash Poles,
The Locker
A More Simple Set of Plans.
Canvas-Cabined House-Boat.
Information for Old Boys.
The Cost of House-Boats.
For People of Limited Means.
Street-Car Cabins.
CHAPTER XIV. A BACK-YARD SWITCHBACK.
“Switchback,”
The Wheels
The Flange
Set the Car-Bed Low.
Build the Axles
The Bottom of the Car
Starting Platform.
The Track
A Curved Track
Erect the Uprights
The Cross-ties, or Sleepers,
Ticket-Chopper’s Box.
CHAPTER XV. HOW TO BUILD A TOBOGGAN-SLIDE IN THE BACK-YARD.
Slipperies.
A War-Time Slippery.
Tropical Toboggan-Slide.
If Your Back-Yard is Wide
But if Your Yard is Long and Narrow,
A Frame,
The Incline May be Lengthened
A Toboggan Room.
“Packing” the Slide, or Chute,
It is a Wise Plan
CHAPTER XVI. A HOME-MADE CIRCUS.
The Bath-tub is a Splendid Receiving-Tank
As a Lake for His Fleet,
A Water-wheel,
The Shaft.
An Old Cigar-Box
Make Six Paddles,
Hanging-Bars.
If you Make a Frame,
Figures Which Move.
A Neat, Round Knot
CHAPTER XVII. GOOD GAMES WITH TOOTHPICKS AND MATCHES.
A Toy is a Plaything,
Wooden Toothpicks
A Simple Toothpick Example,
Lift Three Safety-Matches with One Toothpick.
Explanation.
A Spring-Bed.
Artificial Water.
A Bridge of Matches.
Two Piers,
Two Approaches to the Bridge
Add a Roof
A Paper Flag,
A Pioneer Settlement,
The Chimneys
CHAPTER XVIII. FUN WITH SCISSORS AND PASTEBOARD AND PAPER.
How to Make the Sleigh.
How to Make the Horses.
To Cut Out the Horse,
The Tongue, or Pole.
The Pasteboard Soldiers.
The Stirrups
Such an Ideal Soldier
Make an Army.
Walk through the Centre of a Visiting Card.
Grandmother’s Reticule
“Any Old Thing”
First American Flag.
To Cut a Five-pointed Star with One Clip of the Scissors,
Another Way to Cut a Five-pointed Star,
A Six-pointed Star can be made with One Cut,
The Cross,
Two Cuts, make the Cross into a Square.
CHAPTER XIX. HOW TO PREPARE AND GIVE A BOYS’ CHALK-TALK.
We are all Born Artists.
The Name Chalk-Talk
Learn by Practise
Drawing-Board,
Size of Board.
The Height of the Easel
Tack the Paper
Keep a Sharp Knife
The Drawings Themselves
Begin Your Talk
A Stationary Object
Emblem of Stability.
Motion.
Another Meaning
Draw All Your Figures as Large as the Paper Will Permit
This Line Means Repose.
Something Which Needs Practice,
Evolution of the Ape
For Quick Work
CHAPTER XX. A CHRISTMAS NOVELTY FOR BOYS.
How to Build and Decorate a Fireplace for Santa Claus.
The First Start
Back of the Chimney,
The Front Frame
The Remaining Pieces,
A Simple Task.
The Covering
To Line the Inside of the Fireplace.
Our American St. Nicholas
Costume for Jolly Old Santa Claus
The Coat.
Use a Fur Cap,
How to Put on the Clothes.
The Clock,
CHAPTER XXI. HOW TO MAKE TWO BOYS INTO ONE SANTA CLAUS.
How the Old Saint’s Legs are Made
The Wig and Beard
The Curtains
The Sleigh
Good Things in a Bag,
When All is Ready
The Signal for Legs,
Concluded
CHAPTER XXII. A CIRCUS IN THE ATTIC.
How to Make the Horses and Other Animals, and How to Make the Costumes.
The Goat
Since the Writer’s Circus Days
The “Arab Steed”
A Feather-Duster May Do Service as a Tail.
The Neck-Bones
The Ribs
The Frame
The Reins
The Moa is the Giant Bird from New Zealand,
The Manicora
A Little Ingenuity,
The Dignified and Self-sufficient Ring-master
Tight-fitting Knee-breeches,
A Jersey or a Tight-fitting Undershirt
A Girl’s Old Turban Hat,
Knickerbockers,
Wrong Side Out
Take an Old Soft Felt Hat
Pajamas,
Making-Up
CHAPTER XXIII. A BOYS’ STAG-PARTY
Old Boys
Invitations to a Boys’ Stag-Party,
Make the Target
Carpet Tacks
All the Large Vegetables
The Cabbage Bonbon Box
The Big Pie or Pudding
Knick-knacks and Jokes
The Ribbons Must be Loosely Knotted
Don’t Disappoint the Boys.
The Shooting.
The Numbers are All Recorded,
When All the Boys are Properly Decorated,
Great Trays, Heaped with Raw Garden-Stuff.
The Regular Spread May Be Served,
The Great “Fake” Cake
At a Given Signal
CHAPTER XXIV. A WILD WEST SHOW IN THE HOUSE.
Patterns Are Here Given,
How to Reproduce the Patterns.
Rule the First Line
Again Take Your Two-foot
Next Trace Out the Cowboy,
After the Puppets Are Cut
Make a Round Knot
How it is Done.
As the Audience
For a Bridle
The Indian Horseman
The Buffalo,
A Piece of White Muslin,
CHAPTER XXV. HOW TO HAVE A PANORAMA SHOW.
A Good Panorama
The Subject
With Paste-pot and Shears,
Select Your Topic
Colored Figures,
The Works of the Panorama,
Build a Narrow Box,
Cut Some Dark Red Canton Flannel
The Stage
Footlights.
How the Panorama Box
Top Board
Make the Rollers of Broomsticks,
A Crank or Windlass
Big Show-Bills,
A Square Piece of Tin
Turn Out All the Lights
INDEX
