Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1891 — CHILDREN’S COLUMN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHILDREN’S COLUMN.

A DEPARTMENT FOR LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS. Something that Will Interest the Juvenile Member* or Bverjr Household Quaint Actions and L right Sayings of Cato Children. Faith in Prayer. A little Detroit girl of 4 years of age has been taught to pray for all kinds of blessings and help. The other day she was guilty of some act of disobedience for which her mother took her up stairs to punish her with considerable severity. The little girl had been there before and knew what was coming. On the way up stairs with her mother she knelt down, put her little hands together and lifted them in supplication. “O, Lord,” she said, “I’m going to catch it. If you ever do anything for little girls, please Lord, now’s the time.” Then she arose and followed her mother, who, in order to increase her little daughter’s faith in the efficacy of prayer, let her off that time.—Free Press.

A Clover Little Boy. It is hardly decided whether Whittie, when he becomes a man, will be a minister or a horse-jockey, for he plays preacher sometimes all day; then, perhaps for a week, plays nothing but jockey. People say he might be both, but mamma thinks the jockey is going to win. He is called Whittle because his name is Whitney, and one gets dreadfully tired pronouncing the “n” when he is called so many times a day. When he was sick with the grip he drew horses as long as his little Angers could hold the pencil, and every one who called on him was expected to try his or her skill at sketching also. Whittie has a cousin Willie, and they study one hour every day. If mamma spells they can write letters. Whittie writes: “Please make me a horse” to every one he knows, and if he does not get an immediate reply he follows up the letter with this one: “What keeps you so long with that horse?” Mamma spends all her pin money buying stamps for Whittie’s correspondence. He has gone to the country now for the summer, where he rides a real live pony and lias two white rabbits with pink eyes, and two black and white kittens that haven’t their eyes open. Tommy says Whittie talks slang. Whittle’s speech is funny, for be has not yet learned to give the long sound of a or o, and instead of saying “I fell into a hole," or “What do you say?” he says “I fell in a howl” and “What d’ you si?”—New York Recorder.

A Kalny-day Toy. After one of the heavy showers the other day on the south side of Canal street, about midway between Hudson street and the North River, there had formed quite a good-sized pool of water, held In check by a quantity of mud and several bricks placed in the gutter by a bright-eyed youngster. The object of the dam so formed was to afford the young Inventor an opportunity of testing what appeared to be a rough model of a recent in-

vention of his, which, it must /be said, worked splendidly, in exact Accordance with his Idea. As the scheme is a new one, and as its projector disclaimed any intention ’of having It patented, it is given to the young readers that they may try their skill at boat building on a plan which involves neither mechanical ability, capital, nor a great expenditure of time. There need be no excuse for not having an enjoyable afternoon, even if the streets are wet, as this is a rainy-day toy. The way in which the boy In question had constructed his self-propel-ling boat was very simple. He took the bottom of an empty cigar box, knocked all the nails out, and had then, with the aid of a brdken-bladed pocket-knife, cut it into this shape: After this he took one of the side pieces of the box, cut it half lengthwise, and bevelled off the end, forming a keel like this: This he then nailed to the bottom of the flat board, exactly in the middle, in such a manner as to make the keel and the bottom form right angles. The most difficult part of the boat was then commenced-—the manufacture of the paddle. Taking the remaining half of the side piece he had used for the keel, he cut it in half crosswise, and then in the middle of each piece made a groove, so as; to allow the other piece to fit in snugly. The groove was made to go only half way through, so that when the other piece was fitted in it did not lap over on the other side. When these two pieces were put together they formed the four-bladed paddle shown in the cut. This completed the difficult part of the work, and the boy was by this time surrounded by quite a group of his playmates. Some of them were curious to know what the queerlooking affair was to be, but to these he gave rather curt answers, telling to wait and see. It was evident that they had watched him doing some whittling before, because they seemed to think it would pay them to wait, and quietly sat down *p tin curbstone.

Talcing a good, strong robber band flrom his pocket, the embryo naval constructor placed It over the paddle in such a way that each side of the band was between two of the blades of the paddle. Then he placed the ends of the bands over the stern of the boat and caught each end in the groove he had cut for the purpose, which is shown in the cut. Now the boys were all attention. The paddle was then wound around and around until it seemed as though the rubber would break if it were turned the least bit more. Advancing to the edge of the pool, the youngster placed the boat in the water, and then let go of the paddle and the bow "at the same time. As the paddle was released, of course the rubber began to untwist, and thus moved the paddle with sufficient force to send the little craft to the end of the ten-foot pool. It was quickly caught up here and headed the other way, and had just reached the starting-joint when the rubber had spent its force. As the boat sailed away there went up quite a cheer from the audience of small boys, and the inventor had to repeat the operation any number of times. They did not hesitate to commend their ingenious playmate, and each one immediately set about finding the material to construct one of the simple toys himself.—New York World.