Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 250, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1915 — HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

By A. NEELY HALL and DOROTHY PERKINS

(Copyright, by A. Neely Hall.)

FOR CITY LOT BASEBALL. There would be leas objection to vacant tot ball games If adjoining property owners could be relieved of their fear of broken windows. Show an owner this article, and call hla attention to Fig. 1, that he may see exactly what you propose to do, and It Is not likely that you will have difficulty with him. Make each frame to fit the window opening, in the manner shown in Fig-

2, using Ix 2 inch “furring strips,” lapping the ends, and re-enforcing the connections with strips of tin (Figs. 2 and 3). Then buy enough chicken wire netting at the hardware store to cover the frame. For hanging the screens in place, purchase a pair of hooks and a pair of screw-eyes, for each, and screw the eyes Into the top edge of the frame, and the hooks Into the top of the window frame. A wire covered backstop will not only save you boys lots of chasing after “passed balls” and “fouls,” but also give protection to adjoining property. Fig. 4 shows the completed framework. The first portion to build Is the front frame, which consists of the two 2x4 uprights A, and three horizontal

pieces B. Eight feet square is a good size for this frame, but make it wider If you can. Cut a notch in each end of uprights A, also one in the center of the length, of the right .Width and depth for the horizontal members B to fit in. Then place the uprights A upon the ground, and spike pieces B in their notches. Before raising the frame, buy wire netting and staples, and cover it.

Have several boys raise and support the framework on the spot it Is to occupy, then quickly drive stakes C into the ground, and connect them and uprights A with diagonals D, ahd the ends of D and A with pieces E. Base sacks almost as good as the best to be bought, can be made of eight or ten ounce cotton duck, stuffed with excelsior (Fig. 6). Fig. 8 shows a diagram for cutting the cloth. Use a doubled coarse linen thread. Sew up all but one end, lapping the edges

about one-half inch, and sewing with a double row of stitching. Then turn the sack inside out, stuff with excelsior moistened to make it pack solidly. Get a strap long enough to buckle around the sack, and fasten this to the sack with straps of canvas sewed across it (Fig 6). Prepare a stake with a staple in its atop (Fig. 7), and drive one of these into the ground in the proper place for each base. Usually almost anything at all serves the purpose of home plate, in prairie haO games, but if you want one of regulation form, make it as shown in Fig. 10. Taking a square piece of plank (Fig. 11), cut off corners A, and notch ■corners B; / then cut a tapered stake to lit each botch, and nail in place as shown in Fig. 10.

FOR A GIRL’S f?OOM. What girl would not like to own the set of shelves shown in Fig. 1. to hang upon the wall In her room? The shelf boards should be about threefourths inch thick and ten inches wide, by whatever length you wish to have them. Buy eight half-inch screw-eyes and screw one into each corner of each shelf; and get some heavy wrapping-twine on which to string the corner spools. The Illustrations show how the spools are strung, with a spool below the screw-eyes of the bottom shelf, and another above those or the top shelf, with a knot tied upon the lower end of the cords, and a loop upon the upper end, to hold the spools together. The cords must be pulled tight, and the loops tied close to the top spools, to make the corner stiff. Every girl needs a work box like that shown in Fig. 3. The only car-

penter work necessary is the fastening together of the cover boards with a couple of strips nailed across them as shown in Fig. 5. The box must be covered to conceal the roughness of the boards. A pretty figured cretonne looks well for the outside, and a plain colored lining is best for the inside. Fig. 4 shows how a cloth pocket and elastic tkpes should be tacked to the inside of the cover; also how to make a spool rack by driving nails into the cover and, slipping rubber bands over the nail heads (Fig. 6) to keep the spools from dropping off. A bolster roll to encase the pillow is quite the proper thing for a girl’s

bed, and a roll like that shown in Fig. 7 is not difficult to construct. Get two barrel hoops for the ends, and three wooden strips one-half inch thick and one and one-half inches wide with which to connect them (Fig. 10). The length of the strips should equal the width of the bed the roll is made for.

The diameter of the hoops must be made 11 inches from outside to outside. Remove the hoop fastenings, turn in the ends until the right diameter is obtained, and renail (Figs. 8 and 9). Connect the hoops with the strips, spacing these equidistantly around the inside. Two-thirds of the framework must be covered with cardboard, the other third is left open. Cardboard boxes may be used for covering material. Bend this around the framework, be-

ing careful to curve each piece the same, and tack to each strip. Also cover the barrel hoop ends with cardboard (Fig. 11). Then re-enforce the cardboard with paper pasted lengthwise, both inside and out, to conceal the joints between the pieces of cardboard; also tack padding over the edges of the barrel-hoops. Then covet the entire roll with camtalg lining