Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 309, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1915 — HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

By A. NEELY HALL and DOROTHY PERKINS

(Copyright, by A. Mealy HalD

A HOMEMADE WHITING DEBK.

A boy usually has more papers, catalogues and other “valuables” to take care of than correspondence; there-

fore. In planning the homemake desk shown In Fig. 1 I have made a special feature of storage space. Two grocery boxes of identical shape and size must be secured for the desk. Your grocer will likely give them to you. One box forms the desk portion, the other the safe. Before fastening the two boxes together it is best to finish them. Make the desk pigeonholes of thin box boards, cutting them to fit as shown in Fig. 1. The box-cover boards should be battened together with cross strips placed near their ends, on the inside face, as shown 'ln Fig. 2; then this battened cover should be hinged to the desk box with a pair of two-inch hinges placed as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to form the drop-leaf of the desk. Screw

a screw-eye into the outer end of the battens, and another into the underside of the top of the box, in line with each of these, and connect the screweyes with brass chain or heavy cord so the drop-leaf will not drop below ithe proper level • . »«- for holding the drop-leaf closed. Make a short latch with, a notch and bevel cut on one end, and a hole bored through it near the other end, like that shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and pivot this with a screw to a block B. Then nail B to the top of the box in tbe right position so when the dropl»af 1b closed the catch will drop over lta top edge as shown in Fig. 3. The dotted lines in Fig. 3 indicate how the drop-leaf will strike and lift the catch In closing. To complete the bottom safe, it is only necessary to nail a hinge-strip

across the top along the rear edge l(C, Fig.* 6), and another strip to each lend edge (D, Fig. 6). Then batten jthe cover boards together as you did {those of the drop-leaf, but on the unjder side, and hinge to the hinge-strip with a pair $f two-inch hinges. Strips D are provided to shorten the cover boards so they will not strike the Mid uprights of the desk when the cover jte opened. Castors are not necessary, but In* Bsmuch as the desk will be heavy when filled, they will make it easier to move. Two blocks (B, Fig. 6) must he nailed across the bottom box to fasten the castors to. Figure * shows how the two boxes pure connected with four corner uprights. Cut these one inch thick, three inches wide end four feet long md nail or screw them to the box ends. Fasten the lower ends of the uprights even with the castor blocks k and the upper ends so they will extend six inches above the top of the j Two coats of ps&nt win add the desk. Putty

A JAPANESE GARDEN. Do you own a Japanese garden? If not, you should get one right away, because It Is the latest fad to have one. First of all. you will need a shallow baking pan In which to plant the garden. This may be round or square. For soil you must have sand, and you must also have some coarse pebbles or pieces of broken stone. This can be had for the asking some place where a building Is in course of construction. Half a panful of sand and several handfuls of pebbles will be enough. In additloh, you must buy some bird seed or Japanese grass seed to plant In the soiL The rest of the garden material can be picked up at home. There are any number of arrangements for the garden that oan be worked out, and you can replant your garden from time to time to make It different. Fig. 1 shows a good plan to follow for your first one. pile up the sand around the sides of the pan, forming hills and hollows, and leave an irregular-shaped space In the cen*

ter, and extending over to one side of the pan, for a pond. Make a shore line of pebbles around the pond, and scatter other pebbles here and there over the sand. One of the hills must be selected as a site for a little Japanese house. This house may be made of cardboard. Fig. 2 shows patterns for the walls. The dotted lines indicate where the pieces are to be folded. The strips outside of the dotted lines are to be turned in and pasted to adjoining surfaces, in fastening the walls, foundation and roof together. Fasten the walls upon a cardboard foundation (Fig. 1), and glue another piece to their tops for the roof. A high arched bridge mqst be built over a narrow portion of the pond, as shown in Fig. 1. Make this of a piece of a peach-bask6i handle (Fig. 3), with a cardboard railing (Fig. 4) tacked to each edge. The arch of the

handle will determine the curve of the railings. The pair of lamps at each end of the bridge (Figs. 1 and 5) have four sides and a bottom, cut in one piece like the pattern shown in Fig. 6. Cut an opening in each side as Indicated, and punch a hole through the bottom for the supporting post to fit in. Fold on the dotted lines, and paste the turnedin edges together. There must be a bird house similar to that shown in Fig. 1. Cut and fold the sides in the same manner that you did those of the lamps. Make the roof of a square of paper (Fig. 7), fold from corner to corner as indicated by dotted lines, and pinch up the corners as in Fig. 8. _ There must be a number of ducks in the pond, and these are easily made as shown in Fig. 9. The bodies are halves of corks (Fig. 10), and the necks and heads are made of card-

board and fastened in slots cut in the round side of the halved corks. With these suggestions to tiuw you how easily * . garden is built, ypu can use your own ideas for devising other garden accessories.