Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1916 — HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

Br A. NEELY HALL and DOROTHY PERKINS

(Copyright, by A. Neely HAIL)

A SNOWBALL MORTAR. A snowball mortar is a novelty that will add a great deal of sport to a snow battle. And the fact'that the one shown in Fig. 1 is a modified forip of the ancient war-engine known as a “ballista,” used before the invention of gun-powder and fire-arms for hurling heavy stones, makes it all the more Interesting to make and use. Our modern "war engine." or "snowball mortar," as we call tt, is mount--ed upon a pair of runners, just like a

sled is built, so it may be drawn over the ground quickly. One or two mortara may be entrenched in a snow fort for the use of the defenders, and others may be used by the attacking party to batter away the walls of the fort. With practice you can become expert in handling a snowball mortar, ' and you will declare this methodof hurling snowballs far more fun than that of throwing by hand. The runners (A, Fig. 2) are made of 2-by-4-inch material, about 4 feet in length. Their bow ends are curved like sled runners, to make them run over the ground easily Cut the uprights B (Fig. 2) out of 2-by-4-inch material, making them about 24 inches long, and nail them to the sides of the runners, 16 inches from the bow ends, as shown in Fig. 2. Nail them securely, because the connections will be placed under a considerable strain

when the mortar is “fired.” The ■board C (Fig. 2) fastens to the top edges of the runners and holds them at the proper distance apart. It should measure about 12 inches w’ide, and should extend from the rear ends of the runners close up to the upright pieces B. The top beam D—(Figs. 3 and 4) should measure about 6 feet long and 4 or 5 inches wide. A board 1 inch thick will be better than a heavier piece, because it will be springy and will thus increase the throwing power of the mortar. • Pivot top beam D between uprights B, at a point about 30 inches from one end (E. Fig. 3). To pivot it, drive a long nail through each upright B -into the edge of the board. It IS necessary to ptacethe nails at exactly the same.

height anß to drive them straight, in. order to have the beam swing perfectly. By careful work you will have no difficulty in pivoting the beam. The handle-ba< F (Figs. 3 and 4) should be a piece of 2-by-4-inch material about 30 inches long. The illustrations show of Jthls shaped yound to make them easy to grasp. The pocket for snow balls is made out of a tin can. A (omato can will do. Fasten it to the long end of the top beam with several nails driven through the tin bottom. ___ _ Figure 1 shows the position of the mortar when ready for* loading with* a snowball, and Fig. 4 shows how, by bringing the handle-bar forcibly against runbers A, the snow ball is hurled forth trow its pocket

HOW TO COPY PICTURES. * By means of. the glass reflecting frame shown in Fig. 1, it is possible to make an exact drawing of any picture that you may wish a copy of, and this apparatus Js easily made. All that you need for the tion are two boards (A and B), two crosspieces (C and D), and a small picture frame with the glass fastened securely in place (E, Figs. 2 and 3). Almost any smalt-sized picture frame will do, though one that has an opening about eight inches wide and ten

inches long is of the best sizer if you can get it. The boards A and B should be about one inch longer than the picture frame, and they should be square or nearly square. Place the pieces upon the pair of crosspieces C and D, with the edge of the picture frame slipped between them, as shown, and nail them to the crosspieces. To make a copy of a picture, place it upon the left-hand side of the frame, and a piece of drawing paper on the righthand side. Then, standing so that you can look into the left-hand

side of the glass of the frame, you will see the reflection of the picture to be copied, in the glass, and the piece of drawing paper on the other side of the frame, will be seen as a background to the reflection of the picture. Keeping the same position, it will be but a simple matter to draw out on the piece of drawing paper each line that you see reflected in the glass. A very simple and exact method of making a larger or smaller drawing of a picture is that known as “enlarging, and reducing by squares.” We •yill suppose that the picture of the rose in Fig. 4 is to be enlarged twice each way, as shown in Fig. 5. With a ruler and pencil, measure off a series

of points across the top of the picture. and another series- along side, spacing them exactly one-half inch apart. Then rule lines from the top to the bottom of the picture, and from side to side, starting each line from one of the points. When the picture, has been squared oft in this Way, mark nff a similar series of points along the top and down one side of a sheet of drawing paper, but, instead of one-half inch, space them one inch apart (Fig, 5), .. Then jjde. lintjs up and down and from side to side, in- the same way that you did across the original drawing, Letter the ends, of the up-and-down lines, and number the ends of the cross lines, so It will be easy to locate corresponding squares on both the small and large drawings.