The American Boy's Handy Book Turn-of-the-Century Classic of Crafts and Activities

by Beard, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780486431383
• ISBN10: 048643138X
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780486318974
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-19
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

Used by generations of Boy Scouts, this classic includes scores of projects that will keep children occupied all year long-from stocking aquariums and performing puppet shows to sculpting snowmen and making sleds. Includes chapters on kite flying, fishing, rigging and sailing small boats, camping out without a tent, training dogs, raising wild birds, and much else. Best of all, the projects have the power to inspire the imagination and help youngsters master new skills while experiencing the satisfaction of personal accomplishment. 254 black-and-white figures. 63 illustrations.

Author Biography

Known as "Uncle Dan" to those who knew him well, Daniel Carter Beard (1850–1941) was a famed author, illustrator, and social champion. Inspired by the rugged traditions of the American frontier, Beard founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905. Five years later, he merged the organization with the newly formed Boy Scouts of America.

Table of Contents

Spring
Kite Time	p. 3
Man Kite	p. 5
The Woman Kite	p. 9
A Boy Kite	p. 11
Frog Kite	p. 11
The Butterfly Kite	p. 13
The King Crab Kite	p. 14
Fish Kite	p. 15
The Turtle Kite	p. 16
The Shield Kite	p. 18
A Star Kite	p. 19
The Chinese Dragon Kite	p. 19
The Japanese Square Kite	p. 21
The Moving Star	p. 21
War Kites	p. 23
Unarmed War Kite	p. 23
Armed Kites	p. 24
Armed Kite Fighting	p. 25
How to Make the Knives	p. 25
How to Make Cutters	p. 26
Kite Clubs	p. 27
Novel Modes of Fishing	p. 28
The Bell Pole	p. 28
Jugging for Cats	p. 29
The Dancing Fisherman	p. 31
Toy Boats for Fishing	p. 32
The Wooden Otter	p. 33
Fishing for Fresh-Water Clams	p. 33
Home-Made Fishing Tackle	p. 36
The Rod	p. 36
Tin and Spool Reel	p. 37
The Forked Stick Reel	p. 38
Home-Made Nets	p. 39
A Home-Made Minnow Bucket	p. 42
Inhabitants of the Water	p. 43
How to Stock, Make, and Keep a Fresh-Water Aquarium	p. 44
Stocking	p. 53
The Frog	p. 54
Gold-Fish versus Bass	p. 56
Aquarium Cement	p. 57
How to Keep Aquatic Plants in the House or Flower-Garden	p. 58
Water-Lily	p. 58
Cat-Tails	p. 60
How to Stock and Keep a Marine Aquarium	p. 61
Cement for Marine Aquaria	p. 62
How to Collect for Marine Aquarium	p. 66
Summer
Knots, Bends, and Hitches	p. 71
How to Make a Horse-Hair Watch-Guard	p. 74
Miscellaneous	p. 75
Whip-Lashes	p. 78
Splices, Timber-Hitches, etc.	p. 78
The Water-Telescope	p. 83
How to Make a Wooden Water-Telescope	p. 83
A Tin Water-Telescope	p. 84
Dredge, Tangle, and Trawl Fishing	p. 86
A New Sport	p. 86
The Tangle	p. 88
The Trawl	p. 88
How to Make a Bake-Pan Dredge	p. 89
A Tin-Pail Dredge	p. 90
How to Make a Broomstick Tangle	p. 91
The Old Chain Tangle	p. 91
Hints and Suggestions to Amateurs	p. 91
The Use of the Tangle	p. 93
Home-Made Boats	p. 95
Birth of the "Man-Friday" Catamaran; The Crusoe Raft	p. 95
The Crusoe Raft	p. 97
The Scow	p. 101
A Floating Camp, or the Boy's Own Flat-Boat	p. 105
The Yankee Pine	p. 113
How to Rig and Sail Small Boats	p. 118
Simplest Rig Possible	p. 122
Leg-of-Mutton Rig	p. 124
The Latteen Rig	p. 126
The Cat Rig	p. 127
How to Make a Sail	p. 128
Hints to Beginners	p. 128
Novelties in Soap-Bubbles	p. 132
Every Boy his own Bubble-Pipe	p. 132
Fourth of July Balloons, with New and Novel Attachments	p. 136
How to Camp Out without a Tent	p. 148
Hints to Amateur Campers	p. 159
Provisions	p. 159
Shelter	p. 159
Choosing Companions	p. 160
Bird Singers, Etc.	p. 161
The Block Bird Singer	p. 161
The Corn-stalk Fiddle	p. 162
The Pumpkinvine Fife	p. 163
A Pumpkin-vine Flute	p. 163
Cane Fife	p. 163
The Voice Disguiser	p. 164
The Locust Singer	p. 164
The Hummer	p. 166
Bird Nesting	p. 167
How to Collect and Preserve Eggs	p. 167
Birds' Nests	p. 169
Preserving Nests	p. 170
How to Rear Wild Birds	p. 171
Robins, Thrushes, Wrens, and other Small Birds	p. 171
Squabs	p. 172
The Cow Blackbird	p. 172
Wrens, Sparrows, and Finches	p. 173
The Bobolink	p. 173
The Catbird	p. 174
Robins	p. 174
The Brown Thrush, or Thrasher	p. 175
The Wood Thrush	p. 175
Bluebirds	p. 176
The Summer Yellowbird	p. 176
The Bluejay	p. 177
Humming-Bird	p. 177
How to Rear Wild Birds--Continued	p. 180
The Crow, Hawk, and other Large Birds	p. 180
The Hawk	p. 182
The Hawk as a "Scare-Crow"	p. 183
The Hawk as a Decoy	p. 183
Owls	p. 184
Sea Birds	p. 184
Strange Domestic Fowls	p. 186
Home-Made Hunting Apparatus, Etc.	p. 188
Spearing Fish	p. 188
How to Make a Fish Spear	p. 188
How to Make the Torches and Jack-Lights	p. 190
How to Make the Boomerang	p. 190
To Throw a Boomerang	p. 192
The Miniature Boomerang	p. 193
The Whip-Bow	p. 194
Throw-Sticks	p. 195
The Bird Bolas	p. 196
The Elastic Cross-Bow	p. 197
How to Make Blow-Guns, Elder Guns, Etc.	p. 200
To Make a Blow-Gun	p. 201
Squirt-Guns	p. 202
Elder Guns and Pistols	p. 203
The Spring Shot-Gun	p. 205
Autumn
Traps and Trappings	p. 209
Rats	p. 210
The Paper Pitfall	p. 211
Jug Trap	p. 212
The Mole and How to Trap Him	p. 213
The Figure Four	p. 214
Mole Trap	p. 214
The Tollgate Trap	p. 215
The Partridge Snare	p. 217
Set-Line Snares	p. 218
The Spring Snare	p. 219
Hen-Coop Trap	p. 221
Dogs	p. 223
How to Choose a Dog	p. 224
How to Train Dogs	p. 226
To Teach a Dog to Retrieve	p. 227
Pointers and Setters	p. 228
Pet Dogs	p. 229
Practical Taxidermy for Boys	p. 232
Skinning	p. 233
Stuffing	p. 236
A New Manner of Preserving Fish	p. 239
Design for Sketching Aquarium	p. 241
Preserving Insects	p. 242
Morse Insect Box	p. 243
The Lawrence Breeding Box	p. 244
Spiders	p. 245
How to Make Beautiful or Comical Groups and Designs of Insects	p. 245
Marine Animals	p. 246
Every Boy a Decorative Artist	p. 248
Shadow Pictures--Photographic Paper--How to Enlarge or Reduce a Picture, etc.	p. 248
How to Enlarge or Reduce by Squares	p. 250
How to Make a Camera for Drawing	p. 252
Winter
Snowball Warfare	p. 257
How to Build Snow Forts--How to Make Shields and Ammunition Sleds	p. 257
How to Build the Fort	p. 258
How to Make an Ammunition Sled	p. 260
How to Make the Shield	p. 261
Rules of the Game	p. 262
A Snow Battle	p. 264
How to Bind a Prisoner without a Cord	p. 267
Company Rest	p. 267
Snow-Houses and Statuary	p. 269
Snow Statuary	p. 272
Sleds, Chair-Sleighs, and Snow-Shoes	p. 275
A Chair-Sleigh	p. 275
Folding Chair-Sleigh	p. 276
The Toboggan	p. 278
Snow-Shoes or Skates	p. 279
How to Make the Tom Thumb Ice-Boat and Larger Craft	p. 281
The Winged Skaters, and How to Make the Wings	p. 286
Bat Wings	p. 288
The Norton Rig	p. 288
The Norwegian Rig	p. 290
The Danish Rig	p. 291
The English Rig	p. 292
The Cape Vincent Rig	p. 293
A Country Rig	p. 294
Winter Fishing--Spearing and Snaring--Fisherman's Movable Shanties, Etc.	p. 296
Smelt Fishing and the Smelt Fisher's House	p. 297
The Spearsman's Shanty	p. 300
Snaring Fish	p. 301
Spearing Fish	p. 302
How to Build a Fishing House	p. 303
In-Door Amusements	p. 305
Bric-a-Brac, or the Tourist's Curiosities	p. 305
Mind-Reading	p. 309
A Literary Sketch Club	p. 310
The Boy's Own Phunnygraph	p. 314
How to Make Puppets and a Puppet-Show	p. 322
How to Make the Stage	p. 323
The Scenery	p. 323
The Old Mill	p. 325
Puss	p. 325
Corsando and the Donkey	p. 327
The Royal Coach	p. 328
Carabas	p. 330
How to Work the Puppets	p. 330
Stage Effects	p. 331
How to Make a Magical Dance	p. 332
How to Make a Sea Scene	p. 332
Puss-in-Boots. Dramatized and Adapted for a Puppet-Show	p. 334
Landscape, with Tree, Bridge, and Mill at one side	p. 334
Woods	p. 336
King's Palace	p. 337
High-road	p. 238
Interior of Ogre's Castle	p. 341
How to Make a Magic Lantern--A Kaleidoscope--A Fortune-Teller's Box, Etc.	p. 345
A Home-Made Kaleidoscope	p. 347
The Fortune-Teller's Box	p. 348
The Magic Cask	p. 351
How the Barrel is Made	p. 352
How to Make the Dancing Fairies, the Bather, and the Orator	p. 354
How to Make a Handkerchief Doll	p. 354
The Bather	p. 356
The Orator	p. 357
How to Make Various and Divers Whirligigs	p. 359
Potato Mill	p. 359
A Saw-Mill	p. 360
The Rainbow Whirligig	p. 361
A Paradoxical Whirligig	p. 363
The Phantasmoscope, or Magic Wheel	p. 364
The Universe in a Card-Box	p. 368
Life Instilled into Paper Puppets, and Matches Made of Human Fingers	p. 371
To Light the Gas with your Finger	p. 373
Home-Made Masquerade and Theatrical Costumes	p. 374
The White Man of the Desert	p. 374
"The Fourteenth Century Young Man"	p. 375
The Mediaeval Hat	p. 376
The Wig	p. 377
Eyebrows, Moustache, and Beard	p. 377
The Doublet	p. 377
Trunks	p. 378
Tights	p. 379
To Dress	p. 379
The Baby	p. 379
How to Make a Handkerchief Hood	p. 380
Additional Suggestions for the Four Seasons
Spring
Kites	p. 383
Thousands of Kites	p. 383
The Tailless Kite--Holland Kite	p. 384
Fishing	p. 386
The Goose Fisherman	p. 386
The Pistol Reporter	p. 387
The Floating Tie-Up	p. 388
Summer
Home-Made Boats	p. 389
Slab Canoe	p. 389
How to Build a Birch Bark Canoe	p. 390
Indian Birch Bark Canoe	p. 392
A Canvas Canoe	p. 406
The Dug-out	p. 408
How to Build a Siwash Canoe	p. 408
Soap-Bubbles	p. 410
Paper Fireworks	p. 410
Parachutes	p. 412
Paper Whirligigs	p. 413
Home-made Hunting Apparatus	p. 414
Autumn
Decoys	p. 421
Duck Decoys	p. 421
Snipe and Plover Decoys	p. 423
Taxidermy	p. 423
"Uncle Enos" Banjo	p. 425
Winter
Snow-shoes	p. 428
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