Healthful Sports for Boys | Page 8

Care must be taken to have the angles right. When the frame is finished, cover loosely with manila paper, so that there will be some concavity on the face of the kite on each side below the cross-stick, so that it will belly like a sail; bind the edges with thin wire which stretches less than string. This kite will fly in a very light breeze. The string, particularly if you have a tandem, should be flexible and strong. In a stiff breeze, and with more than one kite, it is well to have a reel, as in a fishing rod, for hauling in.
The best way with tandem kites is not, as is usually done, to fasten one kite behind the other on the same string, but to hitch each kite by means of a separate string to the main cord. The tail kite will do for tandem, but as the tails are apt to get snarled, it is not so desirable as the tailless kind.
THE BARREL KITE
As the bird and the butterfly kites of the Chinese can be bought at a low price, I shall not attempt a description of them here, but the barrel kite, which is distinctly American, cannot be ignored. This kite was tried some years ago by the U. S. Weather Bureau officers in California. It is cylindrical in form, about four feet long, and two feet in diameter. The frame is made up of four light hoops, braced together by four or more thin strips of wood. The twelve-inch space between the pair of hoops at either end is covered with a collar of paper, and the string, by which the kite is held, is attached to a stick, which passes diagonally through the inside of the cylinder from end to end. When this kite catches the wind it lifts quickly and gracefully. As it is easily made, I should like some of my young readers to try it.
I have not seen a barrel kite in a tandem, but I can't see why it should not work. Between kites on a tandem line, flags of same size, and of any designs that may be thought of, may be strung with good effect.


CHAPTER IV
SOME OTHER SPRING AMUSEMENTS, NOT FORGETTING STILTS
It is said that hoops are loosing their popularity, but be that as it may, I am very sure they will never go out of fashion with the young folk who delight in a good outdoor run, while at the same time they find work for the eyes and the hand.
Neat iron hoops, with a crooked iron hook to propel, I find much in use, but--and it may be because I am a bit old-fashioned--I much prefer the well-made, wooden hoop with a wooden stick. Why, I've had no end of fun with a wooden barrel hoop, but I could never make the iron barrel hoop respond to my urging.
Some makers have attached bells and other jinglers to hoops, but no boy fit to wear boots cares for these baby contrivances. Small light wheels--they can be had from a retired baby carriage--are excellent things to trundle, and some of them require more skill than does a hoop. Even tin-can covers or the top of a blacking box may be made to afford fun and test skill.
When I was a boy, and I am sure boys do so still, we used to make buzz wheels out of circular tincan tops. Two holes, about an inch apart, were cut near the center of the tin. Through both openings a string was passed and the ends tied. By trowling, the strings--its ends were held one in each hand--are made to twist. When tight enough, the ends are drawn, and the buzzer starts off with such force that it half winds itself up on the other start.
THE SUCKER
is a good philosophical toy, for it illustrates air pressure and affords some fun. If you don't know how to make one, this is the way: Get a piece of thin sole leather, about four inches square. Trim off the corners till the shape is nearly round; next lay the leather on a flat substance and bevel off the edges until they are as thin as you can make them.
Now, without cutting through to the under side, cut a hole through the top of the leather, just large enough to force the end of a strong string through. Before using, soak the leather till it is soft. Next find quite a flat stone or brick, force the sucker to the top with your foot, taking care that there is no turned edge, then you can walk off with that stone, forgetting that it is not the stick of the sucker, but the air pressure--some fifteen pounds to the square inch-- that holds the