Annuals 21 



a basis, but in this case an old-fashioned "lamp stand" was used that 

 we happened to have in the attic. 



My husband, who makes no pretense to being a carpenter, fitted a 

 large top to this stand which can be removed by simply lifting it up. For 

 material he used what he could pick up about the place, which happened 

 to be a spruce board an inch thick and a basswood board one-half inch thick. 

 He sawed the spruce board into pieces three feet four and a half inches long. 

 These he placed side by side with the planed side up, and they measured,, 

 as thus placed together, two feet and one-half inch across; then he- 

 secured them in place by nailing a cleat half an 

 inch thick and one foot nine inches long and two 

 inches wide at each end. These cleats were 

 nailed at equal distances from the ends and two 

 feet and eight inches apart, measuring from the 

 inner side of each cleat. The cleats were nailed 

 on the side to be placed down upon the top of ''"''" "''" °' ''"' '"p- ^'^°*''"« ^'"'^ 

 the stand, and being put the same distance apart as the toj) of the 

 ^taiM was long, the top of the stand would thus fit in closely between 

 theniXdving no chance for the false top to move back and forth 

 lengthwise. A narrow cleat about four inches long was nailed at each 

 side of the false top the same distance apart as the real top of the stand 

 was wide, and thus the false top was held from moving about either way. 

 These cleats at the ends and sides of the false top were placed close enough 

 together so that, when it was placed in position, it was neces- 

 sary to exert a little strength in order to force it completely- 

 down upon the top of the stand, and it was thus held 

 so firmly in position that it could never become displaced. 

 Around the edge of the false top strips of the half-inch basswood three 

 inches wide were nailed. These strips were placed below the inch board of 

 the false top one-half inch, to hide from view the top of the stand. This 

 made the false top boxlike, an inch and a half deep measuring from the 

 mside. The bottom and sides of this were lined with zinc, which we did our- 

 selves, the zinc costing from forty to sixty cents. It was somewhat difficult 

 to fold the zinc at the corners without breaking it, as was necessary to- 

 make it water-tight. An easier way, and one that would have made nicer 

 work, would have been to cut an inch and a half square from each 

 corner, and then solder the edges together to make the corners tight. 



