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THE HANDICRAFTSMAN 
Conducted by A. Russell Bond 
February, I9rt 
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Lemonade Well for a Winter’s Party 
By A. R. Van der Veer 
dinarily heen down cellar to be hacked 
to pieces and chopped into kindling wood, 
but the handy man about the house uses 
the utmost care in opening a box to avoid 
splitting the wood, and then he stores the 
case away against the time when he can 
convert it into a unique and attractive piece of furniture. 
Much has been written on home-made furniture built of 
such lumber as comes from the grocer, but in these writings 
very little, if any, attention has been paid to the common 
barrel. Yet it almost seems as if the barrel and kindred 
wooden receptacles, 
such as small casks, nail 
kegs, paint kegs, and 
the like, possess possi- 
bilities in excess of 
those of the soap box. 
A comfortable uphol- 
stered armchair cut out 
igi a) 
ead 
of a barrel is quite 
commonly seen in a 
country home. Sleds 
and snow shoes may be 
made out of barrel 
staves, as any boy 
knows. Among the 
more unusual applica- 
tions, I have come 
across clocks set in a 
small paint keg as a case, 
a cradle made from a 
barrel sawed in two 
lengthwise, a fireless cooker, in which the barrel figured 
prominently, and a number of other useful articles about 
the house, made in part or wholly from barrels. One of 
the most novel applications, however, was that of a lemon- 
ade well recently seen at a winter’s party in the home of a 
friend. The well was ingeniously constructed out of a bar- 
rel and a ‘soap box, and was covered with crépe paper 
printed to represent bricks, while a heavy coating of cotton 
represented snow on the roof that covered the well. The 
barrel used was a well-shaped sugar barrel and a large 
square opening was cut in one of the heads. The other 
head of the barrel was knocked out. To prevent the head 
in which the square opening was cut from falling apart, it 
was braced with cleats nailed along the border of the well 
opening. These provided a good nailing surface, to which 
four uprights of wood were attached. 
Two cross-pieces were nailed to the uprights, as shown 
Lemonade well in the making and completed. 
in the accompanying drawing, and in these cross-pieces holes 
were bored to receive a wooden shaft. The shaft con- 
sisted of a wooden umbrella stick cut down to the proper 
dimensions. To prevent it from slipping out lengthwise 
from the bearings, a nail was driven through the shaft at each 
side of one of the cross-pieces, and the projecting nail ends 
served as stops. Mounted on the shaft were two small disks 
of wood that were nailed fast with long wire nails. These 
disks formed the end of the rope drum, which was made 
out of Bristol board coiled about the disks and tacked fast 
to them. The lapping edge of the Bristol board was glued 
down, thus forming a neat cylinder. The shaft was pro- 
vided witha crank handle 
consisting of a stick of 
wood bored to receive 
the end of the shaft, 
and attached to it by 
means of a nail, while 
in a similar manner at 
the other end a small 
piece of the umbrella 
stick was secured to 
serve as a handle. 
The roof of the well 
was made by cutting a 
soap-box diagonally so 
that the corner served 
as the peak. The gable 
wall of the roof was set 
back a trifle, so as to 
form eaves. This roof 
was set over the up- 
rights and nailed fast, 
both through the slanting roof-boards and through the 
gable board. The entire roof and the framework were 
stained a dark brown to cover up all printed matter on the 
boards. The Bristol board was also stained, and looked 
very much like a wooden cylinder, instead of one made of 
paper. The cylinder might have been made out of a paper 
box, or case, of the kind fitted around a dry battery, or such 
as is employed as a container for salt and other commodities 
used about the house. 
The barrel, with the framework built upon it, was set 
over a peach basket, upon which was placed the pail con- 
taining the lemonade. The object of the peach basket was 
to bring the pail near the opening in the top of the barrel, 
and to prevent splashing the liquid over the floor as the 
well was operated. The buckets for the well were made 
out of two half-pint measures, selected from a tin shop 
because of their shape. Any other tin receptacle of similar 
