THE "YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
9- 
Franklin came with warm water, and the 
hired man rushed in with the garden 
pump. They forced half a gallon down 
his throat, then held him by the heels 
over the edge of the porch and shook him, 
while the old man said : " If we don't get 
them things out of Benny he will be 
pizened, sure. ' ' When they were out, and 
Benjamin explained that the articles al- 
luded to were oysters, his father fondled 
him for an hour with a trunk strap for 
scaring the family. Tradition adds that 
ever afterward Franklin's language was 
marvelously simple and explicit. 
Shadow Plays. 
AS a means of furnishing amusement 
to a small party of children (whether 
of large or small growth is a matter of no 
consequence), the old fashioned "shadow 
play," as it is called, can scarcely be ex- 
celled. It is so easily prepared, and re- 
quires so little experience or skill to work 
it, that we have often wondered that it is 
not more generally known. 
skeleton, and the play consists in throw- 
ing a nuntber of these shadows upon a. 
transparent screen, and causing them to 
move about in various grotesque ways. 
The sl^dows, however, are generally pro- 
duced by one figure, which is cut out of 
pasteboard, and hung a short distance in 
front of the screen, as shown in Fig. 1. 
If our young readers will cut such a figure 
(of small size) out of card-board, and hang 
it before a wall, and then bring a candle' 
or lamp behind it, of course a shadow will 
appear on the wall, and the closer the- 
candle is to the figure the larger will be- 
the shadow. If the candle be held at one- 
side, the shadow will be made long and 
narrow ; if above or below, the shadow will 
be short and dumpy. If the candle be- 
moved with a quick jerk, the figure will 
appear to jump, and if the jerk be very 
quick and from a state of rest to a state of 
rest, the effect is more like magic than 
anything else. If the candle be moved 
slowly the figure moves slowly. If, how- 
ever, there are more candles than one, the 
Fiff. 1. 
The simplest form of shadow play, or 
shadow illusion, as it is sometimes called, 
is that known as " Ihe Witches Dance,'' or 
The Dance of Death," according as the 
figure which throws the shadow is that of 
an old witch with her broomstick, or a 
shadows will be multiplied— a shadow for 
each candle— and as some candles may be 
near the figure, and some at a distance, the 
shadows will be of different sizes and 
shapes. A little practice in the shape of 
rehearsals will soon give an insight inta- 
