THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
11 
vent the plaster from sticking. When 
this was set, a flattened-out piece of the 
lead pipe was placed in the centre of the 
plaster. The bowl was then filled to the 
rim with more plaster, when the remain- 
ing end of the six inch stick was inserted 
in the centre of the plaster before it set, 
as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. 
After the plaster had set, I withdrew it 
from the bowl, and while still moist, 
shaved down with a pocket knife the 
too conical end of the half sphere of 
plaster, taking care not to shave into the 
piece of lead. I then went over it with 
sandpaper. The ends of the cross stick 
were dipped into soft plaster, and when 
this had set, they were carved to resemble 
hands. 
The nut, upright and cross sticks, formed 
a rude head, body and arms, w^hich was 
dressed with tissue paper fastened to- 
gether with boiled flour paste. 
The walnut was then painted flesh color, 
the features were drawn in with writing- 
ink, and a ruddy complexion was given 
by vermilion. 
The hair and beard were composed of 
the downy parts of chicken feathers stuck 
on with warm wax. 
When all was finished, great was the 
astonishment of the children, over this 
image that couldn't lie down, but went 
reeling and rocking across the table. 
Little Dumps looked scared, and whis- 
pered " Are it a gunk man for truly ?" 
I had no idea what industrious collec- 
tors little folks are till next evening, when 
I was brought face to face witli a small | 
sized mountain of " trumpery " tliat con- { 
sisted of the loaned collections of all the ! 
children on the block. I learned that my 
glory as a toy maker had spread, and that 
my last night's effort had been on exhibi- 
tion all day on the front stoop to an ad- 
miring crowd, and to the dismay of 
Bridget, who had to " clane up tlie clutter 
after thim." 
Out of this miscellaneous gathering I 
constructed the monkey as shown in Fig. 
2, which w^as composed principally of old 
sponge slate cleaners, and was a sort of 
irrepressible pen-wiper, which, the chil- 
dren christened the "Chimpansee," pen 
wiper, and declared it to be so pretty, 
when finished, that it must be placed oo 
the nic-knackery stand. 
It was made in the following manner r 
Selecting the largest size piece of sponge^ 
Fig. 2. 
I cut it into the form of a monkey's body,, 
clipping it smoothly with a pair of scis- 
sors. Then a head was made the same 
way, also a pair of arms and legs and tail. 
These different parts were then gone 
over with a red hot poker which charred 
the surface of the sponge, so that it was 
easy to shape the parts more perfectly by 
scraping the surface away with a knife. 
This application of heat also gave the- 
sponge a rich brown color. The several 
parts were then fastened together by pas- 
sing a double-threaded needle through 
them. 
After the body was finished, the eyesi 
and mouth were painted in. It was then 
fastened to a lead button. The button: 
was cast in a mould of yellow soap, whicli 
was made by boring into it with a tea- 
spoon. When the lead button came out 
of the mould it was ridged, and rough, 
till sandpapered off smooth, after which 
the bottom was ground flat ; this was to 
cause the monkey to rebound quickly to> 
the upright position. The latter was 
fastened to the body of the monkey witli 
hot wax, after which it was varnished with, 
black asphalt varnish. 
