70 
AMEEIOAi7 AGEIOULTUEIST, 
[FeISKUA UY, 
How to Make a Toboggan. 
The following' description of a Toboggan with 
sketclies is sent ns by Henry M. Weld, aged fourteen 
years : Toboggans were first made by the Indians, 
who used them because tliey cover much snow, 
and thus support a very heavy weight without 
breaking the crust or pressing into the soft snow. 
They are very light to handle, as one six feet long, 
eighteen inches wide and three-eighths inch in 
thickness, weighs only twelve or fifteen pounds. 
They chiefly are made in Canada, where they are 
much used for coasting. I have had some exper¬ 
ience with them and will relate it. I had an oak 
Fig. 1.— TOBOGGAN BEFOEE BENDING. 
board, seven feet long and fifteen inches wide, 
planed down to three-eighths of an inch thick, but 
would have preferred one a foot longer and three 
inches wider. I soaked about two feet of one end 
in hot water until flexible, and then bent it around 
a round block of wood about a foot in diameter 
and fastened it so as to make a curve about three- 
quarters of a circle, leaving it to dry and harden. 
For an eight-foot board there should be seven cross 
pieces as long as the sled is wide, and about thirteen 
inches apart, and two side pieces running from the 
2.— HOW CROSS-PIECES AND EAVES AEE FASTENED. 
back of the sled to about two feet from tbe front. 
These should be fastened over the ends of the 
cross pieces. My cross pieces were made of hick¬ 
ory sticks worked about three-quarters of an inch 
square, and the side pieces of a straight hichorj' 
stick of about the same width, split in two. To 
fasten them on, the first cross piece should be laid 
down at least an inch from the back, and then the 
holes marked for fastening it on, four at each end 
and two at one-third the width of the board from 
each side. Do the same thing for each cross piece, 
and bore the holes. I used a small gimlet, and fas¬ 
tened on the strips with copper wire. When all the 
holes are bored, turn the board bottom side up and 
cut grooves between the pairs of holes and parallel 
to the sides, for the binding wire or cord to fit into 
so as not to be cut by snow or ice or stop the sled. 
All the cross pieces are fastened by the holes near¬ 
est the center except the front one, which is at¬ 
tached to the opposite side from the others, so that 
when the board is bent over it will be on the upper 
side. It is well to have the second cross piece from 
the front end made a little longer than the width 
of the sled to fasten the line to draw it by. 
The side pieces, or raves, are fastened on over 
the ends of the cross sticks. These are tied to the 
cross sticks through the four holes beneath so as to 
hold the cross pieces as well as the raves firmly. 
The bottom, as soon as removed from the log, is 
tightly tied to the third cross piece with wire 
or strips of leather, always leaving the knots or 
twists on the upper side, and if wire so that the 
ends will not catch the clothes. The drawing rope 
is fastened to the second cross piece and your sled 
is ready for the snow. Oak board is best, but if not 
available,hickory or ash will do. Never take a dry or 
well-seasoned board, as I did, for it is sure to crack 
in bending. This sled is steered with a strong stick 
four feet long, pointed at each end, held in front. 
About St. Valentine’s Day. 
BT ISABEL SMITUSON. 
In one of the principal squares of grand old 
Rome, stands an ancient stone gate-way, known as 
the Porta del Popolo, or Gate of the People.—It is 
nearly sixteen hundred years old, and when first 
built was named the Porta Valentine, or Valentine’s 
Gate, because it led to the church of St. Valentine. 
—This seems to be a strange beginning for an ac¬ 
count of the pretty festival of lace paper and span¬ 
gles, and gay lover’s-knots; yet true, that to find 
out the meaning of the little rhyme. 
Oil the 14th of February fine. 
I take you for my Valentine,” 
we must go to that ancient eity which was once the 
mistress of nations, the queen of the pagan world. 
In those earlier days the last half of February was 
held as a religious festival, and the fifteenth day, 
which was dedicated to Juno the queen of Heaven, 
and Pan the god of forests and streams, was 
known as the Feast of Juno Februata.—One of the 
customs was for young men and maidens to meet, 
dressed in their best, when each girl’s name would 
be written down separately, and then all these 
names were shaken well together in a box. Next, 
each young man drew out a name, and to the girl 
who chanced to fall to his lot he would give pretty 
presents and offer himself as partner in the danc¬ 
ing and feastings which followed. The reason for 
fifteenth of February, was that the birds were sup¬ 
posed to choose their mates on that day. In Italy 
of course warm weather begins much earlier than 
with us.—This drawing of names was a very amus¬ 
ing affair, and would have been a harmless one 
had not the merry-makings generally ended in 
rioting and drinking, as indeed all pagan festivities 
were nearly sure to do.—So when Rome began to 
be a Christian city, the pastors of the church did 
all they could to stop the festival, but they found 
this very difficult because the young people were 
devoted to it, and the drawing of names was long 
continued even among Christians. There were 
some changes made, however. The day was called 
St. Valentine’s, and the names drawn were known 
as valentines. The date was also afterwards alter¬ 
ed from the fifteenth to the fourteenth of February. 
St. Valentine himself, whose name is now asso¬ 
ciated with pleasant surprises and loving messages, 
was a faithful pastor of the “ early Christians,” and 
lived in Rome during the third century. The pa¬ 
gan emperor, Claudius II., ordered that all persons 
avowing themselves Christians should be tortured 
and put to death, and Valentine went about among 
his flock, cheering the frightened ones, praying 
with the dying, and burying the dead. For this he 
was thrown into prison himself, and refusing to be¬ 
come an idolator, he was cruelly beaten with clubs 
and then beheaded on February 14th, which 
chanced to be the eve of the feast of Juno Februata 
—hence the change of name and date of the pagan 
festival—and this is all the good brave old man 
had to do with the custom still bearing his name. 
In the seventeenth century the bishop of Geneva, 
Francis of Sales, put a final stop to the practice of 
drawing girls’ names on St. Valentine’s Day, but al¬ 
lowed the people instead to write the names of 
saints, or holy men and women, on slips of paper 
and after “ drawing” these, try their best to imitate 
the goodness and piety of the owners of the names. 
Thus the pagan ceremony became a Christian one. 
The modern practice of sending poetic messages 
on this day is a very old one, and it is hard to say 
just how and where it began. Chaucer, the first 
great English poet, speaks of it in his works which 
were written in the fourteenth century, and Shake¬ 
speare and many other poets mention it. The so- 
called “ comic” valentines are of much later origin, 
yet let ua hope not an American invention, for 
they are as a rule not funny at all, but only coarco 
and ugly, and very apt to hurt the feelings of tho 
leceiver. In the time of Charles II. it was also tho 
fashion in England and Scotland for friends to 
draw each other’s names on St. Valentine’s Day, 
and give presents as we do on birthdays. The first 
person known to have sent a written valentine was 
Charles, Duke of Orleans, a brave French noble¬ 
man, who was taken prisoner by the English at the 
great battle of Agincourt, in 1415. Two hundred 
yeais after, a grand marriage was celebrated on 
St. Valentine’s Day, when an English princess, 
Elizabeth, daughter of James I., was wedded to 
Frederick a German prince, and to this union is 
due the strange fact of the daughter of a German 
family being to-day on the throne of England. 
This wedding was written of by many poets, and 
one named Doune in particular composed a pretty 
poem about it, the first verse of which was : 
‘‘ Hail, Bishop Valentine, whose day this is I 
All the air is thy diocese ; 
And all the chirping rlioristers 
And other birds, are thy parishioners. ’ 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
As I lifted a pareel a few days ago, by means of 
the string, the knot slipped and the parcel became 
undone. I was reminded by this of wliat an old 
sea-captaiii said to me when I was a youngster: 
“ Every boy ought to be able to cling to a rope by 
ills hands, and to tie a square knot.” The clinging 
to a rope is sometliing that most boys learn, with¬ 
out instruction, but many neglect to learr die 
square knot and go thi'ougli life tying granny 
knots,” as sailors call those knots which do not 
bold. A square knot, tbe more it is pulled the 
tighter it will bind, and is just as easily made as 
those knots which come apart with a slight strain. 
Not only should every boy learn this knot, but girls 
Fig. 1. Fig, 2. Fig. 3. 
HOW TO TIE A SQUARE KNOT. 
also, will find it useful. Shop-keepers have a say¬ 
ing that: “ A woman cannot tie up a parcel, she 
always pins it.” To be able to tie a knot that will 
hold, is an accomplishment quite as useful as many 
that girls learn. The square knot is best for tying 
parcels, and wherever two ropes or pieces of cord 
are to be joined to one another it is one of the safest. 
TO TIE A SQUARE KNOT. 
Take an end of tlie cord in eacli band, and cross 
them, laying the right-hand end, a, over the left- 
hand end, &, as in fig. 1. Now pass the end, 6, 
over toward you and under. This will bring the 
cords, as in fig. 2 ; then pass a over 6, and through 
the loop, which will bring the parts as in fig. 3. 
By pulling the ends the knot will be closed, 
and no amount of strain will cause it to slip. 
THE AURORA BOREALIS. 
As several young people living in Western States 
have written me about the Aurora Borealis, I think 
that it must have been more frequent there than at 
tbe East, this winter. These boys especially wish 
to know what causes tbe Aurora. I am always glad 
to have such questions, as it shows a desire to 
learn, but in this instance, it cannot be satisfied. 
Thougli many observations have been made, the 
real nature of the Aurora has not been ascertained. 
There are many facts whicli show that the light is 
due in some manner to electricity, but how, is not 
known. Nor has it been learned why it should ap¬ 
pear at some times and not at others. During the 
display of the light the compass needle is disturb¬ 
ed, and also the action of the telegraph ; both 
being evidence that the display is electrical. 
