1874] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
227 
TOYS <k (MILS 9 ML'UMMSo 
A Street Toy—The Magic Tape. 
One who goes about the streets of New York, whether 
he is only a visitor or lives in the city, is much amused 
at the variety of toys offered for sale by the street 
venders. Some have a single toy, the whole stock of 
which they carry in their hands and coat pockets or in a 
bag; others have several, which they display upon a 
stand that can be carried from place to place. Very 
often the fashion will suddenly change, and a particular 
toy will disappear and another take its place. One of 
the new toys of this kind is one called the “ magic tape.” 
Not long ago there were men and boys crying out, “ ’ere 
you are, only ten cents—the magic tape—’ere you are.” 
Of course we always stop to look at these street things, 
as they are often quite amusing. In this case the man 
had what appeared to be a small square stick with a slit 
in tw# opposite sides, and through this slit there ran a 
piece of tape with a knot at each end to keep it from 
running through. There did not' seem to be anything 
very strange in a piece of common red tape hanging from 
a slit in a square stick—but the man took hold of the 
knot upon the opposite side and pulled it through, and 
behold it came out black! Some of these square sticks 
had a tape at each end, as in .figure 1, and each one by 
being pulled through showed two different colors. What 
could make the tape change color so quickly by just 
drawing it through a slit ? Being used to such tricks, we 
saw at once how it was done, and by showing you the in¬ 
side of the affair in figure 2 you will readily see the way 
of it. The square stick is made of a piece of pasteboard, 
cut part way through so that it will bend easily and 
neatly. The tape, instead of going directly through the 
Fig. 1. —outside. Fig. 2. —INSIDE. 
slits in the side, as it appears to, is much longer than it 
looks to be, and is passed around a loop of string or wire 
fastened inside of the case. If one half of the tape be 
white and the other half blackened with ink, it will be 
seen that when one knot is pulled the white will show, 
and when the other is pulled the red will appear. Like 
all tricks of this kind, this is easy enough when you 
know how. 
He lias a Strong Passion. 
One of our boys says in a letter that he has “a strong 
passion for writing,” and sends us an article hoping that 
we will publish it. Our declining to print the article 
will, of course, disappoint the writer, but it is better to 
do that than to publish an article "that would only interest 
him and perhaps his family. We think that some jour¬ 
nals for young people have done mischief by printing 
articles by children and giving the names of the writers, 
ft directs a child’s attention from proper studies, and in 
many cases it encourages a harmful vanity by printing 
children’s names. While we like to have the boys and 
girls write to us and tell us what they are doing, and ask 
us questions about things, we rarely print their articles, 
and almost never, except in awards of prizes, give their 
names. Now, we would not discourage any boy who 
wishes to become a writer; indeed, if he is naturally 
| bent in tills direction, it would not be possible to dis¬ 
courage him. But boys with a “ strong passion ” in this 
way should remember that they may indulge it to the loss 
of something useful. We pity the youngster who has 
taken it into his head that he will get his living with the 
pen. Some of the very few successful writers are held 
up as examples, but very few know of the thousands of 
miserable failures made by men who try to write for a 
livelihood. So we say to this and all other boys with “ a 
strong passion for writing,” first learn some useful occu¬ 
pation by which you can always be sure of a living, then 
if you have a marked talent for writing it will find a 
chance for exercise. But one can not write without 
education and experience. And you can no more draw 
water from an empty cistern than write anything worth 
reading from a brain that is not well stored with knowl¬ 
edge gained from observation and study. Do not indulge 
in this strong passion, or any other, until you have a 
thorough English education at least, and we would espe¬ 
cially advise the boy in question to give his attention to 
spelling and grammar. A passion for writing is not half 
so desirable as the ability to write well. 
A Beautiful Charity. 
As we passed out of the depot in Boston, two or three 
years ago, we saw by a sign that “ Flowers for the sick 
poor may be left at- chapel, on Tuesdays, Thurs¬ 
days, and Saturdays.” We stopped and looked at this 
sign and thought, “ Well, this is a ‘ Boston notion,’ and a 
blessed one it is.” Upon inquiry, we found that certain 
ladies met at a chapel which was handy to the many 
business men who have fine places in the vicinity of 
Boston, and that these gentlemen brought in flowers on 
certain days, and the ladies made them up into bouquets 
and distributed them among the sick in the poorer parts 
of the city, and if there were any left after all the in¬ 
valids were supplied, they were taken to the women 
who work all day in crowded factories and shops. We 
say this is a beautiful charity. You wno have never 
lived, much less been sick, in a house in a narrow street, 
where the only view is another house upon the other 
side of the street, can not imagine what a precious gift 
a handful of even common flowers can be. How many 
a poor boy and girl have been made happy, and the hours 
of their sickness made less dreary by having some bright 
and beautiful flowers to tell them of the world without 1 
and more than this, to tell them that there are kind and 
loving hearts which could devise and carry out such a 
blessed plan 1 A good thing is sure to be imitated, and 
last summer some ladies in New York did the same kind 
office for the many sick in the public hospitals. Each 
one of you boys and girls can be a society of one to do 
some good in this way. People make a great mistake 
in sending the sick things to eat. It is done in kind¬ 
ness, but it is in most cases mistaken kindness. The 
sight is often the only sense that can be gratified with¬ 
out injury, and flowers are almost always welcome to 
the sick. When you know that one is ill—and you need 
not care if it is a personal acquaintance or not, only 
know that some one needs them—you can often do much 
good by quietly leaving a bunch of flowers at the house. 
Wild flowers are often quite as pleasing as any. When 
you know that the person is very ill, avoid all strongly 
perfumed flowers, as these are sometimes oppressive 
even to those who like them when they are well. It is 
not the value of a gift that is appreciated, it is the 
thoughtfulness that sends a gift at all; and the merest 
child in this way can often bring light and cheerfulness 
into the chamber of sickness. Think of this, and when 
the opportunity offers, act. 
€!ames for H*icnics. 
Unless there is some lively person at a picnic who 
knows all sorts of amusing games, and will “ keep things 
agoing,” the affair is very apt to prove a dull one. There 
are a plenty of games for in-doors, but most of these are 
not suited as out-door amusement. We know that fox 
and geese and such games, which are too boisterous for 
the parlor, are just the things for the open air, but these 
lively games are so few that it is a pity we had not 
more of them. We heard the other day of a game 
which boys can play for the amusement of the girls, as 
it is a little too rough for them to engage in it. In fact, 
it is a trick rather than a game, and there is not much 
fun about it if all know it. It is called the ‘ Prussian 
Drill.” The boys are the soldiers, and are drawn up on 
the grass to be drilled in the presence of the young 
ladies. The captain takes his place in front and the 
sergeant is in his place on the right of the company ; 
these two only should know the trick. The captain 
should be quite pompons, and tell his troops to follow 
the motions of the sergeant. He begins by a few simple 
movements, as “heads up,” “eyes right,” “front,” 
“ eyeB left,” etc. Then the order is given “groundright 
knees,” and all follow the sergeant in kneeling on the 
right knee. “ Right hands forward,” “ left hands back¬ 
ward,” brings the arms out to front and rear. Then the 
captain gives the order to “fire,” at which the sergeant 
gives the boy next to him a push, he tumbles against 
the next, and all, being in this helpless position, go over 
like a row of bricks, to the great amusement of the 
spectators. If you know that there is any “ touchy ” 
boy in the party, who can not get a harmless tumble 
upon the grass without being offended, you had better 
not try this trick ; but with boys who like fun, even if 
it is at their own expense, it is very amusing. Who 
will tell us some good games for picnics that both boys 
and girls can take a part in—not the old, old ones, but 
some that have come up of late years ? 
About Old Fireplaces. 
In these days of stoves there are but few fireplaces 
compared to what there were fifty or more years ago, and 
those that we do see are common affairs made to simply 
burn wood. In olden times, those who built houses took 
much more pains with fireplaces than we see given to 
them at present. They were, in the houses of the 
wealthy, made very showy and expensive. The mantel¬ 
piece was often curiously carved and costly, and the 
opening of the fireplace surrounded by a frame of brass, 
which, with the large brass andirons, was kept as bright 
as could be, and as the two reflected the light of the fire 
it made the fireplace look very bright and cheerful. In 
houses a hundred years old or more there can still be 
found some of these quaint fireplaces, which were in 
their day thought very fine. In the better houses of that 
time it was a very common custom to have all around the 
opening of the fireplace a row of ornamental tiles. 
These were imported from Holland for the purpose, and 
were known as Dutch tiles. They were, however, used 
by others besides the Dutch settlers, for they were the 
fashion in New England where there were no Dutch. The 
tiles were six or eight inches square, of a white glazed 
earthenware such as table dishes are made of, and were 
ornamented with figures of various kinds. There was 
nsual'y a border of ornamental work, and in the middle 
AN OLD DUTCH TILE. 
a figure-piece of some kind, all done in black, blue, or 
other color. Sometimes these tiles had the pictures 
so arranged one after another as to tell a Scrip¬ 
ture or some other story; sometimes they had no 
relation to one another, and they were often quite funny. 
The writer recollects, when a child—oh ! so long ago !— 
of sitting before grandmother’s fireplace and trying to 
guess what these tiles were trying to tell. But all are 
gone now—house, tiles, grandmother, and all but the 
memory of the child sitting and wondering at the tiles. 
You may suppose that we were pleased to see a drawing 
which one of our artists made of one of these tiles which 
he came across in a collection of curiosities. It brought 
back the things of long ago; and we thought that you 
would like to see the picture of this tile and know about 
this odd custom of our grandparents and great-grand¬ 
parents for many generations back. 
A Neat. IPuzzle. —We have not had any 
puzzles lately, and this, which is a very simple one when 
you know how it is done, is really a puzzle to those who 
have never seen it. The puzzle is to take a piece of stiff 
paper, card-board, or leather, five inches long and three 
inches wide, and so cut the piece so that you can paps 
through it. This column that you are reading is just two 
and a half inches wide, so that will help you to form an 
idea of the size of the piece if you have not a measuring 
rule at hand. We will let you puzzle over this until 
next month. It is easily done if you know how. 
