The American Boy's Handy Book

by Daniel Carter Beard

  If the puppet ship be held at first some distance from the screen the shadow will be large, and if the puppet slowly approach the screen it will decrease in size and have the appearance of gradually sailing away. In this manner the hero and heroine may be made to escape aboard a vessel from the irate and stern parents. Many other scenes can be produced with very simple means that will suggest themselves to the young showmen after a few experiments with the puppet-show. Colored lights used very sparingly often come in with telling effect. A phantom ship can be made to follow the real one by having another lightsome distance off; one light will cast a heavy shadow and the other a faint one, which will move as the light moves; move the light up and down, and the ship and waves follow and keep time with the light. Many other effects I used to produce in my puppet-shows that at present escape my memory, but no doubt the reader will think of them himself if he becomes interested enough to make a puppet-show for the entertainment of himself and friends, Christmas or New Year’s eve; in which case Old St. Nicholas, with his sleigh drawn by deer and loaded with toys, must form part of the show.

  CHAPTER XXXVI.

  PUSS-IN-BOOTS.

  Dramatized and Adapted for a Puppet-Show.

  PUSS-IN-BOOTS.

  Puppets: CARABAS, afterward the MARQUIS; his oldest brother, the MILLER; CORSANDO, his next older brother; PUSS-IN-BOOTS; WOLFGANG, the Ogre; KING; PRINCESS; KING’S SERVANTS; DONKEY; RABBIT; BAG; RAT. Also, if desired, COURTIERS.

  Act I. Scene I.

  SCENE: Landscape with tree, bridge, and mill at one side. CORSANDO discovered riding the DONKEY backward and forward over the bridge. MILLER and CARABAS emerge from the mill and stop under tree.

  MILLER: Come, come, brother Carabas, don’t be downcast!

  You know, as the youngest, you must be the last.

  Our father, of course, left to me the old mill,

  And the ass to Corsando, for so reads the will;

  And he had nothing else but our big pussy-cat,

  Which is all he could give you. A fool can see that!

  Yet Dick Whittington once the Lord Mayor became,

  And his start and yours are precisely the same.

  But see! I am wasting my time from the mill,

  For while I am talking the wheels are all still.

  I have nothing to give you—be that understood.

  So farewell, my brother! May your fortune be good.

  [Exit MILLER into mill, when wheel begins to turn. CORSANDO approaches,

  and stopping the DONKEY in front of CARABAS, addresses him.]

  CORSANDO: Now, dear brother Carabas, take my advice:

  Go hire out your cat to catch other men’s mice.

  [CORSANDO turns to leave; Puss comes out and gives the DONKEY a scratch, causing him to kick wildly as he goes off.]

  CARABAS: O Fortune, befriend me! what now shall I do?

  Come, Pussy, stay by me—I depend upon you.

  You are all that I have, but can do me no good,

  Unless I should kill you and cook you for food.

  PUSS: Meow! Meow! Kill me not, my good master, I pray—

  Have mercy upon me! Now list what I say:

  I’m no common cat,

  I assure you of that!

  In the top of the mill, where the solemn owl hoots,

  You will find, if you look, an old pair of top-boots.

  Bring them to me,

  With the bag you will see

  Under the mill, by the roots of yon tree.

  CARABAS: Well, Puss, what you ask for I will not refuse,

  Since I have all to gain and have nothing to lose.

  [Exit into the mill.

  [Puss stands a moment as if to think, then capers up and down the stage and speaks.]

  PUSS: A rat? Bah! what’s that?

  Sir Whittington’s cat

  Would have grown very fat

  Had she lived upon such prey

  All the time, day after day,

  Till she made a Lord Mayor of her master!

  But mine shall gain a name

  Through much sweeter game,

  And not only climb higher but faster!

  [Exit.

  [Shift the scene by removing the light and, while the stage is dark, remov

  ing the mill and in its place setting up some trees.]

  Act I. Scene II.

  SCENE: Woods. Enter PUSS-IN-BOOTS, carrying BAG.

  PUSS: Mey-o-w! m-e-y-o-w!

  Were it not for these boots I should sure have pegged out;

  But if I’m not mistaken, there’s game hereabout,

  For I scent in the air

  A squirrel or hare.

  I wonder now whether he’s lean, lank, or stout?

  But I know a habit

  Of the shy little rabbit:

  He’ll enter this bag, and then, my! won’t I grab it?

  [Arranges BAG and hides; RABBIT comes out, and after running away several times, enters the BAG, when Puss pounces upon it.]

  PUSS: To the King in a moment I’ll take you, my dear,

  For he’s e’en over-fond of fat rabbits, I hear.

  An’ I once gain his ear

  I see my way clear;

  For I’ll tell him a story both wondrous and queer.

  And then my poor master’ll have nothing to fear—

  If he acts as I bid him, good fortune is near!

  [Curtain.]

  Act II. Scene I.

  SCENE: King’s Palace. KING discovered standing behind a throne. PRINCESS and attendants standing around. A loud “meow!” heard without. KING and COURT start. Enter Puss, with RABBIT in his paws.

  PUSS: Meow! My great liege, may your Majesty please

  To smile on a slave who thus here, on his knees,

  A humble offering

  From Carabas doth bring.

  And, Sire, my master further bade me say,

  If it please his gracious King, he will gladly send each day

  The choicest game that in his coverts he can find;

  And your kind acceptance of it still closelier will bind

  A hand and a heart as loyal and true

  As e’er swore allegiance, O King, unto you!

  KING: Your master has a happy way

  Of sending gifts. Thus to him say,

  That we accept his offer kind,

  And some good day, perhaps, may find

  A way to thank him which will prove

  We value most our subjects’ love.

  Carabas, is your master’s name?

  What rank or title doth he claim?

  Shall we among the high or low

  Look for your lord, who loves us so?

  PUSS: A marquis is my master, Sire;

  In wealth and honor none are higher.

  [Aside.

  (Cats must have a conscience callous

  Who work their way into a palace!)

  Now, if it please your Majesty,

  I will return, and eagerly

  To my marquis-master bring

  This kind message from his King.

  [Exit, bowing. Curtain.]

  Act II. Scene II.

  SCENE: High-road; one or two trees. CARABAS and PUSS-IN-BOOTS discovered.

  PUSS: Meow! my good master, have patience, I pray.

  CARABAS: Patience to doctors! I’m hungry, I say!

  PUSS: All will go well if you mind me today,

  And while the sun shines we must surely make hay.

  CARABAS: Carry your hay to Jericho!

  Who can eat hay, I’d like to know!

  PUSS: Meow! my good master, your help I implore,

  And while I help fortune, you open the door.

  CARABAS: No house do I own, so where is the door?—

  Ah! Pussy, forgive me, I’ll grumble no more,

  But help all I can in your nice little plan;

  For I know you have brains, Puss, as well as a man.

  PUSS: Meow! my good master, e’en though you froze,

 
You must bathe in yon river!

  [Exit CARABAS.]

  And now for his clothes!

  The King’s coach is coming, and I’ve laid a scheme—

  Though of that, I am sure, the King doesn’t dreeam.

  The coach is in sight! Now, may I be blessed

  If I don’t wish my master was wholly undressed!

  [Loud cries without.]

  There! now hear him screaming—the water is cold;

  I’ll go bury his clothes, for they need it! they’re old.

  [Exit Puss, who soon returns. As he re-enters, the KING’S coach appears.]

  PUSS: Meow! my good master! Alas for him!

  Help! fire! murder! My master can’t swim.

  [Runs to coach.]

  Help! help! gracious King, or Lord Carabas drowns!

  KING: Ho, slaves! To the rescue! A hundred gold crowns

  Will we give to the man who saves Carabas’ life!

  [SERVANTS rush across the stage. KING continues, aside:]

  My daughter shall soon make the marquis a wife.

  PUSS (aside): Mighty keen are a cat’s ears!

  Who knows all that Pussy hears!

  This is better than I hoped for, by a heap.

  What a very lucky thing

  The blessed, kind old King

  Doesn’t know this shallow river isn’t deep!

  [Exit PUSS, running after SERVANTS. PUSS immediately returns,

  crying:]

  O King! what a combobbery!

  There’s been an awful robbery,

  And no clothing for the marquis can we find.

  KING: That is no great disaster,

  For tell your worthy master

  We always pack an extra suit behind.

  If we can trust our eyes,

  He’s just about our size.

  So, while in yonder grove we take a rest,

  Your master’ll not encroach;

  Tell him to use our coach,

  And not to haste, but drive up when he’s dressed.

  [Exit coach, backing out, the DRIVER crying:]

  Whoa! Back! Back! No room to turn here!

  Whoa! Back! Back!

  [Enter CARABAS, in bathing suit. Puss runs after him.]

  PUSS: Meow! my good master!

  I couldn’t do it faster.

  But I’ve now a costly suit, and just your size.

  In the King’s coach you’re to ride,

  With the Princess by your side;

  Make love to her, and praise her beauteous eyes.

  And, master, list to me!

  Whate’er you hear or see,

  Be very sure you never show surprise.

  [Curtain.]

  Act III. Scene I.

  SCENE: Interior of Ogre’s castle. PUSS-IN-BOOTS discovered.

  PUSS: Fin here at last!

  Much danger’s past;

  But such long tramps my liking hardly suits;

  Twas wisdom when I guessed

  That it was surely best

  To secure these blessed, helpful old top-boots.

  I was made to understand

  That all this beauteous land

  Belonged to this man-eating old Wolfgang;

  But as down the road I sped,

  To each laborer I said:

  Your life upon your answer now doth hang.

  When the sovereign comes this way,

  When he questions, you, straightway,

  “This land belongs to Carabas,” must say.

  [Awful growling and noise heard, and WOLFGANG enters.]

  WOLFGANG: Blood and thunder!

  Who, I wonder,

  Sent me such a tempting pussy-cat for dinner?

  I can’t under-

  Stand the blunder;

  But I’m glad, my pussy-cat, that you’re no thinner.

  PUSS: M-e-o-w! My brother Wolfgang (ah, how rich!)

  I wouldn’t have believed

  You so easily deceived.

  Know that I am Catoscratch, the witch.

  WOLFGANG: Rattledy bang!

  Snake and fang!

  So you’re a witch, all skilled in herbs and roots!

  My power is no less,

  But I must confess

  That I ne’er before this saw a cat in boots!

  PUSS: Meow! my brother, speak not of my skill:

  ’Tis true I can change to a cat, but no more,

  While fame says that you can assume at your will

  Any form that you please, be it higher or lower.

  Many a league,

  With much fatigue,

  From a country of ice and snow,

  On my broomstick steed

  Have I come, with speed,

  These great wonders to see and know.

  WOLFGANG: Cuts and slashes!

  Blood in splashes!

  Who dares doubt what I can do?

  Now tell me, old witch,

  Of the many forms, which

  Shall I take to prove this to you?

  PUSS: Meow! my great Wolfgang, it seems to me that

  Of all ’twould be hardest to turn to a rat!

  [WOLFGANG must be drawn backward toward the light. This will cause his shadow to grow to immense proportions. After slowly lifting him over the candle, take up the RAT and just as slowly put it over the light, and move the puppet up until it touches the cloth. The audience will see WOLFGANG swell up to a shapeless mass, and then, apparently, reduce himself to a tiny rat. Puss must then be made to pounce upon the RAT, and by passing the RAT behind PUSS, and then letting it drop, it will look to the audience as if Puss swallowed the RAT whole.]

  PUSS: Bah! Ugh! Spat!

  What a horrid rat!

  [Struts up and down the stage.]

  Well, I think for a cat I’m pretty plucky!

  Now I’ll go and bring

  The Princes and the King

  To the castle of Lord Carabas, The Lucky!

  [Puss, dancing frantically, laughing and purring, nearly tumbles against the KING CARABAS, and the PRINCESS, as they enter.]

  PUSS: Pardon, most gracious Sire, pardon, great King!

  That your humble servant should do such a thing;

  It’s because I’m delighted,

  More than if I had been knighted,

  That the marquis, my master, should entertain the King.

  KING: A truly faithful servant you must be, Pussy.

  When the marquis can spare you, come to me, Pussy.

  We’ll see that you’re not slighted;

  Even now you shall be knighted—

  Sir Thomas Cat de Boots your name shall be, Pussy.

  KING (continuing to CARABAS):

  This castle, marquis brave,

  Beats the very best we have.

  CARABAS: Most gracious Sire, there’s not a thing

  Belongs to me ———

  [Puss rushes frantically to CARABAS, and whispers in his ear; then returns.]

  CARABAS: But to my King.

  For my life and all I have to thee I owe.

  KING: My Carabas, we’re pleased;

  Our mind is cheered and eased,

  For we feared that this great castle held a foe.

  Tis a princely home, ’tis true,

  And we’ll make a prince of you.

  You shall wed my charming daughter, ere we go.

  PUSS: M-e-o-w! M-e-o-w! M-e-o-w!

  What would say his brothers now,

  If they saw Lord Marquis Carabas the Great?

  And until the last horn toots

  (With Sir Thomas Cat de Boots),

  He shall occupy his present high estate!

  [All dance. Curtain.]

  CHAPTER XXXVII.

  HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC LANTERN—A KALEIDOSCOPE—A FORTUNE-TELLER’S BOX, ETC.

  UPON opening his eyes late one summer morning the author was very much startled and astonished at an apparition he beheld upon the wall. He saw at one side of the room, in a waving circle of light, a horrible, gaping monster t
hat was about to make a mouthful of a wriggling, big-headed creature, as large as a cat. Upon turning over in bed and facing the window, the cause of this strange phenomenon was seen. The “gaping monster” proved to be a tiny gar, and the wriggler nothing more nor less than a tadpole. The curtains of the window had fallen down upon each side of a glass globe in which some aquarium pets were quarrelling. A ray of the morning sun had found its way into the darkened room through the fish globe, and by some unaccountable means transformed the globe into a sort of magic lantern lens and slide, throwing the magnified reflections of the inmates of the aquarium upon the wall. The gradual change in the position of the sun caused the vision to fade away in a few moments, and the writer has never since been able to arrange the light so as to reproduce the same effect. Fortunately, however, some one else has discovered the principle, and from it evolved a simple magic lantern, which any boy can make for himself; an account of this invention lately appeared in the Scientific American, and the editors of that paper have kindly consented to allow the description to be used for the benefit of the “American Boys.”

  All that is required for this apparatus is an ordinary wooden packing-box, A (Fig. 212), a kerosene hand-lamp, B, with an Argand burner, a small fish globe, C, and a burning-glass or magnifying-glass (a common double or plano-convex lens), D. In one end of the box, A, cut a round hole, E, large enough to admit a portion of the globe, C, suspended within the box, A, with the lamp, B, close to it. The globe is filled with water, from which the air has been expelled by boiling.

  Now moisten the surface of a piece of common window-glass with a strong solution of common table salt, dissolved in water, and place it vertically in a little stand made of wire, as shown at F, so that the light from the lamp, B, will be focused on it by the globe, which in this case answers as the condenser. The image of the glass will then be projected on the wall or screen of white cloth, G, providing the lens, D, is so placed in the path of the rays of light as to focus on the wall or screen. In a few minutes the salt solution on the surface of the glass, F, will begin to crystallize, and as each group of crystals takes beautiful forms, its image will be projected on the wall or screen, G, and will grow, as if by magic, into a beautiful forest of fern-like trees; it will continue to grow as long as there is any solution on the glass to crystallize. Then by adding a few drops of any transparent color to the water in the globe, the image on the screen will be illumined by shades of colored light. If the room in which the experiment is performed be very cold, frost crystals can be made by breathing on the glass, F. Many other experiments will suggest themselves, and when tried will be found both entertaining and instructive.