The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-10-17
3 II JJN G PFC il 3 b.
INTER RESTING READING FOR DOYs
AND GIRLS.
How bright Young Girls Make TeIc-
B scopes-Presence of N1ind-1he Ant
Lion Lies LOw-The Earfh's AOta-
IS tiOn--yalue of Old Coins


There's only one place west OF st.
louis, where girls can learn to make
telescopes, and that is in San Jose,
Cal, SO writes q San Jose normal
school girl ss5 Il
When She wants to look at some
stars, she Just takes hammer and
some nails and goes out and makes a
nice, clean, firm, little telescope all by
herself. She gets her#l lens from Paris,
Of course-that where all the good
lenses come from but the rest of the
saffair she makes herself, every inch of
1T, and has fun doing it. She learns it
In school And they do say that SAN
Jose girl would rather saw. a good red
wood board into the proper telescope
length than to play the best game Of
tennis in the field.
It's great fun to see the telescope
class at work. There are d whole lot
Of Jolly, bright-eyed, good natured girls
| In that class, and the way they work.
l They wear big checked gingham
Aprons with big pocket for tools and
every one Of those apron pockets hides
sooner or later an artistically smashed
/ thumb. ss
There's whole lot of measuring and
planning and saving to do when you
make telescope But the first a San
Jose girl does is to learn to hold a
stick of wood firmly while someone
else saws it. When she's learned that
and knows how to make a nail go
! straight into the wood, instead of slant
i ing off and bending up like a crooked
i pin, shes ready to begin serious work.
1 The serious work begins with two
j straight sticks and a cross-bar. The
girls run out into the hall and lug in a
big brown, understanding redwood
board, and then they get their meas
uring tapes, and they measure that
board and mark off little places in it
i with a piece Of chalk and squint up
their eyes and try to look as much like
carpenters as they possibly can.
8 r. When the standards are made to De
i just exactly the height and the breadth
4 and the thickness they should be then
comes the barrel The barrel is the
thing you glue your eye to when the
man says: View, view, yiew--the glor
ious luna in full perfection. :
4 That barrel is nuisance to make
q You have to have just the right instru
ments, and you have to use them JUS
SO or you're gone, and so is your tele
scope There isn't much chattering il
the big workroom where the telescopes
&! are made The girls are too much IN
terested in their work to chatter
u They hammer and saw and bore ant
file away, and all you hear is ansocca
8 ssional "ouch'' when a hammer hit
y somewhere where it wasn't expected.
The floor is knee deep in shaving!
and ankle deep in sawdust, and TIL
clean, refreshing smell Of the WQot
makes the room like a corner i'll tn
,slreal woods, where the boards cam
. from i'll the first place.
|, THE telescopes grow out of the roug]
I pieces of boards, and the girls learl
j enough about joining and plannin
!, and measuring to make many an eS
pert carpenter open his eyes. It's n
! use trying to get one Of the girls to es
..Iplain that telescope. She will tai
s technicalities until YOU are beWilderet
! and then she'll laugh at you till your
!, vexed, and then she'll end it all up b
!, crying:
Il coud sell my telescope for a goo
$500 or $500 iii the telescope marke
if wanted to- and then she squeeze
the telescope with her poor little EOun
e ed fingers and says: But wouldn
for. worlds
Z What's going to become Of all the Ii
e struments
!. Oh, nothing much, but the girls hav
learned enough about nails and han
3 mers and saws and things to be able
y do a whole lot Of good joining and ca
$ pentering and telescope making. The
]. teacher says they do all these thing
= better than boys, and if that isn't aetr
s umph what is?