Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-27
SOME WHITING STUNTS.
From the BAH In Prison to the An
Choir. Chain and Buoy.

IT suppose" said Uncle Hiram, chat
every small boy when he gets his first
sharp knife does just what our young
friend here has been doing. He gets q
nice stick of soft white pine and cuts o
ball imprisoned within four corner bars.
I know did that, and have made lots
Of them.
You take squared stick of soft white
pine Of any dimensions, but say an inch
square and four inches Tong, and mark
off n block an inch long In the middle Of
its length. Then you mark off on either
side Of that another space Of an inch,
and then you proceed to dig out the wood
from those spaces through from side to
side and from all sides, but carefully
leaving the corners OF the block untouch-
ed, for these will ench become part of
the bar OF that corner extending from
end to end, when the middle block, Of
which the ball is to be made, is cut free.
'.When you have cut out those spaces
all clear, leaving the square block in the
middle, you cut the block down rounding
at the corners, cutting it into the shape
OF a ball US much Us possible before cut
ting it away at the corners, because it is
SO much easier to shape when 1t Is thus
held than 1t will be after it is loose.
Only you want to be careful not to slice
down through the corner pieces and so
spoil the whole thing, and you want to
look out, too, not to do what our young
friend here has done, and what have
often done myself, for that matter, and
that is to slice down through an end of
the block, cutting one Of the corner pieces
clear there, before you come to the round
ing of the block at all.
The rounded block cut Free. You
smooth It of nicely, and smooth the side
pieces and ends, and there you are,
ball that couldn't have been got into this
frame from the outside at all, but that
Is in it, all right, and that rolls freely
within It from end to end.
Sometimes boy would make one Of
those with two balls in It, and / have oc-
casionally known boy to make a ball in
o holder like this out Of hard wood. which
is triumph. for to make q good impris-
oned ball Of any wood Is task requir-
ing the exercise Of some skill and OF very
great patience, but it is really nothing to
some Of the whiting stunts that occa-
sionally men do aboard ship on long voy-
ages or on long waits in port.
a man who was fond OF whiting
might, In such circumstances, take for a
blank stick as long as broomstick
and of suitable dimensions and carve out
OF one end OF this an anchor on swivel.
It is pretty difficult work, and It calls for
the greatest patience, too. to cut a swivel
out OF a solid block.
"Having cut the anchor and the swivel.
the whittier proceeds to cut that long
stick, step BY step. into the links Of a
wooden chain. A link at a time he adds
to the wooden cable, this growing and
the solid remaining part of the stick
steadily decreasing till he comes to the
other end, and there he cuts another
swivel, and for the very end a buoy.
Now, there is something in the whit
Ting line that does take patience. am
afraid our young friend here has not yet
acquired a sufficient stock OF patience to
enable him to do that. am not certain
that could do that myself. New York
Sun.