SECRET HIDING PLACE
You Make It Out Of An Old Book
If you belong to a club that needs a place in which important papers can be safely hidden, make a secret book. It's a good hiding place for small articles. When it is placed on a table or shelf with other books, no one would likely suspect it Contains anything but ordinary pages.
All you need is an old book nobody wants any more and some glue. The pages of the book must be glued together and then an oblong hole must be cut through them. This hull becomes the receptacle for things to be hidden.
Be sure the book you choose is no longer useful. To be on the safe side, get permission from Mother or Dad to use it.
Figure 1 shows how to glue the pages together. The glue is applied only around the three loose edges of the pages. The first 15 or 20 pages of the book should not be glued together. Allow them to be loose as in an ordinary book. Glue all other pages however, and the last page should be glued to the inside of the back cover of the book.
Figure 2 shows how to use a sharp knife to cut the oblong hiding place in the glued pages. Figure 3 shows how you can use water colors to paint the inside of the book if you wish to do so. Figure 4 shows the completed book, out of which the boy has removed some important papers he had hidden there.
AN X-RAY CARD
It Reveals The Bones In Your Hand
This feather "X-ray" card is really a fake, but it's fun to make and use because with it you seem to be able to see the bones in your hand.
You must have two pieces of cardboard and a chicken feather. First thing to do is cut a round hole about the size of a five-cent piece in each card. Make these holes at the same place in each card.
Next, cut a piece of chicken feather that is a little larger than the holes. Glue the two cards firmly together with the feather between them and over the holes. The device is now ready for use.
Hold the card in one hand and look at your other hand through the feather. The bones in your hand will apparently have become visible to you.
Look through the feather at a pencil and the lead will seem to have become visible, also.
It's an illusion, of course, but fun! Try it on your friends.
MAKE A SKULLCAP
Use The Crown Of An Old Hat
Any boy who has never made himself one of those felt skullcaps so popular among the young livewires of the playgrounds, can do so by following these directions.
You begin with an old felt hat such as Father wears, but be sure it is a discarded hat he no longer wants. To play safe, ask him if you can have one of his oldest, most battered hats and I'm sure he'll be glad to pick one out for you.
Cut the brim off the hat as shown in Figure 1. Next, pull the crown of the hat down upon your head as far as it will go. It will probably be so big it will come down over your eyes, and, if this is the case, turn the excess upward, as in Figure 2. If the upturned excess is more than 1&1/2 inches high, use your scissors to trim some of it off.
The hat is now ready for decorations. These can be airholes of various shapes, cut through the felt with a sharp knife or scissors, or can be fancy pins and buttons which can easily be collected. Figure 3 shows various types of decorations and suggests that you cut in some hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs and make zigzag edge around the brim of the hat. The finished hat appears on the boy in the lower right-hand corner of our illustration.
Boys who belong to a club can make themselves skullcaps with identical designs that can have a secret meaning.
