g, to these holes, with a loop (F) in it a foot from the top hole.
To this loop you will tie the string of the kite. The tail (G) is made
of pieces of paper about six inches long, rolled tightly and tied at
distances of a foot. Its exact length will depend on the strength of
the wind and can be determined only by experience, but, roughly
speaking, it should be five times the height of the kite, or, with the
kite which we are making, fifteen feet long. It is best to have the
tail in two or three pieces, and then it can be lengthened or
shortened at will. For instance, if the kite plunges in the air and
will not keep steady, the tail is not long enough; but if it will go
up only a little way, the tail is probably too long. Be sure to have
plenty of string, carefully wound, so that there will be no hitches
in paying it out. When starting a kite you need the help of some one
who will stand about thirty yards away, holding the kite against the
wind, and throw it straight up when you have the line tight and give
the signal. If it does not rise it may be well for you to run a few
yards against the wind. At first you must not pay out line very
rapidly, but when the kite is flying steadily you may give it, also
steadily, all the string it wants.

[Illustration: A KITE]

[Illustration: "TO FEEL A KITE PULLING AT YOUR HANDS--THIS IS REAL
JOY"]

Kite Messengers

A messenger is a piece of cardboard or paper with a good-sized hole in
it, which you slip over the string when the kite is steady, and which
is carried right up to the kite by the wind.

A Simple Toy Boat

The following directions, with exact measurements, apply to one
of the simplest home-made sailing-boats. Take a piece of soft
straight-grained pine, which any carpenter or builder will let you
have, one foot long, four inches wide, and two inches deep. On the top
of the four-inch side draw an outline as in Fig. 1, in which you will
be helped by first dividing the wood by the pencil line AB, exactly in
the middle. Then turn the block over and divide the under four-inch
side with a similar line, and placing the saw an eighth of an inch
each side of this line, cut two incisions right along the wood about a
quarter of an inch deep. The portion between these two incisions forms
the keel. Then carry the line up the middle of the end A, and repeat
the incisions as along the bottom, these making the boat's stem-post.
Next turn to the top again, and make a line, simila