T curtains they may be raised and lowered alternately, one tableau being prepared while another is exhibited. Some of the frames may be made so as to show only the head and shoulders, in which case it is merely necessary for the actors to stand behind them. The background, in the case of small frames, should be black or very dark cloth. The illusion is heightened by having fine black gauze stretched between the stage and the audience. Instead of an ordinary curtain several curtains of white gauze may be let down, one by one, and then raised in the same way; the effect being to cause the picture to fade away gradually. This is especially effective when some slight change in the position of the actors is all that is necessary between two tableaux. One of the frames at the rear may be used to show a sort of panorama, a line of figures passing slowly behind it, each stopping for a few seconds at the proper place. The figures may represent historical or mythological characters; and a lecturer may describe them, pointing to each with a wand. In all tableaux, since the figures are seen on one side only, no care need be taken of that part of the costume turned away from the spectators. The faces should be colored or made up in the same way as for theatricals. TABLEAUX, or TABLEAUX rear, and then raise the stage-curVIVANTS (French for Living tain again, disclosing the new tabPictures"). A theatrical enter-leau. If the frames have separate tainment in which the performers neither move nor speak. The effect depends entirely on the dress, attitude, expression and grouping, as in a picture. Unless an artist is stage manager, tableaux are best made by copying an actual painting as nearly as possible in grouping, costume and background; or, if an engraving be copied, the colors may be arranged at pleasure. The chief thing to remember as regards colors is that the picture must neither be too sombre nor contain brilliant colors close together, whether on the figures or in the background. As it is very difficult for the performers to keep perfectly still, tableaux can be shown for only a few seconds at a time, and it is well to raise and lower the curtain several times. The great changes of scene necessary between the tableaux and the short time during which they can be shown often makes such exhibitions tiresome, and everything possible should be done to reduce the waits between the scenes. To this end no performer should take part in two consecutive tableaux, and as soon as the curtain falls on one scene the actors in the next should be ready to take their places. If possible, one background should be arranged behind another, so that it is necessary only to take away the first to show the second. One method TAG. A game played by any is to make three frames, represent- number of persons, one of whom ing picture-frames, at the rear of the tries to touch or " tag" any of the stage, either with or without sepa- others he can. If he succeeds, the rate curtains. Tableaux can be ar- one tagged must take his place. ranged behind these during the ex- No player can be tagged when hibition of one on the stage. It is touching the "goal," or "bye," then necessary only to lower the which is any object agreed upon, curtain while the actors leave the such as a tree, fence, or stone. stage, raise the background curtain Sometimes, instead of some particwhich concealed the frames in the lular object, anything made of a given material is considered a "bye"-such as anything of stone, iron, or wood. The game is then called "Stone Tag," "Iron Tag," or "Wood Tag," as the case may be. The first tagger is generally selected at the opening of the game by COUNTING OUT. Cross Tag. There is no goal in this form of the game, but any player who is chased can be relieved by any other player running between him and the one trying to tag him. The latter must then run after the player who ran between, till he in turn is relieved. When any one is tagged, he must take the pursuer's place as before. Tree Tag. Each player chooses a tree as his goal, and cannot be captured while touching it except by some other player's going around it three times. When any player is touched by another, or captured at his tree, the tree of the one who captures him becomes his goal. The game ends when all the play ers are at one tree. Squat Tag. When a player who is pursued is tired, he is allowed to stoop or squat close to the ground, the pursuer not being allowed to touch him while in this position. The number of squats allowed varies from two to eleven. King's Land. A kind of Tag played by any number of persons, one of whom, representing the king, stands within boundaries agreed upon at the beginning of the game. The other players can be touched by him only when they venture inside the boundary; and when they do so they call out, "I'm on king's land; king can't see!" or similar words. By running in and out again on all sides they strive to confuse the king and divert his attention from one to the other. Pavement. The name for it in Devonshire, England, is Judge Jeffrey's Land, from the cruel judge of that name who lived in the reign of James II. This game is sometimes called Rook's Castle, and the old English name for it was Tom Tiddler's Ground. The German boys, when they play it, say: "King, I'm in your land; I'll steal your gold and silver sand!" In France, the king is called the Crow, and French children playing this game, say, "I am in your castle, Crow, and I shall always be there." A similar game, though not a game of Tag, is KING'S Castle. Several kinds of Tag are played in France. In one, called Chat Perché (Cat on a Perch), a player cannot be caught when his feet do not touch the ground; as, for instance, when he is on a bench or clinging to a tree. Chat Coupé (Cut Cat) is our Cross Tag. In a kind called Mère Garuche (Mother Garuche; probably from gare, meaning "take care!") the players, called Children, as they are caught must hold the hands of the first pursuer, and thus all must pursue together. Any pursuer may seize and detain whomever he can; but the original pursuer, Mother Garuche, must touch him before he is regarded as caught. Gorilla. A kind of Tag in which the pursuer is called the Gorilla. The other players howl and make any kind of noise, but the Gorilla keeps perfectly quiet. As soon as he touches any player he begins to howl, while touched player, becoming Gorilla, stops howling. The players know who is Gorilla by his silence, and can thus avoid him. the TAKE CARE. A game played by In Connecticut the forbidden any number of persons in several land is sometimes called Van Die- ways. In one of the most commen's Land, in New York Dixie's mon, flour is packed tightly into a Land, and in Philadelphia Golden | bowl, which is then turned over and removed, leaving the flour in a mound. On top of this is placed a small coin. The players in turn then remove each a part of the flour with a knife, and whoever lets the coin fall must pick it from the flour with his teeth. Sometimes each one says take care" as he cuts off his portion of the flour, and the game thus receives its name. There are many substitutes for the flour and coin. One of the best is a card-house of two cards on a pile made of the rest of the pack loosely thrown together. Each player removes one card, and he who allows the card-house to fall must pay a forfeit. The game may be played out of doors with a little flag stuck in a pail of sand, from which each player removes a little on the end of a stick. " TALKING MACHINES. A machine to say the word "Mamma can be made as follows: Take a toy trumpet, and holding the small end in the mouth place the two hands over the funnel. By blowing through the trumpet and opening and shutting one hand the syllable "Ma" can be produced quite plainly. By repeating this the word "Mamma" can be spoken. A very good imitation of the human voice can be made also by stretching two india-rubber bands across the end of an empty spool (see illustration). The edges of the bands should be close together without Overlapping. On blowing through the other end of the spool the bands vibrate like the huTalking Spool. man vocal chords, and make a sound something like the voice, which changes with the force of the breath. TASTE, Experiments on. 1. To find which of the company has the most delicate sense of taste, dissolve a little sugar in water so as to make a slightly sweet solution. Pour half of this into a glass and replace it with pure water. Put half the diluted liquid into a second glass, replace it with pure water, and so on till the liquid cannot be distinguished from ordinary water. The liquid must not be too strong to begin with, or too many dilutions will be required. Care should be taken to keep the glasses in proper order, as, if they should be mixed, it would spoil the experiment. Now place on the table the glass containing the strongest solution, and one of pure water, and let the company enter one at a time, blindfolded. Give each to drink several times from the two glasses, in any order you please, asking him after each taste whether he had pure or sweetened water. Care should be taken to have glasses alike, and filled to the same height. Those who tell incorrectly are considered “out." Those who make no mistake take part in a similar trial in which the next weaker solution is used. This goes on till only one is left who can taste the sugar-water, who is declared to have the most delicate taste. The experiment may be tried over again, using first salt and then vinegar, instead of sugar. It will often be found that he who has the most delicate taste for sugar cannot detect acids as easily as some one else. 2. Prepare three glasses of water, dissolving a little quinine in one, salt in the second, and leaving the third pure. After holding some of the bitter or salt water in the mouth for a few seconds, swallow some of the pure water, and it will taste sweet. TEA-KETTLE. A game played by any number of persons, one of whom leaves the room while the others agree upon a word with sev will hang as close as possible to the poles without touching them. (See Fig. 1.) When a current passes through the magnet wire the arma eral different meanings, or upon two or more words pronounced alike. The player who went out now returns and asks each in turn a question. The word or words agreed on must be introduced several times in the answer, but instead thereof the word "tea-kettle" must be substituted. If the word is compounded with another or with a prefix or suffix the word "tea-kettle" must be similarly compounded. Thus, suppose rain, rein, reign, to be the selected words. The first question may be, "How do you do?" to which the answer is returned: “Not very ture will be attracted and will make well, for I was out yesterday in the a clicking sound. Put in two brass biggest tea-kettle of Queen Victo-screws behind the armature, so that ria's tea-kettle." The next may be it will touch them as it hangs, and asked, "Do you enjoy riding?" then attach it by pieces of elastic "That depends on the tea-kettles, and also on whether it is tea-kettle-ing or not." The player from whose answer the word is guessed becomes questioner in turn, leaving the room while another word is decided on. Fig. 2. to another screw at a distance of two or three inches, so that the elastic will pull it back against the screws when the current is off, thus making another click. The elastic must not be so strong as to prevent the magnet's drawing the armature to itself. The mode of Key. Procure two strips of brass, one two inches long and the other TEETOTUM. See TOPS. TELEGRAPHS. The electric tel-holding back the armature is shown egraph is described in C. C. T. un- on a larger scale in Fig. 2. der this head. A simple one on Morse's system may be made as follows: To telegraph between two stations requires two sounders, two keys, a battery and a line of wire. Sounder. Make a small electromagnet (see MAGNETS) about two Fig. 1. inches long. Fasten it on its side on a strip of board by tacking strips of cloth or leather over it, and from a piece of bent wire over it suspend the armature by threads so that it Fig. 3. four. Punch a hole in one end of each and screw them to the same board with the sounder, at right angles to each other, the free end of the long piece just lying across the middle of the short one. Bend the long piece upward a little, near the screw, so that in its natural position it will not touch the short piece. (See Fig. 3.) By pressing the end of the long piece down, contact can be made between the two, and if they are to be left in con tact the long piece can be caught under the free end of the short one by turning it aside on the screw as a pivot. (See Fig. 4.) The wires Fig. 4. are attached to the strips by being wound once around the screws, just before screwing them down tight. Battery. The best battery to use is a Gravity (see ELECTRIC BATTERIES), but any other will do except the Leclanché and similar cells, which weaken very fast when the current is passing. In a telegraph the current has to pass all the time, for if the circuit were broken at one station it would be impossible to signal from the other when a message was to be sent. The best place for the battery is in a box under the table on which the instruments stand. doors ordinary telegraph wire should be used, which is fastened to trees or posts by insulators, so that the current may not be drawn away. Glass insulators may be bought of a dealer in telegraph supplies, but simple ones can be made of rubber tubing cut into pieces about an inch long. A nail is driven through the tubing lengthwise into a tree, and the wire is wound once or twice around it. Ground Connection. Where the two stations are in the same house, the circuit consists of wire both ways, but where the line passes outdoors the current passes one way through the wire, and back through the ground. Where there are gas pipes, connection with the ground can be made by simply winding one end of the wire tightly around one where it is exposed. Where there are no gas pipes a wire must be carried to the ground, where the end is attached to a copper plate about a foot square and buried deep enough to be constantly in moist ground. Connections. The different instruments may be connected in any order desired, but the following directions should be observed by those who wish exact instructions. Line Wire. The size of the wire between the stations depends somewhat on distance. In telegraphing from one room to another in the same house, small insula-Connect one wire of the battery ted wire may be used, which may with the ground wire, and the othbe secured along the edge of the er with one end of the wire around floor, where it will not be seen, by the electro-magnet of the sounder. means of double-pointed carpet The other magnet wire is connecttacks. If the line is to be out-ed with one of the brass strips of G Fig. 5.-B. Battery. GG. Ground plates. KK. Keys. L. Line. the key, and the other strip with the line wire, as shown in Fig. 5. At the other station the same connections are made, except that there is no battery, so that one of the magnet wires is connected directly to the ground wire. If there are to be one or more stations between the end ones, each must have its key and sounder. The |