Chapter XXXIII: Little Paper Columbus and His Paper Ship

PLACE a chair against one end of the bath tub, for Spain, and another chair at the other end of the tub for America. If the chair seat is lower than the rim of the tub, build up with books until the top book is as high as the tub; then fill the bathtub more than half full of water and pretend it is the Atlantic ocean. Cut out two paper dolls, one for King Ferdinand, the other for Queen Isabella. Remember which chair is Spain, and seat the royal couple in Spain, on a throne, made of a bent piece of cardboard. Bring Columbus before the monarchs and let them bid him Godspeed; then put Columbus in his ship, the _Santa Maria_, with a number of sailors, and send the vessel sailing off on her voyage of discovery. Gently push the boat forward by the projecting spar at the stern, and the little craft will sail along like a real ship on a real ocean; but you must be careful not to push too hard and capsize the vessel. When the boat reaches America, have ready on the chair at that end of the bathtub, some wild Indians with their wigwams, and let Columbus and his men land, while the Indians stand gazing at them in astonishment.

Before we make the little paper people, let us build

=Columbus’ Ship.=

This ship is to be as nearly like the _Santa Maria_, the real ship in which Columbus sailed, as is possible to make of paper. Cut a piece of light-weight cardboard fifteen and three-fourths inches long and seven and one-half inches wide; on this draw the diagram of the boat (Fig. 589), making the greatest lengths of the diagram exactly as long and the greatest widths as wide as the cardboard. Find the lengthwise centre of the cardboard, which will be three and three-fourths inches from each long side line, as the cardboard is seven and one-half inches wide. Draw a line along the centre from end to end, to guide you in making the diagram of the boat; this central line will also be the centre of your ship. Commence drawing the bottom A—A (Fig. 589) at a distance of two and one-fourth inches from the end of the cardboard; the bottom must measure seven inches from its extreme front point A to the back line A, and two and three-eighths inches at its widest point from B to B. The point A of the bottom must come on the long central line, and the straight back line of the bottom A must be one and three-fourths inches across.

The length of the extension at the back of the boat from C to D is three and one-half inches; the deck from D to E, three inches. The greatest width of the deck, E, not including the two flaps, is two and three-fourth inches, and the narrowest part at the line D one inch. The sides of the boat are slashed and the last slash or side piece, F, at its greatest height touches the edge of the cardboard, while the side pieces G and G, are the lowest, and so are the longest distance from the cardboard edge. When you have drawn the diagram cut out the little craft.

Cut along all the heavy lines. Bend the four dotted lines of the prow ledge (H, I and H, I) backward. All other dotted lines must be bent forward, and care taken to keep the bends exactly on the dotted lines. Do not bend the laps enclosed by the tiny circles along the sides J, J, J, J, J, J. These circles merely show how far the slashed sides lap over each other to form the correct shape of the _Santa Maria_, for you must know that Columbus’ vessel was very different in build and appearance from any ships we find at the present time. The prow and stern were much higher than the middle of the boat and at the top the stern was quite narrow while at the bottom it was wide, making the rear of the ship big at the bottom and small at the top.

Now put the little craft together. Bend the sides up and fasten each lap on the edge of the next side piece with glue or strong, thick paste. Bend up the back and paste the three laps of each edge over onto the sides, fitting the short laps on the section K over the projections L and L of the sides.

=Make the Mizzenmast=

of a paper lighter, ten inches high after the end has been bent (Fig. 590). Slide the small end of the mast, from beneath, up through the hole K in the after deck (Fig. 589). The hole should be a tight fit. Paste the bent end of the mast flat and tight to the bottom of the boat; bring the flaps of the deck down over the top of the sides and paste them securely in place.

Next bend up the prow, lapping the flap O (Fig. 589) over the side edge of the prow, O, and the flap P over the prow, P.

=Cut the Bowsprit=

(Fig. 591) of cardboard six and one-half inches long, split the wide end up lengthwise through the centre two and one-fourth inches, then fold the remainder lengthwise through the centre according to the dotted lines Fig. 592. Open the split end and place one-half on the inside of one side of the prow, and the second half opposite on the inside of the other side of the prow. Leave these ends loose, resting the bowsprit in the short opening at the centre top of the point of the prow, where the two short ledges, H and I (Fig. 589), meet.

=Make the forward Deck=

of cardboard (Fig. 593) two and one-fourth inches long and at its widest part a generous one and one-eighth inch. Cut the hole N, five-eighths of an inch from the wide, straight edge; then cut a strip five and five-eighths inches in length and three-fourths of an inch in width, slash as in diagram and bend at dotted line (Fig. 594). Cut the slit M, and fasten the strip on the deck by pasting the flaps over the top of the curved edge of the deck (Fig. 595). Slide the flat point of the projecting bowsprit through the slit M (Fig. 594), and run a paper lighter foremast, nine and one-half inches long, not including the bent end, through the hole N (Fig. 593). Bring the deck down over the prow, adjust the bowsprit to the inclined height of the bowsprit in the illustration and paste the two split halves of the end of the bowsprit on each side of the inside of the prow. Fasten the foremast tight on the bottom of the boat and paste the deck on the ledges, H, I, H, I (Fig. 589). Make a

=Deck-Fence=

for the stern of a piece of paper seven and one-half inches long and one inch wide. Cut it in a fringe with every other short strip of the fringe cut out like Fig. 596. Paste the loose fringe ends along the three outside top edges of the after deck, allowing the solid border of the fringe to form the fence rail. See illustration. Cover the lower ends of the fence when they are pasted to the deck with a band of paper seven and one-half inches long and three-eighths of an inch wide (Fig. 597).

=Make a Spar=

for the stern of the boat as you made the bowsprit Fig. 592, only the spar should be shorter, extending beyond the stern of the boat about two inches. Slide the large end of the spar through the opening in the deck at E (Fig. 589) and rest the split ends on each side of the mast.

=For the Mainmast=

at the centre of the boat make another paper lighter eleven inches high. Do not bend the end, but paste the bottom lapped edges together and run the mast through a common wooden spool (Fig. 598). Glue the spool tight on the bottom of the boat, a trifle forward of the centre, and your ship is ready for the sails, as you can see from the picture.

The illustration shows little paper Columbus in his red cloak and cap, standing on the stern of his vessel, one of the sailors in the centre, and a wild Indian peeping over the side of the boat. We must make our

=Santa Maria Watertight=

before the sails are set. Melt half of a wax candle in a tin piepan and set the ship down into the melted hot wax to cover the bottom thoroughly. Use a teaspoon for pouring the liquid wax over all sides, about one inch up from the bottom of the boat. This bath of wax should render your ship perfectly water-tight, but test the little craft on water to make sure that it does not leak.

=Cut the Sails=

of very light-weight writing-paper, the top edge straight, side edges slanting, and bottom edge curved inward. Make the greatest height of the foresail for the bow four inches, the width three and one-half inches. With the scissors point, punch two small holes in this foresail, one in the middle at the top and one in the middle at the bottom. Enlarge the holes slightly by inserting the point of a lead pencil and twisting the pencil gently around (Fig. 599). Remember that all holes for the masts to run through must be made rather small, to prevent the sails from sliding too far down the masts. Bend the top and bottom of the sails together to curve the paper, that the sails may appear to be in a good stiff breeze when fastened on the masts. Slide the foresail you have just made on the foremast; it will stay in place without glue. Make

=A Paper Flag=

like Fig. 600, for the mainmast, one and three-fourths inches long and one and one-half inches wide. Cut two holes at one side as shown in the diagram, divide the remaining space into four squares and paint the two diagonal squares, Q and Q, red.

=Make the Main-Topsail=

three and one-fourth inches long and three and three-fourths inches wide (Fig. 601). For the

=Crow’s-Nest=

saw or cut off the top of an ordinary wooden spool and paint red downward points around the top edge, a pointed band around the centre, and two straight, narrow bands at the lower edge (Fig. 602).

=The Mainsail=

(Fig. 603) must be four and one-half inches long and five inches wide. Paint a red cross on it as shown in the diagram. Slide the mainsail well down on the mainmast; over it place the spool top “crow’s-nest”; next run on the main-topsail and slip the flag on the tip-top.

=The Jigger Sail=

for the mizzenmast at the stern of the boat must be five inches high and five inches wide (Fig. 604). Paint the paper pennant (Fig. 605) blue, and bend it into several waves. Slide the jigger sail in place on the mizzenmast and top it with the blue pennant. Your finished vessel should resemble closely the illustration. If you want to

=Paint the Santa Maria=

do so before giving it the wax bath. Color the hull a reddish brown, the masts brown, and the sails a light orange; this will give a very pretty effect.

Now for the characters of our little drama. Make

=Columbus=

of heavy stiff writing-paper or very light-weight cardboard, like the pattern (Fig. 606), which measures from the top of the head to the lowest edge of the stand, four and three-fourths inches. Without the stand the figure measures four inches. Carefully cut out Columbus, mark his features, hair, and clothing in black ink. Cut his cloak (Fig. 607) of red tissue paper, bend at dotted lines across the shoulders, and fold back the open front as in Fig. 608. Make the red tissue paper cap (Fig. 609), and fold lengthwise across centre (Fig. 610); then put both cloak and hat on Columbus, that he may be ready to start on his journey (Fig. 611). Cut out a number of sailors (Fig. 612) to go on the boat with Columbus, and a lot of Indians (Fig. 613) for Columbus to find when he lands on the shores of America, at the other end of the bathtub.

=Make Wigwams=

for the Indians of paper cut in half circles. Bend back narrow, pie-shaped pieces along the two straight edges of each half circle, make the pie-shaped pieces reach midway up toward the centre; then bend the half circles into tent-like forms, pin the two top edges of each one together, and you will have wigwams, with the doorway flaps bent back. Cut off the top peak of each, wigwam and stand some heavy long broom straws in the opening to represent poles used in real wigwams (Fig. 614).

Fig. 615 shows

=King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella=

of Spain, seated on their pasteboard throne, ready to receive Columbus.

Queen Isabella gave three ships to Columbus, but the _Santa Maria_ was the largest vessel, and the one which carried Columbus. The two smaller boats were named the _Pinta_ and the _Nina_. You can make these smaller ships or use any little boats you happen to have; they are not very important.