AS BETSY ROSS trick of cutting a five pointed star with one clip with a pair of scissors has never been intelligently presented, I will endeavor to show how it was explained to me in my early youth. I wish it to be known that I was born in close proximity to that little house on Arch street in Philadelphia where Betsy Ross showed George Washington and Robert Morris how to design the five pointed star of freedom.
There are several ways of performing the feat, but I consider the following to be the best and most easily described. Take a rectangular piece of paper, say five by three and a half inches, and first fold it double as shown in Fig. 1. Then fold on a line from the center A to the two comers, folding the comer marked B forward and the comer C backward as shown in Fig. 2. Now fold the paper on a line from C to the center point A, so as to bring the edge D parallel with the line B as shown in Fig. 3. Then fold the end E backward, bending it on the line from B to the center point A so the paper will be folded as shown in Fig. 4. Now, cutting a straight clip from F to G, it will produce the five pointed star as shown by Fig. 5. The usual method, which has to be done more or less by guesswork, is shown in the next three illustrations.
First fold a perfectly square piece of paper in half as shown, and bend it from the center point so that the double edge intersects the middle of the top. Then fold down the top on that dotted line so as to look like the second illustration. Then back the bottom piece on that bias line so it locks like the third illustration, and a cut on the dotted line will produce the shape similar to the other.
It just occurs to me to say that I remember as a boy that when I wished to make a perfectly symmetrical five-pointed star, I used to first cut out a round piece of paper and, folding it as shown, I would bend it in five parts and then give it one clip with the scissors, which insures a perfect star.
2. An Optical Illusion
Here is a most interesting illustration of what might he termed an optical illusion. Look steadily for about ten seconds at the little square in the center of the above design, then, without winking, suddenly gaze at some small point on a sheet of white paper, the ceiling, or a blank wall. After a few attempts, by gazing intently at the one spot for ten or twenty seconds, the blurred form which first appears will assume the well-known features of a celebrated general.
It would appear to prove that color is purely a freak of the imagination, and that the colors we think we see are really created by the retina of the eye. Look intensely at a bright colored spot, like the ace of diamonds or hearts, and then gaze at the blank wall or paper and you will see the red has changed to a bright green.
Artists employ this method to find what are the party color or complement to shade certain colors with, because the new color which appears on the space is the opposite to the color of the spot you have first looked at, as white is to black, green to red, etc. The mysterious feature of the experiment is that you now see a new color which exists only in your imagination.
3. A Rebus
Two words there are — the first will tell
What may be found in many a soil,
Where various treasures silent dwell;
And if you know their natures well,
The second may reward your toil.
Unite them, and you'll quickly guess
What I have tried in vain with you;
'Tis what I used, I must confess,
With little skill and less success,
To hide my meaning from your view.
Cipher Answer.— 19, 20, 18, 1, 20, 1, 7, 5, 13.
STRATAGEM
4. A Rebus
Two words which denote what old Shylock will hold
On your house, or your land, ere he lends you his gold,
Enjoined, name a being who wanders from home,
And in many strange climates may sojourn or roam,
But where'er he may be, in town, country or strand,
He can never exist in his own native land.
Cipher Answer-—1, 12. 9, 5, 14.
ALIEN
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