Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/166

fashionable. At one of these gatherings the guests, old and young, furnished with clay pipes, stand around a table, in the centre of which is placed a fancy punch bowl filled—not with a mixture of ardent spirits, but soapsuds. Prizes are awarded to those among the guests who successfully launch in air the largest bubble, and to those who keep theirs flying for the greatest length of time or send them the highest. As may be imagined, these parties are very amusing, and everybody at first tries to prevent his or her neighbor from succeeding, until, amid great merriment and confusion, the hostess announces that if her guests expect the prizes to be awarded, a rule must be enacted compelling them to pay more attention to their own efforts and not allowing them to molest each other.

It is generally known that a bubble will burst if it touch any hard or smooth surface, but upon the carpet or a woollen cloth it will roll or bounce merrily.

If you take advantage of this fact you can with a woollen cloth make bubbles dance and fly around as lively as a juggler's gilt balls, and you will be astonished to find what apparently rough handling these fragile bubbles will stand when you are careful not to allow them to touch anything but the woollen cloth.

It may be worth remarking that the coarser the soap the brighter the bubbles will be. The compound known as "soft soap" is by some persons considered the best for the purpose.

In the accompanying illustrations are shown two kinds of soap-bubbles.

One of the pictures shows how to transform your bubble into an aërial vapor balloon.

If you wish to try this pretty experiment, procure a rubber tube, say a yard long, and with an aperture small enough to require considerable stretching to force it over the gas-burner. After you have stretched one end so as to fit tightly over the