THE JACK OF ALL TRADES
OR
NEW IDEAS FOR AMERICAN BOYS
Books by Daniel C. Beard
THE JACK OF ALL TRADES; or, New Ideasfor American Boys. Profusely Illustrated bythe Author. Square 8vo. $2.00.
THE OUTDOOR HANDY BOOK, for Playground,Field and Forest. With 300 Illustrationsby the Author. New Edition. Square8vo. $2.00.
THE AMERICAN BOY’S HANDY BOOK;or, What to Do and How to Do It. Withmore than 300 Illustrations by the Author.Square 8vo. $2.00.
By the Misses Beard
THE AMERICAN GIRL’S HANDY BOOK;or, How to Amuse Yourself and Others.With more than 300 Illustrations. New andEnlarged Edition. Square 8vo. $2.00.
The Jack Of All Trades:
New Ideas for American Boys
BY
D. C. Beard
New York
Charles Scribner’s Sons.
1900
Copyright, 1900, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
PREFACE.
It was not the author’s original intention to produce aseries of boys’ books. On the contrary, he expected thathis work in this line would begin and end with “TheAmerican Boy’s Handy Book.”
The great popularity of that book is a constant sourceof gratification and pleasure to the author; but he was nota little surprised and embarrassed when he discoveredthat in place of satisfying the lads he had only whettedtheir appetite for more material in the same line. Lettersfrom boys in many parts of the British Provinces, and fromall over the United States, convinced the writer that he hadyet work to do for them, and the revised and enlargededition of “The American Boy’s Handy Book” was issued.After a brief period of time the quaintly worded lettersin boyish handwriting began again to increase the mailleft at the author’s studio, and this time he laid aside hisbrush and pencil to produce “The Outdoor Handy Book.”
It is hoped that the present demand for new ideas forboys will be fully satisfied by “The Jack of All Trades.”To the best of the author’s knowledge and belief there isnot a thing described in this book which has not beenproved practical by the experiments of himself or some boy[vi]or boys. Parts of this book have appeared in variousperiodicals, but all these chapters have been revised andenlarged.
It is now a generally accepted truth that the so-calledskill of the hand is in reality the skill of a train