Take a strong string, about two yards long, at one end make a loop big enough to pass over a person's head without any trouble, and another loop—a tiny one—at the other end, the right size to hold a pencil.
Tell your friend to cover his ears with his hands—held flat against them. Then pass the large loop over his head and draw it tight across the backs of his hands. Place a pencil in the smaller loop, and turn it rather quickly around and around while you hold the string tight. The effect on your friend's ears will be like the firing of numerous guns. Then pluck the string with the fingers of your free hand. Just a little flick will sound like the booming of a heavy gun.
Keeping the pencil held in one hand, and pulling the string tight, now fold a small piece of paper over the string and move it—not roughly—up and down the length of the string. This will sound to your friend like the waves on the beach. If next you scrape the string with anything hard—like a knife or paper cutter—it will give your friend the impression of heavy thunder.
VIOLETS.
I know, blue modest violets,
Gleaming with dew at morn—
I know the place you come from
And the way that you are born!
When God cut holes in Heaven,
The holes the stars look through,
He let the scraps fall down to earth,
The little scraps are you.
