Box seat

“ You’ve got a box-seat. There’s a gen’leman in there drinking his second cup, with something in p. 31it, and he’s a good-natured chap, and he’s willing to change his inside seat for yours. Say the word, and it’s done!”
The youth congratulated himself upon his acuteness in seeing through the device, but later, when he ducked his head on the stage coach going through the archway and adjusting his muffler, made a polite reference to the weather and its possibilities, the driver, who was smoking one of the cigars, responded only with a grunt. ”

“ The battens extend down behind the back of the box, and the ends are made fast with screws to support the back. The back and seat are padded with curled hair and covered with unbleached muslin, over which the upholstery material is [346] drawn and tacked to the edges. A valance of some pretty figured goods to match the seat and back is made, and tacked around the upper edge of the box. Wide gimp and large-headed upholsterers’ tacks will finish the edge of the seat and back, and it would be well to give the wood-work a coat or two of paint or stain. ”

“ With these business details the travelling public had no concern, and it was only the box-seat passengers who learnt the history of some of these cheap acquisitions from private stables. The box-seat passenger was generally a sporting character, aspiring to that companionship with the coachman from his love of horses and driving, but it naturally often happened that some stolid person, whose only desire was to be carried safely and who took no interest in driving, found himself perched on that place of honour. ”

“ Make a seat and seat back, nail the back to the seat, and then fasten the seat between the sides of the wagon just below the windows.
A Jack-in-the-box (Fig. 289) is a simpler toy to make than you might imagine. The box should measure about 53⁄4 inches by 53⁄4 inches by 5 inches. Hinge the cover to the top with two pieces of heavy cloth; glue one piece to the inside of the cover and box, and the other to the outside. Drive a small tack into the front edge of the cover, and below it fasten a small hook on to the box; the hook may be bent from a short piece of wire. ”

“ The driver should sit in the middle of the box, quite straight towards his horses, rather upright or backward, than forward, with his knees nearly straight, and with his feet together, toward the edge of the footboard. With the exception of a pliant motion of his loins, on any jolting of the coach, his body should be quite at rest, and particularly so when he hits a horse. Independently of appearance, a firm seat on a box is very necessary for safety to a coachman and his passengers, for a trifle will otherwise displace him. ”

“ On the journey up river, on the little stern-wheelers, space is a great consideration, and a big trunk quite un-get-at-able; one feels less compunction in improvising a seat out of a tin box than out of a leather one, and seats have to be improvised very often on these occasions! ”

“ The body, as shown, is in the form of an inverted box, the motor, H, and driving gear being accommodated within the downwardly opening inclosure constituted thereby, and the body also has the upwardly open box-like forward extension, or pit, A2, for the accommodation of the feet of the rider, the rider's seat being constituted by the top forward portion of the box body. ”

“ Your stick or pencil must be one inch longer than the width of your box. Place a blob of glue over each end of the axle and let it dry well, to keep the wheels on. When you have fitted the end of a little box into the lower half of the go-cart to make a seat, all is done. You may use a piece of folded cardboard to make the seat, if you prefer. I painted the handle of my go-cart, but it is not at all necessary to do this. The go-cart is great fun to use when you play house and go out marketing. Then you can take your doll baby with you in the go-cart. ”

“ The box was secured, and a chaperon found in the person of a very old lady, a distant relative of the Fitzgeralds, who had fallen into comparative poverty, but who would enjoy the outing all the more since she could not well afford to give herself the pleasure of a box, and was too proud to use a low-priced seat. ”

“ Boxcraft automobiles are the best there are. They do not cost you a single penny! Repairs are always very easy to make, too.
If you care to add a hood to the automobile, it may be made from the cover of your large box. Cut the front rim of the box cover down, and slant the long sides of the cover down to the uncut end.
Paste an upright piece of cardboard about four inches high behind your rear seat. To its top, glue the higher end of the box cover. ”

“ The Seat thereof to hold Two persons, should be thirty Inches wide and twenty Inches deep, inside measurement. The Cushion should be of equal thickness, and not higher on the Driving side, as it is in a Gig, because when only the Coachman is on the Box, he should sit in the middle of it. There should be a Pocket on each side in the lining, for putting Tickets in. ”

“ The box, or seat, is divided into two parts, with lids at DD, and in these boxes are kept, on one side the ironing sheet, wipers and holders, and on the other side, the irons, rings, &c., used in ironing. When the back is not used for ironing, it is put down, and the article is a good settee, and if provided with cushions, is as comfortable as most parlor sofas. It can be put on castors, and have handles at the sides, and then it can be moved up to the fire winter evenings for use ”

“ Paint to match the other furniture.
If you cut a corset box just in the middle, you can make two chairs. Use the two ends for the two seats, and the other two pieces for the two backs.
[43]
Details of Arm Chair.
Corset box—cut on dots Sides and back—Waste—Seat Sides and back—Seat—Fastened Top cut away—Arms cut—Slats cut
[44]
A DAINTY LITTLE DRESSER.
A little girl’s dresser should always be neat,
As all little maidens know;
And brushes and combs and scissors and files
Must all be placed in a row.
So when you arrange dolly’s dresser,
Be careful of what you choose ”

“ After waiting for some time, and hailing by mistake half a dozen coal-wagons and carriers’ carts, you perceive an omnibus creeping by at a snail’s pace, enter, and squeeze yourself into a seat behind the door. You cannot see to the top of it for the fog, so have no fear of your tailor recognising you, should he happen to be inside—one comfort out of so many evils. While you are sitting, and congratulating yourself that you have escaped so well, up comes a cab-horse with his head through the open door, and his hot nostrils on your face. ”

“ Few stretch out a hand to help a ragged or a decrepit man into the vehicle; and the well-dressed draw back and avert their heads as the impoverished wretch forces his way with difficulty past them up to the vacant seat in the farthest corner. The moment a well-dressed individual mounts the steps of the omnibus, every hand is thrust out to help him in, and the most convenient seat is instantaneously accorded to him. ”

“ In early times rush always served a function in the seats of chairs and stools, and was very seldom if ever used on the better class of furniture. The use of cane or rush on furniture for decorative purposes only is distinctly a modern idea. Utility rather than beauty prompted the introduction of seats of rush.
Modern furniture of excellent design and workmanship employs rush seats. These are either woven over a separate frame and inserted or are an integral part of the chair, being woven over the seat rails of the chair itself. Fig. ”

“ Mrs. Jeep owned one; Keziah and Patty Ingles the between-maid shared another. One was a spare room for chance servant visitors, and the end one over Pamela's and Hughie's rooms was what is called a "box" room. Here was "luggage"--big, old-fashioned trunks, leather portmanteaux, large hat boxes. Neat piles of cardboard boxes--the sort that drapers and dressmakers send out--all sizes, and tidy stacks of brown paper--sacking--cords--all the odds and ends necessary for packing of any kind. ”

“ Take care to make the saw-cuts inside the two-inch mark, so that the rails will fit snugly into the corner-posts without any play. There is nothing so annoying in a chair as to have it loose-jointed and rickety.
A wooden seat sixteen inches square, with the rear corners cut out to fit around the back posts, is nailed or screwed fast to the top edges of the upper rails all around; and for the back a twelve-by-sixteen-inch piece is cut and screwed fast in the laps cut at the upper ends of the back posts, as shown in Fig. ”

“ I often give six sous just for the comic effect of an omnibus. Precipitate jolts against a neighbour one never saw, as the ponderous vehicle rolls over the stones, gives agitation to the blood and brains, and sets one a thinking. And not the least part of the amusement is the getting in, especially if all the places but the back seat are filled. This back seat is always the last to have a tenant. It is a circular board of about six inches in diameter at the very farthest end, and to reach it you have to run the gauntlet between two rows of knees almost in contact ”

“ Running along each side of the compartment, just under the windows, is a long, leather-covered bench, which serves as a seat during the day, and a berth at night. It is equally uncomfortable in both capacities. ”

“ She found her new seat no more comfortable than the one before it, and shifted in turn into all the corners of the carriage, and down the middle as well, till at last she had tried every possible part of it. In each place she felt less at ease than in the one before. She got up and looked into the empty racks, under the seats, beneath the heavy cushions, which she lifted with difficulty. Then she put all the packages back again into the rack, dropping several of them in her nervous hurry, and being obliged to kneel on the floor to recover them from under the seats. ”

“ In reality they are ordinary cars with two rows of swivel seats down the center; seats supposed to pivot in every direction unless their action is impeded by the passenger's hand baggage, which the porter promptly piles around the chairs, leaving one barely room to place his feet and no chance at all to swing the seat. ”

“ For the little chair, first take the bundle of rushes which forms the curved back, and curve it into place and tie it round here and there with a little wool to keep it firm while the seat is being made. This will be better described by the diagram than by words. Each rush composing the seat must be added successively from the back towards the front, and when arranged, and the ends turned back or forwards to form front and back [86] legs, stays can be made of single rushes and all carefully bound in neatly with wool; wool holds much more firmly than cotton thread. ”

“ Correct drawing-room seats are shown on Plate LXII. The central one is purely Louis XVI. in style, painted in any colour and is covered with silk, but Sheraton recommends that the chair-frame be “finished in burnished gold, the seat and back covered with printed silk. In the front rail is a tablet with a little carving in its panels. The legs and stumps have twisted flutes and fillets done in the turning, which produce a good effect in the gold.” ”

“ MAKING A BOXCRAFT AUTOMOBILE Material Required to Build a Box Automobile: a one-pound candy box with cover, a sample candy box (oblong ten-cent size) , one round box three inches in diameter, about ten inches of cardboard from which to cut wheels, four round-headed paper-clips for wheel-hubs, a toothpick and a round cardboard key-tag for steering gear, two metal buttons for lamps.
It is not difficult to make a box automobile, for nobody needs knowledge of mechanics to do it. Paste, scissors, boxes—and a pair of hands to do the work, these are all that you will need. ”

“ As a rule these seats will take two people comfortably. Above the padded back is the same straight piece illustrated in the ‘summer corner,’ surmounted by the bracket-rail; but if people do not wish to go to the expense of an elaborately upholstered and spring seat, they can easily make a seat for themselves by having a wooden frame on four legs made to fit the recess; the top should be covered with sacking or webbing, along the front of the seat should be nailed a full flounce of corduroy velveteen lined with holland ”

“ The car is made of a section of 2 by 4-in stuff, D, 10 ft. long, to which braces, E, of 1 by 4-in. stuff are fastened with nails or screws. The upper ends of the pieces E are blocked up with the centerpiece F, nailed securely, and the wire link G is fastened through the joint.
The seats J are suspended at the ends of the 2 by 4-in. bar, with their inner ends lower, as shown, to give a better seating when the thriller is in action. The seats are supported by rope or strap-iron brackets, K, set 15 in. apart. The box should be high enough so that the seats do not strike the ground. ”

“ Then, protruding his head and half his body out of the cab window, he shouted to the man on the box: "Drive hard--drive fast! There will be a sovereign for you if you get there in a quarter of an hour." ”

“ There are windows in front, by which the passengers can look out under the coachman's seat when there is a coachman's seat there. The doors leading to the coupé are in the sides.
The compartment immediately behind the coupé is called the interior. It is entirely separate from the coupé. There are two seats, which extend from one side of the coach to the other, and have places upon them for three passengers each, making six in all. The three passengers who sit on one of these seats must, of course, ride with their backs to the horses. The doors leading to the interior are in the sides. ”

“ It does not, I think, excel them in comfort except in the greater size, the greater liberty of motion, and the element of variety afforded by the greater number of fellow-passengers. The seats are disposed on each side of a narrow central aisle, and are so arranged that the occupants can ride forward or backward as they prefer. Each seat holds two persons, but with some difficulty if either has any amplitude of bulk. The space for the legs is also very limited. ”