A Different Age

Research has led me to read The American Boy's Handy Book; What To Do and How To Do It, by D.C. Beard (1907 edition).  Included are instructions on How to Bind a Prisoner without a Cord, How to Light The Gas with your Finger, How to Make a Blow-Gun, and How to Make a War Kite (including a section on How to Make the Knives).

Also included is an advertisement for The American Girl's Handy Book ("By the Misses Beard").  It is instructive to note that the subtitle of that one is How To Amuse...