Top

a familiar toy. Most boys have made a conical top spin on its apex by twirling a projecting handle between the thumb and middle finger. A top of this sort, two of them in fact, may be made out of an ordinary spool for thread, first filling the hole in the spool with a rod the size of a slate-pencil. If the ends of the rod be left long to serve as handles, the middle of the spool--the part on which the thread is wound--may be whittled down to a point like the waist of an hour-glass, forming the two cones desired. If the head end of a common pin be cut off and driven into the wooden apex until the head of the pin affords a middle point for the cone to whirl on, we have a top or pair of tops fit for a prince. A large top may be driven by lashing it with a whip. Still another top is set in motion by winding a thong around the handle or body and then flinging the top down while the loose end of the thong is held in the hand. See Toys