On the cover the 1957 Mechanix Illustrated,
it looks like the boy is holding a fashionable little cigar, as he lite the rocket with with an ordinary fuse.
the father smoking a pipe comforts the scared little girl as the rocket launches to the boys delight.
on the inside a boy sits two feet away igniting the fuse with a burning stick.
model missiles can be ignited with an ordinary fuse. it also mentions you can use a jetex fuse and a nichrome wire however to get remote ignition.
of interesting note, the last sentence in the story says.
while model rocketry has always been fun, now it is safe.
so those who had hand rung about those of us that used fuse in the in early days, well so did the forfathers ;-)