Edmund Rishekl says...

Wow, wish I hadn't waited so long to check the responses!

THANKS TO EVERYBODY for the help: I now have a working
telescope. Turns out that the BARLOW thing was in two pieces
so I was able to remove the lens-bearing sleeve and still have
a place to mount the eyepiece. Tested it out and everything
works. THANKS AGAIN!

But now I draw to my next question: I noticed the image
shakes a little when I'm looking into the heavens. Maybe it was the
wind, maybe my eyebrow imperceptibly bouncing on the eyepiece.
Either way, is there something one can do to make the tripod base
absorb the microshocks a little better?

Assuming that you still want to keep it cheap, do this:

[1] Look for mechanical slop in the mechanism that can be taken out
by adding washers made out of heavy cardstock.

[2] get three old handtowels, fold them into as small a square as
possible, and stuff them into baggies. Put the feet of your
tripod on them.

[3] Get some strips of wood and contact cement them to the long metal
parts of your tripod legs. Be careful not to block it from folding.

Also, find a local club and go to a star party. You will find that
just about everyone will be glad to let you look through their scope.