\ ■ Hi H JCwiira ■ ■ ■ 1 1 ■ 1 HEfljjHfi 1 iMMwrnM ■ M ■ :;fev jwowjjtootj H ^1 EH H ■ ■ ■ UBRARYOFCONGRESS iit ( :c I QD000H0^7t,5 9 I I 1S1 ^ WilBiSBW^M BI BMi B&fio JffiS Hi wmfflMm ■ ■BBHftH ■ Class (xVUf)3 Book, , \ PREFACE. All young people are fond of games, and children's parties would not be half so enjoyable were it not for the fun and laughter which are caused both by the games and the forfeits which so many of them demand. A good old-fashioned children's party, where Blind- man's Buff and such games are played, is always interest- ing. Who does not enjoy a game of Oranges and Lemons, and feel a delightful shiver of terror as the chopper de- scends upon someone's head? Then the Tug-of-war after- wards. Here the boys are well at home, neither side will give way, and at length totter, totter, totter, and a laugh- ing, screaming mass of children lose their balance and go toppling over. All of the good old games will be found here with many a first-rate new one added to them, so that there will be little chance of you ever spending a dull day or evening again, — at least if only you carry out the instruc- tions given you. The games include fun for the tiniest among you, as well as for the older ones, and you must try to include all who wish to" play in them. If any games are described as being for two or four only, it is generally easy to alter the rules slightly, so that a greater number can take part in them, and so, by a little care, enable others to have a good time, and be all the happier yourself for so doing. CONTENTS. Games for Tiny Tots. As We Go Round the Mulberry Bush II Ball 14 Bouncing Ball 14 School Ball 14 Bean Bag 14 Blindman's Buff 14 Drop the Handkerchief 14 Flying Feather 16 Frog Pond 16 Going to Peanut Town 17 Green Gravel 18 Heart Hunt 20 Holly Wreath 20 Hunt the Whistle 20 Little Washer Woman 20 London Bridge : . . . 22 Magic Music 25 Miss Jennia Jones 25 Oranges and Lemons .• 29 Peanut Tournament 30 Puss in the Corner 31 Ring Around the Rosie 31 Rolling Hoops 33 Turnpikes 33 Posting 35 Weaving Garlands 35 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Games for Children. 8 to 12 Years. Animal Clippers 37 Bachelor's Kitchen 37 Ball 38 Haley Over . . . : 38 Call Ball 38 Hat-Ball 40 Corner Ball 40 Arch Ball 40 Beast, Bird or Fish 40 Blind Man's Buff, Seated 41 Blindman's Buff, French 41 Blindman's Wand 41 Book Binder 42 Broken Hearts 42 Buttons 43 Cat and Mouse 43 Christmas Candles 44 Chickens, Fox and Hounds 44 Den 45 Fire ! Fire ! 45 Fox and Geese 46 Fox, Goose and Geese 46 Fox and Hen 48 Going to Jerusalem 48 Guarding the Treasure 49 Here I Bake, Here I Brew 49 Hold Fast My Gold Ring 50 Hop Scotch 51 Hul Gul 52 It 52 Jack Stones 54 Knock at Door 55 Around the World 55 King's Armory 55 Games, Pastimes and Amusements King of the Castle 55 Lawn Hab-Enihan 56 Leap Frog 57 Marbles 57 Round-Ring 57 Pug 57 One Hole 59 Spanners 59 Picking the Plums 59 Long Ring 59 May Pole Dance 60 Minister's Cat 63 My Lady's Toilette 63 Naughty Straw Man 63 Odd or Even 64 Oracles 64 Counting Apple Seeds 65 Passing the Ring 65 Post Crown 65 Potato Race 67 Prisoner's Base 67 Rooster & Hen , 68 Rope Skipping 69 Spider Webb 71 Stage Coach 71 Tag 71 Cross Tag 71 Japanese Tag 71 Iron Tag 71 Blind Tag 72 Stag Tag 72 Flag Tag J2 Medicine Ball Tag J2 Three Legged Race 73 Tops 74 Peg in the Ring 74 Games, Pastimes and Amusements How to Make Them 74 Magic Top 76 A Humming Top 76 Trussed Fowls ' 76 Tug of War 77 Wagging Mandarin . . 77 Warning 79 Wink 79 Games for Children. 12 to 16 Years. Alliteration 81 Alphabets 81 April Fool Game 83 Hand Ball 84 One-o-cat 86 Water Baseball 87 Circle Ball 89 Battledore & Shuttlecock 89 Buz . 89 Capping Verses 90 Christmas Stockings 91 Cheat 91 Clap In, Clap Out 92 Commercial Travelers 92 Contradictory Proverbs 93 Cupid's Target 94 Duck on a Rock 94 Dumb Crambo 95 Egg Race 96 Electrical Fishing 96 Flower Spider Web 97 Fortune Hunting 97 Games of Mesmerism 98 Good Resolutions 100 Hare and Hounds 100 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Hot Cockles 103 Human Burden Race 104 Japanese Fan Game 104 Jump the Rope 105 Keeping the Thread of a Story 105 Kites 107 How to Make a Kite 107 Flying the Kite 1 1 1 Knights 112 Matching Eggs 112 Mumblety-Peg 112 Names of Cities 113 Numbers 113 Our Flag 115 Parcel's Post 115 Penny Puzzle 115 Pillow Climbing 117 Relay Race 117 Sack Race 118 Sentence Forming Fun 118 Shadow Circus 118 Shadows on the Wall 121 A Rabbit 122 A Laborer's Head 122 U. S. Soldier 122 A Turtle 122 Geronimo 122 Continental Soldier 122 An Old Man 123 Barking Dog 123 Shouting Proverbs \ T23 Snatch the Handkerchief „ . 123 Snap Dragon 125 Stool Dance 125 St. Valentine's Post 125 Straddle Club 126 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Swapping Party 126 Telegrams 128 Testing Fates 128 Thanksgiving Feast 129 Tom Tiddler's Land 129 Torpedo Hunt 130 Tossing Chestnuts 130 The Dancing Egg 130 The Swimming Needles 132 A Simple and Puzzling Board Illusion 132 Some Tricks With a Hat, Eggs and a Handkerchief. . 133 How to Drive a Needle Through a Copper Coin 134 The Height of a Hat 136 Paper Tricks 136 The Magic Thread 136 How to Light a Candle Without Touching It 136 Removing a Coin From a Glass Without Touching Either 137 The Feat of Blowing a Cork Into a Bottle 137 The Mystery of the Obedient Parlor Table 138 Turning a Glass of Water Upside Down Without Spilling 138 Putting a Bird in An Empty Cage 139 Mesmeric Trick 139 To Light a Snow Ball With a Match. 140 Walking Matches 140 Filling a Glass of Water With Smoke 140 Some Simple, Interesting and Mystifying Feats. ..... 141 Twisted Animals 142 Up Jenkins 143 Water Sprite 144 Waxworks 145 Wheel of Fortune 145 Witch in the Jar 146 Wriggles 146 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Amusements and Pastimes for Girls. 1. Fun With Apples and Gourds 148 2. Fun With Egg Shells 151 3. Rag Dolls and Homemade Toys and Doll Furniture 155 4. Fun With Smoke Pictures 162 5. How to Make Pincushions 164 6. How to Make Housewives 165 7. How to Make Spectacle Wipers 166 8. How to Make Jacob's Ladder 167 9. A Good Sewing Apron 167 10. A Soap Bubble Party 168 11. Window Gardens 172 12. Sea Side Toys 173 13. Making Scrap Books 177 Pastimes and Amusements for Boys. An Attic Gymnasium 178 A Back Yard Fish Pond 181 A Boys' Club House on the Water 185 How to Make Bird Houses 188 An Ice Sled 196 A Push Wagon 197 A Paddle Wheel Boat 198 Snow Houses 201 A Home Made Hammock 203 How to Make a Telephone 204 How to Make a Spring Raft 204 A Home Aquarium 207 Pleasant Places for Summer Days 212 Tree Top Club Houses 215 A Magic Lantern 219 Fishing Tackle 220 Make a Boomerang 221 An Elastic Crossbow 222 Blow Gun 22^ Games, Pastimes and Amusements Programs Arranged for Children's Parties. New Year's Day Party 225 St. Valentine's Party 226 April-Fools' Day Party 226 Easter Party 228 May-Day Party 228 Fourth of July Frolic 229 Hallowe'en 229 Thanksgiving 238 Christmas 239 Hard Times Party 239 ^sz%tis<»s»&vs7flra^wfe"4i^^ GAMES for TINY TOTS As Wc Go Round the Mulberry Bush. ^m wm m As we go 'round the mul-ber-ry bush, the mul-ber-ry bush, the mul-ber-ry bush As ffffifc rffr ^^ ' ft i » ^ £ we go round the mul-ber-ry bush. so ear • ly in the morn • ing bffSM j%rf£ Ped. * Ped * *Ped AS WE GO 'ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH, As we go 'round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush; As we go 'round the mulberry bush, So early in the morning. This is the way we wash our clothes, All of a Monday morning. This is the way we iron our clothes, All of a Tuesday morning. 12 Games, Pastimes and Amusements This is the way we scrub our floor, All of a Wednesday morning. This is the way we mend our clothes, All of a Thursday morning. This is the way we sweep the house, All of a Friday morning. This is the way we bake our bread, All of a Saturday morning. This is the way we go to church, All of a Sunday morning. As We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. 14 Games, Pastimes and Amusements BALL. Bouncing Ball. — Girls strike balls with the palm of the hand to keep up their bouncing or fling them against the wall to drive them back on the return, or pass the ball from hand to hand in a ring or row. School Ball. — The children stand in a line. The ball is tossed by the "thrower" (who stands in front of the line) to the first one in the line and after being returned by the latter is sent to the next, and so on. If any child misses she must go to the foot, and if the "thrower" misses she must go to the foot and the first child in the line takes her place. BEAN BAG. All stand in a line and one who is the leader throws the bean bag to the child at the head of the line, who throws it back. Should the player at the head fail to catch it, he must go to the foot of the line, and if the leader misses, he goes to the foot, and the player at the head takes his place. BLINDMAN'S BUFF. A blind folded player is led into the centre of the room, taken by the shoulders and turned about three times, after which he must catch and name some child to take his place. For this initiation there is a rhyme : "How many horses have you in your father's stable?" "Three; black, white and gray." "Turn about, and turn about, and catch whom you may." DROP THE HANDKERCHIEF. The whole party, except one, form a ring. The one who is left out runs two or three times around the ring, and then drops the handkerchief at the feet of a playmate, who picks the handkerchief up and tries to catch him before he can run around the ring and jump into the vacant space. If jf Mm* Blindman's Buff. 16 Games, Pastimes and Amusements she does not catch him she runs around singing, "A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket. I sent a letter to my love and on the way I dropped it, I dropped it, I dropped it." If she catches him he is made to sit in the middle of the ring until he can get the handkerchief from under some one's feet or until some one else is caught. Continuing in this way as long as they choose. FLYING FEATHER. In this game the little girls join hands, and dance around in a ring on the turf, trying, meanwhile, by blowing a bit of down, to keep it in the air. When players are skill- ful, they can often dance for fifteen minutes without let- ting the feather come to the ground. FROG POND. A party of children, who represent frogs by a hopping motion. At the word "cro-x-x-x" they imitate the croak- ing of a frog. The Frog Pond. P jjjj J TTr I Come, neigh-bors. the moon is up. it's pleas-ant out here on the bank, Come, m \ r- v \ f+ \ r~p-^i I W~K — S — R" p> i m • m • stick your heads out oi the tank, and let us. be fore we sup. Go &}■ y if. ; ^ * m Games, Pastimes and Amusements 17 fr^f-ifr J"iff-^E A A r irr j irr j i a ru- j -i ^= kough, kough. kough: And let us. be - fore we sup. Go kough. kough. kough, 1 S§ }■ TMFf Come, neighbors, the moon is up, It's pleasant out here on the bank, Come, stick your heads out of the tank, And let us, before we sup, Go cro — x — x And let us, before we sup, Go cro- -x — x. [Enter child in character of duck.] Hush, yonder is a waddling duck, He's coming, I don't mean to stay. We'd better by half hop our way, If we don't he will gobble us up. With a kough, kough, kough, If we don't he will gobble us up, With a kough, kough, kough. Every frog hops to his separate den, while pursued by the duck. The game after the duck's advent being ex- tremely animated. , GOING TO PEANUT TOWN. Place on the dining room table a large bowl of pea- nuts; some six or eight feet away an empty bowl on another table. The children must "count out" and the child who is "it" calls the name of the one he selects to go to "Peanut Town." To this child he now gives a knife, dinner size is best, and commands him," 1* Games, Pastimes and Amusements "Go at once to Peanut Town, Peanut Town, Peanut Town, Go at once to Peanut Town, And haul its peanuts down." The child takes the knife to the bowl of peanuts, lifts as many as possible on the blade of the knife, and starts with them to the empty bowl. The child who brings the largest number in three trials is the winner of the game. One child is appointed to pick up the nuts as they drop from the knife blade, these are returned to the bowl at "Peanut Town," and the number that drop cause a deal of laughter and mer- riment. GREEN GRAVEL. Girls form a circle and dance around one of their num- ber. The girl in the ring turns her head gravely as a mes- senger advances, while the rest sing to a pleasing air — Green gravel, green gravel, The grass grows so green, The fairest of ladies, Is fit to be seen. Dear , Dear Your true love is dead ; The king sends you a letter To turn back your head. The process is repeated calling each child by name until all of the children have so turned. Turning the head is the sign of sorrow. The game is continued by the following verse in which the lost lovers appear: Dear , Dear , Your true love's not slain, The king sends you a letter To turn around again. And the dancers who have all turned about, are one by one made to face the ring. .j— mmm ^0 mm .#- ■■-.'■' id J A Seesaw. 20 Games, Pastimes and Amusements HEART HUNT. Sugar hearts with mottos printed in red upon them are hidden in nooks and crannies, behind pictures, and in orna- ments about the room. Each child is given a small heart- shaped paper basket to put the hearts in. The child who finds the greatest number of hearts may be rewarded by a box of bon-bons in heart shape. HOLLY WREATH. A huge holly wreath is hung in a doorway, and stand- ing eight or ten feet from the wreath, each child tries in turn to throw his snowball (made of white crepe paper) through it. Should there be more than one successful player each with three balls contests for the prize. HUNT THE WHISTLE. The children form a circle around some child whose eyes are blindfolded. The whistle having been previously shown him, is supposed to be hidden where he is to find it, and while his eyes are being bandaged the whistle is strung on a ribbon. and attached to the back of his coat. The bandage is then removed, and he must seek for the whistle. When his back is turned one of the players steals up and blows the whistle; as opportunity offers, others blow the whistle, but he is encouraged to continue his search un- til he discovers the trick. LITTLE WASHER WOMAN. This game somewhat resembles weaving garlands. The players stand opposite to one another in couples, each girl with her right hand clasping her companion's left. Then they swing their arms, slowly and gracefully, first three times toward the right and then three times toward the left, singing: "This is the way we wash the clothes, wash the clothes, wash the clothes." Then they unclasp The Swing. 22 Games, Pastimes and Amusements their hands and rub them together as washer women do in rubbing their clothes, singing: "This is the way we rub our clothes, rub our clothes. " The third movement is very pretty. The couple clasp hands just as they do at first, then raise their arms in an arch on one side and slip through so that they stand back to back, then raise their arms in the same way on the other side, and again slip through so that they stand face to face again. This must be done very quickly, thrice in succession, while the players sing: "This is the way we wring the clothes, wring the clothes, wring the clothes," and then stopping suddenly clap their hands, sing- ing: "And hang them on the bushes." When several couples have learned the game well, it is a very pretty sight. LONDON BRIDGE. No game has been more popular with children than this, and any summer evening, in the poorer quarters of London ~ff^T~ * s ^^ *, y ^ ... 1 r^ * * h PS. fe-4* P r r • w J J" Lon- don Bridge is fa ll-ing down, mm* fall-ing dov • J m, fall-in i /s^a • • • ti& i 1 ^H U. a V ^ A m ^~ 4 i Games, Pastimes and Amusements 23 the cities, it may still be seen how six years instructs three years in the proper way of conducting it. Two players, by their uplifted hands, form an arch, representing the bridge, under which passes the train of children, each clinging to the garments of the predecessor and hurrying to get safely by. As the last verse is sung the raised arms of the two directors of the game descend and encrose the child who happens to be passing at the time. The prisoner is then led, still confined by the arms of her captors, to the corner which represents the prison and asked, "Will you have a diamond necklace or a gold pin?" "A rose or a cabbage?" or some equivalent question. The keepers have already privately agreed which of the two each of these objects shall represent, and, according to the prisoner's choice, he is placed behind one or the other. When all are caught, the game ends with a "Tug of War," the two sides pulling against each other; and the child who lets go, and breaks the line, is pointed at and derided. The words of the rhyme Bridge, * r r ». i _ ». i I i *m \ down;Lon-don Bridge is falkng down, my fair la-dy. 24 Games, Pastimes and Amusements sung while the row passes under the bridge are now re- duced to two lines: London Bridge. London bridge is falling down, My fair lady! London bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down, London bridge is falling down My fair lady ! You've stole my watch and kept my keys, My fair lady! Off to prison she must go, My fair lady ! Take the key and lock her up, My fair lady ! Games, Pastimes and Amusements 25 MAGIC MUSIC. "Magic Music" is proposed by the children. One of the players leaves the room and the rest hide some object; one of the company seats herself at the piano and plays; the absent player is called in and proceeds to hunt the ob- ject. If he goes near the hiding-place the music grows louder, increasing the nearer he gets to it, and growing softer the farther away he goes. This guides him finally to the exact spot, after which another player takes his place. MISS JENNIA JONES. The story of this is originally a love story. The young lady dies from a blighted affection and the prohibition of cruel parents. A mother, seated, Miss Jones stands behind her chair, or reclines on her lap as if lying sick. A dancer advances from the ring. "1 ve come to see Miss Jennia Jones, Miss Jennia Jones, Miss Jennia Jones — I've come to see Miss Jennia Jones, And how is she to-day?" "She's up stairs washing, Washing, washing — She's up stairs washing, You cannot see her to-day." The questions are repeated to the same air for every day of the week and Miss Jones is baking, ironing, or scrub- bing. She is then sick or worse and finally is dead. "What shall we dress her in, Dress her in, dress her in; What shall we dress her in — Shall it be blue?" 26 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Miss Jennia We've come to see Miss Jennia Jones., Jennia Jones, and how is she to-day? hear it, to hear it We're right glad to Games, Pastimes and Amusements 27 Jones Jennia Jones, Jennia Jones; we've come to see Miss (Spoken) She's washing We're right glad to hear it To hear it And how is she to - day? 28 Games, Pastimes and Amusements "Blue is for sailors, So that will never do." "What shall we dress her in, Shall it be red ?" "Red is for firemen, So that will never do." "Pink is for babies, So that will never do." "Green is forsaken, So that will never do." "Black is for mourners, So that will never do." "White is for dead people So that will just do." "Where shall we bury her? Under the apple tree." After the burial is completed, the ghost suddenly arises. "I dreamed I saw a ghost last night, Ghost last night, ghost last night — I dreamed I saw a ghost last night, Under the apple tree!" The ring breaks up, the children fly with shrieks, and the one caught is to take the part of Miss Jennia Jones in the next game. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 29 Oranges and Lemons. ORANGES AND LEMONS. Two of the players join hands, facing each other, hav- ing agreed privately which is to be "oranges" and which "lemons." The rest of the party form a long line, standing one behind the other, and holding each other's dress or 30 Games, Pastimes and Amusements coat. The first two raise their hands so as to form an arch, and the rest run through it, singing as they run: "Oranges and Lemons, Say the bells of St. Clements; You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martins; When will you pay me ? Say the bells of old Bailey, I do not know. Says the big bell of Bow, Here comes a candle to light you to bed Here comes a chopper to chop off your head!" At the word "head" the hand archway descends and clasps the player passing through at that moment; he is then asked to whisper "oranges or lemons?" and if he chooses "oranges" he is told to go behind the player who has agreed to be "oranges" and clasp him around the waist. The players must speak in whispers, that the others may not know. The game then goes on again until all the children have been caught, and have chosen which they will be, "oranges or lemons." The two sides then prepare for a tug of war. Each child clasps the one in front of him tightly and the two leaders pull with all their might, until one side has drawn the other across a line which has been drawn be- tween them. PEANUT TOURNAMENT. The children take seats around small tables, four at each. A large bowl of peanuts is now brought in and a cupful is piled in the middle of each table. A small pair of bonbon tongs, such as may be bought at a confectioners, is provided for every table. The children try in turn to take off a peanut at a time without stirring the other nuts. If Games, Pastimes and Amusements 31 a player succeeds he may have another chance and another until he fails, when the turn passes to the child on the left. At the end of twenty minutes a bell is rung, and the player at each table having the most peanuts wins. The winners at the different tables play another round, and if necessary, still another round is played, until there is but one winner. The prize is a huge paper-mache peanut filled with bon- bons. PUSS IN THE CORNER Is a game that charms the very wee ones. The four corners of the room are occupied by the four pussies ; the other chil- dren stand in a group in the middle. The pussies raise their fingers, beckon to each other and call "Puss, puss, puss!" The object is to change corners so quickly that no one from the waiting group can get a chance to slip into the vacant corner and so become a pussy. Ring Around the Rosie. ftp N S ^ ^ ^ ^E f r f f T P Ring a ring a ro sie. A bot - tie full of po - sie. i if RING AROUND THE ROSIE. little round, universally familiar in America, _ccs us again in Germany. After the transit of various languages and thousands of miles the song retains the same essential characteristics. "^64 - ^m U V • Ring Around the Rosie. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 33 Ring, a ring, a rosie, A bottle full of posie, All the girls in our town, Ring for little Josie. Another version: Round the ring of roses, Pots full of posies, — The one who stoops last, Shall tell whom she loves best. New Bedford, Mass. (About 1790). A number of children take hands and form a circle and skip around the one who is in the centre. At the end of the round the children suddenly stoop, and the last to get down undergoes some penalty, or has to take the place of the child in the centre, who represents the "rosie" (rose tree; French, rosier). ROLLING HOOPS. A great deal may be done with hoops. The mere trundling of a hoop is good fun in itself, but a great deal more fun and amusement may be had with hoops than that. A well contested hoop race is very exciting. The hoops when driven at full speed, require a great deal of manage- ment, and the race does not always fall to the swiftest run- ner. The hoops in a race should be nearly of a size, as a large hoop has a great advantage over a smaller one. So if there be any material difference the smaller hoops should have so many yards start according to their comparative size. Turnpikes. — This is the best of hoop games. The turn- pike gates are two small pegs driven into the ground or two bricks placed side by side, about six inches apart. Half the players have hoops and half have charge of gates. The Rolling Hoops. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 35 players with hoops start off, trundling the hoop slowly or quickly as they please, and they must pass the hoop through every gate. If the hoop touches either of the gate posts, or goes outside of them, the keeper takes the hoop, while the trundler takes his place as gate keeper. Posting. — In this game a large circular track should be marked out, with stations at equal distances, one for each player. The player at the first station trundles his hoop to the second station, the player at the second station Jakes his on to the third, and so on; the player at the last station takes his on to the first again. Anyone steadying the hoop with his hand is "out," and his station must be abolished. The player keeping in and trundling the hoop around to all the stations, wins the game. If the number of children is large, two or three hoops may be kept going at one time. WEAVING GARLANDS. This graceful little game is like a dance. The girls stand in a row, with joined hands; one remains perfectly still while the others dance around until the whole line is wound into a knot, singing: "Let us lovely garlands wind." Then they dance the other way, singing: "Now the wreath we will unbind," until they form a straight line. Tobogganing. «4 GAMES for CHUJDRE 8 to 12 YEARS ANIMAL CLIPPERS. Provide as many pairs of scissors, sheets of white paper and lead pencils as there are to be children at the party. When these are distributed the leader must call out the name of some animal, dog, for instance. Each child must then cut out, as well as he can, a dog, three minutes being allowed for the work. Then each must write his or her name on the dog and give it to the leader, who collects them in a basket or box. The dogs are now spread out on a table with the names of those who cut them turned down. The children now file by the table and each marks with his pen- cil the dog he thinks best. The leader counts the votes and announces the name of the child whose dog has received the largest number of votes. This performance is repeated twice, making three contests; the child who has the largest number of votes in all gets the prize. BACHELOR'S KITCHEN. The children sit in a row, with the exception of one, who goes in succession to each child, and asks him what he will give to the bachelor's kitchen. Each answers what he pleases, as a saucepan, a mousetrap, etc. When all have replied, the questioner returns to the first child, and puts all sorts of questions, which must be answered by the ar- ticle which he before gave to the kitchen, and by no other word. For instance, he asks, "What do you wear on your head?" "Mousetrap. " The object is to make the answerer laugh, and he is asked a number of questions, until he either laughs or is given up as a hard subject. The questioner then passes to the next child, and so on through the whole 38 Games, Pastimes and Amusements row. Those who laugh, or add any other word to their answer, must pay forfeit, which is redeemed in the same way as in other games. BALL. Call Ball. — The ball is thrown against a house, at the same time a name is called. The lad named must strike back the ball on its rebound. If the player, whose name is called, drops the ball, he must pick it up as quickly as pos- sible, while the rest scatter. He then calls "Stand," upon which the players halt, and he flings it at whom he pleases. If he misses his aim, he must place himself in a bent posi- tion with, his hands against the .wall, until every player has taken a shot at him. Haley Over. — The players are divided into four equal parties, who take positions on different sides of a building, out of sight of each other. A lad then throws the ball over the roof of the house, to any height or in any direction he pleases. It is the object of the opposite side to catch the ball on its descent, and if any player succeeds in doing so, he immediately darts around the corner and attempts to hit with the ball some player of the other side, who scatter in all directions. To this end, he may either throw the ball from a distance or chase any antagonist till he has come up with him, and has an easier mark. If he succeeds in hit- ting a boy, the latter must follow the former back to his own side, to which he henceforward belongs. The game continues until all of the players have been brought over to one side. The party from which the ball has been thrown have no means of knowing whether it has been caught or not, until its return, and must be prepared to see an ad- versary suddenly appear, ball in hand, and ready to throw. Hence, the excitement of the game. Roll Ball. — A row of holes large enough to contain the ball is made, one for each boy. The player to whom is al- lotted the last hole takes the ball, stands off, and rolls it in The latest news from the zoo Is: To-day, at half past two, The "Monkey Club" gay is going to play Baseball with the "Kangaroo. 5 40 Games, Pastimes and Amusements such a way as to stop in one of the holes. The boy into whose place the ball has rolled seizes it, while the rest scat- ter, and throws it at some one of the group; if he succeeds in hitting him, a stone is placed in the hole of that boy; if not, the thrower must put a stone in his own. The rolling of the ball is then repeated. When five stones are lodged in any hole, that boy is out of the game. Hat-Ball. — This game is the same as Roll Ball, played with hats instead of holes. The ball is tossed into the hat of the player who is to begin. The first to get five stones in his hat loses, and must undergo the punishment of being "paddled," passing under the legs of the row of players for that purpose Corner Ball. — Four players stand on the four angles of a square, and the four adversaries in the centre. The ball is passed from one to another of the players in the cor- ners, and finally thrown at the central players. These last, if they can catch the ball, may fling it back. If the player in the corner hits a central player, the latter is out, and vice versa. Arch Ball. — Among numerous good games with ball is one called "arch ball." The players stand in two or more lines, single file, players about two feet apart. The leader throws the ball backward over his head to the player be- hind. The second throws it in the same way to the third, and so on down the line. The last one runs to the front with the ball, takes his place at the head of the line and begins over again. If the ball is missed the one who failed to catch it must pick it up and return to his place in the line before throwing it. The line wins whose leader first gets back to the front. BEAST, BIRD OR FISH. A member of the party throws to another a knotted handkerchief, saying one of the above words, and counting Games, Pastimes and Amusements 41 up to ten. The catcher must answer in the given time the name of some animal of the kind required, not already cited by some other player. Whoever fails to reply while the counting is going on, is out of the game. After the names of commoner animals are exhausted, the game becomes a test of quickness and memory. BLINDMAN'S-BUFF-SEATED. The players seat themselves in a circle, and after one of their number has been blindfolded, they all noiselessly change places. The blindman then seats himself in the lap of some one, without groping or touching any one with his hands. He must then guess the name of the person in whose lap he is sitting. If successful, that person then be- comes the blindman. It is sometimes played where a ques- tion is asked and then answered in a whisper as a help to the solution. BLINDMAN'S-BUFF— FRENCH. In France, they tie the hands behind the back, instead of blindfolding the pursuer, which affords quite as much sport — and incurs less risk of accident. BLINDMAN'S WAND. The players form a circle, holding hands, and one is placed in the middle, blindfolded and a cane is given him. The rest dance around him singing. Suddenly the piano accompaniment stops, and immediately all in the circle stand perfectly still, loosing hands. The blindman now reaches out his cane and the person to whom it points must advance ajid hold the other end. The blindman then imi- tates the sound of some animal, which must be echoed by the holder of the cane, at the same time disguising the voice so that his identity may not be discovered. This test may 4:2 Games, Pastimes and Amusements be thrice repeated, changing the cry or roar each time. Then the blindman may pass the cane over the person un- der consideration, touching him here and there. If the blindman guesses correctly, the person detected must then change places with him. BOOK-BINDER. The leader stands in the center of a circle. Each one holds out his hands, palms upward, and upon them a book is placed. The leader then goes around the circle, catching up the books in turn, and trying therewith to strike it upon the hands that hold it. Each one tries to withdraw his hands before they are struck. The same leader continues until he is able to strike some one's hands, whereupon the victim must take his place. If one's hands are withdrawn and the book falls to the ground, because of a feint on the part of the leader, it is as if his hands received the blow. BROKEN HEARTS. Heart shaped red cards about three by two and a quar- ter inches are provided. The children are seated in a line or a circle; every fourth child is given a pair of scissors, and each one a heart-shaped card on a book or magazine, Each child is to cut his heart twice across so as to make four pieces. The cuts should be perfectly straight, but should intersect each other, but they may go in any direction. After the heart is cut once, the pieces should be held to- gether till the second cut has been made. Each child then mixes his pieces and passes them to his neighbor on the right. At a signal each child tries to put his puzzle to- gether, and the first child who succeeds calls out to that effect. Each child then mixes his puzzle and passes it on to his right-hand neighbor as before. This is kept up for a half hour, when time is called, and the child with the big- gest score receives a prize. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 43 BUTTONS. Buttons are used extensively in the sports of German children, with whom they form a sort of coinage, each sort having a stipulated exchangeable value. Traces of similar usage exist in the United States. A common New York game consists in throwing but- tons. A line is drawn and a hole made about twelve feet off. The players toss their buttons, and whoever comes nearest the hole has the first shot. He endeavors to drive the buttons of the rest into the hole, striking them with the extended thumb by a movement of the whole hand, which is kept flat and stiff. When he misses the next takes his turn, and so on. Whoever drives the adversary's but- ton into the hole wins it. Another game, for two players, is called "Spans." The buttons are cast against the wall, and if a player's button falls within a span of the adversary's, he may aim at it by striking as before. CAT AND MOUSE. This is always a favorite. All players form a ring, joining hands, except one called the Mouse, whom they enclose within the circle, and one who is on the outside who represents the cat. They then dance around, raising their arms at intervals. The cat watches the chance to spring into the circle at one side, and the mouse dashes out at the other — public sympathy being with the mouse, his or her movements are aided when possible. When the cat is in the circle, the players lower their arms so as to keep the enemy prisoner. The cat goes around meekly, crying "mew," while the rest dance around her. With a sudden "miaou!" she tries to break through any weak place in the chain of hands. As soon as she escapes she tries to catch the mouse, who runs for safety into the ring again, hotly pursued. If the cat is so near as to follow the mouse into the ring, be- 44 Games, Pastimes and Amusements fore her entrance can be prevented, or if she catches the mouse outside the circle, the mouse must pay a forfeit. Two more players are then named by the cat and mouse to suc- ceed them. CHRISTMAS CANDLES. A tiny Christmas tree with lighted candles is set on a table at a convenient height. Each child in turn is blind- folded and stationed with his back to the tree and about a foot from it. He is then told to take three steps forward, turn around three times, then walk four steps and blow as hard as he can. The one who blows out the most candles receives a prize. CHICKENS, FOX AND HOUND. This is a good game for girls to play alone; but if they can get two boys to join, it is just the thing. One of the boys takes the part of the hound and the other becomes the fox. The girls play the parts of chickens. As many girls may play as choose to take part. The girls pick out a leader, who must take the chick- ens out walking. The fox hides behind a tree, bush or other hiding place. The hound also hides somewhere, near the fox. When the chickens approach the place where the fox is concealed he must show himself. Thereupon the leader of the chickens cries: "A fox I see! A fox I see! Run to hiding behind me!" The chickens must all race then to get behind the leader. The fox rushes out and tries to catch a chicken. The hound must run out of his hiding place at the same moment and protect the chickens by getting between the leader and the fox. If he succeeds the fox must run away and hide again. If he fails, and the fox succeeds in getting Games, Pastimes and Amusements ± 5 a chicken, he leads it away to his den, where it must stay till the game is ended. After he has caught a number of chickens — say five or six — the leader and the hound call to each other: "We must hunt the villain down !" Then they race after the fox, keeping the chickens be- hind them all the time. The fox seeks to escape leader and hound, ancl also tries to catch a chicken. The game ends when the fox is caught, or when he has caught all the chick- ens except the leader. "DEN." Here is an outdoor game : Each boy or girl must rep- resent a wild beast — lion, tiger, jaguar, etc. — and choose a separate tree for his "den." The game is to see how many beasts can start out on a foraging expedition and return to their "dens" without being captured (i. e., tagged). The moment a beast leaves his den any other beast is at liberty to try to capture (i. e., tag) him. If any beast does capture him, the captor cannot be tagged while he is dragging his captive home to his own "den." Once there, the captive must identify himself with his master and help him try to capture other beasts. The one who captures the largest number wins. FIRE! FIRE! After two captains have been chosen they proceed to select their particular following so that the company may be divided into two equal sides. They seat themselves in two rows, facing each other. One of the captains begins the game by throwing a ball or knotted handkerchief to one of the players on the opposite side, crying aloud at the same time: "Earth," "Air," "Fire," or "Water." 46 Games, Pastimes and Amusements He generally tries to throw it to one who is apparently least expecting it. If "Air" is the word called, the person in whose lap or near whom the missile falls must promptly name some denizen of the water; of "Earth," an animal — before the other can count ten — but at the word "Fire!" no reply whatever must be made. If the player answers correctly, he then throws the ball or handkerchief in his turn to one of his opponents; but if he fails to answer in time or replies incorrectly, or speaks when it is the prerogative of another, he drops out of the game. This rule is inexorable, for so is the winning side determined, the game progressing until all of one side have had to retire from the conflict. FOX AND GEESE. This game must be played in the snow. A smooth place is chosen and a circle is made with paths like the spokes of a wheel. The center, where the paths cross, is goal. There may be more than one circle, one outside of the other. The player who is the fox chases the others, trying to tag one of them. If he does tag one, that player is the fox. No player must run out of the paths, or if he does, he is the fox. The geese may jump across from one path to the other, but the fox cannot, and may not tag an- other across the paths. Only one player is safe in goal at a time. The last one only is safe, and all the others must leave or they may be tagged. The game is a variation of tag. FOX, GOOSE AND GEESE. This game is simplicity itself, yet it provokes shouts of merriment from the players. Two of the taller members of the party are chosen as Fox and Goose. Mother Goose gathers her flock in a long string behind her, each holding, by frock or jacket, the one in front. The Fox stands facing her, trying to dive under Fox and Geese in the Country. y 48 Games, Pastimes and Amusements her outstretched arms and capture the last of her train. If he succeeds the victim is put out of the game, which lasts until all the Geese are caught by the Fox, or a time limit may be imposed by the hostess. FOX AND HEN. This is a good out-of-doors game, though it may also be played in the house. One of the players is selected to be the Fox and another to be the Hen. The rest of the players are her chickens, who stand in a row behind her, holding each other by the hand. The Fox then hides in his den; — the most secluded spot he can find — and a tract is set apart to represent the farm- yard, on reaching which the chickens are safe from the fox, who must return to his den. The venturesome hen, followed by her brood, goes nearer and nearer the fox's den, asking politely, ''Please, Mr. Fox, can you tell me what time it is?" If he, to disarm her fears, answers, mildly, one, two or three, etc., they may go away without danger of pursuit, but if he replies, "Twelve o'clock at night !" the hen and her chicks must turn and fly, for he dashes out of the den and tries to seize one of them. If the fox succeeds in catching the hen, she must then become the fox, and the game be- gins again. If one of the chickens is caught, it is carried to the den, but endeavors to escape — the next time that the fox is called out — which adds to the interest of the game. A sly fox will delay the fearsome answer until the hen has grown less cautious, or he may answer her question by "Twelve o'clock — noon!" during which the uncertainty is alarming until it is known which division of the day is com- ing. "GOING TO JERUSALEM." "Going to Jerusalem" is always a favorite. As many chairs as there are players less one are set in two rows back Games, Pastimes and Amusements * 9 to back. Some one begins to play on the piano. The play- ers form in a procession and walk around and around the chairs. Suddenly the music stops, and each player promptly tries to sit in the chair nearest him. One, of course, is left out in the scurry. A chair is taken away, and around and around they go again. The last person left has arrived at Jerusalem. GUARDING THE TREASURE. The equipment for the game is not difficult to procure; cans are always available. Decide by counting out who shall be "it," or the miser who must guard his treasure. The miser will take a position directly over the can, his treasure, one foot on each side. At least, this is the posi- tion usually chosen as being the best suited for guarding the can. There is no rule, however, about this, and some boys prefer other defences, as standing just behind the can or continually moving about it. The rest of the boys are robbers, and circle about it, attempting to steal the treas- ure, or, in other words, kick it away without being tagged. If one succeeds, another immediately kicks it, and away goes the can down the street with a crowd of yelling rob- bers after it, doing their best to keep the poor miser from regaining his position over the treasure. If the miser suc- ceeds in tagging any boy who has kicked the can, before another boy kicks it, the boy tagged becomes the miser and must stand over the treasure. HERE I BAKE, HERE I BREW. The players join hands in a circle, with one of their number in the middle, who is supposed to be a captive, longing for freedom and reduced to diplomatic means to secure it. The prisoner touches one pair of joined hands in the circle saying, "Here I Bake." Then, passing to the other side, says, "Here I Brew/' as she touches another pair of 50 Games, Pastimes and Amusements hands. Suddenly, then, in a place least suspected, per- haps whirling around and springing at two of the clasped hands behind her, or at the pair which she had touched be- fore, if their owners appear to be off guard, she exclaims "Here I mean to break through !" and forces her way out of the circle if she can. The players must be on the alert and strongly resist the captive's effort to escape. Those who permitted her to regain her freedom — through inattention or weakness — must then make use of the "counts" familiar to all generations of children, to de- cide which of them shall take the place of the prisoner. ~.j^^wU» Hold Fast My Gold Ring. HOLD FAST MY GOLD RING. The children sit in a circle, or stand in a row, with hands closed; one takes the ring and goes around with it, tapping the closed fists of the players as if inserting the ring, and saying: Biddy, Biddy, hold fast my gold ring Till I go to London and come back again. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 51 Each child in turn is then required to guess who has the ring, and, if successful, takes the leader's place; if un- successful, he pays forfeit. This is also known as, "Button, button, who's got the button?" Another form of the question is, "Fox, fox, who's got the box?" In England the game goes, My lady's lost her diamond ring, I pitch on you to find it. HOP-SCOTCH. This is very good practice for balancing the body and acquiring steadiness on the legs. It is sometimes called Lame Goose. Chalk or otherwise mark out on the ground a figure like the accompanying diagram, on a scale of four feet to an inch. Not more than two or three should play at one figure, or there will be too long a time between the turns. The players "pink" for first turn; that is, they pitch the stones or pieces of tile with which they are going to play at the cat's face at the rounded extremity, sometimes also called and drawn as "the pudding." He who gets nearest leads off. Standing at the square end he throws his tile into the compartment I, hops in and kicks the tile out — still hop- ping — to the standing point. He next throws the tile into No. II and kicks it out as before. He next goes to three and so on until he reaches No. 8, which is called the "rest- ing bed;" having reached this he may rest himself by put- ting his feet into six and seven, resuming his hopping po- sition, however, before he proceeds as before. Until he reaches the "cat's face" or "pudding," he may have as many kicks as he likes in kicking the tile out, but when he reaches that he must kick it through all the other divisions at one single kick, the successful achievement of which crowns the game. 52 Games, Pastimes and Amusements If the tile be pitched into a wrong number, or rests on one of the lines, either in pitching or kicking, or if it be kicked over the side lines, the player loses his innings; if he put both feet down, while in the figure except at the "resting bed/' or sets his foot, in hopping, on either of the lines, he suffers the same penalty. HUL GUL. This game is played by three, four, or more, who stand in a circle. A child then addresses his left-hand neighbor, and the dialogue is: "Hul Gul." "Hands full." "Parcel how many?" The second player then guesses the number, two guesses being sometimes allowed. If, for example, the guess is five, and the real number seven, the first responds, "Give me two to make it seven," and so on until all the counters have been gained by one player. The number allowed to be taken is often limited, by agreement, to six or ten. The counters are beans, grains of corn, marbles, nuts, and, in the South, chinquapins (an ovoid, pointed, sweet nut, half the size of a common chestnut). A childish trick is to expand the hand as if unable to hold the number of counters, when in fact they are but one or two. Oddly enough this same device is alluded to by Xenophon, as in use in his day in the game of "How Many?" — the classic equivalent of our game, in which the question was, "How many have I in that hand?" just as we say, "Parcel, how many?" So, in these sports, the interval of two thousand years vanishes. IT. If there be still anyone who has not heard of the game of "It," he is precisely the one who may furnish fun for Hopscotch. 54: Games, Pastimes and Amusements the rest and be mystified to their heart's content. The question must be diplomatically put, and when one igno- rant of the game is found it is well to wait a bit before selecting him to be the first to leave the room. He is told that in his absence they will choose an object which he must discover upon his return by asking questions of each in succession, after the manner of the w T ell known game of Twenty Questions. The company arrange themselves in a semi-circle, and, should there be others in the room who are unacquainted with the trick, it is explained to them that the object to be guessed is the left-hand neighbor of each person questioned — always alluded to as "It." It must be confessed that the fun is rather at the ex- pense of the questioner. Another may be puzzled by the company's agreeing upon the right-hand, or opposite neighbor, the person whom they spoke of last, or their host or hostess. The fun is increased if the company is arranged so that the questioner interrogates a lady and gentleman alter- nately. JACK STONES. This game is played with five jacks and a small rub- ber ball. For ones the player tosses up the ball and while it is still in the air picks up a jack, and so on until he has finished his ones. For twos he picks up two jacks instead of one, and for threes three jacks, and then two, and fours four jacks and one, and for fives all five jacks. Next elevens are played. The ball is thrown in the air and one jack placed in the left hand, the ball being al- lowed to bounce once before catching it. This is kept up as in ones until fifteen is reached. For twenty-ones the ball is tossed in the air, the jack being picked up in the right hand, allowing the ball to bounce once, and then placed in the left hand the ball bounc- ing again before the player catches it. This is finished when twenty-five is reached. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 55 Here are some suggestions for thirties, forties, etc.: Knock at Door. — The ball being thrown up, motions according to the title are to be made on the floor while it is in the air. Around the World. — The ball thrown in the* air, the player must pick up a jack and with the jack in the hand go around the ball while it is in the air; the ball is then allowed to bounce once before being caught. This is con- tinued until the fives are reached. The player might make motions according to the title of Rock the Baby, Scrub the Floor, etc. As soon as one player misses he is out of the game and another one starts. KING'S ARMORY. Each child takes the name of some weapon or piece of armor in the king's armory, such as, broadsword, shield, dagger, helmet, lance, bow, arrow, breastplate, gauntlet. The children are seated in a large circle — all but one, who stands in the centre, and takes a tin plate or round tray, twirls it around upon its edge f on the floor, calling at the same time the name of one of the pieces of armor. Upon this the player who bears the name called tries to catch the platter before it falls. Should he fail he must pay a forfeit and take the spinner's place. Otherwise he has no forfeit to pay, simply spinning the platter next time. After the game the forfeits are redeemed. KING OF THE CASTLE. The king is chosen by any one of the counting-out rhymes. Fate, therefore, having rejected all but one, he takes possession of a mound or hillock and bids defiance to his foes. He taunts them with abusive epithets as: "I'm the king of the castle; Get down, you cowardly rascal!" 56 Games, Pastimes and Amusements He is then assailed by the other players, every one a claimant for his position of eminence, and, alone, he must try to maintain it. -Fair pulls and pushes are allowed, but the clothes must not be pulled, under penalty of being set aside as a Pris- oner of War, which really means expulsion from the game. Sometimes the king is permitted to have an ally, who merely stands by to see fair play, and to capture any one breaking the rules. The odds against the king, beset by so many enemies, are so great that he does not long retain his position, and the one who dethrones him takes his place and possession of the "Castle." LAWN HAB-ENIHAN. Mark with a whitewash brush upon the grass, or scratch with a stick upon the bare ground or hard sand twelve con- centric circles. Number the rings from the outside to the centre. Supply each player with a dozen smooth stones about the size of the palm of one's hand. If you can get flat water-washed stones with rounded edges they make the best "nabs." Standing upon the taw line at the distance from the target agreed upon, each player in turn pitches a hab at the target or "enihan," leaving a stone inside the circle struck. But if his hab rests upon a line which bounds the rings he loses his turn after the first shot. The player may remove a hab from the circle last struck, or set an- other hab in it, or, counting from where any one of his habs rest, can move that hab as many circles toward the centre as correspond with the number of the circles last struck. If this moves the hab to the centre and leaves some figures over he can place a new hab forward as many rings as correspond with the numbers left over. If any player can cast two habs into a circle occupied by some other Games, Pastimes and Amusements 57 player's hab the successful player captures the other hab and removes it. The game consists of any specified num- ber of points, and when any one of the players has no habs on the enihan the game is ended. Then each player counts the number of his habs in the centre and the number of cap- tured habs, and whoever has the most adds to his or her in- dividual score the number of habs left on the enihan. The players have three objects constantly in view: to protect their habs from capture by getting more than one in the same circle, to work to the centre, and to capture the op- ponent's habs. This is a good outdoor game. LEAP FROG. The players stand behind each other forming a long line, the first player in the line makes a back, the second leaps over, and makes a back a few feet farther on, the first one still remaining down. The third player goes over the first one and then the other, forming another back in the same manner as the second, and so on until all the line are down. The boy who made the first back starts again, and leaps each of the backs, and makes another back at the end, and the next player does the same, and thus a continually advancing line of backs is formed. If the players, are anxious to get over the ground quickly they can run a dozen yards or so before "going down." MARBLES. Round-Ring. — This game consists in striking the marbles out of a ring, by shooting from a line or taw, drawn as a limit. If a player succeeds in knocking one or more out of the ring, he is entitled to another play. And keeps all he knocks out. Pug. — Four holes are made in the ground, three in a line about two feet apart, the fourth about three feet from the others, is made smaller and is off to one side. The players start from a line and the one who makes the Leap Frog. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 59 tour of the holes and gets back to the starting point first wins the game. If successful in making a hole a player is allowed another shot, — he can either make for the next hole or have the privilege of shooting any marble away that may be near the hole. If he succeeds in this, he is allowed to go back to the hole from which he just shot and start for the next one. One Hole. — Either a cap is placed on the ground or a round hole is dug. Each player takes ten marbles in his hand and tries to throw all of them into the cap or hole at one throw. He reclaims all that go in, but leaves those that fall outside where they drop. The players throw in turn, any player who gets the whole ten marbles into the cap or hole takes the marbles that are lying around it. Spanners. — This game is for two players only. The first player shoots a marble, the second tries to shoot his marble against or within a span of it. The players shoot alternately, but when one is successful he has another shot and the other player pays him a marble. Picking the Plums. — Two straight lines are drawn par- allel to one another, from four to eight feet apart. Each player places two or three marbles, which are called "plums," upon one of these lines, leaving about an inch be- tween them. The players in turn "knuckle down" at the other line and shoot at the "plums," those hit being kept by the successful shooter, but a second shot is not allowed till the next round. If a player fails to hit a "plum," he must add one to the row to be shot at. Long Ring. — In the "long ring" game a figure almost like a crescent was drawn on the ground, and then some distance away a straight line called the "base" was drawn. This last was the starting place. The player stood on this line and pegged at the first four or five marbles placed in the crescent. If he struck one and knocked it out of the 60 Games, Pastimes and Amusements ring it was his. He then picked up his "shooter," and knuck- ling down to the lines of the crescent, he shot at the other marbles in succession. Those he knocked out were his. If by any chance he should carom from one marble to another, knocking out both, his opponent would try to yell "fen dubs" first. This would prevent the player from claiming both marbles. MAY-POLE DANCE. In the center of the green- the May-pole stands with the parti-colored ribbons trailing from its tapering top. At a signal each ribbon is taken in the hand of a child. There is a May song with a sonorous and rhythmic cadence. In and out the children pass, now under this ribbon, now over that, weaving a silken mantle for the pole. The other children crowd around and laugh and clap their hands, and when the ribbons are unwound again they, too, take their turn in the dance. Sometimes the pole is so small that two or three children bear it like a standard, and followed by the rest march gaily to a chosen place, where it is planted and the ceremonies celebrated in due form and order. This story of the May-pole is an interesting one, and few of those who see it in these modern days can trace its origin. It began in the pagan celebration of the Floralian festival 242 B. C. The ceremonies were commenced by the Romans on April 28, and continued through several days in May. Following the custom of the Romans, May-day was formerly observed in nearly all parts of the civilized world, and the original Floralian festival was pretty closely car- ried out. This was true in nearly all parts of England, but especially at Lynn as late as 1827, where the games were observed with remarkable fidelity to the Roman originals. The fact that a colony of Romans settled there about the time of the introduction of Christianity into Britain is doubtless the reason for the imitation. A garland was May-pole Dance. 62 Games, Pastimes and Amusements made of two hoops of the same size, fixed transversely, and attached to a pole. Flowers and evergreens were tied around the hoops, on the interior of which festoons of blown birds' eggs and gayly colored ribbons were pendant from the top. A full-dressed doll in representation of Flora, who had dominion over the spring and was chief deity of the flowers, was seated in the center and proudly borne in all directions about the town, attended by musicians. Previous to the Reformation May-day was elaborately cel- ebrated at Lynn, but having been declared by order of coun- cil in 1644 to be illegal it was practically abolished. After the Resoration, however, there was a revival of public patronage, and two new May-poles were erected at Lynn; but the celebration of the festival never recovered its for- mer splendor. The return of Charles II. was the signal in London, as elsewhere in England, for the celebration of May 1, and, on the very first May-day in 1661 a pole was raised in the Strand with great pomp, and it was declared by one of the historians of the times that it was a hundred and thirty-four feet high. In rearing these May-poles there was a set form of ceremonies that was carefully followed. In some in- stances from twenty to forty yoke of oxen, with their horns tastefully bedecked with flowers and garlands, were em- ployed to bring them from the forest. The pole itself was completely covered with flowers and sweet herbs, and escorted to its destination by several hundred men, women and children, waving flags and handkerchiefs. Then when the pole was raised came the song: The May-pole is up, Now give me the cup ; I'll drink to the garlands around it ; But first unto those Whose hands did compose The glory of flowers that crown'd it. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 63 MINISTER'S CAT. This will brush up the wits of little folks, and the con- test is usually voted good fun. Each one in turn is required to apply some adjective beginning with "A" to the Minister's Cat, which is sup- posed to be under discussion. No two answers must be alike. One must say: "The minister's cat is an aristocratic cat." The next: "The minister's cat is an aggravating cat," etc. When anyone is unable to answer in turn he drops out of the game, and only when the supply has been exhausted so that all have dropped out, the players start anew with the adjectives beginning with "B," "C," and so on. It is not permitted to have recourse to a dictionary. MY LADY'S TOILETTE. The children are seated about the room. One of the older ones stands in the middle of the floor with a plate, a tin pie-dish or a wooden bread-platter in her hand. Each child takes the name of some article required in a lady's toilette, such as hairpin, brush, mirror, scent-bottle, etc. The leader spins the platter, at the same time calling the name of one of the articles. The child who has chosen that article must spring and catch the platter before it falls. If she fails, she must pay a forfeit. Redeeming the forfeits, with their absurd penalties, prolongs the pleasure, and is indeed a game in itself. NAUGHTY STRAW MAN. A straw figure completely dressed is fastened to a tree in such a way that it hangs about a foot from the ground. He must have one arm fastened akimbo to his side, and the other hanging free. After the players have had their eyes bandaged and been furnished with a stick, the game be- gins. The object is to thrust the stick through the opening 64: Games, Pastimes and Amusements made by the arm which is fastened akimbo. Whoever suc- ceeds in doing so may claim a prize. Of course, it often happens that the player misses, and receives a light pat for clumsiness from the straw man's hanging arm. If any player misses the goal and passes the naughty straw man, the bandage is removed and the player is considered out of the game. ODD OR EVEN. A small number of beans or other counters are held in the hand, and the question is, "Odd or even?" If the guess is even, and the true number odd, it is said, "Give me one to make it odd," and vice versa. The game is continued until all the counters belong to one or the other of the two players. This amusement was familiar in ancient Greece and Rome, as it is in modern Europe. In the classic game the player gained or lost as many as he held in his hand. ORACLES. Little girls have always been, and always will be, fond of oracles, and I have seen them pass many happy moments in determining their future by counting out the petals of a daisy, or, in lieu of that, the buttons on their frocks. To determine the occupation of the future husband this form- ula is used: "Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief," repeating until all the petals are plucked from the flower, or the buttons have all been counted. In like manner, determine the residence by asking the daisy, "Brick house, stone house, frame," etc. To determine the wedding dress, put the questions, "Silk, satin, velvet, calico, rags." The bridal equipage: "Coach, carriage, wagon, wheel- barrow, chaise." Games, Pastimes and Amusements 65 Counting Apple Seeds. — Some person names the ap- ple for you, then snaps it with the finger. Cut the apple, take out the seeds one by one, repeating this rhyme : One I love, Two I love, Three I love, I say; Four I love with all my heart, Five I cast away; Six he loves, Seven she loves, Eight they both love; Nine he comes, Ten he tarries, Eleven he courts, Twelve he marries; Thirteen wishes, Fourteen kisses; All the rest little witches/' Dandelions, when gone to seed, are plucked carefully, and by blowing hard on them three times determines wheth- er you will be married in a year. If the seeds be all blown off, it is yes. This also means that your mother wants you. PASSING THE RING. The children form a circle, with one child in the center. On a string long enough to reach around the circle a gold ring is threaded, and the children, holding the string loose- ly in their hands, slip the ring along from hand to hand. The player in the center watches closely, trying to catch the ring under the hand of some child, who must take his place. POST TOWN. This is an interesting game for children of nine or ten, who know something of geography and are familiar with Passing the Ring. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 67 the names of places. One is chosen postmaster. Each child takes the name of any town she prefers. If there are too many for the postmaster to remember, he writes down the names and holds the list in his hand. He then calls out, "I am going to send a letter from Richmond to Boston/' for instance; the children bearing the names of the towns mentioned exchange seats. If they fail to do so, the one who does not respond pays a forfeit. Occasionally he ex- claims, "General post!" Then everyone must change places ; if anyone does not secure a seat, she must pay a for- feit, and these are redeemed when the game is over. Excite- ment is added if long postal routes, including many cities, are named. POTATO RACE. This is a contest in which both sexes and all ages may join. Two rows of potatoes are laid along the ground for a distance of a hundred feet or so, about five feet apart. A basket or pail is placed at the farther end from which the contestants start. Two persons pick up the potatoes, one by one, on the spoon, without touching them with the hand, and carry them safely to be dropped into the basket. One may select the potatoes in any order one pleases, but must make a separate trip for each one. Sometimes they try to fling the potato into the basket from a distance, but if it falls short it must be picked up, again with the spoon, and time is lost. When all have had their turn the winners are pitted against each other until one of the two remaining contestants has proved him- self the more skilful. PRISONER'S BASE. Two captains are chosen, who select a player alternate- ly, until all belong to one side or another. They then pro- ceed to mark out two bases or homes, opposite and at 68 Games, Pastimes and Amusements some distance from one another, and near to each a smaller base, called the "prison." They toss for bases. The game begins by one side's sending out a player, who goes as near as he dares toward the base of the op- ponents, until one of the enemy starts out in pursuit of him, when he makes for home. If he is touched before he gets there he becomes a prisoner to the side which cap- tured him, and must stand in their prison. He goes alone to take his punishment for the pursuing player is himself the object of pursuit by another player of the opposite side, detailed to make reprisals. A player may touch only an opponent who has left home before himself, and can be touched only by the one who left home after he did. When a player has made a prisoner he may return home untouched, and is subject to capture only after mak- ing a fresh sally. One of the exciting points of the game is when a player runs the gauntlet of the enemy and delivers out of prison one of his own side who has been made captive. This is done by touching the one who is a prisoner. A prisoner is only obliged to keep part of his body in durance. If but one foot be within the prison line, he may reach out as far as he can in the direction of home — which facilitates his deliverance by a comrade. When there are several prisoners, all that is required is that one of them shall touch the prison, while the rest may join hands in a line, stretching homeward. But one prisoner, however, may be delivered at a time. The game continues until all the players on one side or the other are in the prison. ROOSTER AND HEN. As many girls and boys as wish catch hold of each other's coat-tails and skirts. The foremost one is the rooster and the rest are hens. One player stands about Games, Pastimes and Amusements 69 fifteen feet away and makes motions with his leg like a rooster scratching. The one who is playing the rooster says: "What are you doing, strange creature?" "Scratching a hole," replies the "strange creature." "What will you do with the hole?" "Find a stone in it." "What will you do with the stone?" "Sharpen a knife with it." "What will you do with the knife?" "Slaughter a hen!" shouts the "strange creature," and makes a dash at the rooster and hens. Now all the "hens" must try to escape, but they must not let go of the rooster or of each other. The consequence is that there is great opportunity for agility and cleverness in dodging, and the game is full of fun. Of course, the "strange creature" can catch hen after hen in the end. When none is left, the rooster selects a new rooster and becomes the "strange creature" himself. ROPE SKIPPING. It is the song of the skipping rope, being sung by child- ish voices in time with the whirling of strands of hemp. Everywhere little girls are welcoming bright days with dancing feet beneath which are passing thousands of skipping ropes. By twos, fours and half-dozens the girls dance in time with the swinging rope, repeating in sing- song tones the verse of the hundred skips. Proud, indeed, are the youngsters who complete the hundred turns of the rope without mishap. Sometimes as many as twenty-five children assemble for a skipping-rope contest. Then ropes swing violently, cries of excitement arise and loud laughter follows each mix-up of ropes and faltering feet. "Sugar," calls out the leader of the game and the rope swings slowly, with all the crowd, even to the littlest ones, Rope-skipping. "Ke clip, ke clop. Ke clip, ke clop. A hundred times before we stop. And if we trip, as trip we may, We'll try again some other day." Games, Pastimes and Amusements 71 dancing. Successively, the leader calls for "pepper," "salt," "mustard" and "vinegar," the rope swinging faster and faster at each call. As the speed increases the clumsy chil- dren find themselves unable to hold the pace and drop out. The girl who dances "vinegar" the longest wins. SPIDER WEB. From the hall lamp or from the claws of a huge paper spider suspended in the hall, hang as many ends of colored twine as there are children. Each child is given one and told to follow the string until he comes to the end, winding it as he goes around table legs, over doors, in and out through the banisters, upstairs and down they go, until each child has found at the end of his string some small gift. STAGE COACH. The players of this game are seated in a circle. Then each one is given a name, which must be some part of the coach, such as, wheel, spoke, axle, etc. One of the party stands in the center of the circle and begins telling a story about a stage coach, bringing in all the different parts of the coach. As each part is spoken of in the story the per- son given that part runs around his chair. After the story has been going on for some time the story teller says the words "stage coach," when every one must leave his seat and get a different one. As there is one less chair, some- one must stand and that person must tell the story. This game needs the close attention of all players. TAG. In "Cross Tag" the pursuer must follow whoever comes between him and the pursued. In Japanese Tag, sometimes called "Squat Tag," the fugitive is safe while in that position. In Iron Tag the pursued party is safe whenever touch- 72 Games, Pastimes and Amusements ing iron in any shape, as the ring of a post, a horseshoe, grille or fence. Blind Tag is so called because the pursuer, commonly known as "It," is known only to the person who "tagged" him, and who keeps up a feint of trying to catch others, to mislead the rest. A sense of mystery is the attraction of this form of the game, and the additional excitement of seeing a possible enemy player who approaches near enough to touch one. Stag Tag is a merry variety of the game that is popular with girls and little children. The "It" is called the "Stag," who, when successful in touching another player, appro- priates him or her as an ally, and hand in hand they pur- sue the others, until a third joins them and then a fourth, forming a line, until all of the players have joined the chain. Flag Tag. — Two leaders are chosen, who, in turn, choose sides. A line is marked off on the playground, and on each side of it at equal distances (twelve feet or more from the line) a small American flag is stuck into the ground. These flags the leaders guard. The object of the players on each side is to seize their opponents' flag. The leaders may prevent this by "tagging" anyone who comes near, and the child thus "tagged" is out of the game. When, by dodging and running, a player finally seizes a flag and carries it over the line into his own territory, the game is won and the players on his side each receive a small silk flag as a prize. Medicine Ball Tag. — A "medicine-ball" is made with either a leather or a canvas cover, and stuffed with cotton to weigh from three to twelve pounds. One of the players is selected to be "tagger" and another carries the ball. The "tagger" tries to touch the ball, and when it is touched the player in whose hand it w T as last is "it." Players can run carrying the ball, or save themselves by throwing the ball Games, Pastimes and Amusements 73 Three-Legged Race. to another player. The ball should be constantly changing hands. THREE-LEGGED RACE. Four contestants submit to be tied together in couples, the right leg of one firmly strapped to the left leg of his companion just below the knee and at the ankle. They are carried or dragged to the starting place, and someone 74 Games, Pastimes and Amusements counts the time-honored formula, "One, two, three — go!" At the word "Go!" they start, or try to; sometimes coming down upon their knees or falling flat, to be helped up, amid the cheers of their sympathizers or howls of derision. The two who are able to reach the goal first win the race. TOPS. Peg in the Ring. — A large ring, a yard in diameter, is marked, with a smaller one, a foot in diameter, within it. A player begins the game by spinning his top in the smaller ring. The next "pegs" at it, trying to split it. If a top, when it stops spinning, remains in either of the circles it must be placed "dead" in the inner circle for the other players to peg at. If, however, it rolls clear, as it should do if well spun, the player spins it again. Each player spins again as soon as he can get his top, and is allowed to peg at every top, dead or spinning, within the inner ring. When a player successfully splits a top he keeps the peg as a trophy. How to Make Them. — One of the simplest forms of this plaything can be made from a large wooden button such as ladies sometimes wear on cloaks. If the button has been covered the cloth must be removed. Through a hole in the center pass a small peg that will fit so tightly that the button will not slip. Leave the peg nearly three times as long on one side of the button as it is on the other, and whittle each end to a smooth point. This will enable you to spin the top on either the long or short end and the different motions produced will add greatly to your amuse- ment. To set it in motion twirl the peg between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, or the palms of both hands, and at the same time drop it gently upon a floor or some other smooth surface. Figure i will show how this top is made and how it looks when spinning on the long end of the peg. To make a whip top take a piece of wood that is shaped like a cvlinder, and about one and a half inches in diameter. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 75 With a compass mark out the exact center of the stick at one end. At this point bore a small hole into which drive a piece of iron wire. This wire should be cut off about three-eighths of an inch from the wood. Now make two circles around the wood, the first to be an inch from the end in which the wire has been driven and the other one MAGIC TOP HUMMING TOP Tops. three-quarters of an inch beyond. Commence at the first circle and with a sharp knife cut the wood down to a point and smooth this cut surface with a file. Figure 2 shows the exact shape in which the top should be made. Now saw off this piece as true as possible at the second circle and the top is made. The whip, Figure 3, is made of a small round stick, a little more than a foot long, to which a piece of 76 Games, Pastimes and Amusements cord is fastened for a lash. To set the top going give it a whirling motion with the palms of the hands. By whipping it properly it can be kept spinning for a long time. Magic Top (Fig. 4). — Insert a sharp-pointed, soft lead pencil in an empty spool, driving a little plug into the up- per part of the spool to hold by when winding. Now you have a top ready to be spun, and it is a magic top, for it will make all sorts of unexpected marks as it spins around and around on a sheet of soft white paper. Try it. A Humming Top (Fig. 5). — The materials are an empty baking-powder canister, or any wooden box, and two pieces of firewood. The plan of operations is to cut a slit in the side of the box answering to the hole in the toy, mak- ing it half an inch square or round, as the case may be, and making a hole in the lid and bottom of the box for the spin- dle to come through. To make a good job of it, the bottom hole should be square and the top hole round, and the spin- dle should be cut to fit, pushing it in, of course, from the bottom. When the holes and spindle are cut, put a little glue round the lid to make the box tight, and insert the spindle with a little glue at each hole. For the usual fork or handle with which the top is spun, a plain slip of wood with a hole at the end will be found to answer. When the top is dry, wind round the string, passing it through the hole in the handle, as shown, and spin. TRUSSED FOWLS. Two boys seat themselves on the floor, their hands are tied together with handkerchiefs, their ankles secured in the same manner, their arms made to embrace their bent knees, and a broom-stick passed over one arm, under the knees, and over the other arm of each of them. They are placed so their toes just touch each other, and in that Games, Pastimes and Amusements 77 position must try to overturn each other by pushing with their toes only. Sometimes both are upset and lie help- less on their backs until some one comes to their rescue. The game continues until one succeeds in oversetting his adversary while retaining his own seat. Tug of War. TUG OF WAR. The players divide themselves into equal sides, a rope is laid straight along the ground, a line is then drawn at right angles to the rope, and exactly in the middle of it. The sides each take one end of the rope; when all is ready the signal to "go" is given, upon which each side does its best to pull the other over the line. The side that wins two out of three pulls wins the game. WAGGING MANDARIN. The leader says to the neighbor on her right, "My ship has come home from China !" The one to whom she says this asks, "What has it brought?" "A fan," the leader re- 78 Games, Pastimes and Amusements plies, and pretends to fan herself with her right hand, ev- ery one imitating her. The one to whom she had spoken then says to the neighbor on her right, "My ship has come home from China," to whom the question is put in turn, "What has it brought?" "Two fans," she replies, making the gesture of fanning herself with both hands, while every one follows her example. The statement, "My ship has come home from China," and the question, "What has it brought?" continues from one player to another. The Wagging Mandarin. third player, announcing that her ship has brought three fans, moves her right foot as well as her two hands, every one 'else doing the same thing. At "four fans" all move both hands and both feet. At "five fans," the hands, feet and right eyelid; at "six fans," hands, feet and both eye- lids; at "seven fans," hands, feet, eyelids and mouth, and at "eight fans," hands, feet, eyelids, mouth and head. This transforms the whole company into a group of Chinese mandarins. The one who first fails in keeping up the movements must pay a forfeit. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 7d WARNING. One of the players having been chosen "Warner," takes his stand at the place marked off as "home," the rest remaining at a little distance from it. The Warner then calls "Warning !" three times, and sallies forth with his hands clasped in front of him. In this position he must try to touch one of the other players, who strive to make him unclasp them by pulling his arms, drawing temptingly near, etc. If they succeed in making him loose his clasp, or if he does so by inadvertence, he must run home as fast as possible. If he is caught before reaching his place as Warner, he must go out in the field and the one who touched him be- comes Warner. If he succeeds in touching anyone with- out unclasping his hands the captive becomes his ally and they both run home as fast as they can. Once home, they are safe, and they then start out hand in hand, after call- ing the three warnings, and try to capture another, with- out loosing their hold. Every captured player is added to their ranks, but every one must be taken home first before he is admitted to a share in the fight. The line of Warners thus increasing, the difficulty of evading capture grows greater at every accession to their ranks, but it is also a source of weakness, being unwieldy; and if the hands do not hold to each other tightly, a player at large may break through at any weak point in the line and escape capture. The field of play must be within rather narrow limits, for the only chance of the pursuing party to make cap- tures is to pen or corner the fugitives. The last player to escape being taken becomes the next Warner. WINK. Wink is an indoor game and there must be just one more boy than there are girls. The boys stand around in 80 Games, Pastimes and Amusements a circle behind chairs, while the girls sit down. There is one boy who has a chair, but no girl, so he can wink at any girl and she must try to leave her chair and come to his without the boy behind her knowing it. If he sees the boy wink at the girl in his chair he can hold her back and thus the boy will have to try to get some other girl. GAMES for CHILDREN 12 to 16 YEARS ALLITERATION. This is a memory exercise. The leader begins by re- peating the first sentence, which is said by each player in turn. The leader in every case adds the new line, copied by the other players in succession. Anyone making a mis- take or omission drops out of the contest. As the ranks grow thinner, the players are required to repeat the sen- tences more rapidly, and no time for hesitation allowed. The one who makes no mistakes is entitled to a prize. The sentences are as follows: i. One old ox opening oysters. 2. Two toads teetotally trying to trot to Trixburg. 3. Three tony tigers taking tea. 4. Four fishermen fishing for frogs. 5. Five fantastic Frenchmen fanning five fainting females. 6. Six slippery snakes sliding slowly southward. 7. Seven Severn salmon swallowing several shrimps. 8. Eight egotistical Englishmen eating enormously. 9. Nine nautical Norwegians nearing neighboring Norway. 10. Ten tiny, toddling tots trying to train their tongues to trill. ALPHABETS. Progressive Alphabets is the title given a new game which has been found highly entertaining for an evening company. Prepare as many sets of alphabets as there are tables, having the letters on cards of a size easily distinguished and plain on the reverse. Upon the head table have a bell, as usual, and let the tally-cards be numbered for tables and 82 Games, Pastimes and Amusements for partners in the customary way. The tables then are numbered as follows: i, Literature; 2, Geography; 3, Bot- any; 4, History; 5, Zoology — though, of course, any pre- ferred order of arrangement may be adopted. When part- ners have been drawn, places found, and the game is to commence, scatter an alphabet face downward on each ta- ble, from which letters are to be drawn by the players in turn. At the ringing of the bell, play begins at all tables. The first player turns over a card and endeavors to give a name beginning with the letter thus faced upward, under the subject to which the table is devoted, botanical, historical, literary, or whatever it may be. If he cannot do so promptly, any other player guessing such a name is al- lowed to take the letter away from him, and the turn at drawing passes on to the next player at the left. Partners keep their letters together, and those having the highest number when the bell rings have their tally-cards punched. In the first series of progressions, all players leave each ta- ble at the same time, but may change partners on progress- ing to the next, until each four has played at every table. Then the second round begins, in which the winning couples alone progress and the losers remain, but partners are changed at all tables on every move. When five games (or as many games as there are tables) have again been played, a third round may be entered upon or not, at pleas- ure or convenience of the hostess, but. this final round is often the merriest and most exciting of all. Playing rap- idly and moving from one to another, players are apt to guess "Shakspere" at the botany table as under literature, perhaps give "Oyster" as a historical character or shout "Japan" at the zoology table, being sometimes a difficult letter, while Q and X are occasionally left unguessed. Should more than a moment or two elapse without any word being supplied, the letter is left face upward and play passes on. If sudden inspiration strike any player later, he can give a word at any time and claim the card. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 83 As to the use of double names, the most satisfactory ruling is that either given name or surname is permissible, but not both in one round. For example, if W be turned up under literature, "Washington Irving" may claim it, but in the same deal the letter I could not afterward be taken with "Irving." It will be seen that the game allows expansion, as ta- bles may be added for Art, Music, the Drama, etc., or the others could be subdivided in various original ways which experience speedily suggests. Details of prizes, refresh- ments, or decorations would form another story, and it is the wisest to let each occasion make its own excuse as to whether lavish elaboration or modest simplicity be the key- note chosen APRIL FOOL GAME. Let one of your party take a place in a secluded cor- ner, mysteriously curtained and dimly lighted. Blindfold her carefully. Then constitute yourself her agent. Go to the drawing-room, or wherever your guests are assembled, and make some such speech as the following: "Ladies and Gentlemen: We have with us this even- ing a most wonderful character, Madame Mystique, who has the rare power of second sight. So great is her power that even though she has been carefully blindfolded and cannot by any possibility see with her natural eyes, she can tell you anything that you have done, positively anything! We back up this assertion with a guarantee of a five-pound box of candy to anyone who proves the contrary, provided he has observed the few conditions that we ask everyone to observe. Now who will be the first to test Madame Mys- tique's power?" All will be eager for first chance, of course. Take one to the madame's corner and present him to her. She will respond with a slow, silent bow. Then whisper to him that the best way to test mad- 84: Games, Pastimes and Amusements ame's power will be to go through some form of dumb mo- tion, for fear her sense of hearing might be of assistance to her in lieu of her eyes. Tell him the more complicated the motion, for instance, throwing a kiss, bowing and plac- ing the hand on the heart, all in rapid succession, the more difficult for her to describe it. Ask that as soon as he has performed whatever motion he decides on, he will kindly ask: "Well, madame, and what did I do?" Then, leaving him alone with her, withdraw a short distance. In a moment he will perform some motion and ask: "What did I do?" Madame will keep him in suspense for a moment, and then reply as follows: "You made a fool of yourself." Everyone who has been thus caught is permitted to stand back out of the way, but within hearing, so that he may enjoy the joke on the next person. HAND BALL. Handball is one of the best games that there is to de- velop every muscle in the body. It is much on the order of tennis, only that it is more severe and requires a much quicker eye and a greater exertion of the muscles to excel in it when played in a regular court that has four walls and a hard floor. The regulation game is played with a ball about half the size of a baseball and just as hard, and the speed that this ball acquires when coming off a hard wall is terrific, and it requires exact judgment on the part of the player to know what angle the ball will come off a side w r all and then to be there to meet it. A good game for boys is to play against a single wall. The side of a building or a high board fence will answer the purpose if the ground in front for about fifty feet is smooth and level. Take a space about fifteen to twenty feet wide on the wall and mark it off. Then space off a court about thirty or forty feet long, or less if this size cannot be gotten. Mark a line about fif- Hand Ball. 86 Games, Pastimes and Amusements teen feet from the front wall across the court and serve the ball from that line or behind it within the lines of the court. Your opponent must return the ball to the front within the prescribed lines or else the server makes a point. Should the man that is playing out return the ball to the front wall it is then up to the server to return it again to the front wall, and unless he is able to so return it he loses his turn to serve and his opponent goes to the serving line and he then tries to serve the ball so that it cannot be returned, or places it on one of the returns in such a place that his opponent cannot get it up. Twenty-one points count a game. Hand- ball can be played by two or four. Where two play, it is called "singles," and where four play it is called "doubles/' In doubles the partners divide up the space so that one plays up short and returns all the balls that fall within the serving line, and the other player takes all the balls that go outside of the serving line. The game can be made a very fast one. A tennis ball stripped of the outside cloth makes a good ball to play with. ONE-O-CAT. One-o-Cat is the simplest form of baseball. It may be played by three — a catcher, batter and pitcher — but a fourth on the base is better, and a fifth as a fielder is better still, and there is no limit to additional fielders. One-o-Cat has one base; two-o-Cat, two bases, etc. The batter is allowed three strikes, at the end of which time, or when he bats the ball, he runs for the base and re- turns to the home base, if possible, before he is touched or hit with the ball. If there are enough players to have some- one on the base, the batter remains on the base while the next batter bats, when both are obliged to run for each other's bases. When a batter is touched out with the ball he becomes the last fielder. The catcher takes the bat, the pitcher takes the catcher's place, and the rest move up ac- cordingly. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 87 Water Base Ball. WATER BASEBALL. The game of water baseball is one of the most inter- esting games imaginable, and the boys of few cities have as good opportunities to play it as those of Detroit, al- though as yet none have done so. The rules of the game are simple, the only require- ments being ability to swim well and to throw a ball. One large raft and four small ones about a yard square are needed, which are set out as in a baseball diamond, the large raft serving as home plate and the smaller ones as pitcher's box and the three bases. The diamond is, of course, much smaller than a baseball diamond, the distance between bases being about twelve yards. The ball used is 88 Games, Pastimes and Amusements a tennis ball, and the bat is short and light. Five boys play on each side, the catcher playing on the home raft and the others at the pitcher's and base rafts. Each man stands on his raft, the batter also being on the home raft. The batting rules are different from those in baseball in that there is no calling of strikes and balls; everything is fair, and one strike is out if caught. The "everything fair" rule makes it possible to turn and hit the ball directly to- ward the catcher. If you are the first to bat and hit the ball, say, toward third, splash! and you are off for first. As you rise to the surface after the dive you see the third base- man and the pitcher furiously swimming after the ball. Oh, how fearful you are of getting caught ! To your excited eyes it seems as if first base were a mile away. As you near the base you see the pitcher seize the ball and turn in the water to throw it. But it is no easy matter to throw a ball while treading water, and the chances are that the throw is a bad one and you are safe. You now turn your attention toward second. To steal it seems easy, and so, as soon as the pitcher delivers the ball, you start. But if all goes well with the other team, when you have gone about a third of the distance you no- tice that the second baseman has the ball. Giving up all hope of gaining second, you turn to regain first, and to your horror note that the first baseman has followed you and waits for the ball about five feet in your rear. Madly, now, you turn your efforts toward second, only to see the second baseman, who has also jumped into the water, rapidly swimming toward you. With sheer des- peration and much splashing you try to evade this latest comer, but you are put out and retired amid the excited yells of the onlookers. To the boys the game is full of fun. Sometimes an ardent first baseman will lean too far over to one side in his efforts to get the ball. This will cause the raft to tilt until the boy loses his balance, and in his efforts to regain the center of the raft it will shoot from Games, Pastimes and Amusements 89 under him and he will land smack on the surface of the water. This funny side, together with the real interest of the game, makes it one of the best summer sports for boys. CIRCLE BALL. This is one of the most popular of recreative games. A circle is formed and one of the players stands inside. The players throw a light "medicine ball" or basket ball from one to another. The one in the center tries to inter- cept the ball, or make one of the players drop it. If a player muffs the ball, he becomes "it/' or if the player in the center blocks a throw, or catches a ball, the thrower becomes "it." BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK. A line is marked off in a clearing, and on either side of it stands a player from each team who has been chosen champion. These two play battledore and shuttlecock back and forth across the line until one player fails to hit the shuttlecock. The one who has missed yields his battledore to another player of the same side and becomes his oppo- nent's prisoner. The game goes on until all of one team have been taken prisoners, or, if this makes it last too long, it may end at any time, and the team having the greatest number of prisoners has won. "BUZ." The players sit in a circle and count in turn, "one," "two/' "three," until if possible one hundred is reached. There are ways and ways of counting, however, some of them not so easy after all. The number seven must always in this particular game be replaced by "Buz," as must any of its multiples, as fourteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight, etc. Rules of the game are these: Rule i. "Buz" to be said for every seven or seven times that number. 90 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Rule 2. Anyone breaking this rule pays a forfeit and is out of the game; i. e., sits silent. Rule 3. As soon as seven or a "seven times" number has been said, the counter must begin at one, by the player sitting at the left of the expelled member. Rule 4. If any player forgets his number while the count is going on, or miscounts after a "Buz," he pays a forfeit, but is not out of the game. It will be found that "Buz" will be so often forgotten in its right place, or the number of players will so soon diminish from miscount, that to reach one hundred will not be easy, as every time a blunder is made the count goes back to one as a fresh beginning. This game proves a very jolly and amusing one. An amplification of this game has been called "Buz Fizz." In addition to the requirements of number seven, whenever the number three or any of its multiples, or any figure in which it occurs, appears, the word "quack" must be given instead. All the 30' s begin with "quack." At ev- ery return of the number five or its multiples, the word "fizz" is used; all the 50' s begin with "fizz." For eleven and its multiples, the player says "cock-a-doodle-doo!" Thus, "1, 2, quack, 4 fizz, quack, buz, 8 quack, fizz, cock-a- doodle-doo, quack, quack, buz," etc. Fifteen is "quack fizz," three times five being fifteen. As a player fails, he retires from the game, and the rest begin with one again. The victor must have quick wits and much concentration — and deserves a prize. CAPPING VERSES. One person writes a line of poetry and, folding down the paper to conceal the writing, passes it to his neighbor, at the same time giving the last word of his line. No. 3 writes a fresh line, which is rhymed by the next player, and so on, until all have made a contribution. The lines may be original poetry(?) or quotations, but Games, Pastimes and Amusements •! the result is naturally more pleasing if all agree beforehand to follow the meter of some familiar poem. If preferred, each writer may start a fresh sheet and pass it on as before described, which, keeping all busy at once, makes the game more lively. Still another way to play the game is for someone to quote a line of poetry, when the person next must promptly repeat another line begin- ning with the letter which concluded the last word of the previous line. It is continued from one to another until some one fails to respond, when he must drop from the game, which is continued until one alone has outdone all competitors. For such impromptu quotations it would be too much to insist upon the meter being alike, which removes the chief difficulty. For example: "Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness come." "England, with all thy faults I love thee still." "Love not, love not, ye hapless sons of earth." "He jests at scars who never felt a wound." "Drink to me with thine eyes," etc. CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS. A sheet on which is painted a full-size fireplace is hung on one side of the room. Every child having been provided with a tiny stocking with a pin at the top, each in turn is blindfolded and told to go to the fireplace and pin his stock- ing to the mantel. If he succeeds, a tiny toy is slipped into the stocking before the handkerchief is removed from his eyes. But if the stocking is out of place, it is left. empty. CHEAT. The game is played with two packs of cards, and any number of persons may take part in it. The cards being dealt, the player at the left of the dealer lays a card in the center of the table, face down, but naming the suit and 92 Games, Pastimes and Amusements value of the card. The next person then places a card on top of it, saying that it is the next in order — though truth is not insisted upon. It may be, and it may not be, what he represents it. If anyone doubts it, he may challenge it, say- ing, "I doubt it!" The card is then shown, and if it prove not to be the one declared, the player is obliged to take all the cards that are on the table, and the object is to get rid of one's cards. If, however, the card prove to be the one the player represents it, the doubter must take all the cards on the table. Sometimes the bad morals of the game so infect a player that he tries to put down two cards at once, when, if he is discovered, he is obliged to take every card on the table into his own hands. The one who first gets rid of all his cards beats the game. The cards should be played rapidly. CLAP IN, CLAP OUT. "Clap In, Clap Out," is another old favorite game with the children, so all the grown-ups join in it. As many chairs as there are persons are placed in a circle. All the girls and women leave the room and the boys and men place themselves each behind a chair. One boy chooses a girl to sit in his chair. She is called in, clapped loudly and told to choose a chair. If she chooses the right one, its owner may claim a kiss ; if not, all loudly clap her out of the room and another girl is named. COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS. This is a game that may be played without any prep- aration whatever, as no materials are required, not even pencil and paper. It is, therefore, well worth knowing, for it may be suggested to a party of friends on the spur of the moment, when some such amusement is desired. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 93 The players choose a leader, and then seat themselves in a circle, with the leader in the center. He, of course, stands. As the game may be better understood from an illustration, we will suppose the leader to begin it by say- ing: "Young people, you are all supposed to be commercial travelers, about to start on a journey to any part of the world that you may prefer, on business. I will ask each of you, if you please, to tell me where you are going and what you intend to do when you get there." It is required that every answer to his questions should be alliterative ; that is to say, that all the words of the an- swer should begin with the same letter; and the first an- swer should begin with the letter A. Thus it runs : Leader — "Where are you going?" Answer — "To Annapolis." Leader — "What will you do there?" Answer — "At- tend academy." B goes to Boston to buy baked beans. C to Chi- cago to collect Columbian coins. D to Damascus to do Dervish dances. E to England to earn Edward's esteem, etc. CONTRADICTORY PROVERBS. The first player gives a well-known proverb, to which the next must present the opposite. As illustration: "Out of sight, out of mind," quickly offset by the equally familiar "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." A brief list of these seemingly contradictory proverbs might be written upon folded cards and one given to each player, who must write on the opposite page the proverb that contradicts the one given; as, for instance, "A stitch in time saves nine," "A tear is the accident of a day. but a darn is pre- meditated poverty." "A rolling stone gathers no moss." "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again." 94: Games, Pastimes and Amusements "Marry in haste and repent at leisure. " "Happy the wooing that's not long a-doing." "Fine feathers make fine birds." "Handsome is that handsome does." CUPID'S TARGET. Cupid's darts are shot from a small bow by each child in turn at a heart-shaped target of white with a smaller red heart for a bull's-eye. The one whose dart comes nearest the middle of the bull's-eye may receive a gaily beribboned bow and arrow for a prize. DUCK ON A ROCK. If debating on a game to play, and "duck on a rock" is suggested, you. must be quick to pick up a rock, at the same time crying, "My duck," for the last to speak gets no duck and has to guard the drake. The drake is a good- sized stone which is placed on an elevated position or on a boulder. The ducks are stones about the size of one's fist. A line is drawn eight or ten yards from the rock. From this the boys throw, the object being to knock the drake off the rock. Beyond this line also is home, where the players are safe from the keeper. The players throw in turn. The keeper stands by the rock, but cannot tag a player until the latter has touched his own duck. In which case the one touched becomes keeper. If the drake is knocked off the rock, the keeper must replace it before he can tag a player. This is, therefore, the signal for a rush to recover the thrown ducks. If all the stones fail to dis- lodge the drake, their owners cannot touch them. They are "forfeit" to the keeper, and must make terms with him to recover their stones. One may be allowed to "jump" home, which means, to hold the stone between the feet and, so loaded, hop home. Another may be allowed the privi- lege of "kicking." The stone is worked onto the foot and kicked homeward. Or "heeling" may be accorded, upon Games, Pastimes and Amusements 95 demand. This consists of a backward kick of the stone towards home, effected with the heel. In trying these vari- ous feats, the first one who fails to get his stone home must become keeper. While the test is going on, no other player must go home. DUMB CRAMBO. . The players are divided into two parties, one of which leaves the room, while the others decide upon a word to be guessed by those without. Upon their return they are furnished with a clew by a word's being told them that rhyme's with the word which they must guess. They then return for consultation, and upon their reappearance pro- ceed to represent in pantomime what they fancy the word to be. Properties necessary for dressing in character may be supplied, which adds much to the fun.. For example : One of the audience tells the actors that they have thought of a word that rhymes with "tin." After a short preparation, the actors enter en masse, making as noisy a racket as they can devise. The audience promptly assures them that it is not "din" in pity for their own ears. They then retire for conference and reappear. One creeps stealthily after another and goes through the motions of picking a pocket, two seem to be quarreling, others openly righting, while one craftily drops upon the ground a bit of orange peel which promptly causes the others to fall with great apparent injury. The audience finally decide that sin is what they are trying to describe, and deny that choice. The audience withdraw and return with broad smiles upon their faces, but again are assured of failure, the word not being "grin." At their next appearance they seem to be swimming, holding their arms very close to their sides and flapping about as fishes do their fins, while opening and shutting their mouths as one observes fishes do in an aqua- rium. Condemned to still another trial, they enter the 96 Games, Pastimes and Amusements room staggering about and imitating the motions of ex- treme intoxication, while periodically drinking from closed hands. It is not difficult for the audience to recognize the word of their selection, and acknowledge that "gin" is the correct answer. Whereupon the audience and actors change places. EGG RACE. On either side of the room six large hard boiled colored eggs are placed in a line at intervals of about a foot. At the far end of each line is a large open basket or a coarsely wo- ven nest. Two leaders are chosen, who in turn choose sides. A player from each side is given a large wooden spoon and stands at the near end of his line. At a signal each starts to spoon up the eggs one at a time, carrying them to the nest. A list of the winners on each side is kept, and at the end of the game the side which has the greater number is the winner. Small individual prizes may be given to all the players on the victorious side. For exam- ple, tiny nests filled w r ith egg bonbons. ELECTRICAL FISHING. Whittle a little rod anywhere from ten to twenty inches long, paring it down so that it tapers gradually from the thickness of a lead pencil at the butt to a graceful point. Attach a bit of sewing silk a few inches long. To the end of this tie a tiny hook. Now heat some sealing wax over the flame of a candle, fashion it into the shape of a worm and work it over the hook so as to cover it just as a fisherman would cover a hook. All you need now is the fish, and you will be ready to catch a mess. The fish can be produced in a moment by snipping a piece of thin paper into shape with sharp scis- sors. Tissue paper is best, and if you can get colored paper of different colors, so much the better. Cut out fish about Games, Pastimes and Amusements 9 ? an inch long and scatter them over the table which repre- sents your fish pond. Now, with a silk or woolen rag, rub the sealing wax bait briskly. Then lower it toward any fish you wish to catch, and it will bob up and hang onto the hook. You know why, don't you? The friction has produced electricity in the sealing wax. FLOWER SPIDER WEB. In a nest are several small packages of flower seeds, and to each package is attached a cord of a different color. Each person is invited to choose a cord and follow where it will lead — for at the other end will be found the flower to which the seeds belong. The cords, of course, are car- ried in as intricate a manner as possible, under furniture and rugs, around table legs, in and out through the banis- ters, up stairs and down, until finally each child will find a potted plant with paper frills or a bunch of the flowers ap- propriate to the seed. The blue cord led to forget-me-nots, the white to the stock gillies, the red to carnations, yellow to daffodils, the green to mignonette, the lilac to violets, purple to pansies, and the pink to primroses. FORTUNE HUNTING. A little scheme for a Hallowe'en frolic, in which the un- canny but ever fascinating witch plays the leading role, may be worked out as follows : From a sheet of black paper cut a large figure of a witch, with a cat just in front of her, mounted on a broom- stick. Have this figure pinned to the center of a sheet, which is to hang at one end of the room. Have written on slips of paper (as many as there are guests) some clever fortunes, in rhyme, and place them in small envelopes. Pin these promiscuously over the sheet, placing those prom- ising the brightest future nearest the witch. When all is 98 Games, Pastimes and Amusements ready, let each guest in turn be blindfolded, turned about several times, and allowed to seek and find his fortune by touching the sheet with the end of a small broomstick. The envelope nearest the point he touches will be his. Do not remove the envelopes until everybody has fin- ished, but pin each one's name (written on a slip of paper) to the spot where he touches the sheet, to keep tally. The fortunes may be made more desirable as souvenirs by dec- orating the papers with small silhouettes of witches, black cats, etc. If prizes are given, let the one who secures the fortune which is placed in the witch's outstretched hand receive an appropriate volume, such as "The Fortunes of Oliver Horn" or "The Queen of the Air." GAMES OF MESMERISM. Everybody, big and little, enjoys an exhibition of mes- meric power, and surprisingly few people know the "trick." Game I. — After an elaborate speech describing your unusual power of mesmerism, ask your assembled friends for the privilege of trying your powers on them. Tell then to select a certain playing card out of a pack, hide it, and then call you in. Ask them all to be thinking about it while you go around the circle, pressing your hands on each one's tem- ples and brows in turn. Unknown to them, there must be one of the company who is your confederate. By a prear- ranged system, he will signal to you thus : By pressing his back teeth tightly together and then relaxing them he can cause the muscle of his temples to contract so that you can plainly feel it under the pressure of your fingers. Let one contraction indicate hearts, two diamonds, three spades, and four clubs. Then a pause. Then one, two or three, etc., to correspond with the number of spots on the card. Or if it is a picture card, four quick contractions for the king, three for the queen, and two for the knave. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 99 Game 2. — This comes near to being mesmerism. No one can explain how it works, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it does work. Choose five cards out of a pack, select one in your mind, then spread all five of them out fan fashion, faces down, and, grasping some one's right hand in your own, tell him to close his eyes and command him to draw the particular card you have in mind. Somehow or other he will almost invariably pick out the very card you command- ed him to draw. Game 3. — Someone announces that he has special mes- meric powers, and asks for subjects upon whom to work his powers. Someone offers himself. The two retire a little to one side, and two saucers are handed the mesmerist, who then passes one to the subject. "Now," says the mesmerist, "say and do exactly what I say and do, using as nearly as possible the same tones of voice and the same motions as I use. Ready? Now say after me: "I touch my saucer's underside, And then I let my finger glide Across my forehead, down my nose, Touch my chin and cheeks of rose, And after I have done thus much My saucer's inside then I touch." Immediately present a mirror before his face, and there he will see the explanation of sundry giggles that he has heard, for his forehead and nose and chin and cheeks will be streaked with black. The underside of his saucer was smeared with lampblack. Of course, only people who have never chanced to be- come acquainted with this "sell" will offer themselves as subjects for the mesmerist to work on. LOFC 100 Games, Pastimes and Amusements GOOD RESOLUTIONS. Each child is given a paper and pencil and requested to write at the top of the page the word "Resolved," fol- lowed by expressions of amendment that he or she is con- scious of needing. One such attempt at self examination resulted in the following resolves: "I will be as honest as the times will permit/' "I will be good to all, but gooder to myself." "I will tell no more lies." "My best self shall rule." "I will try to love everybody." These are read aloud and the authorship guessed. All the correct guesses at the authorship are counted, for the prize of a china mug with "For a Good Girl" or "For a Good Boy" in letters upon it. HARE AND HOUNDS. In playing this game one boy (or in a long course two), represents the Hare, and the rest the Hounds. The hares carry with them bags full of paper torn up very small, which they scatter behind them as they run, to represent scent, and by this the hounds trace them up and endeavor to capture them. The hares, of course, endeavor to mislead them by all sorts of doublings and twistings, or by going over dif- ficult country. The hares are debarred, by the rules of the game, from employing all such artifices as making one or more false starts at any part of the run and from returning on or crossing their previous track. Should they break either of these rules, or should the "scent" give out, they are consid- ered as caught and lose the game accordingly. They must, of course, always scatter a sufficient amount of scent to be plainly visible to the hounds. If there are two hares, they must not be separate under any circumstances; for all the purposes of the game they are to be considered as only one individual. Hare and Hounds. 102 Games, Pastimes and Amusements The hounds will find a little organization and discipline a wonderful assistance to them in baffling the tricks of the hare. A captain and whipper-in should be chosen, the for- mer to lead and direct, and the latter to bring up the rear. As long as the scent is strong, the whole band will go some- what in Indian file, merely following their captain ; but when he is at fault he must sound the horn, which he carries, and call a halt. The whipper-in thereupon takes his post at the point where the scent is broken, and the others sweep round in a great circle, covering every inch of ground, to discover the lost trail. Sometimes the captain and whipper-in carry white and red flags, and use them to mark the point where the scent is broken. The hares should not be the swiftest runners, or they would never be caught. Endurance, pluck and a readiness of invention are the great points in chase. The more he trusts to his head and the less to his legs, the better the chase. The hares are generally allowed not less than five or more than ten minutes' start, according to circum- stances. They should take care to survey their ground be- fore they go over it, or they may get themselves into all sorts of difficulties. A pocket compass will be found an in- valuable companion both to hares and hounds. From twelve to fourteen miles is a good run; but some little train- ing and practice are requisite before such a long course can be covered. . At first considerable difficulty will be experienced in keeping up even a moderate pace; but after a time the pace will come of itself; that is, with practice, and a little care in the article of food — avoidance, for example, of too much in- dulgence in pastries. Pace is one of the first requisites for a good run, but it should not be carried to extremes; a good swinging trot of from five to six miles an hour over good ground, and some- thing less on bad, is quite enough to try the endurance of the best runners. Above all, too much pace should not be Games, Pastimes and Amusements 103 put on at first; if there is any to spare at the finish put it on by all means, but for the first mile or so steady going should be the order of the day. If, at the end of the day's sport a boy feels himself feverish, knocked out, and unable to eat, he may be sure he is getting harm rather than good, laying up for himself sickness rather than health by his exercise. Either the pace has been too much for him, or he is not in proper condition. In the former case he must restrain his ardor for a time at least, and be content to take a little longer time over the work; if the latter, in most cases it will be from over-indul- gence in food and he must make up his mind either to be a little more temperate, or a little less athletic. Many boys are under the impression that light boots are the best for the long runs ; but this is a great mistake ; the feet get terribly beaten on hard soil, and in mud or over ploughed fields light boots are almost worse than none at all. A pair of good, solid, broad-soled lace boots, with thick worsted socks, are the only wear for the feet. Short six-inch gaiters — unless knickerbockers, which are distinct- ly preferable to trousers, be worn — will be found, a great protection, and will serve to limit the flapping ends of the trousers, and make them play a little looser at the knees, a matter of vast importance in a long distance run. One more word of advice. Let no sense of fatigue, however great, prevent your changing boots and socks at least, di- rectly you get home. You will find it well worth the extra exertion. HOT COCKLES. A player, kneeling down, conceals his face in the lap of another, but on his back places one hand, the palm turned outward. Each person then advances in turn and admin- isters a slap on the open hand, the person kneeling mean- while trying to guess, without looking, to whom he owes his punishment. If he guesses correctly, the one whom he has detected must take his place. 104 Games, Pastimes and Amusements HUMAN BURDEN RACE. This is a most amusing variation of the old-fashioned potato race. The players are divided into two equal squads, and stand facing each other on parallel lines about thirty feet apart. A player from each squad goes to the opposite line, and at the signal "Go" runs across the space, picks up a member of her team, carries her back to the line, and then returns for another girl. The player first carrying all of her squad across the space wins the game. JAPANESE FAN GAME. Provide yourselves with ordinary inexpensive Japanese fans and Japanese paper globes of various colors. These globes are six or seven inches in diameter. They come folded flat, but all the players have to do is to unfold them and inflate them through the tiny hole which will be found in one end. Have a goal — make it of two poles six feet apart, with a top crosspiece — at each end of your field. The field should be about the size of a tennis court. Have a smaller goal also in the center of the field. Choose two captains and let them choose up their sides, the same number on each side. One from each side — two in all — play at a time, each standing in front of his own goal, and at a signal from the umpire advancing toward the center, fan in hand. At the next signal the two captains toss their balls high in the air. It is "up to" the two players now to keep the balls from touching the ground and to guide them toward the opponent's goal, causing them to pass meanwhile either over or under the middle goal. The only means either $ne can employ is his fan. Supposing either ball falls to the ground, the player is privileged to lift it up on his fan without touching it with his fingers, and to resume the play, provided his opponent has not yet reached his desired goal. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 105 The winner scores a point for his side. Then two more — one from each side — play against each other, and so until every member of each side has had a chance to play. Last of all the two captains may play, if they wish to. The winning team should be presented with prizes. Pretty fans would be appropriate. Both fans and balls can be purchased at any Japanese shop. This game is not merely very pretty to look at, but far less violent exercise than tennis. Everybody will en- joy it. In Japan the fans are often omitted and the breath alone relied upon to blow the ball goalward. You might try it. JUMP THE ROPE. The players clasp hands in a circle. One of them stands in the centre and swings a rope, to the end of which is attached a small weight. Each player must jump over the rope as it approaches. When a player misjudges and is struck by the rope he drops out of the circle. The one in the centre makes the jumping faster and harder by increas- ing the speed of the rope and by raising it higher. The game is laughable and gives a lot of recreation. KEEPING THE "THREAD" OF A STORY. Each player holds the end of a ribbon or string in her hand, the other end of all the ribbons or strings being held by the leader, who begins to tell a story. Every one must pay close attention, for at any moment she may break off, at the same time pulling one of the ribbons. The holder of it without delay must take up the story and continue it until the leader pulls another ribbon, which transfers the task to some one else. Kites — How to Make Them. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 107 KITES. Not very many years ago the young artist in kites seldom ventured beyond a few simple forms, indeed, was mostly limited to one, as the only one recognized as the real thing; but nowadays he has a greatly enlarged choice, and may find in the toy-shops an endless variety of forms more or less eccentric in their design from which to select. If he be of an inventive turn of mind, and cannot otherwise please himself, he may construct a kite on a pattern of his own. The old theory used to be that a deviation from ac- curate proportions in a kite must certainly prove fatal to its powers of flight; but of late years, amongst other re- sults of opening our communications with China, we have discovered that so long as certain rules of symmetry are observed, that is, so long as one side fairly balances the other, there is almost no conceivable shape that may not be made to mount up into the sky. Here and in Europe kite-flying is only an amusement for the young, but in China it is a popular recreation of all ages; not below the dignity even of gray hair. On a suit- able evening in some parts of China the whole sky will be populated with kites of strange and wondrous aspect — mandarins, men and women, singly and in pairs, wild beasts, birds, serpents, dragons, fish in endless variety and profusion. To the Chinaman bent on constructing a kite, nothing animate or inanimate comes amiss; let the shape be as eccentric as you please, he will not only make a kite of it, but will make one that will fly. How to Make a Kite. — To make a kite of the ordinary pattern, the following requisites must be prepared: A long straight lath, a cane, and a plentiful supply of string, paper and paste. The lath is for the upright (as b, d, in Fig. i). The cane, which should be about three-fourths the length of the lath, must be securely fastened by its exact middle to the upper end of the lath, as at e, and brought down to a 108 Games, Pastimes and Amusements bow by the cord at c. This cord should be passed with a double turn round the upright at f to keep it from slipping, and care must be taken to balance the two sides of the kite most accurately; a very slight preponderance of weight on one side over the other will make the kite lop-sided, and will greatly interfere with its flight. Now carry a string, as in the figure, from e to c, thence to g, to a, and back to e, fastening it securely at each point. Your skeleton is now complete. Next for the paper. Paste sheets of paper together until you have one large enough to cover the whole frame- work, with a margin of at least two inches to lap over. Lay your skeleton upon this, cut away the superfluous paper all around, and then lap the margin over the edges, and paste it firmly down. Having firmly secured this, cut some slips of paper about three inches wide and paste them along and over the cross string so as to secure them firmly to the main sheet, and treat the upright in the same manner, though, of course, with a wider strip. The body of your kite is now complete. For the wings or tassels take two strips of paper, of a length and width proportioned to the size of the tassel re- quired, snip these across like a comb, roll them up, and bind the uncut ends tightly with a string. The tassel for the end of the tail may be constructed in a similar manner. The ordinary method of constructing the tail is by fast- ening slips of paper at six inches or so interval along a piece of string. These pieces of paper, though intended for ornament, hardly fulfill their office, but remind one rather of curl-paper than of anything else, and are contin- ually becoming tangled. A good long piece of string with a tassel at the end answers all the purposes, and is far more graceful. If this be thought insufficient, a little colored tis- sue paper rolled up fine, and twined spirally along the string of the tail, will set it off wonderfully. The tail should be fifteen or twenty times the length of the kite. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 109 In selecting the string for the kite, the two main points to take into consideration are lightness and strength. If the string be too heavy, the kite will not be able to soar very high, on account of the dead weight of the string; if it be too light, the pull of the kite and its own weight to- gether will be too much for it. The string should not be fastened directly to the framework of the kite, but to a piece of string termed the belly-band, which is a piece of string fastened to the upright by both ends, and hanging down in a loop about a foot or eighteen inches in depth. The points of attachment to this belly-band should be, one a little below the middle of the upright, and the other about two-thirds up of the remaining length. Or, to be more precise, in a four-foot kite the lower point would be about twenty inches from the bottom, and the other about ten inches from the top. The string is firmly attached to the belly-band; as the exact point of affixture can only be ascertained by experiment, it depends entirely upon the bal- ance of the kite. Another and very useful sort of kite (See Figs. 2 and 3) may be made with calico set upon a frame, all of whose pieces work upon a single pivot. By this arrangement the whole kite may be folded together and put into a case like an umbrella. The calico is only fastened permanently to the two long pieces, and simply tied to the cross-piece; this being re- leased, the three laths may be worked round on a pivot until they are in a straight line, and this calico wrapped around them. The great advantage of this construction is that not only are they easier to carry but they are less liable to injury. Sometimes they are made with only two pieces, an up- right and a cross-piece, but the principle is the same. If expense be no consideration, oiled silk, or that thin gutta percha which is now used as its substitute, may be 110 Games, Pastimes and Amusements employed with advantage, and will be found, on account of their superior lightness, infinitely preferable to paper or calico. For decorations the young artist must follow his own fancy, only he must remember that, as the effect is to be produced from a distance, only the most staring and bril- liant colors can be employed, and that fine and finished de- tails will be of no use whatever. One of the prettiest kites now in use is that which rep- resents the hawk with outspread wings. If this kite is properly made, it sweeps backwards and forwards with a movement exactly like that of the bird whose name it bears. If the tail is made of fine but strong string, and the weight at its end is cut in the shape of a small bird, the kite enacts in a marvelously faithful manner the maneuvers of a falcon attacking its prey. Take a parachute kite. You can make the parachutes of tissue paper — any colors — cut into square pieces to which small cardboard figures may be fastened. Take a small twist in the top of each parachute and to each twist fasten a thread. To the other end of each thread fasten a pin bent at right angles. Now take your kite string and make a sufficient num- ber of loops in it, six feet apart from each other, for all of your parachutes to be suspended, each to one loop. When you fly your kite (or parachutes, rather) shake the string energetically and the parachutes will spread out. Now a man-kite. Suppose you construct a Chinaman kite. Take sticks half an inch square and various lengths — four of them 62 inches long, one 28 and one 15 inches long. Bend them and fasten them into position as indicated in the diagram, using stout string for the purpose. Then cover the framework with paper and on top of this paste rather loosely large sheets of tissue paper, va- riously colored — blue for the upper body and sleeves and red for the legs. Cut the head out of cardboard 14 inches Games, Pastimes and Amusements m or so high. Paint the features of the face in black paint. Fasten the head to the "spinal column/' With tacks make the feet of cardboard and the queue or "pig-tail" of strips of black cotton cloth braided. Make the flags of yellow tis- sue paper. Attach a small quantity of ballast in the form of peb- bles as shown in the picture. Have just enough ballast to balance the figure properly. Flying the Kite. — To start the kite in the first instance, it is mostly necessary to have some aid; two persons are required, one to hold the kite up and help it off, while the other, holding the string, runs a little way against the wind to increase its pressure upon the kite, and this helps it to get its tail fairly off the ground, after which, if there is sufficient breeze, the kite will do very well. The kite, once up in the air, may be allowed to soar upwards as far as the string or its own capabilities will per- mit; if the string be unlimited, the height to which the kite can ascend will only be measured by its power of supporting the requisite length of string. Sometimes when great altitude is aimed at, when one kite has taken all the string it can well carry, the lower end of the string is attached to another kite, which then takes up a fresh length, and enables its precursor to mount higher. This plan is only worth practicing with really large kites, and in managing these care is necessary (a six-foot kite, for instance, pulls lake a cart-horse), and serious ac- cidents have been known to happen through the string get- ting entangled, and the owner of the kite being run away with by his unmanageable plaything. Where the kite is very large, it is advisable to give the string a turn or two around a post or tree ; this will enable its owner to control it at will. A piece of paper with a hole in it, slipped on the lower end of the string, will soon by the force of the wind be car- ried up to the kite itself, however high it may be. 112 Games, Pastimes and Amusements KNIGHTS. Two sturdy boys take each a smaller boy on their backs and engage in a mock tournament, themselves act- ing as horses, while the youngsters grapple and strive to unseat each other. The real brunt of the righting falls on the horses, upon whose strength and dexterity, much more than upon that of their respective "knights," depends the ultimate issue of the combat. The horses may shove and jostle one an- other, but must not kick, trip, or use their hands or elbows. The victor is he who gains most falls in three rounds. The game should only be played upon turf, for safety's sake; for sometimes, when horse and man go down to- gether, the fall might prove a nasty one on hard ground, and at any time the rider is liable to be brought off back- wards with a jerk, under which circumstances he will be thankful to measure his length on the soft turf, instead of lumpy gravel or unyielding pavement. MATCHING EGGS. Hitting their ends together to see which is hardest. The one who succeeds in cracking the eggs of his opponents being the winner. MUMBLETY-PEG. In this game a knife is cast into the earth, on a piece of turf, with the point downwards, and must remain stick- ing there; at least two fingers above the ground. There are several successive positions of throwing, as follows: (i) The knife is held on the palm, first of the right and afterwards of the left hand, point downward, and thrown so as to revolve towards the player; (2) it is rested succes- sively on the right and left fist, with the point uppermost, and thrown sideways; (3) the knife is pressed with the point resting on each finger and thumb of both hands in succes- Games, Pastimes and Amusements 113 sion, and cast outwards; (4) after this it is held by the point and flipped from the breast, nose, cheeks, eyes and fore- head; (5) from each ear, crossing arms, and taking hold of the opposite ear with the free hand; (6) over the head back- wards. If the knife does not "stick/' the next player takes his turn; the first to conclude the series wins. The winner is allowed to drive a peg into the ground with three blows of the knife with his eyes shut and then with them open, which the other must extract with his teeth, whence the name "mumblety-peg." Another way is for each player to play until he misses and then to start when it comes his turn again on the one he missed on, and the loser "pulls the peg." NAMES OF CITIES. The children are given names of different cities or towns in the United States, except one, who is placed in the center of the ring blind-folded. Then some one who has the list of the names calls off — for instance — Baltimore and Chicago, and the children who have those names change places, while the one blind-folded tries to hear what corner the noise is coming from and feels his way to find one off the chairs, and if he is quick enough to get it the blind-fold is taken off him and put on the one who missed his chair. This game is the cause of great excitement and fun, if there is a crowd, and sometimes the person in charge tells them all to change, then the one blind-folded is almost sure to find his way to a seat. NUMBERS. What Two Numbers Multiplied Together Will Produce Seven? Make as many copies of the following arithmetical questions as there are players, leaving space under each for the answer to be written. Give a copy to each player, together with a pencil and an extra sheet of paper to "fig- 114 Games, Pastimes and Amusements lire" on, and offer a prize or several prizes, for the best answers submitted within a certain time limit: — i. What two numbers multiplied together will pro- duce seven? 2. How may four fives be placed so as to make six and a half? 3. If five times four are thirty-three, what will the fourth of twenty be? 4. What is the difference between twice twenty-five and twice five and twenty? 5. Divide the number fifty into two such parts that The Game of Numbers. if the greater part be divided by seven and the less by three the quotient in each case will be the same. 6. If you have a piece of cloth containing fifty yards and wish to cut it into fifty one-yard pieces, how many days will it take you to do it if you cut one yard a day? These questions, as you see, are not very hard, but two or three of them may catch the unwary. Here are the answers: — 1. The two numbers are seven and one. 2. The figure 5, the fraction five-fifths and the deci- mal fraction five-tenths. 3. Eight and one-fourth. Games, Pastimes and Amusements I 1 5 4. Twice twenty-five are fifty; twice five and twenty are thirty. 5. The two parts are 35 and 15. 6. Forty-nine days — not fifty days. OUR FLAG. Cards are provided beforehand upon which are drawn and colored large American flags, lacking only the stars. These, the hostess announces, are to be stuck on by the children. Each child receives forty-five stars, and in a given time, say five minutes, sticks as many as he can on the blue field of his flag. A bell is rung, the children count their stars, and the one who has the most on his flag is the winner and receives a prize. PARCELS POST. There are two leaders chosen, who in turn choose sides for parcels post. The children form lines facing each other, a leader at one end of each line. Beside him in a large basket are parcels large and small, heavy and light, and many that are irregular in shape, all wrapped and tied up. There should be an equal number of parcels for each side. At a signal each leader takes a parcel from the basket, passes it to the player next him, and one after another as quickly as possible they are taken from the basket and passed along the line. If anything is dropped it must travel all the way back to the leader and start again. The player next to the chair must pile the parcels on it as they come to him, without letting one fall, and when they have all reached him he starts them back to the leader, one at a time, as fast as he can. The side which gets the parcels back in its basket first has won. PENNY PUZZLE. Give to each player a card with pencil attached by a ribbon, and on the end of another ribbon a penny with a 116 Games, Pastimes and Amusements hole in it. Write at the top of each card, "A penny for your thoughts," and below the following questions. A time limit is set and the one having the greatest number of correct answers may receive a prize. Questions. * Answers. i. — The symbol of eternity? — Circle. 2. — What goes before a regiment? — Band. 3. — A messenger? — One cent (sent). 4. — An Indian headdress? — Feathers. 5. — What should a soldier present to his foes? — Face. 6. — A gallant? — Beau (bow). 7. — A scion of one of the first families ? — An Indian. 8. — Emblem of victory? — Wreath. 9. — Writings from the absent? — Letters. 10. — What does a prisoner pine for? — Liberty. 11. — What number and kind of buildings are included? — Ten mills. 12. — Two sides of a vote? — Ayes and noes (eyes and nose). 13. — A piece of armor? — Shield. 14. — A beverage? — Tea (T). 15. — A watchword? — Liberty. 16. — What should a rogue possess? — Cheek. 17. — One way of expressing matrimony? — United States. 18. — A place of worship? — Temple. 19. — What our forefathers fought for? — Liberty. 20. — Part of a hill? — Brow. 21.— What part of Boston?— O, N and T. 22. — What silver coin? — Crown. 23. — What part of wheat? — The ear. 24. — What represents youth and childhood? — Youth, 19- 06, childhood. 25. — An emblem of royalty? — Crown. 26. — A scholar? — Pupil. 27. — Part of a river? — Mouth. 28. — Spring flowers? — Tulips (two lips). 29. — The first pens? — Quills. Games, Pastimes and Amusements li7 30. — Weapons ? — Arrows. 31 — A small animal? — Hare (hair). 32. — A fruit? — Date. 33. — An ancient mode of punishment? — Stripes. 34. — The weapon of its infliction? — Lashes. PILLOW CLIMBING. In the middle of the floor scatter numerous cushions, books, dishes, and ask who among your guests will volun- teer to walk over the floor between these articles, so as to fix in his memory the distances between the various articles and their locations. Then blindfold him and let him undertake to make his way over the same ground, depending on his memory to guide his steps and striving not to touch a single article. Meanwhile, however, while the handkerchief is being ostentatiously fastened over his eyes, some of the company present quickly and noiselessly remove every one of the objects, leaving the floor absolutely clear. It will be a funny sight to all the onlookers to see the deluded volunteer carefully lifting his feet to avoid touch- ing this and that object which he fancies lies in his path. And his look of surprise' when the bandage is lifted will be still more comical. RELAY RACE. The children stand in two or more lines at one end of the ground. The first one of each line, carrying a flag or handkerchief, races to the opposite end of the ground, touches the fence or wall with the flag, and runs back, hand- ing the flag to number two, and passing to the rear of the line. Number two starts immediately, and upon returning hands the flag to number three. After all have run the line whose last man returns first wins the race. Those at the head of the line whose turn it is to run next, must stand with the toe on the line, but not beyond it. They cannot US Games, Pastimes and Amusements advance to meet the returning racer. Each line should have a captain to see that the rules are observed, and an umpire should decide points that are questions. SACK RACE. For this race each one is put into a sack, not fastened, however, higher than the neck. The one who is to start the race lays the sacked persons in a row, flat upon the ground, and at the signal each does his best to roll, hop, or in some way get past the winning post. If sacks are not obtainable the arms should be tied to the sides at the elbows and wrists, and the legs tied together at the ankles. SENTENCE-FORMING FUN. Each person participating in this game was supplied with a sheet of paper on which was a list of words, ten or twelve in number. Each person then wrote a few words before and after each of the ten given words, in such a way as to make a sentence. For example (the black words were the original ten) : awed by the sultan, whose appearance was unusual, the people dwindle to the thatched and lowly huts, where spices and gold inset with jewels, as well as politeness, were unknown to the crawling people. The idea was to make as much sense as possible out of the given words, and this is sometimes hard to do, as there is often no connection between them. It is a good idea to have a spelling book at hand when preparing the list, otherwise there may be a tendency to choose words ^N^^ Sack Race. 120 Games, Pastimes and Amusements which belong together, making it too easy to make a sen- tence, and thus spoiling the fun in the game. After all had finished writing the sentences were read aloud and compared, and the person who wrote the best sentence was presented with a book. The booby prize was a small grammar. I M sM> I* Shadow Circus. SHADOW CIRCUS. A new game called the shadow circus is described as follows: The host or an assistant conducts each guest, on arrival, into a room separate from that occupied by the rest of the company, and takes a shadow profile of his head by seating him between a strong light and a sheet of pretty stiff paper pinned to the wall. After placing the head of the subject so that his shadow is cast upon the middle of the paper, his profile is easily and rapidly outlined on it with a pencil. The shadow profiles are cut out with a penknife, and grotesque bodies are pinned to the various heads, the necks being cut narrow enough to match the bodies. (See illus- tration at bottom of page.) The figures are then succes- sively attached to the back of the sheet, the light making the pictures show through the sheet in deep black. To obtain a clear, sharp shadow the figure must rest at all points against the sheet, and a good way to get the result is to slant the sheet slightly. The idea in the shadow circus is to let the company guess who the silhouettes repre- sent. The bodies may be characteristics of the individual's taste or peculiarity without giving offense. The athlete, the orator and the singer are suggested in the illustration. ir shadows' ON THE WALL SHADOWS ON THE WALL. Shadow pantomimes, when skill- fully executed, afford endless amuse- ment. The diagrams for the position of the hands are self-explanatory, but considerable practice is necessary. A sheet stretched tightly on a frame, and a lamp with a lantern lens to focus the rays, are all that is required by way of an outfit. The requirements for making shadow pictures are a sheet smoothly fastened upon the wall, a light that will throw strong rays, and an individual with the ability in his hands to make the pictures, the shadows of which are thrown upon the sheet, 122 Games, Pastimes and Amusements A Rabbit. Lock little fingers together. Draw back of left hand around and flatten it on back of right. Bend first finger of left hand for nose and head. Form the ears with sec- ond and third fingers. A Laborer's Head. Close fist of right hand; use thumb for nose. Insert between third and little fingers a pipe cut from pasteboard. Place left hand over right, curve fingers; bend thumb and little finger for hat. U. S. Soldier. Both hands needed. Cap formed by placing left hand on right; peak of cap by extending little finger of left hand. Nose is made by third finger, and chin by doubling over the little finger. A Turtle. It is an amusing sight to see a squirming turtle upon the screen. The thumb is his head; the little finger, his tail; and the first and third fingers, his legs. Keep him in constant motion. Geronimo. To imitate an Indian, keep hands in position accenting features, and spread the fingers of the left hand for feathers in his hat. Do this and your audience will recognize "Geronimo" upon the screen. Continental Soldier. Hat is formed by left hand with little finger and thumb held upright, and other fingers curved. Profile by the right hand with thumb extended for nose, and little finger curved for the chin. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 123 An Old Man. Use both hands. Curve left hand for hat. Fingers of right hand extended and curved make profile. By mov- ing the left hand occasionally the hat may be made to appear as if being taken off and put on. Barking Dog. Place hands against each other. Draw back first fin- gers for forehead. Thumbs up for ears. Drop little fin- gers for jaws. Sway your body and hands, and different dogs will appear. SHOUTING PROVERBS. One person leaves the room and the rest decide upon some proverb which he is to guess. The words are appointed among the players, one word to each in succession. If there are more players than words in the proverb, two or more may say the same word. At the reappearance of the banished person, all shout at once in a loud voice the words which haye been given them to say, and he must endeavor to catch the sounds, disentangle them from the combination and tell what the proverb is. If incorrect or unable to guess it, he must go out again, or, if successful, the one who furnished the clue must take his place. SNATCH THE HANDKERCHIEF. The two squads stand fifty feet apart, and on an Indian club halfway between is placed a handkerchief. At the word "Go" a player from each side runs out to snatch the handkerchief and get back without being tagged by the other. If she succeeds her opponent becomes her prisoner. If tagged she herself becomes the prisoner. The girl who fails to get the handkerchief and fails to catch the one who did, becomes prisoner. Snap Dragon. " ■;' •'":••■'• • ■ ■ ~ .. Straddle Club. 128 Games, Pastimes and Amusements possible. The bargaining becomes very shrewd and merry until all of the parcels have been swapped, oftentimes more than once. Then they are opened, the best bargain winning first prize, the poorest compelling the holder to tell a story, suggest a game, sing or recite for the entertainment of the company. TELEGRAMS. Each person of the company is furnished with paper and pencil and all are in turn requested to suggest letters of the alphabet to the number of ten, which are duly writ- ten at the top of each sheet of paper, in the same order in which they are given. The players are then requested to compose a telegram having no more or less than ten words, each beginning with the letter that has been suggested. The time given is usually ten minutes, which may be shortened or lengthened to suit convenience. Examples. — The letters given are T, A, G, Y, I, P, S, E, H, M. — "Tom's auto gets you into poverty. Sam Easton holds money/' "Time allowed gone yesterday. Interview personally some energetic, honest, man." TESTING FATES. Upon the floor are twelve candles in a row, all alight and each of a different color. Each candle stands for a month in the year. The white one for January, blue for February, pale green for March, bright green for April, violet for May, light pink for June, dark pink for July, yel- low for August, lilac for September, crimson for October, orange for November, scarlet for December. Each child in turn is invited to jump over the candles, and if the feat be accomplished without extinguishing a single candle, pros- perity and happiness are in store through all the months of the coming year; but if one is put out, ill-luck threatens in the month whose shining is thus eclipsed; while to knock one over, predicts dire calamity. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 129 THANKSGIVING FEAST. Cards are distributed upon each of which is writ- ten a list of objects suggestive of a feast, opposite to which the players write their guesses of what dishes are described. For instance: i. Soup — Imitation reptile. 2. Fish — Collect on delivery. 3. Roasts— The country of the crescent, and Adam's wife — served with a sauce of what undid her. 4. Vegetables— Two kinds of toes ne'er found on man or beast; a mild term for stealing; what your heart does. 5. Puddings— What we say to a nuisance, and exactly perpendicular. 6. Pies— An affected gait, and related to a well. 7. Fruit — a kind of shot. The answers are: 1. Soup — Mock turtle. 2. Fish— C O D. 3. Roasts— Turkey and sparerib with apple sauce. 4. Vegetables— Potatoes and tomatoes, cabbage, beets. 5. Puddings— Sa-go and plum(b). 6. Pies — Mince and pumpkin. 7. Fruit — Grape. TOM TIDDLER'S LAND. A boundary line marks out "Tom Tiddler's Land/' on which stands a player. The rest intrude on the forbidden precinct, but if touched must take his place. The words of the challenge are: I'm on Tommy Tiddler's land, Picking up gold and silver. This Eldorado has many different local names— Van Diemen's land in Connecticut; Dixie's land in New York, 130 Games, Pastimes and Amusements an expression which antedates the war; Judge Jeffory's land in Devonshire, England; Golden Pavement in Philadelphia. In the southern states "Tommy Tiddler's Land" is the name of the spot where the rainbow rests, and where it is supposed by children that a pot of gold is buried. "Tommy Tiddler" represents the jealous fairy or dwarf who attacks any who approach his treasure. TORPEDO HUNT. Get about twelve packages of torpedoes of different sizes. They should be hidden under bushes, in nooks and shady places, in low limbs of trees, among the roots of shrubs and ledges of the piazza. Each child is provided with a little cartridge-bag made of duck, and is told of the hidden torpedoes. These are hunted for and when all of the children have returned with their treasure they are fired off. TOSSING CHESTNUTS. A bowl-shaped basket about nine inches in diameter is placed at one end of the room. Each child receives ten chestnuts, and standing eight feet from the basket tries to throw them, one at a time, into it. The score is kept and the child who has succeeded in tossing the greatest number of chestnuts into the basket wins. THE DANCING EGG. Get a hard boiled egg and place it on the reverse side of a smooth polished plate or bread platter. If you now turn the plate around while holding it in horizontal posi- tion, the egg f which is in the middle of it, will turn around also, and as the pace is quickened, the egg will move more and more quickly, until it stands up on one end and spins around like a top. In order to be quite sure that the experi- ment will succeed, you should keep the egg upright while it is being boiled, so that the inside may be hardened in the proper position. Tossing Chestnuts. 132 Games, Pastimes and Amusements THE SWIMMING NEEDLES. The simplest way to make a needle float on the surface of the water is to place a piece of tissue paper on the water arid lay the needle on it; the paper soon becomes soaked with water and sinks to the bottom, while the needle is left floating on the top. Another way is to hang the needle in two slings made of threads, which must be carefully drawn away as soon as the needle floats. You can make a needle float by simply holding it in your fingers and laying it on the water. This, however, requires a very steady hand. If you magnetize a sewing needle by rubbing it on a fairly strong magnet, and float it on the water, it will make an extremely sensitive compass, and if you place two needles on the water at the same time, you will see them slowly approach each other until they float side by side; that is, if they do not strike together so heavily as to cause them to sink. A SIMPLE AND PUZZLING BOARD ILLUSION. A very puzzling illusion may be presented in this man- ner: Procure a piece of thin board of soft wood, say pine; it should be a foot and a half in length and a couple of inches wide. Place it upon an ordinary kitchen table, allowing the end to protrude half its length almost beyond the table. Now place a newspaper upon the table, covering the board to the edge as illustrated, and smooth it out carefully, be- ing sure that the paper is in perfect contact with the board as well as with the table. Then announce to the company assembled that, with no other fastening upon the board than the sheet of newspaper, you propose to strike the end of the board hard enough to break it, or at least to tilt the table. It will appear impossible. Every one will imagine that the newspaper will be torn in two as soon as the edge of the board is struck, but this will not occur. Strike it a smart, sharp blow with the hand or an instrument, and the Games, Pastimes and Amusements 133 board will either break off or tilt the table and remain fast to it, just as if it had been nailed fast. The explanation is simple. When the blow is struck there is a tendency to tilt the end of the board upon the table, but the air having been pressed out from under the paper a semi-vacuum has been created, and the compression of air upon the outer edge of the paper holds the board fast. SOME TRICKS WITH A HAT, EGGS AND A HAND- KERCHIEF. There is always mystery in a high hat, particularly when a magician gets hold of it. Borrow a tall hat from some one of the gentlemen in your company and assure him that you can produce from it any number of eggs. Visions of broken eggs and a ruined hat may chill his indi- vidual appreciation of the trick, perhaps, but it will afford no end of fun for the others, and there is not the slightest danger of injuring his property. Eggs, when used in sleight of hand experiments should be blown. To prepare them pick a pin hole in each end of the shell. Place the lips over one aperture and by blowing into it the entire contents of the eggs will be forced out at the other opening, leaving the shell only. A small piece of white court plaster applied conceals the pin holes, and the empty shell looks perfectly natural. Having secured the tall hat, place a quantity of cotton in it, ostensibly for a nest in which your invisible hen is to lay her eggs. In the bunch of cotton, surreptitiously, of course, convey a number of real eggs — which need not necessarily be blown as above described — and leave them in the hat for future use. It may vary your experiment somewhat by announcing that the mysterious eggs will be produced from an ordinary silk handkerchief, in which event proceed as follows: Take a large silk or bandana handkerchief from your table, where it has been lying. To the middle of the hem of this hand- kerchief has previously been fastened a slender thread, to 134: Games, Pastimes and Amusements which in turn, is fastened the blown shell of an egg, as show in illustration A. Place one corner of the handker- chief between your teeth, and with one hand stretch it out before the spectators, showing that it is simply a handker- chief and nothing else. Slowly fold the handkerchief in the middle, toward yourself, concealing the blown egg behind and within it as you fold it, as shown in illustration B. Then allow the egg to roll from the handkerchief into the hat, as shown in illustration C. The thread is, of course, attached to the empty shell, and to recover it open the handkerchief, first to show that it contains nothing, then carefully fold it again in the middle, at the same time draw- ing the attached shell underneath the fold — illustration D. When it is fairly under the folding handkerchief it is easily picked up again behind it, and the original operation of putting the egg into the hat is repeated, with, of course, whatever manipulations the performer may suggest to add to the mystery of his movements. After having repeated this operation as many times as you really have eggs in the hat, break the string, allow- ing your blown shell to remain in it. Then remove the eggs, one at a time, and show them to your spectators. They have seen you produce the eggs in the handkerchief, one at a time, and are morally certain that their eyes have not deceived them. HOW TO DRIVE A NEEDLE THROUGH A COPPER COIN. An apparent mechanical impossibility may be accom- plished by simple means, using a copper cent, and a cork, with a common cambric needle as accessor^- Announce that you will drive a small needle through a. coin, and few will be ready to accept your statement, yet it is very simple and any one can do it. Take a copper coin, place it upon two small blocks of wood, leaving a very narrow open space between the blocks. Now, having selected a good, sound n B v_ FI&.X FIG-.l -^ FIG.3 PIG". 4- g 4^y FIG. G FIG.T FIG-.8 FIG-.8 Tricks. FiG.lO FIG. II 136 Games, Pastimes and Amusements cork, force the needle through it until the point just appears at the other end. Break off the portion of the head of the needle showing above the top of the cork. Place the cork upon the coin and strike it a fair, smart blow with a ham- mer. The needle will be driven entirely through the penny by a single blow. THE HEIGHT OF A HAT. Very few people have any idea of the real height of a gentleman's high hat, as you will easily discover if you show one to the company. After they have viewed the hat, take it out of the room, and ask those present to mark what they suppose to be the height of it on the wall. When this has been done, bring the hat in again, and you will find that nearly every one is absurdly out in this attempt. PAPER TRICKS. Tear up a bit of soft paper into tiny scraps and lay them on the table, then blow on them through an empty cotton reel. Instead of blowing away, some of the scraps will jump up and cling to the reel. If you take a stick of sealing wax and rub it well against your sleeve until it is warm, and then hold it close to these scraps of paper, they will jump up and cling to the wax. THE MAGIC THREAD. Soak a piece of thread in a solution of salt or alum (of course your audience must not know you have done this). When dry, borrow a very light ring, and fix it to the thread, apply the thread to the flame of a candle; it will burn to ashes, but will still support the ring. HOW TO LIGHT A CANDLE WITHOUT TOUCH- ING IT. Having allowed a candle to burn until it has a long snuff, blow it out suddenly. A wreath of smoke will ascend Games, Pastimes and Amusements 137 into the air. Now if a lighted match is put to the smoke at a distance of three or four inches from the wick, the fire will run down the cloud and relight the candle. REMOVING A COIN FROM A GLASS WITHOUT TOUCHING EITHER. Another and almost equally simple experiment is none the less perplexing to those who have never seen it at- tempted. Procure a small tapering glass, the largest diam- eter of which is just a trifle greater than that of a silver dollar. Place a ten-cent-piece in the bottom of the glass, and the silver dollar above it, to serve as a lid. Now ask your guests to take the ten-cent-piece out of the glass with- out touching either coin or the glass that holds it. All sorts of devices will be suggested, but none that come within the limit of the rule you have laid down. After it has been given up, place your lips a few inches from the rim of the glass and blow downward, obliquely, but smartly, upon the edge of the dollar within the glass. The force of the air will turn the dollar over upon its own axis and at the same time will force the smaller coin to leap out, as the dollar is turning. THE FEAT OF BLOWING A CORK INTO A BOTTLE. Ask some of the ladies if they think they can blow a small bit of cork, which you have placed in the mouth of a bottle, so that it will go into the bottle. Lay the bottle on the table upon its side, and place the bit of cork about, an inch or less inside the open end. The ladies will blow until they get red in the face, and the cork will invariably come out of the bottle instead of going into it. Simple reason for it, too : the direction of the air, forced by the one blowing, brings it against the bottom of the bottle. The air compresses within the bottle's walls and must find out- let, therefore is turned and forced out at the only vent the bottle has, necessarily blowing the cork out with it. But 138 Games, Pastimes and Amusements take a common lemonade straw, place the end of it near the cork in the bottle neck, blow very gently — and the cork rolls in. THE MYSTERY OF THE OBEDIENT PARLOR TABLE. Table tipping and similar feats are always in demand, and^ are always appreciated, particularly if the spectators know in advance that they are to be deceived by purely mechanical means. You can make a light parlor table or chair obey your will, and move when you want it to in the easiest possible manner, and no one will be able to detect you after you have practiced it a little. Attach a silken thread to the inseam of the trousers below the knee, allowing it to fall in a loop almost to the floor. Pick up the small table, ask your friends to examine it, and then place it upon the floor allowing one of its legs to fall within the loop of the thread; step backward and command the table to move. As soon as you have tautened the thread the table will naturally go where it is pulled, and the audience will believe that you have some inexplica- ble means of forcing its obedience. TURNING A GLASS OF WATER UPSIDE DOWN WITHOUT SPILLING. To do those things which at first glance are so plainly opposed to all natural laws as to become remarkable, in- variably attracts attention. For instance, if you are able to pick up a glass filled with water and turn it upside-down without spilling a drop, particularly when there is no cov- ering over or around the glass, you will create instant in- terest. It is one of those tricks which should be done quickly, as if it were only a little side show, and as quickly disposed of, allowing the audience to marvel at it, and wonder how it was accomplished. A disk of perfect isin- glass over the mouth of the tumbler will, with the natural Games, Pastimes and Amusements .139 pressure of the air, keep the water from coming out. It is a skillful experiment however, and requires more practice than some of the others I have mentioned, but is very effective indeed. PUTTING A BIRD IN AN EMPTY CAGE. A pretty little optical illusion may be worked in this fashion: Take a disk of cardboard upon which you have drawn a bird cage. Show it to your friends and let them see that it is simply a bit of card. If you are at all skillful in handling it you will be able to make them believe they have seen both sides, when you have only shown them one. Exactly in the center of the disk, on the reverse side, you have drawn the figure of a bird. A bit of string attached to holes in the extreme edge of the cardboard disk will enable you to twirl the card rapidly with your fingers. The result- ing illusion will show the bird in the cage sitting upon his perch where your friends before saw only the empty cage. When the twirling stops the cage is empty. If this manip- ulation is found too difficult, the illusion itself, having shown both sides of the card, is entertaining. MESMERIC TRICK. Offer to mesmerize any lady so that she cannot get up alone, and when one volunteers, place her in a chair in the center of the room and sit facing her, requesting all of the company to keep quiet and unite their wills with yours. Ask the lady to fold her arms and lean back comfortably, and proceed to make a variety of passes and motions with your hands with great solemnity. After a few moments say, "Get up," and as she rises from her chair you rise at the same moment, and say, "I told you, you could not get up alone." If she suspects a trick and does not rise, of course your reply is the same. 14:0 Games, Pastimes and Amusements TO LIGHT A SNOW BALL WITH A MATCH. Roll a snow ball and put it on a plate. While rolling contrive to slip a piece of camphor into the- top of it. The camphor must be about the size and shape of a chestnut, and it must be pushed into the soft snow so as to be invisi- ble, the smaller end uppermost, to which the match should be applied. WALKING MATCHES. Split a match at one end, and in the notch put the point- ed end of another match. Now set these in a riding position on the blade of a knife, which you must ask some one to hold so that the heads of the matches will just touch the table, and tell him to keep it quite still. In a few moments, however, much to his surprise, the matches will begin moving along the knife-blade, and will, if allowed continue to do so until they reach the end. This is caused by the unconscious movement made by the hand of the person holding the knife. FILLING A GLASS OF WATER WITH SMOKE. I will give one chemical experiment that very rarely fails to produce a marked effect upon spectators. A glass or goblet is placed upon a stand or table and covered with a plate. The magician steps away a distance of twenty feet or less, blows a puff of smoke from his lips from a cigar or cigarette, and the goblet is filled with smoke. It is a weird, mysterious trick, but is as simple as it seems difficult. Prepare the goblet by placing a few drops of chemically pure ammonia in it. Prepare the plate by placing two or three minims of muriatic acid upon it. Until the plate is placed over the glass containing the ammonia neither of the chemicals will be detected. But as soon as the fumes of the ammonia come into contact with the muriatic acid, dense fumes, looking exactly like smoke, are evolved and the illusion is perfect. During the very brief interval re- Games, Pastimes and Amusements 141 quired for the operator to walk away from the glass his own movements and his conversation will hold the attention of his audience until he has had time to blow forth a cloud of smoke. SOME SIMPLE, INTERESTING AND MYSTIFYING FEATS. A simple experiment in magnetism may be described thus : Take a piece of paper, say about twelve by six inches, and after heating it to exclude all moisture, pass it briskly between the body and arm. The magnetism it will gain from the body will cause small clippings of paper to fly to it from distances varying from a few inches to a foot, with no apparent cause. A few dexterous passes and a little accompanying chat added to a simple illusion or deception can be formed into a pretty trick in this manner: Take a coin, display it to the audience, make a few rapid passes with it up and down the front of a cabinet or wardrobe door. Remove your hand and the coin will "adhere to the door. The explanation of a seemingly impossible feat is simple. The thin film of air between the coin and the wood surface is discharged by heat, and the semi-vacuum formed by the friction causes the coin to remain fast to the wood. It can be so elaborated with practice as to make it appear that the coin adheres to the wood simply because the operator commands it to do so. One of the oldest and simplest tricks is still popular and pleasing. Give your audience a plain empty bottle, and ask them to lift it with a lemonade straw, which you also hand them. Unless some of them have seen the trick before, no one, of course, will be able to do it. Bend the straw as indicated in the accompanying illustration, and you will see how easily the feat, which at first strikes one as being difficult, can be accomplished. It is so simple that it really needs no further explanation. 14:2 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Tie securely the ends of a string about half a yard long. This makes the string double. Pass one end through one of the handles of a pair of scissors. Then thread the other end through it, and after that through the other handle ,- draw the loop tight. Now pick up the free end of the string and hang it on a hook (or hold it between your fingers) and tell one of your friends you defy him to release the scissors from the string without meddling with the end that is attached to the hook (or to your fingers.) He will almost surely say: "I give up. Show me how it is done." The way to do it is to pull the loop loose from one handle of the scissors, pass it through the other handle in exactly the reverse fashion to the way that it was brought through in the first place, pull it until it is long enough for you to carry it completely over the pair of scissors and bring it around back to the handle you started it from. Another trick or puzzle has been described by a Phil- adelphia boy. Make k by taking a couple of four-inch wire nails and bending them cross-fashion, leaving a small open- ing where they cross each other. The puzzle is: How can the nails be got apart and then put together again? Try it, boys; it can be done. TWISTED ANIMALS. Here is a game that everybody would enjoy. It has one advantage that should commend it to young and old alike — it may be made quite simple and easy to play, or quite difficult, if so desired. That is to say, you may use a list of animals, such as we give here in illustration, or a list of phrases or sentences, the latter being, of course, the more difficult to "untwist/' In preparing for the game, you write a list like the fol- lowing, all the names being twisted, or "pied," as the print- ers say, with the letters arranged in complete disorder. It Games, Pastimes and Amusements 143 is much better to make a typewritten list, for ordinary hand- writing would not be plain enough. 1. Peesh. 8. Aimcosh. 2. Duggop. 9- Grabed. 3. Roast Slab. 10. Retirer. 4. Leap Then. n. Parti. 5. Firfage. 12. Kacopec. 6. Torte. 13. Somsoup. 7. Rugaja. 14- Unnepig. Give one of those lists to each player, with a duplicate list of the numbers at the bottom of the sheet, and having fixed a time limit, say, of half an hour, offer a prize to the player who first succeeds in writing the real names oppo- site to the numbers. Here is the "untwisted" list: 1. Sheep. 8. Chamois. 2. Pug dog. 9. Badger. 3. Albatross. 10. Terrier. 4. Elephant. 11. Tapir. 5. Giraffe. 12. Peacock. 6. Otter. 13. Opossum. 7. Jaguar. 14. Penguin. UP JENKINS. There are few merrier games than this, and its only requirement is a silver quarter. The company seats itself at a table, the opponents fac- ing each other. All the hands of the side which has the coin are held under the table until the person acting as cap- tain of the opposite side gives the order, "Up Jenkins!" when all hands, tightly closed, are held up high above the table. At the captain's order, "Down Jenkins!" all hands are brought down simultaneously on the table, palms down- ward, as much noise as possible being made so as to drown 144 Games, Pastimes and Amusements the clink of the coin. Care must be taken to obey only the command "up" or "down Jenkins" — nothing else — and to obey no one but the person acting then as captain; other- wise the coin has to be forfeited to the other side. The captain looks at the hands before him and orders each hand in turn off the table that he has decided has not the coin under it. If the coin is discovered to be in the hand last ordered off the table, the coin goes to the side of the captain who guessed correctly, but if he guesses incorrectly, and the coin is under one of the hands that he has ordered off, the side holding the piece of money keeps it again, adding to its score the number of hands still remaining on the table. Each person takes the position of captain in turn. A time limit is the only way to end this game. WATER SPRITE. The players stand in two lines facing each other with a large open space, representing a river, between. The wa- ter sprite, standing in the river, beckons to one of the players to cross. This one signals to a player on the other side, and they run to exchange places. If the water sprite tags either one of the players while crossing that one then be- comes the sprite. This game is sometimes played in schools where some of the players are little Chinese. When these beckon and signal they have a little rigmarole which they repeat in their own language. American children think it very odd and very pretty. The game is said to be of Chi- nese origin and to be founded upon a legend which says that every year a sprite appears in the rivers, beckoning to the people on the shores. It is a fancy, of course, and the sprite represents spring. While the children in China are always curious to get a glimpse of her, they are more or less fear- ful that if they should see her they might be compelled to obey her when she beckons them to come. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 145 WAXWORKS. "Waxworks" rather resemble Tableaux. The actors have, to represent wax figures and must be very still and en- deavor to look like wax. They are, of course, dressed for their parts. After being exhibited immovable, they are ap- parently wound up from behind by a little boy. The little scooping toy used in village fairs may be employed for this to make the winding noise, and then the wax figures move, awkwardly and stiffly, as clockworks generally do. Those who have seen the waxworks can imagine the fun they afford. Mrs. Jarley describes them, or a pretty Little Nell might do so, and much fun may be got out of the descrip- tions. Or you may exhibit Artemus Ward's famous show, and favor the audience with some of his jokes. The following figures in position make excellent wax- works: Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex, Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamond, Madame de Brinvelliers, dressed in the fashion of her age, that of Louis XIV., hold- ing a goblet of poison. WHEEL OF FORTUNE. A picture of a wheel is drawn upon a slate, and a num- ber written between each of its spokes. The eyes being then closed, the child whose turn it is raises a pencil in the air, twirling it, and saying : Tit for tat, Butter for fat, If you kill my dog, I'll kill your cat. At the last word the pencil is brought down; if the point of the pencil falls on a space, the number there writ- ten is scored; if on a line, or outside the circle, or on a num- ber previously secured (and erased by a line), the turn is forfeited. The game is continued until a certain number has been scored by the winning player. 146 Games, Pastimes and Amusements WITCH IN THE JAR. One of the children is selected for a witch, and each of the others chooses some tree or post for a goal. The witch then marks out on the ground with a stick as many cir- cles as there are players, which she calls "jars." The chil- dren run out from their homes, and are pursued by the witch. Whenever she catches one she puts him in one of her jars, from which he cannot escape unless someone else chooses to free him by touching. Once freed, he cannot be recaught until he has reached his home, and ventures out once more. The freer, however, can be caught, and as the witch keeps guard over her prisoners, it is a dangerous task for a player to attempt to set his companions free. When all are caught a new witch is chosen. WRIGGLES. This artistic problem need frighten no one who may lack confidence in his power to give expression to his thought with his pencil, for this disqualification will but add to the fun of the conquest. The players being provided with pad and pencil, each draws a short irregular line upon the paper and then passes it to his neighbor. The person who receives it must ad- dress himself to the problem of drawing a picture-figure, bird, beast, or what he pleases — incorporating the "wig- gle." He may turn the paper in any direction he pleases in order to facilitate his success, and, before submitting it to the criticism of the company, should make the "wiggle" part of the drawing heavier in outline, to distinguish it from the rest. When all the drawings are complete and the artist has written his name on his work, they are intrusted to the leader, who exhibits them in turn, inviting the freest crit- icism. The name of the artist ( ?) of the cleverest or most ridiculous of them is revealed, and he should with becoming modesty accept the plaudits of the crowd. % Witch in the Jar. PASTIMES AND SEMENTS ) FOR GIRLS FUN WITH APPLES AND GOURDS. Cut an apple through its center, from the stem dimple downward, take out all of the seeds but two, and any style of face, only needing a few lines to complete it, may be made. In the apple-core alphabet illustrated seek your own in- itial letter, and try to draw it. If the expression neither fits nor suits you very well cut an apple from the stem dimple downward, scrape the pulp out from around the core and with a sharp penknife add the lines of expression nearer to suit your own appearance. Put corners in the mouth as you usually cultivate them, up or down. If you have a W or a V at the upper part of the nose between the eyebrows, even if such a W does mean worry, put it in. A variety of amusing things may be made from the ornamental gourds which are to be seen in such profusion and in so many gardens at the end of the summer. These gourds of themselves are sufficiently odd in shape and gen- eral make-up to afford children an abundance of fun, and by calling in the aid of a little imaginative ingenuity they may be fashioned into dolls, animals or ridiculous objects of any sort, shape or kind. Nor is any skill required in the creation of these droll creatures, for the materials lend themselves to the gro- tesque with such a willing ease that they practically create FUN WITH APPLES AND GOURDS themselves. The odd-looking "goop," for instance, is simply a couple of gourds attached to each other with a piece of whalebone. The ridiculous features are marked on with pen and ink, while the upright queue is but a gourd root stuck into the top of the head. Nothing could be simpler in construction, yet when this "goop" be- gins to roll its head about, which it does at the slightest movement of the doll, the effect that is produced is comical in- deed. In making the "goop" the strip of whalebone which holds the two gourds in place should be four inches in length, and a space varying from an eighth to a quarter of an inch should be left between the two gourds so as to allow the head to bob up and down on the flexible whalebone neck. The chief charm of these gourds, however, is their ability to unite with other materials. It would be difficult to improve on the funny legs of the "leaf-bearing tortoise," yet they are but short pumpkin stalks taken haphazard from four pumpkins. The piece of 150 Games, Pastimes and Amusements pumpkin vine inserted in the head, the gourd leaf stuck in the end of this, and the gourd-root tail all combine to make a most ridiculous-looking animal. The same simplicity characterizes the "J U J U bird." The gourds are attached to each other with whalebone, the features drawn on with pen and ink, excepting the mouth, which is cut in with a penknife, while the plumage consists LEAF-BEARING TORTOISE CORN-HUSK DOLL CHINEE of chicken feathers arranged carelessly in the wings and tail. In the one illustrated two bits of timothy have been introduced as antennae, and although the like of the creature was never seen on land or sea the result is far from inhar- monious. Chicken feathers may be easily inserted into the gourds after holes have been pierced in the latter with a Games, Pastimes and Amusements 151 hatpin. In the "Juju bird" the short stalks of the gourds themselves furnished the legs. The doll shown in the illustration on the left is made from a corn-cob, husks and silk. The hard cob forms the body. The skirts, the gown, the sash, the parasol and the bonnet are fashioned from the dried variegated husks, while the hair is formed of the dried silk which the hot sun has turned to a rich auburn tint. The head is covered with the husk, the face painted by hand, and the bonnet decorated with loops and fringed ends of husk. What more fascinat- ing employment is there for a child than the fashioning of a doll with so little expenditure? FUN WITH EGG SHELLS. To make the blossoming egg-shells, place upon a slen- der branch a drop of melted sealing wax, and before this hardens stick in four fragments of egg-shell so as to form a flower. Keep on doing this until the branch is well stocked with blossoms. Fragments of egg-shell do not re- quire cutting; those taken at random from the breakfast table serve admirably. In placing blossoms in position it is well to follow the arrangement shown in the illustration. Night lilies may be made by first soaking a number of "half-shells" in warm water for twenty minutes. Then scallop the edges of these with a pair of sharp scissors. Fasten a small piece of candle in each with sealing wax, and float upon the water. A most enchanting scene is produced by floating these in an aquarium containing goldfish. All other lights in the room must be turned out. To make the candlestick, place upon a piece of card- board three eggs, and fasten to cardboard and to each other with sealing wax. On top of these three fasten another Qgg y and on this again a stick about five inches in height. Upon the top of this stick fasten a "half-shell" which has been previously scalloped, and place in a dainty candle. The 152 Games, Pastimes and Amusements illustration shows exactly how the candlestick looks after it is made. To make the egg-shell rooster, fasten two pieces of a match to an egg, about three-quarters of an inch apart. Set the egg in position on these, and hold in place, while fasten- ing lower ends of matches with sealing wax to a firm base. Attach two large pieces of ragged shell to the egg for wings ; use a slender piece of tallow, taken from the side of a candle, for the neck; and on top of this place a small chunky lump of the same material for a head. The pieces of tallow may be easily joined together by first slightly melting the ends where adherence is desired. The rooster's bill is made of two small fragments of shell stuck into the tallow head. The eyes are two tiny drops of sealing wax. The comb is a piece of flattened sealing wax, and the tail is a ragged piece of egg-shell. The feet may be made of sealing wax drawn into shape while it is still soft. An egg-shell and candle-grease swan may be made by emptying an egg and sealing it up carefully. Then fasten on wings of ragged egg-shell, tail of an odd-shaped piece of tallow, and neck and head of tallow. For the bill thrust into the head two burnt matches; press in two pieces of tallow for eyes, and fasten a coin for ballast to the bottom of the egg with sealing wax. To make an egg yacht, first empty an uncooked hen's egg. Do this by making a small hole in each end, when the contents may be blown out easily. Then close up both openings with sealing wax; join a number of coins together for the keel, fasten this firmly to the egg — all fastenings to be made with sealing wax — and your yacht is ready for launching. If it floats properly cut out the mast and spars from very light wood; fasten these to hull and to each other with sealing wax. Place the delicate wooden rudder and bowsprit in position, and proceed to make sails of tissue paper. Fasten the main and top sails in place with prepared glue — the jib sails first to long pieces of thread, and these, 7\RCK Fun With Egg Shells. !54 Games, Pastimes and Amusements in turn, to mast and bowsprit. Flags and pennants may be made to adhere with mucilage or glue. The exact dimen- sions of mast and spars cannot be given, as so much depends upon the lightness of the material used and the size of the egg hull. Select as large an egg as can be procured for the hull; make the mast and spars as light as possible, and see that your yacht always sets perfectly even upon the surface of the water. To make the revolving fairy lamps, fasten to an emp- tied egg four slender sticks, each four inches in length. Up- on the lower end of the egg fasten a tack, point downward, with sealing wax. From the tip of each stick suspend with delicate wire a scalloped "half-shell," and on top of the egg place another. Set the whole upon the bottom of an in- verted tumbler. If rightly made it will balance perfectly upon the tack-point. Place pieces of candles inside of scal- loped shells and light. Wire may be fastened to the egg- shells by boring a hole with the point of a penknife and then passing through wire, and fastening on the inside. The "Dewey arch" may be made by taking the cover of a stout pasteboard box and cutting out a piece in the center to form the arch. Then with tacks firmly fasten the cover in upright position to a piece of board. Previous to doing this have ready a lot of ends of egg-shells and attach these with sealing wax to the cover, as shown in the illustra- tion. When the face of the arch is completed fasten on top a small pasteboard box, and to this fasten egg-shells. Upon the corners of the arch place two upright egg-shells. Upon the top of the small box place half an egg-shell, and upon the top of this again fasten a light flagpole with flag. For the lamps take two half egg-shells and fasten them in posi- tion on the board about six inches in front of the arch. Upon the top of these half-shells place whole eggs, and up- on the top of these, half-shells. Into each of these half- shells place a small piece of lighted candle, and inverted over this another half-shell. Cut the last half-shells jag- gedly so as to let air in for the candles. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 155 By painting the board black, and turning out all other lights in the room a marvelous effect is produced with the arch lit by fairy lamps. Make all the fastenings with red sealing wax, as it adds to the effect. Where candles are to be used turn out all the lights. RAG DOLLS AND HOME MADE TOYS AND DOLL FURNITURE. The toy animals shown in accompanying illustrations are made of colored Canton flannel and stuffed with bran. The legs of all except the camel are stiffened with pieces of wood. For the camel's legs, which are bent and quite thin, ribbon wire is used. Shoe buttons are used for the eyes except in the smaller animals, when colored beads are utilized. In making, stitch the pieces securely together on the wrong side, then turn inside out, leaving a space large enough to introduce a funnel, through which the bran may be poured. When the animal is quite full the space may be overseamed. Before sewing the soles of the feet on, run wires or sticks into the legs. Clothespins will answer nice- ly for this purpose. Indicate the mouth with coarse black thread; if it should be necessary to show teeth use white beads. The camel in the accompanying illustration is made of yellow Canton flannel. The pattern is cut in four pieces; each side of body, ear, tail and sole of foot. A dart is taken in the head from the lower side of the jaw to the ear. Wires are run in the legs. The end of the tail is of the Canton flannel braided and fringed out. The horse in illustration is made of brown Canton flannel. The pattern is in four pieces: Side of body, inside of legs, ear and sole of foot. The mane and tail are made of heavy black crochet silk. I* -o» RAG DOLLS, HOME-MADE TOYS AND DOLL FURNITURE. The pug dog shown in illustration is made of yellow Canton flannel. The pattern is in five pieces: Sides of head, body and inside of legs, tail and ear. The head pieces are sewed together and the darts taken on it. The portions of the body are sewed together and joined to the head. After the seams are stitched and turned, stuff and stiffen the legs. Put the tail on after it has been wired and stiffened. Sew on the ears and paint the nose and ears with black paint. Sew black shoe buttons in for the eyes. Make a collar of ribbon. The elephant in accompanying il- lustration is made of gray Canton flan- nel. The pattern is in four pieces : Each side of the body, ear, tusk and sole of foot. The tail is cut with the body. The tusks are made of white satin and stiffened with wire. The saddle-cloth is of bright red velveteen trimmed with tinsel and bells. Clothespins are used Games, Pastimes and Amusements 157 to stiffen the legs, and shoe buttons for eyes. The trunk is stiffened with bonnet wire and bent into a very decided curve. The pig in illustration is made of gray Canton flannel with oil paint rubbed on it to give the peculiar skin-like ap- pearance. The twilled side of the Canton flannel is used for the outside. The pattern is in four pieces: Each side of body, ear, end of nose and tail. Wire is run in the tail and legs. Ears and end of nose are lined with pink. | The rabbit, cat and mouse illustrated are all made of white Canton flannel. The pattern for each of these is in four pieces, except the rabbit, whose tail is cut with the body. Pink shoe buttons are used for the eyes of the cat and rabbit, and pink beads for the eyes of the mouse. Make whiskers of thread. The cat has a pink ribbon with bell tied around her neck. The rag dolls illustrated on this page have the heads and bodies cut together of white muslin. The fronts and backs are the same shape, and are then sewed together and stuffed with bran. The arms and legs are made, and sewed to the bodies. The faces are painted on lawn in water-colors and sewed over pink muslin. The girl doll has a frock and flaring bonnet of- pink gingham. Oil colors are used on the faces of the baby, the sailor- boy and the little girl in the plaid bonnet. Bronze shoes and black stockings are used on these dolls. The sailor- boy doll's suit is made of blue linen, the other of figured lawn and cambric. The baby doll has a dress and sunbonnet of white cambric. A tiny set of dolls' furniture, similar to No. i, may be made at a cost of fifteen cents. The materials required are five small corks, two large ones, two rows of pins, and less than half a skein of two-ply Saxony wool, brown in color. Cut the tops of the corks the depth desired for the small chairs, and twice the depth for the easy-chairs. Crochet the covers. Put the pins in slanting for the legs, and form NO.2, NO. 3 Games, Pastimes and Amusements 159 the backs of the small chairs, easy-chairs and sofa of pins. When the pins are in position wind the Saxony wool in and out to form the backs of the furniture, and around the legs as shown in the illustration. An oblong piece cut from one of the large corks, with a crocheted cover, forms the body of the sofa. The tidies on the easy-chair and small chair are cro- cheted, and the sofa pillow is made from two small squares NO 3 A ^ c 1 1 3 4 5\C 7 J8 9 j io If ! 12, i 13 7*1 4 s F " ■ V ! ; : J> ^-£ n ! OOP ?! 53 of red silk. The table is made in the same way as the chair, using a large cork. The mat is made from net, run with zephyr. This pretty set of dolls' furniture, No. 2, which is made of broom sedge in its green stage, can be made for ninety- eight cents. It is painted with white enamel paint and held together with pins. The sedge must be accurately meas- ured. The materials required for it are: Pins, five cents; enamel, ten cents; toilet set, five cents; gilding, ten cents; mirror, five cents; broom sedge, five cents; a quarter of a 160 Games, Pastimes and Amusements yard of silk, thirteen cents; one yard of No. 2 ribbon, five cents; two yards of baby ribbon, two cents; one ounce of single zephyr, five cents; three yards of lace, fifteen cents; cambric, three cents ; organdy, five cents ; Swiss muslin, five cents ; lining, five cents. To make the paper farmhouse, illustration No. 3, take a square of wall paper nineteen inches by nineteen and lay it down with the colored side uppermost. Fold the two front corners to the back corners, and the front edge to the crease in the center; do the same with the back edge, making four oblongs. Fold the right corners over to the left corners; turn the right edge to meet the middle crease; fold the left edge to meet this crease, making a large square, with sixteen small squares as in diagram. The four squares on the front should be slit to meet the second row of squares, and the four squares on the back to meet the third row of squares. Fold the two center squares on the front edge and place one over the other to form a gable. The first and fourth squares on the front edge must then be folded in front of this gable. Fold the back edge in the same way to form a gable, and fold the first and fourth squares in front of the gable thus made. Paste the pieces forming the gables together; paste the front and rear pieces to the gables. Slip the roof of the front porth into place, before the front gable and the front of the cottage are pasted; then paste the porch roof and the fronts of the cottage together to the gable. The floor of the porch is pasted in position by folding down one edge in the same way. The railing and stairs are pasted in position by folding down a tiny edge on each, and pasting the edges down. The double doors and the windows are made by cutting a slit in the center of the front and two slits on the top and bottom at each side of the center slit, and folding the others back in place. The chimney is an oblong strip folded into four oblongs. One edge of this is turned down and pasted to the opposite edge, making a hol- low oblong. With Needle and Thread. 162 Games, Pastimes and Amusements The fence and the animals in the farmyard were also made from paper. All the pieces of dolls' furniture may be made by fold- ing a square of paper seven inches by seven into sixteen squares, and then folding it into the square box, or, by cutting off one strip, into the oblong box. FUN WITH SMOKE PICTURES. All the materials you will need for these pictures are a plain white porcelain platter and a coal oil lamp. The platter must be new; the surface of one that has been used is apt to be broken up by myriads of minute cracks, which, though invisible, are destructive to success in making the picture. The larger the platter is the more pleasing the results. Almost any style of lamp with a No. 2 burner will fill the requirements. To make a picture of a simple moonlight scene light the lamp and set it on a convenient elevation. It is well to have an assistant whose duty it shall be to elevate and lower the flame at your dictation. Turn the wick up to such a point that a curly cloud of smoke will issue from the flame, but will not escape into the room. Hold the plat- ter top-side down over the flame at such an elevation as will allow the dish to catch the smoke, moving the platter about so that it will take on an even coating, watching closely at the same time that the smoked surface does not become too dark. Turn the platter over and you will find that the clean dish, represented by Figure I, has taken on the appearance of Figure 2. Set it on a mantel or easel, and with a gloved finger wipe away the parts shown in Figure 3. The white glazed surface of the dish thus exposed will appear clean and bright. . Again, in the same manner as before, smoke over the entire surface. Lift the platter from the flame and you will find that the darker portions of Figure 3 have become deep- HALF FirusnEO .5 MO KING THE PLATTER F/NlSf+ED FlCr 4- FtCr 5" 164 Games, Pastimes and Amusements er in tone, while a cloudy effect has been thrown over the white portions. Then place the platter on the mantel or easel, wipe out those parts needed to show the moon and the detail of the reflections on the water, and as a finishing touch give a silver lining to the clouds. The final stroke consists of wiping away the fringe of smoke around the edge. When the platter has been smoked and mounted, a winter landscape may be produced by making a number of parallel lines, which later will resemble the spaces between the fence rails. The distant woods and foliage are out- lined, the door, windows and chimney of the house left in brown, while the remaining parts are cleaned away, leav- ing the white surface as shown in the illustration. Then apply the second coating of smoke. After wiping away a white space to represent the snow-covered roof, give a touch to the sky, which will show white smoke issuing from the chimney. Stick a few patches of snow about the windows, whiten the path leading to the gate, and, lastly, run a snow line along the tops of the rails and posts. If the assembled company insists on an extension of the program you may show, in silhouette, a maiden and her sweetheart enjoying a moonlight tete-a-tete. HOW TO MAKE PIN CUSHIONS. Get a piece of silk or ribbon, fancy design, about five inches long by three and a half or four inches wide. Also a piece of plain ribbon of a shade to harmonize, the same size. Then provide yourself with a piece of white flannel about ten by seven inches in size, half a yard of baby rib- bon to match the silk, a spool of sewing silk to match and a section of Bristol board the same size as the flannel. Cut the Bristol board in two pieces of the shape shown in the picture. Cover one with your figured silk; the other, Games, Pastimes and Amusements 165 with the plain silk, and baste the two pieces together. Then sew the edges together, over and over. Now, cut your flannel into two pieces the same shape as the cover. Cut a little short of the edge all the way around. Having placed them on the inside of the cover, bend the latter exactly on the centre line, making the ends come evenly together. Punch two holes through covers, flannel and all, and tie with a pretty bow of your baby ribbon. Provide yourself with a piece of figured silk or ribbon about eight by five inches in size; also plain silk or ribbon same length, but a trifle wider, and of a shade to match. Have a piece of cotton wadding a trifle shorter and narrow- er, half a yard of narrow ribbon to match the silk; also a spool of sewing silk to match. Lay the cotton wadding on the strip of plain silk, and baste it to the latter. Then turn the edges of the plain silk up over the wadding and baste securely. Having done this, baste the figured silk on the other side of the wadding. Turn in every rough place in the edges and see that the edges of the two pieces of silk meet evenly. Then sew them together, over and over, neatly; and after that attach your ribbon at its centre to the pin case. Fill the case with pretty pins, roll it up, tie the rib- bons around it in a dainty bow— and you will have finished a beautiful gift for some fortunate friend. HOW TO MAKE HOUSEWIVES. The foundation of this article may be a piece of heavy ribbon, six inches wide and twelve long, or a strip of linen of the same dimensions and lined with silk. Cut off three pieces of the ribbon or linen about three inches long and hem the raw edges. Sew these on the main piece, one below the other to form three pockets the width of the housewife. At the bottom fasten three or four strips of soft flannel, or like material to hold needles. The pockets are to be used 166 Games, Pastimes and Amusements for buttons, thimble, thread, etc. If it is to be hung up, hem the top of it to a point and attach a loop. If it is to be rolled up to go into a trunk, attach two narrow ribbons. I . , i 'i.l 1 I i - i ' - i i i i Pincushions. SPECTACLE WIPERS. Cut two round pieces of chamois two or three inches across. Bind them with bright colored ribbon and fasten the two pieces together with a bow of the same ribbon. The edges may be pinked if preferred. Print across the top with pen and ink, "I make all things clear/' Games, Pastimes and Amusements JACOB'S LADDER. 167 To make the Jacob's Ladder, take a piece of paper, per- haps writing paper, about three times as long as it is wide. Fold one end very tightly, three or four folds, as in A ; roll the rest of the paper more loosely, as in B. Next cut into the roll all but the places marked x in C. This will be just 2 where the first tight folds are. Then bend down the two ends, as in D. Cut across the dotted lines marked x and you will have E. Now catch the handle, pull it up, and be- hold your ladder. A very large one is quite imposing and can be made of newspapers. A GOOD SEWING APRON. Cut out an apron in an ordinary way, about ten inches longer than is desired. Hem the bottom and turn up the extra length, stitching it to form three pockets. Lawn or silk make very fine aprons. The pockets may be embroid- ered in a design of flowers. SOAP-BUBBLE In giving a soap bubble party every effort should be made to provide appro- priate settings for the bubbles. The more elegant and beautiful the settings the more jewel-like the bubbles will ap- pear. They look perfectly exquisite on delicate glassware and against rich backgrounds. Avoid, as far as possible, the use of white tablecloths, white plates, etc., as these reduce the beauty of the bubbles to a minimum. The table or tables should be decorated tastefully though brilliantly, and a chair provided for each guest. In front of each chair should be placed a bowl of the soapy solution, some straws, a fun- nel, a tin cornucopia and other neces- saries for the evening. The chief bubble blower should oc- cupy a seat at the centre of the table Games, Pastimes and Amusements 169 with a program before her, while the other participants should follow her lead and do just as she does. In this way a lively competition is induced by the endeavors of each bubble blower to outdo the others. , The solution is made by rubbing pure white Castile soap into a bowl partly filled with water until a heavy lather has formed. Then remove every particle of lather, dip a clay pipe into the cleared solution and start to blow a bubble. If you can blow one six inches in diameter the solution is ready for the test; if it bursts before approach- ing that size add more soap to the water. Then the solu- tion should be tested as follows : Blow a bubble six inches in diameter so that it will hang suspended from the pipe, then dip your forefinger into the soapy water, upon with- drawing it try to push it through into the bubble; if you can thrust your finger through into the bubble without the latter' s bursting, the solution is in proper condition. If, on the contrary, the bubble breaks, the solution is not in proper condition, and more soap must be added to the water until a bubble can be made that will not break when this test is applied. Remove all little bubbles from the surface of the solu- tion before using it. Never stir up the solution after it is in condition. If you do little bubbles will form. Take plenty of time in performing the different tricks. Hurry is nearly always disastrous. Whenever convenient use pure spring water for the solution. Rub well the openings — inside and outside — of both pipes and funnels with soap before blowing bubbles from them. To make a flower inside of a bubble, pour the soapy solution into a plate or lacquer tray until the bottom is covered with liquid to the depth of one-eighth of an inch. In the center of the tray place a water-lily or other flower, 170 Games, Pastimes and Amusements and over this a tin funnel. Then start to gently blow through the funnel while you are slowly lifting it at the same time (see Figure i). Continue blowing until you make quite a large film, and then proceed to disengage the funnel after having first turned it at right angles, as shown in Figure 2. Besides flowers, spinning tops and other ob- jects may be sphered over in the same way. This trick is one which always mystifies and delights small children, as well as older ones. The illustration given shows how the flower appears after the bubble is blown over it. To make six bubbles inside of one another, dip the end of a straw in the soapy water and after resting the wet end upon an inverted plate or sheet of glass, which should have been previously wet with the solution, blow a bubble about six inches in diameter. Then dip the straw well into the solution again, thrust it through into the center of this first bubble and blow another. Continue in this manner until the bubbles have all been placed. Always be sure that the straw is thoroughly wet with solution for fully half its length before each bubble is blown. Ten and even twelve bubbles may be placed inside of one another with- out great difficulty — if the person who is blowing them has a steady hand and the solution is in proper condition. Of course, some practice is required before any of these results can be obtained. A little smoke bubble may be made to appear within a large transparent bubble by blowing a fair-sized bubble from a clay pipe or small funnel so that it will hang sus- pended. Then dip a straw into the soapy water, push the wet end of it through into the hanging bubble and blow very gently. Almost immediately a small bubble will fall from the straw, and as soon as this happens blow with slightly increased force, when the little bubble will whirl around inside of the larger bubble, as shown in the illus- tration. By blowing smoke through the straw a little smoke bubble may be made which will add a great deal to the effectiveness of this trick. "7 In i FI&-.1 FIG-.2. 172 Games, Pastimes and Amusements To make bubbles and noise, dip the end of an ordinary tin fish-horn well into the solution and blow gently until quite a large bubble has been formed. Then four or five loud blasts may be sounded on the horn without injuring the bubble in the least. This is a very funny trick which never fails to arouse roars of laughter. The tin horn might be given to the youngest child in the room after the trick is performed. To make a bubble rest upon a flower dip a dahlia or other stiff-petaled flower— an aster of a brilliant color, for instance — into the solution and then with a pipe or funnel blow a bubble upon the top of it. This is one of the simplest and prettiest of all the soap bubble tricks, although it appears the most difficult to those who are watching it being done. The illustration gives a good idea of this flower trick. To blow a pinwheel around inside of a bubble fasten a paper pinwheel to a short stick of wood, and attach this to the center of a dinner-plate with sealing-wax; then, after covering the bottom of the plate with solution, pro- ceed to place a bubble over the pinwheel as in the flower trick. As soon as the funnel is withdrawn quickly dip a straw into the soapy water, gently thrust it through the bubble and then blow upon the paper wheel, when it will rapidly revolve. WINDOW GARDENS. Vines and trailing plants are the best for window boxes, and only those which endure hardship with impunity are recommended. The variegated vinca, German ivy, cobsea scandens, lonicera reticulata aurea and variegated trailing arbutus will meet the requirements and should be planted thickly enough to entirely cover the front of the box. Of the common flowering and foliage plants these may be used: Fuchsias, geraniums, petunias, cupheas, ivy ger- anium, marguerite, blue ageratum, yellow and some of the Games, Pastimes and Amusements ITS fancy-leaved varieties of coleus. The common sweet alys- sitm and blue lobelias are very pretty, but last a shorter time. Persons who have a shaded veranda not much exposed to the wind can obtain beautiful effects by planting together rex begonia and ferns of the stronger growing kinds. Use medium-sized Boston ferns and nephrolepsis cordata and larger plants of the holly fern. For trailing ferns the vari- egated nepeta and asparagus sprengerii do well. The window box, carefully made, with plenty of holes bored in the bottom for good drainage, should be filled two- thirds full of soil when ready for planting. Set the plants deep enough so that their roots are well covered with earth. Any unevenness on the surface should be filled in with loose soil after the plants are set. Light soil, prefer- ably one that has been mixed thoroughly with well-rooted manure, is best for a window box. SEA SIDE TOYS. The materials used are such as may be procured almost anywhere and at any time, while the motive power for set- ting the toys in motion is sand. All that is necessary to insure an abundance of fun, especially upon rainy days, is to carefully study the direc- tions and illustrations which are here given. Unless other- wise specified make all fastenings with sealing-wax. To make an inclined railway similar to the one illus- trated below take a stout sheet of cardboard four feet long and a foot and a half wide, and bend the lower end five inches from the bottom at a steep angle. Rest on boxes, and fasten two strips of cardboard two feet long, and an inch and a half high to its upper end. These will guide the cars directly under the sand hole, and enable them to start on their downward journey straight. The sand box is nine inches wide and three inches above the incline, and is held in position by little sticks run through it. Directly under SAND-POWFR ENGINE .SAND- POWER BOAT AND POWER WHEEL Seaside Toys. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 175 the sand holes cut large holes in the incline. Place spools on the front box supports, as shown in the illustration, and hold in position half an inch above the incline by thrusting pins through supports just under the spools. Make cars of half of a small pasteboard box. The wheels are pill-boxes, the back ones larger than the front, and are held on the axle by little gobs of sealing-wax placed on the axle at each side. The back of the car is set higher than the front. When the cars are finished tie a piece of thread to one of them, pass it around the spools — which should revolve easily — and then tie the other end of thread to the second car, so that when one car rests against the spool at the top the other one will be upon the steep angle at the bottom. When one car is filled with sand it rushes down, and draws up the empty car to the sand box. With the exception of the large wooden spool cylinder the sand-power engine illustrated is made of cardboard. The fly-wheel is six inches in diameter. The support for the walking beam is ten inches high, the walking beam nine inches and a half long, and the piston seven inches and a quarter long. The base upon which the engine rests is a shoe-box cover. The axle of the fly-wheel is a hatpin which runs through two upright cardboard sup- ports, each three inches and a half in height, placed three inches and a half apart. The pins for the different parts to work upon, after being set in position, are held in place by putting little gobs of sealing-wax on the pointed ends. Fas- ten to the axle between cardboard uprights four pieces of paper two inches by an inch and a quarter, and turned about a quarter of an inch from each end, so as to hold the falling sand (see illustration). Sand for running the engine may be placed in a baking powder can fastened to slender sticks so that the bottom of the can will rest about six inches above the base. When complete the sand should fall through a small hole in the can on to the paper flanges, just behind the fly-wheel. 176 Games, Pastimes and Amusements To make the seesaw which is illustrated take a strip of cardboard eighteen inches in length and two in width; and at three inches and a half from one end first cut a slit crosswise to within a quarter of an inch of each side, and then from each end of this cut upward an inch and a quar- ter. Bend the piece of cardboard downward, and at such an angle that sand will slide from it when the seesaw is low r - ered to the ground at that end. Paste strips of paper one inch in width at each end of the opening in the cardboard and bend backward at an an- gle, as shown in the illustration given below. Thrust a hat- pin through the exact centre of the cardboard seesaw, and allow this to rest in the two-notched cardboard supports, which should be five inches high, three inches apart, and fastened to a square of cardboard. Make cardboard figures — one slightly heavier than the other — and attach these to the seesaw with sealing-wax, taking care to place the heavier figure at the farthest end from the sand box, so that this end will immediately fall when sand spills from the bent strip of cardboard at the other end. The sand box may be placed upon a pile of books, as shown in the accompanying illustration, or upon a pile of wooden blocks, of sufficient height to allow the seesaw full swing. If properly arranged the sand should fall on the middle of the bent strip of cardboard when that end of the seesaw is up, and slide immediately from it when down. The sand-power boat illustrated is made of wood, and is fourteen inches long, five inches wide and one inch deep, and hollowed out. At four inches from the stern cut a hole through the boat three inches and a half wide and two inches long, and around this fasten a cardboard strip one inch wide. To the back of this strip fasten another piece an inch and three-quarters long, with a notch cut in the top of it for the shaft to rest in. The power wheel is of cardboard two inches and a half Games, Pastimes and Amusements 1^ in diameter, with six pieces of paper one inch by one inch and a half, bent over at the end, fastened to it. Fasten this wheel to the head of a hatpin. Place a piece of straw two inches long in a hole through the stern; pass the hatpin through it, resting the head of it in the notched cardboard. The propeller blades are two triangular pieces of thin wood one inch by one inch and a half, and fastened to the point of the shaft. The sand box of pasteboard is fastened to two light uprights of wood, so that sand will fall on the pa- per flanges. MAKING SCRAP BOOKS. The very best kind of scrap book for the nursery is one made of linen, colored cambric or muslin. Cut four pieces, twenty-four inches by twelve inches, and button hole stitch the edges. Then stitch down the middle, fold over and stitch again, along the folded edges, to make the book stay shut. The edges may be scalloped instead of button-holed. Advertisements may be cut from newspapers and maga- zines and by combining them make very funny pictures. Another kind of scrap book can be made from a blank book which has all of the leaves cut across, about a third of the way down. Cut from picture cards or old books, fig- ures of men, women or boys and girls and cutting off the heads, paste the bodies on the larger part of the pages, and heads on the smaller part, so they just fit together. By only turning part of the pages either the upper or lower at a time each body can be made to fit a different head. But you must be careful to. paste the pictures so that any head will join any body. A linen book can be made the same way. Make the paste by mixing one-half cup of flour with cold water to make a smooth, thin batter. Stir continually. Remove from the fire as soon as it boils and add three drops of oil of cloves. PASTIMES AND t^^ 8 *^^}^^' AMUSEMENTS^^ FOR BOYS ATTIC GYMNASIUM. The spare room next to the roof — the attic — is just the place to furnish for a gymnasium in one's own home, and a gymnasium is just the place for restless boys to enjoy themselves during rainy weather when they are compelled to stay in the house. The well-known parallel bars, as shown in the illustra- tion at the top of this page, offer free vent for the restless energy of a boy, and at the same time are not difficult to construct. The bars may be made of straight-grained pine strong enough to support a boy in full swing. These bars may be supported by two uprights toe-nailed to the rafters over- head and the floor, or, as shown in the illustration, be steadied by braces. Figure I shows how to gauge the distance between the bars by experimenting with chairs. The bars must be close enough together to make it a simple task for a boy to lift his body and feet, and must be high and long enough to avoid all danger of striking either his feet or his limbs when in full swing. The boys may build their own platform in the attic by making a frame of two-by-four lumber, as in Figure 2, and nailing it securely to the rafters overhead. It is then a F.'Cr 1 F«G 2 simple matter to make a platform of light lum- ber from which to suspend the ball by a line run through a hole in the center of the platform and made fast to one of the two-by-fours. Common-sense will teach a boy how to make the platform large enough to allow the ball full .swing in every direction when it is batted up against the boards overhead. One of the most useful, as well as one of the most simple, machines is the chinning bar, shown in Figure 3, which may be made by nailing to the rafters overhead two two-by- fours, through the lower ends of which holes have been bored for the crossbar. In every gymnasium there are numerous weights to be lifted by lines and pulleys, and these all make the best of exercising machines, because the weights are light and may be so arranged as to bring the body into all sorts of poses and exercise the muscles. Substitutes for the more or less expensive fittings for these weight machines can be found in almost any hardware store. Pulleys as shown (K and L, Figure 4) cost but ten cents apiece and an- swer very well. 180 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Nail a board against the wall and let the top end of the board be about even with the top of your shoulders. Fasten a block of wood to the top of the board, as in Fig- ure 4, and with screws attach the K pulley to the block, as in the illustration. Make your weight of a canvas bag filled with pebbles or shot, and use a wooden block for a top to which another K pulley is attached .(Figure 4), or make a box (N, Figure 4), inclosing a brick, and fasten a K pulley to the top. From a screw-eye under the block, at the top of the board, run a piece of window-sash cord through the K pulley on the weight, up to and through the K pulley at the top of the board, and thence to a wooden handle, as in Figure 4. Set two of these machines against the wall and you will have a handle for each hand. You may then go through a variety of motions which lift and lower the weights. A greater variety of body motions can be had by tak- ing Figure 4, and in place of ending the line with a handle continue it up to a pulley at P (Figure 5), thence to one overhead at Q (Figure 5), and thence down to a ring which supports R (Figure 5). Still another machine may be made with the weights •and pulleys called the wrist bar (Figure 6). In this case the line from the weights runs through a wooden bar, and by grasping the bar with your hands and turning it so as to wind up the string you will test and strengthen the wrist muscles. The wrist bar may be made of the form of an open tel- escope — that is, of various thicknesses, and in this way without changing the weights you can make it easier or harder to wind, according to the diameter of the part you grasp. Many other implements, such as light dumb-bells and Indian clubs, may be hung along the wall between nails driven at the required distances apart. Dumb-bells and clubs are weights to be moved and Games, Pastimes and Amusements 181 lifted to exercise the muscles of the arms. They are made of convenient form for use in gymnastics ; but any weight of any shape, when handled, will exercise the muscles. If you only pretend to have dumb-bells in your hands and go through the motions, it will answer the purpose much bet- ter than the lifting of too. heavy iron bells. Great possibilities for skill and muscles are offered by light wooden chairs, and many pretty motions may be dis- covered by grasping a light chair by the back or the rungs, lifting it from the floor and experimenting to see how many evolutions are possible. The smooth bare floor offers an opportunity for a boy to practice walking on his hands — an act which requires considerable skill. An old mattress is a useful thing in a gymnasium, and will often prevent black and blue spots on the young ath- lete's body by giving him a soft substance to fall upon. BACK- YARD FISH POND. A shallow pond with a broad surface exposed to the air will support in health many more inhabitants than a deep hole with small exposed surface. Remember that it is easier to keep a fish alive in a shallow basin than it is in a bottle holding exactly the same amount of water. By sinking a wooden tank in the ground and filling it with water a pond may be made. But any old box will not answer, for, unless you are a pretty good mechanic, you will not be able to prevent an ordinary box from leaking. However, if you really want a back-yard fish pond, you may make a box or tank which will hold water, and the best form for such a tank is that of a wide, flat-bottomed scow. This scow may be of any dimensions you choose to build it, but I would advise you to make your first one not more than six feet long by four feet wide, and two feet deep. In selecting lumber for the scow, pick out pieces which FIG-. 3 A Back Yard Fish Pond. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 183 are comparatively free from knots and blemishes. Reserve two one-and-a-half-inch planks, and keep the half-inch boards for the bottom. Trim of! your two side boards to exactly the same length — say six feet; they should then be six feet by two feet. On the edge which is to be the bottom measure toward the centre from each end of each board two feet, and mark the points ; then rule a line diagonally from each of these points to the corners of the boards on the upper edge; this will mark out a sort of double-ended sled run- ner, as shown in the illustration, and when you saw off the triangular pieces marked on the boards you will have two runners. Set these runners side to side on their long edges and round off the angles with your plane, until the boards look like rockers (see Figure i). The side boards must be exact duplicates of each other (Figure 2). Set the two side pieces four feet apart and. nail two or three temporary cross-pieces across their top edges to hold them in position; then turn them over and nail on the bot- tom boards (Figure 2). You must use the greatest care in fitting the bottom boards edge to edge, but you need not trouble yourself about the ends of the boards; allow them to project upon each side as chance may direct. After the boards are all secure- ly nailed to the bottom the ends may be sawed off flush with the sides of the scow (Figure 3). To prevent the wood from decay it is well to melt some tar over a fire, and, with a small mop made of rags tied to the end of a stick, paint the bottom of the scow with hot tar, being careful to see that all the cracks and crevices are thoroughly filled. In the shadiest spot you can find in the back yard dig a hole for your tank. Make the bottom level. Set your tank in place and pack the earth well around the edges. Cover the bottom of the pond with about one inch depth 184 Games, Pastimes and Amusements of sand, and the surface of the sand with a coating of gravel; then carefully fill the tank, without disturbing the sand, and allow the water to settle; after which a few aquatic plants may be introduced and a wire fence built around the pond to keep out intruders of the two-footed and four-footed kind. If you have a few frogs and turtles the mesh of the wire in the fence must be small. After the water has stood for three or four days and the aquatic plants have started to grow in their new quarters, you can stock the pond with sunfish, rock bass, dace, small catfish, crawfish, carp and goldfish. The inclined ends of the scow-shaped tank give two sloping shores, which will be appreciated by the crawfish, turtles and frogs; and if you build a little rockery in the centre the more timid fish will thank you for your thought- fulness in providing them a safe retreat. If you are so situated that you cannot go fishing your- self, the aquarium stores in the big cities will supply you with almost any sort of aquatic creature. Fresh-water clams or mussels will live in confinement, and a few make an interesting addition to a collection. Water snails act as scavengers for the under-water set- tlement, and a handful of them may be added to form a sort of street cleaning department. Caddice worms and the little fresh-water shrimp which you find among the water plants make excellent food for your fish. Avoid salt-water sand, stones and shells, for the salts they contain are injurious to fresh-water creatures. Do not change the water in the tank after it is in running order. FIO.l FIG.2 BOY'S CLUB-HOUSE ON THE WATER In selecting a site for the club house, choose a bar or shallow place in some small lake or pond. Not only is the foundation of the club house submerged, but it must be built under water, and every foot of water adds to the difficulties. The fol- lowing plans are made for foundations to be laid in water not much over waist deep; but for the convenience of the draughtsman the bottom in the dia- grams is supposed to be level. Should you be so fortunate as to be able to locate your house over a soft bottom, make the corner piers by driv- ing a number of stakes in a circle (Fig- ure i), over which slip a barrel (Figure 2) which has previously had both its FlQr.5 FIG. 3 Fl<*4 Fl IN. BOARD Oj FICr.4 o r o Q HGr.5" DLOCkS ON Dfcoon PADDLES, J3OTT0n A Paddle Wheel Boat. 200 Games, Pastimes and Amusements body of the boat. Then proceed with the bottom, nailing the 6-inch strips as close. together as possible, filling all the cracks with oakum or white lead, and using about one nail to an inch. Then tack canvas on bottom, using two strips 4 inches wide and 8 feet 2 inches long, if possible, for two sides. Have two inch lap over side and two inches over bottom, and then two more strips of canvas 2j4 feet long, 4 inches wide for ends. Tack on in same manner. The tacks should be as close together as possible, say one-quarter inch apart. Having thus finished the boat proper, paint the sides, ends and bottom. When dry bore a hole the width of a broom stick in each seven inch board near the center (Fig. 1), also near the edge. This is for the paddle wheels and shaft. Paddle Wheels and Shaft. — Cut out of one of the boxes eight boards 1 foot long, 5 inches wide, four for each pad- dle. Then cut out eight blocks 5 inches long, 1 inch thick and w 7 idth of broomstick. Get two brooms, saw off handles and cut in lengths of 1 foot 6 inches ; then two more blocks 3 inches wide, 6 inches long and 1 inch thick; one strip of board 2 feet 6 inches long, 3 inches wide and % of an inch thick; measure 1 inch on end of broomstick you cut off and nail the four blocks 5 inches long, 1 inch thick, on Fig. 2. Then nail on four paddles on each of these blocks (Fig. 3), and then your paddle is completed. Take the two blocks 3 inches wide, 6 inches long, and nail them edgewise, 1 foot 3 inches from the hole in the side of boat. Bore a hole the width of broomstick in the center of the 2 foot 6 inch board, and then, after slipping the pad- dle in the two holes, nail the board on side of boat (Fig. 4). Having the lower portion of paddle box completed, get four barrel hoops (two for each paddle box), and nail two of them on sides for the top of paddle box. Cover them on top and sides of paddle box with canvas. Crank. — Get a piece of broomstick and cut it to fit the space left between the right and left broomstick, on which Games, Pastimes and Amusements 201 paddles are nailed. Then make two arms 6 inches long, one for each side, and nail them on the paddle broomstick (Fig. 5). Then nail the piece of broomstick just cut to form handle on the other end of arm (Fig. 6). Rudder. — Make rudder about 1-5 foot 5 inches long and 6 inches wide. Nail on end piece of broomstick and then fasten rudder on back of boat. Steer the rudder with ropes. Of course, the boat would cost much less if you had all the material on hand you needed to build one with. Such a boat is a pretty safe one to handle and steers as well as any other kind and you can have pleasure in it. SNOW HOUSES. Where is the boy who has not built a snow fort and de- fended it against the howling mob of his playmates? It is easy to build a snow fort and anything else of snow if one only knows how, and with a few simple in- structions any boy can build these snow houses, and if watched occasionally after a thaw and patched, they will last all winter. The dome-shaped house is the kind usually built by the Eskimo from packed snow and blocks of ice. It is an easy house to make, and should be started about eight feet in diameter at the base. In the frozen North they do not use any braces, but in the United States, particularly in the 202 Games, Pastimes and Amusements middle section, where warm days thaw the snow, it would be best to drive stakes or bean poles in the ground, as shown in Fig. i. The snow forming the shell of the house is packed about and under the poles, shaping it as shown in Fig. 2, which is a section of one side, in which the pole can. be seen as its top pitches toward the center of the hut. At the front one pole is omitted, so as to allow for the doorway, and when the house is complete it would be well to make a small hole at the top for ventilation, as shown in the illustration of the Eskimo hut. Trim the outer surface of the hut so it will be uniform Snow Houses. in shape, and to make it last longer it would be well to pour water over it and let it freeze. If repaired after a thaw, this house can be made to last all winter. A square house with two rooms can be made with walls a foot thick, as shown in the illustration. A framework is constructed of scantling or light tim- bers and pieces of board, as shown in Fig. 3, using a clothes post as one corner, for a substantial support. Additional strips can be nailed in if desired, and they will strengthen the snow walls and prevent them from falling. The snow should be formed into cakes like large bricks, by packing it in a box, then dumping it out and laying one upon another, as bricks are laid to form a wall, but with broken joints, as shown in Fig. 4, and not with the joints Games, Pastimes and Amusements 203 one above another. Over the top of the framework some boards should be placed to support the cakes of snow form- ing the roof, or if desired the top can be left open. A win- dow opening can be left at both ends, and at the front a window and doorway are cut, while at the middle of the castle a wall may be constructed of the snow bricks, and an opening or doorway left to crawl through. In the Northern States and in Canada the boys put a door and windows in their good snowhouses, and with a small stove they sometimes camp out even in the winter time. In the central part of New York State last winter, eight boys constructed a snow house having several rooms; and many happy hours were spent after schooltime in and about this snow house, which was really an ice house, for it had been water soaked and frozen, and it lasted long after the snow had disappeared from the ground. A picket fence, a clothes-post or a tree is the best thing against which to attach the framework of a snow house, as it is substantially imbedded in the ground, but in the northern part of the States and in Canada, where it stays cold all winter, the framework is hardly necessary. Other forms of houses than these can be constructed, as circum- stances may dictate; but these instructions and features can be carried out to obtain some good results. A HOME MADE HAMMOCK. A fine hammock that can be left out in all kinds of weather may be made out of a barrel and twenty feet of strong rope. Remove the top and bottom hoops from the barrel, also all nails. Draw a pencil line around both ends of the barrel, three inches from the edges. Along these lines bore two holes in each end of the staves. Thread the rope along these holes, leaving it loose enough so that the staves will be an inch apart when the hammock is finished. Tie the ropes at the ends, knock off the remaining hoops. 204 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Paint the hammock and it is finished. Cushions make it very comfortable. HOW TO MAKE A TELEPHONE. Take two round tin baking powder cans and remove the bottoms. Soak two pieces of strong paper (drawing paper is best) and place them smoothly over the end 01 each can, fastening them by winding waxed cotton twine securely around them. When dry the paper should have no wrinkles. Paste a strip of paper over the twine, finish- ing the receiver neatly. For the wire, take a piece of waxed string, the necessary length, and thread through the paper ends of the cans, tying a knot on the ends to keep the string from pulling out. Let the knot rest on the inside surface of the paper. If the distance is not too great, the line may be stretched tightly without support. Otherwise fasten it at intervals by passing it through loops of twine, which can be nailed to trees or posts. Keep the course as nearly straight as possible. This telephone will work well for a distance of fifty yards, and will be found very con- venient and useful as well as amusing. HOW TO MAKE A SPRING RAFT. In the early spring time, when the snow and ice begin to melt and form ponds in shallow places and low ground, the boys are thinking of boats, rafts and other things with which to navigate these waterways caused by the spring freshets. It is not always easy to build a boat quickly, for it re- quires time to match joints and make them watertight, as well as to construct a safe boat that will hold several boys. And then, perhaps, a boat could not be used at any other time of the year excepting when the thawing ice and spring rains make artificial or temporary ponds and lakes. For that reason a raft is the best to make, for it is al- Games, Pastimes and Amusements 205 ways possible to get some logs and long pieces of heavy timber and lash them together to form a float. In the drawing of a simple raft the arrangement of ASJMPte raft A3AIL\H& RAPT N «Jn3w fcKSr.I PIG.* PUk* How to Make a Spring Raft. Pl. 3 four large logs is shown, with three smaller but longer ones lashed fast on top of them. The large logs can be eight or ten feet long and a foot thick. The upper ones are six or eight inches in diameter and fifteen feet long. 206 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Before lashing the logs together it would be well to cut laps in the top of the lower logs and the under side of the upper ones, as shown in Fig. I, and when they are brought together they will not roll and strain the lashings, as they would if left round. Clothesline, or rope about the same size, can be used for the binding, and the rope should be crossed at the top of the log joint, as shown in Fig. 2, but not at the bottom. The top of the long logs can be planked over with some boards nailed down securely with long steel wire nails, and with the addition of three or four long stout poles to push the raft along this crude boat will be ready for use. Care should be taken, however, not to overcrowd it, or down it will go. A larger and better raft is shown in the drawing of a sailing raft. The lower logs are fifteen or eighteen f.eet long and five cross logs are at least ten feet in length. They are lap cut, as shown in Fig. i, and securely bound with rope and long spikes. Across the top logs, and running parallel with the un- der logs, four joists are made fast with spikes, on which a deck of boards is nailed. At one end of this deck a step bench is made, in which a mast will be held. This is fifteen inches high, twenty-four inches long and ten inches wide, made as shown in Fig. 3. Two side angle boards are attached under the top board and bear against blocks fastened to the deck, so as to brace the bench. The mast is stepped through a hole cut in the top board of the bench and occupies the position shown by the dotted line in Fig. 3. Cut a square shoulder at the foot of the mast and let this drop down into a corresponding hole cut in one of the deck boards. A square sail can be rigged on this mast and a sprit Games, Pastimes and Amusements 20 ? will hold the loose top corner, while along the foot the sail can be lashed to a beam and a single sheet rope will hold it. Of course, this sail will move the raft very slowly, but enough to feel it is going, and when you get to the end of the pond it will be necessary to pole the raft back again, for the sail will then be useless, as you cannot tack the same as you could in a boat. At the stern and across the two middle logs nail a stout piece of plank and to the middle of it attach a rudder made from two pieces of board held be- tween two uprights, to act as a rudder post. These are fastened together as shown in Fig. 4, and an opening near the top is formed by setting pieces of wood the thickness of the rudder blade boards between the two front strips and nailing them fast. A tiller can be cut from a piece of stick and the handle end planted at the edges to round them. When making log rafts for service in transporting the camp stores or lumber the St. Lawrence River men and others who are dependent on log rafts for transportation place the logs close together and bind them with ropes, as shown in Fig. 5 ; another tier of logs is lashed at right angles to the first lot, and so on until the raft is the desired height. Each layer is securely bound to the one below it, and doubly so at the corners, where the greatest racking strain is felt. This form of raft is really the most serviceable and while it takes more time and logs, it would pay a party of boys to make one in this manner, as it lasts longer and will hold a larger company of boys. A HOME AQUARIUM. Many people make the mistake of buying a globe in which to keep fish. This form of aquarium is not suitable for the purpose; it distorts every object placed in the water, and subjects a fish to a change of shape and size with every movement. A square or oblong tank is preferable. Any 208 Games, Pastimes and Amusements one wishing to build a tank should first decide upon the size ; then get five pieces of glass, which, when put together, will form a box of the required dimensions. Plate glass from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in thickness is strong enough for any tank. Measure the pane of glass to be used for the bottom, and obtain a piece of well-seasoned wood from one to two inches longer and wider than the measurement of glass, and about one inch and a half thick. Then buy ten cents' worth of white lead and a bottle of some good crockery mender to use as cement. An eighth of a yard of leather- ette is needed to bind the corners. You will need, also, a piece of fine wire to go around the tank, and ten cents' worth of asphaltum varnish. Build the tank in the following manner: Place the piece of glass which is to be used as the bottom in the centre of a board, and mark the exact size of glass on the board. Stand the sides upright, care being taken to hold them per- fectly still, and run the pencil closely around the outside of them; then with a rule carry the lines out to the edge of the board. Saw a groove between the lines about half an inch deep. Smear the under side of the bottom piece of glass with crockery cement and place in position on the board as shown in Figure i. Lay a heavy weight upon it for five minutes. During this process take enough white lead to fill the grooves and fasten the corners. Pour in a little crockery cement and mix thoroughly. Smear with pure crockery cement the edges of the glass already fixed to the board, gently, so as not to move it. Fill the grooves with the mixture of white lead and cement; smear the bottom and the two end edges of each side piece with crockery cement and press them into the grooves, as illustrated in Figure. I. Tie a piece of strong twine around the outside to keep the corners close together, and measure the depth of the tank on the inside and cut four strips of leatherette, an inch FIQ-.4- f=l<5;3 SMALL BLAPPfftWOftT HITEOA A Home Aquarium. 210 Games, Pastimes and Amusements in width, the exact length. Crease them in the center, al- lowing the right side to face in. Give them a coating of white lead mixture, and place them in all of the corners. Figure 2 shows the glass sides in position. Cut four more strips about an inch longer. Crease with the right side out, then take off the twine, coat strips with lead mixture, and place them on the outside of the corners. Figure 3 shows the tape on inside corners. Cut a V-shaped piece in the upper end, and turn the ends over so as to end on the inside. Hold tightly in place. Figure 4 shows the tape on outside corners. Now wind a piece of fine wire about the outside and cover this with a strip of leatherette. Run along the seams at the bottom of the tank inside and outside with some of the white lead mixture, and allow it to dry for at least three days. Figure 5 shows the tank with all of the corners bound. After making sure that the white lead is thoroughly dry, clean the corner strips and glass. Next give the cor- ners, seams and board a coating of asphaltum varnish. This must be most carefully done, as white lead is poison-, ous to the fish. Figure 6 represents the tank when it is en- tirelv finished. It is always a good rule to fill the tank with water after it has been varnished, and let it stand over night, to remove any free particles of dust, etc. Plenty of work will be found to do while your tank is drying — collecting sand, building arches, and making a net with which to catch specimens of fish. A good net may be made by taking a piece of stout wire, forming a loop by twisting one end, running the other end into a stick, and sewing a piece of mosquito netting to the wire. The sand and pebbles for the aquarium may be collected from the bed of a stream. The arches may be built of any kind of rock and pebbles stuck together with cement. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 211 Any plant which grows in streams or ponds, or upon their margin, is suitable for the aquarium. One of the most decorative is Mermaid weed. Tapegrass may be found in any slow-running stream. The little Bladderwort may be known by its cluster of yellow flowers. Willow moss is extremely useful. The Hornwort is decorative. Pond weed makes a resting place for the insects. Nitella may be found at the bottom of ponds. There are eight kinds of Sagittaria found in this country; of these Sagittaria Natans is the most satisfactory for the aquarium. When the tank is thoroughly clean and dry you may prepare the bed of your aquarium. The sand, thoroughly cleaned, should be distributed evenly upon the bottom of the tank to the depth of two inches or so. Over this strew a layer of pebbles, and place your arches and plants in posi- tion. If you find that the plants are insecure, a small quantity of clay should be fastened to their roots, besides weighting them with pebbles. Then pour in the water. Never use boiled water. While filling, place your left hand, palm up, near the sand, and pour the water gently over your palm, so that it will trickle down without disturbing the roots or washing up the sand. Keep your hand just above the water and gradually fill the tank to within two or three inches of the top. A piece of thin, smooth wood should now be used to disengage and float out in a natural way the foliage of the various plants. The water in the tank will evaporate according to the temperature; when it evaporates an inch add an equal amount of water. If right- ly stocked with animal and plant life it is seldom or never necessary to change the water. . Before putting in the fish, drop in a few common pond snails and tadpoles. These will consume the decaying veg- etation. As the tritons feed upon the minute parasitical insects that injure aquatic plants they are really useful in the aqua- 212 Games, Pastimes and Amusements rium. The frog is a relative of the triton, and, in a tadpole state, the two cannot easily be distinguished; as they grow, however, the difference is apparent. Among insects, the boatfly is worth having. You will find him in any stagnant pond. The margined beetle is also quite useful. The animals and fish should be fed at a certain hour every day with a few small pieces of cracker. Once a week a small piece of raw beef impaled on a straw should be given to each. If the beef is dropped into the water there is always the danger that one or more greedy fellows will seize it all. PLEASANT PLACES FOR SUMMER DAYS. In the arrangement for the shady seat at the tennis court rough cedar posts are planted firmly about eight, feet apart, three feet below and seven feet above ground, and a framework is built across at the top, and a double seat with back constructed between. The framework at the top should come forward four and a half feet from the end parts on each side, making the top nine feet wide over all. A series of hoops is carried along one foot apart, giv- ing a curved top. The brackets for this top and the arms and legs of the seat may be made from rough limbs with the bark left on. The same material is used for braces. If gnarled limbs can be obtained for these all the better, but the framework is of secondary importance as it will be cov- ered with vines by the middle of the summer. A more simple mode of construction would be to make the top flat. For this use straight pieces in place of the hoops. The effect will be less picturesque, but when cov- ered with vines it will make but little difference. If possible face the seats north and south, as more shade will be ob- tained from the ends when the sun is low in the afternoon. Often shade is needed at some special point on the lawn, and the illustration given of a summer-house with a ifflOOODOQOn ^w. Pleasant Places for Summer Days. 214 ^ Games, Pastimes and Amusements double-domed roof and two circular seats offers sugges- tions for that purpose. In the arrangement, for this summer-house six corner posts are planted. Of course, the size of these bowers must vary according to individual needs, but they must not rise too high above ground. They will be useless for shade if carried up more than eight feet. Center posts rise to a height of eleven feet, and long hoops are carried diagonally from corner to corner. These are firmly nailed to the cen- ter posts, on which they cross. Straight pieces are carried around horizontally from post to post; these are supported by brackets. The hoops may also be connected by light stuff. A seat is constructed around each center post, and a light railing runs around these sides. At the base the entrance is generally left free of adornment of any sort. Many vines which flower lovers would like to use are worthless for the purpose of shade. The Sweet Pea would be a general favorite if it grew to a sufficient height, but it does not. The Morning-glory and the Wild Cucumber are both desirable. The former will grow to a height of twen- ty feet in a season. The Wild Cucumber also has a rapid growth, and its flowers when seen in masses are very effect- ive; it is to summer plants what the native Clematis is to our perennial vines. Some of the ornamental Gourds are available for covering summer-houses, as their large leaves overlap and afford a dense shade, which is, of course, indis- pensable in a summer-house. The variegated Japan Hop will answer for the purpose of shade; it has a rapid growth and an attractive foliage. An illustration which needs little description is the one in which an old sketching umbrella frame is utilized for the canopy at the top of the center post, or constructed of a large wooden hoop supported on wire properly bent. A pot is set on or in the post on each side, and a ladder-like framework of light sticks connects them with the canopy. If desired, wooden boxes may be built in place of the pots. «- Games, Pastimes and Amusements 215 In fact, it would doubtless be a wiser plan to use boxes as they may be nailed securely to the posts. The center post must be carried up to a height of seven feet so that it may be passed beneath without chance of brushing the hat of one's tallest guest. Paint in harmony with the house. Nothing will be so pretty or so attractive to plant about this gate as Nasturtiums. Very often the entrance to a house lacks a canopy or porch, in which case the arrangement shown in illustra- tions shows two light canopy frames, which, when covered with vines, will afford a grateful shade. A feature of one is. the shelf for potted plants. Brilliant Geraniums are es- pecially effective for the purpose, their glowing blossoms fairly burning against the dark green of the Grapevine's broad foliage. When constructing the simpler one bring the brackets down toward the base of the door-posts. The doorway may be flanked with Cacti or other plants of a decorative character. For planting a door having a canopy I would advise Celastrus scandens or Ampelopsis. The native Grape may also be used. All three of the above are attractive and nearly always prove satisfactory. TREE TOP CLUB HOUSES. Of course, the proper trees are necessary, and as no two trees are alike the boy will have to adapt his construc- tion to the enforced requirements of size and growth. A one-tree house can be built with little trouble if you have sawed lumber handy. It may also be built entirely from the wood cut in the forest, and such a house is the more picturesque and romantic of the two. In the illustrations the reader will see that both rough and sawed material are used. The A blocks (Figure i) are made from a good sound log about a foot or more in diameter and two feet long, which is quartered, making four A blocks. 216 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Bore holes through the A blocks for the spikes, and spike one upon each side of the trunk (Figure 2) with good long spikes, using at least three spikes to each block, and being careful to have both the A blocks upon the same level. Make the B sticks of ash poles split in half, or of two by four sawed lumber, and notch them about a foot from the end, as shown in Figure 5. Upon the A block rest the centers of your B sticks and spike them to the tree (Figure 3). Rest two more B sticks across the first pair and at right angles to them, and nail this second pair securely to the tree (Figure 4). Now take the struts or braces which have been previously trimmed to fit the notches in the B sticks (Figure 5), and, one at a time, put them in place, nailing the lower beveled ends to the tree trunk. This gives you a foundation upon which you can lay as many more B sticks as is deemed necessary, and then floor with planks as in Figure 6. When the flooring is se- curely nailed in place you will have a good strong platform upon which it will be a very simple matter to erect a house. For simplicity's sake the platform in Figure 6 is en- tirely occupied by the house, but in building it takes very little more material to build a platform large enough to give space for a balcony all around. If you propose building a two-tree house like the one in the accompanying illustration, you had better build a good strong platform to begin with. This may be made of rough timber like the lower one in the illustration, or of sawed lumber, as the platform is built, upon which the two- tree house stands in the illustration. Take four A blocks and nail them on each side of the two trees and see that they are upon the same level (Figure 7). Across the A blocks rest two good B sticks and nail them to the two trees as in the diagram. From sound two-inch planks saw out two corbel pieces of the form of D, Figure 7, and measuring about seven feet A THBEF-TREf FOUNDAT/0N(F/(V.8) Tree Top Club Houses. A TWO -TREE PLA N (FI&7) 218 Games, Pastimes and Amusements on the top edge. Then cut the four struts (E, Figure 7), and two king posts (C, Figure 7), and saw off the ends of the E pieces to fit the notches cut near the ends of the D pieces and in the sides of the C plank. Fit the frame together and with some long screws, one at each end of the struts, fasten them in place. The strain upon this frame is an up and down thrust, and it is only nec- essary to hold the frame together until it is hoisted up the tree and rested over the protruding ends of the B sticks. The C and D are then securely nailed to the tree trunk with the largest-sized wire nails. On top of the corbel D rest another corbel G, and spike it to the tree, supporting the ends with two long struts nailed to the tree. From G to G lay some two by fours upon their two- inch edges and nail them in place. Over this nail your flooring and you will have a platform strong enough to hold a brick house. Erect a railing around your platform and build your house between the trees as you would upon the ground. A three-tree house is built as a combination of a two- tree and a one-tree house. You may use the king post struts and corbels described for the two-tree house, or you may make the trees act as king posts and the B sticks as corbels, as shown by Figure 8. In all cases use struts wher- ever there appears the slightest tendency to weakness. If the location of your. proposed house is so high that your ladder will not reach the point, build a platform with- in reach, as in the picture of the two-tree house, and rest- ing your ladder on this platform the A blocks for the pro- posed edifice may be nailed in place at the second level, as shown. It is unnecessary to describe in detail a four-tree foun- dation, for the reason that if the trees are accommodating enough to grow at the four corners of a square the four corner posts of your house are the living trees, and a floor can be laid upon a foundation of A blocks and B sticks ar- ?— Games, Pastimes and Amusements 219 ranged as they are in Figure 8 between the trees where the boy stands on the ladder nailing a B stick. With this ar- rangement between two pairs of trees the floor is easily laid. A MAGIC LANTERN. You boys and girls all know what a. magic lantern looks like, so you will be able to follow the directions for a home made one that will give you hours of fun to pay you for your trouble. This plan comes from the Scientific American origin- ally, but as described here is somewhat simplified so as to be practicable for you. Take an ordinary packing box made of wood, about the size of the box part of the usual magic lantern, a kero- sene oil lamp with an Argand burner (or a Welsbach burner and rubber tube for attachment to the nearest gas connection), a small fish globe and a burning magnifying glass (common double or plano-convex lens). Cut a round hole in one end of the box, large enough to admit a part of the globe (which you must suspend on the inside from the top of the box). Close behind the globe set the kerosene lamp. Next make a strong solution of common table salt, and with it moisten a piece of common window glass. Stand the glass up vertically in front of the box exactly on a level" with the globe partially protruding through the hole in the box. Try the light from your burner on it to see if it is prop- erly focused on the glass by the globe. Now set up a screen or curtain upon which you wish to cast pictures. Between it and the piece of window glass place your reading glass in such position that the rays of light are focused through it upon the screen. When everything is in correct position, you will find the salt solution on the window glass crystallizing, each 220 Games, Pastimes and Amusements group of crystals taking beautiful forms, which will appear on the screen in the shape of beautiful fernlike trees. By dropping different colors into the water with which the globe should be filled, you can cause the pictures on the screen to take different colors. You can keep the panorama going on indefinitely by renewing the application of salt solution to the glass. FISHING TACKLE. Any straight, slender, elastic light pole cut out of a thicket will serve well as a rod. Now take a number of pins, file off their heads, sharpen •i J?" \ A 1 Fishing Tackle. the blunt ends, and bend each pin into the shape of the let- ter U. About two feet from the handle end of the rod insert a U pin, leaving just enough of the loop for your fish line to Games, Pastimes and Amusements 221 pass through easily. Insert the other U pins here and there on the pole in line with the first one. Finish the top end of your pole with a ring made of wire. Twist the piece of wire till you have an O shape, with two prongs, which hug the sides of the poletip and are secured firmly to it by a tight wrapping of the wire. Now for the reel. Get a large, empty spool, a tin can and a piece of strong wire. Draw the wire through the spool, wedging it in firmly by means of little sticks driven in all around the wire. Cut your can open and make a cross-shaped pattern out of the tin. Cut holes in the side pieces, which you then bend into the shape shown in the picture, passing the wire through the holes that you punched, and bending one end to form a handle. Hammer the long section of the tin into rounded shape to fit the pole, lay it on the pole and secure it firmly by means of a tight wrapping of strong waxed string. ' You can also make a reel by substituting a crotch of wood in place of the tin. In that case, bore a hole through the rod, insert the prong of the crotch, then secure the crotch firmly to the pole by winding waxed twine around its two forks and then wrapping it tightly around the pole. Or the crotch may be made without a prong and simply be tacked to the pole. MAKE A BOOMERANG. Soak a piece of well-seasoned wood — ash, elm or hick- ory-plank that is free from knots — in boiling hot water un- til it is soft enough to bend under your pressure into the shape shown in the picture. Nail on the side pieces, which will hold the board in this position until it dries. When thoroughly dry it will retain its position without their help, and you can remove them. Now take a saw and saw straight, narrow sections out 222 Games, Pastimes and Amusements lengthwise, each section having the same angle as the orig- inal piece of wood from which it was sawed. A little trimming of the ends into nice tapering points, a little smoothing to remove splinters (a piece of broken glass is good for this purpose), and you have made out of each of these sections a first-class completed boomerang. Now how to throw it. Grasp it as you would a club, near one end, with the hollow face of it away from you, the convex side toward you. Take aim at anything you wish, say a hundred yards away, and throw your boomerang at it. A Boomerang. Instead of making for the object of your aim, the boomerang will sail high in air, whirl through all sorts of gyrations, then shoot away in almost any direction except the one of your aim, in all probability back toward yourself. Boomerangs are dangerous in the hands of beginners. Better do your practicing in vacant lots and fields, boys, for you don't want any one to be badly injured by a blow from one of these crazy instruments. AN ELASTIC CROSSBOW. Take a piece of thick plank (pine or cedar or some such wood), sketch on it and saw out the stock and barrel of your crossbow. Reduce it to desired form and proportions by whittling with your good jacknife. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 223 Now take one of the curved instruments (called gouges, I believe) that are used by carpenters to make grooves, and cut a half-round groove along the top of the barrel the entire length from the muzzle end of the butt. Make it good and true. Next, bore a good-sized hole through the thick under portion of the stock near the muzzle end. Through this fit a bow, which you are supposed already to have made, and make it fit perfectly tight and rigid. To shape the bow, soak it in boiling water until it is soft and pliable; then, by means of strong cords, bind it into the shape you want. When dry it will retain this shape Cross Bow. without the bindings. Then you must whittle it into nice, trim form and try to make it of such size that it will not bend a particle when the bowstring is drawn. Use two pieces of very strong elastic for your bow- string. Connect them by a strong string, which forms the center and takes the brunt of the wear and tear. Make a trigger in the way boys usually make one, but don't screw it on one side of the barrel, but cut a slot in the barrel for it and fix it on a pivot. Now cover the groove with a long, thin piece of pine, fastening it down at the sides with small brads or screws, and your crossbow is finished. BLOWGUN. You boys can make yourselves blowguns and get a great deal of fun out of them. Take a good, straight glass tube about 3^ feet long. 224 Games, Pastimes and Amusements Test its straightness by looking through it. If it is the least bit untrue, you can easily detect it. If untrue, reject it in favor of another and true tube. Now wrap your tube around and around with strips of cloth (woolens), which will cushion the glass and pro- tect it from breaking. Next take a section of fishing rod or piece of cane, and with a red-hot poker or iron rod bore through the hollow in ( t « a (( o - Blow Gun. the center of the cane until it will accommodate the glass tube. Then with putty or wax plug up the ends of the tube, and trim the ends of the cane to flush evenly with the ends of the tube. Your blowgun will shoot arrows, peas, pellets made of clay or paper wads. If you use arrows, make them tiny, with a point made out of a pin with its head knocked off. A bit of cotton at- tached to the butt end will make it stick in the blowgun until shot out. PROGRAMS ARRANGED FOR CHILDREN'S PARTIES New Year's Day, St. Valentine's, April Fool's Day, Easter, May-day, Fourth of July, Hallowe'en, Thanksgiv- ing, Christmas, a Hard Times Party. Also suggestions for decorations, menus and favors. (Note. — All games mentioned in the above programs will be found in the index.) A NEW YEAR'S DAY PARTY. Games : Good Resolutions. Testing of Fates. Hunt the Whistle. The King's Armory. The invitations to this party are cut in hour glass shape from heavy, white paper. The sketching of the hour glass, the lettering of the invitations to be done in sepia ink. For decorations, evergreen festoons of pine and balsam looped about the walls and chandeliers, wreathed windows, doors and arches, and here and there a bunch of pearl-berried mistletoe. The table cloth should be plentifully sprinkled with powdered mica to give the glistening effect of frost and snow. The centre of the table to hold a wreath of ever- green with a heap of mistletoe inside. From this centre piece a narrow red ribbon should run to each plate. After luncheon each child pulls from under the mistletoe the rib- Games, Pastimes and Amusements bon beside the plate, at the end of which is hung a small hour glass. For refreshments: Ice cream in the form of snow balls, and cakes the form of an hour glass. Nuts, raisins, bonbons, chocolate. A ST. VALENTINE'S PARTY. Games: Heart Hunt, Cupid's Target. St. Valentine's Post. Broken Hearts. Of course the decorations for this party should be red hearts. Strings of them from the corners of the room to the chandeliers, fastened to the lace curtains, the mantle draped with them, and hung down the wall on strings. Cakes and ices should be heart-shape. Tarts, perhaps, one for each child baked heart-shape, sent with the com- pliments of the "Queen of Hearts." Favors: A sugar or plaster cupid, two heart-shape pincushions tied together at their widest ends by a knot of ribbon, a pen-wiper of the same suggestive form, a photo- graph-frame in heart shape. AN APRIL-FOOL'S DAY PARTY. For the girl or boy giving a party on April Fool's Day here are a few suggestions for the amusement and enter- tainment of the guests. In the first place, spring flowers and blossoms should form the decorations for the house. Any of the early flow- ers, such as daffodils, hyacinths, tulips and jonquils — or the fruit tree blossoms — would be charming and appropri- ate. The young host or hostess might meet the guests Games, Pastimes and Amusements 22 ? dressed in the familiar costume of a fool, with cap and bells, which would at once suggest the spirit of the occasion. By way of entertainment, charades could be played, taking any of the old sayings to act containing the word fool — such as "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," "A fool and his money are soon parted," "Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them," or "Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other." A game which would afford a great deal of fun would be for the host or hostess — or any one appointed "it" who is quick witted — to ask each one three questions, and all who cannot answer without laughing by simply saying "April fool," would have to pay a forfeit of some kind. These forfeits should be made as ridiculous as possible. Nothing is more genuinely enjoyed by the very young folks than a game of good, old-fashioned blind man's buff. When tired of games, music and dancing might form a pleasant change. Amusing surprises in the refreshments could be had by serving a salad in potatoes by scooping out the inside — or large apples might serve the same purpose. The ice cream could be served in small cups, having different colored tis- sue paper tied around them, and the cream — either choco- late or covered with chocolate, and having a flower stuck in the centre, would make the whole thing resemble a small potted plant. The flowers could be the early spring flow- ers, either wild or cultivated. A surprise in the fruits might be accomplished by cut- ting oranges in two, taking out the inside, and then rilling them with small cakes or nuts, and tying them shut with ribbons. Apples or oranges could be used in the same way to fill with candies. Chocolate cigars and cigarettes might be passed after the refreshments. For favors, to be placed at each plate with the name of the recipient, a good deal of fun at the table might be had if each package, done up in many wrappings, contained Games, Pastimes and Amusements some ridiculous trifle, such as a whistle, a rattle, a rag doll, a stick of candy, a funny animal, or any comical thing of which the host or hostess could think to afford amusement. AN EASTER PARTY. Games : Matching Eggs. Egg Race. Flower Spider Web. This early in the year there are not many flowers for decorating. Fruit-tree boughs, if they can be found, will be just the thing. Tissue paper butterflies of all colors and sizes can be easily made and make a beautiful decoration for this season of the year — always of course a few rabbits. If refreshments are served cakes and bonbons should be in the forms of eggs, flowers, rabbits and fowls. For a table centrepiece a large nest of spun sugar in which are "surprise eggs" will be appropriate. Favors should be suggested of the day. Large sugar eggs, an egg painted to resemble a baby's face, and which, with cap and flowing robe, makes a fairly acceptable doll; a pot of Annunciation Lilies. A MAY-DAY PARTY. Games : Maypole Dance. Japanese Fan Game. Ring Around the Rosy. Peanut Tournament. Decorate in spring flowers, and have everything as spring-like as possible. If the weather is favorable serve luncheon on the lawn at one large table in the centre of which is a large round gilt rattan basket filled with spring flowers. Small favors of some kind may be concealed in this basket and are at- Games, Pastimes and Amusements 229 tached to the ribbon which extends to each plate. Lettuce sandwiches and buttered finger rolls might be served to- gether with strawberries, flower ices, lady-fingers, and but- tercups. A FOURTH OF JULY FROLIC. Games : Flag Tag. Torpedo Hunt. Our Flag. Penny Puzzle. The invitations for a children's frolic on the Fourth of July may be written upon long, narrow strips of red card- board, suggestive of firecrackers. A hempen string should be at one end, and, so it will be necessary to paste two pieces of the cardboard together with the string glued between them at one end. The rooms or lawn where the games are to be played should be gay with red, white and blue bunt- ing and flags. Scarlet and white verbenas with blue larkspur will make a pretty centrepiece for the table, the rolled sand- wiches may be tied with red, white and blue ribbon, the bonbons wrapped in tissue paper to look like torpedoes, or they may be put in firecrackers. Ice cream may be served in red, white and blue ice cups. HALLOWE'EN, ITS ORIGIN, HISTORY AND MANY WAYS OF CELEBRATING IT. When the fathers of the church found their one time pagan worshippers yet mindful of the days wherein they offered to idols they turned those days to the service of the new faith. November i became the day of All Saints, when those to whom no special days had been given could be remembered at one honoring. The evening before it was Hallow Eve, and formerly had certain observances con- \ 230 Games, Pastimes and Amusements nected originally with worship. Now it is given over to spooks who are allowed to walk the earth, accompanied maybe by human spirits who have a chance on this one night of the year to manifest themselves. This is helpful to the bashful young man who dares not ask his beloved if she is his or not. On Hallowe'en he may know she is try- ing to find out w r ho is going to share her future and pay her bills, and he need only to send his astral body, as deputy to the place where she is to be. His presence (as a spirit) is guarantee that he is hers, and he won't be obliged to ask, for is it not fate? Hallowe'en parties usually are of girls alone, though there seems to be no good reason why brothers and counsins may not be admitted. She who means to have a Hallow- e'en party must provide lead to melt, nuts, nutmeal, mate- rial for making a cake, and a ring, thimble, raisins, key and wheel to put in it. If she cannot be in the country to try the cabbage trick, the best thing to do for it is to have a quantity of cabbages brought from the country and stored in the cellar. There must be apples and a ball of twine. By reading Burns' poem about Hallowe'en other things may be found to try. The proper way is for some to melt lead and others to do something else. The trouble is that every girl wants to see what every other girl gets, and a party divided will not enjoy themselves. Begin with the nuts. Put one for yourself and one for some one else, for several some ones else, if you wish, over the fire. Some will stay unmoved for a while, then fly off. Rarely are there two which burn quietly to ashes beside each other. That is the happiest omen for one's future. The lead melting may come next. It will spoil the spoon in which it is melted, so use a cheap iron one. Take the lead that comes on tea boxes. Put a little piece of this in your spoon,, hold it over the fire until the lead is soft and then quickly drop it into cold water. It will take many Bobbing for Apples 232 Games, Pastimes and Amusements shapes, and if your imagination is good you will see the shears of a tailor or a newspaper man, the sword of a sol- dier, the book of an author, the desk of a preacher, or any- thing else you want to find. It is remarkable sometimes how certain likenesses can be found, especially when one knows what to hunt for. Seven girls may mix the dumb cake, and while they do this not a word must they speak. It is nothing but flour and water mixed to a stiff dough and placed in a pan. On the top of it each girl with a new pin pricks her initials and those of her best beloved. The cake must bake ten minutes — no talking all this time — and those whose initials are plain when the cake is baked will be married before the year is out. Fateful Cake. — Another cake with the usual ingre- dients of ring, key, etc., named above, may be made with any amount of chattering going on. It may be good enough to eat, too, provided the toys are of sterling silver. Each girl must stir the dough once or twice. When the cake is ready each girl eats a slice. She who gets the ring will become a happy wife; the possession of the dime insures riches; the raisin promises happy motherhood; she who finds the thimble will never cease to wear it; the key un- locks all hearts, meaning many lovers, but never a husband, and the wheel foretells travels over land and sea. Apples are important for the charms of Hallowe'en. Every one knows about bobbing for them in a tub of water, but does every one know that the success of the coming year is foretold by one's skill in getting between one's lips an apple suspended by a string from a height? There's nothing more elusive than an apple swinging in the air, but it can be caught. Of course the hands must not help. Name an apple, run a needle through the centre, and if it goes through the seed the desired one is yours for sure. Another trick is to put the seeds on the lips, naming each seed, and the one that clings the longest is the one who Games, Pastimes and Amusements 233 loved you best. Of course you will peel the apple, turning the peeling three times around your head, let it drop, and then find it forms the initials you wish your future names to have. The charm which requires you to walk down stairs backward eating an apple and looking in a mirror all the while for the some one who will appear behind you is rather trying to the nerves, even if you do it with some one holding the light at the head of the stairs. This must. be done in perfect silence. The candle charm is pleasant. Into a candle run two needles "which have never been used" at right angles to each other. One is you (by proxy) and the other is "he." If the candle burns past the spot where the needles cross all will go well, but if it does not — who knows. The cabbage charm came from Scotland. Each girl goes blindfolded into a field where cabbages are growing and pulls one. If much dirt clings to the roots, wealth is coming by marriage; if there is a good straight stem the future husband will be comely. A taste of the heart indi- cates the disposition of the man to be. A nut test is tried by seven girls. Each girl makes a long string of acorns, winds it around the same log (a stick of wood) and places that on the fire. When this is done they draw their chairs to the side of the room furthest from the fire and sit in silence until all is burned to ashes. Then they must rake out the ashes of the log without help from any one, saying as they do it: — May my marriage be my theme, To visit me in this night's dream The image of my lover send. Let me see his name and face And his occupation trace. This produces a prophetic dream, so it is claimed. An- other dream producer, warranted, is a cake mixed of pounded nuts, salted very salt. Equally efficacious is a hard boiled tgg f from which the yoke is removed and salt 234 Games, Pastimes and Amusements put in its place. It must be eaten after you get into bed, and then not a word must you speak. You are sure to dream that some one is bringing you a drink, and he who does is your man. The card charm is not generally known. At a quarter to twelve all who are to try it sit at a table and say nothing. One word breaks the spell. Promptly at twelve the cards are dealt, using only the face cards. A king prophesies speedy marriage; a jack a broken engagement; a queen, an old maid; diamonds, riches; spades, thrift; clubs, poverty; hearts, love in a cottage. There are many more tricks that might be tried. The ball of twine is thrown from the window, one end being held by the thrower. When she feels it caught she calls, "Who's there? and "he" ought to tell her. When these have all been tried it will be too late to try any more. At the supper let there be tea grounds, which are so prophetic of one's future. Any menu in which apples and nuts have a part will be appropriate. Odd and dainty sou- venirs may be made by mounting small witch dolls of nuts Games, Pastimes and Amusements 235 on the supper card. The nut forms the head of the doll and is dressed with a witch's peaked hat over her hood. The body is made of toothpicks. One trial will show how to make them. Letter on the card a line or two from Burns and you will have a quaint card. One of the favorite fads of the girls is to take two red roses with long stems and just before going to bed naming each of the roses, one for herself and the other for the young man of her fancy. Then as she^ kneels before her downy couch the maiden twines the stems of the roses together. If the young man reciprocates her fancy the flower named in his honor will take on a deeper carmine hue; but if her love is unrequited the stems will untwine and the roses fall from the position occupied at the head of her bed. Another custom that finds favor with boys and girls is to place in the center of a room a tub partially filled with water upon the bosom of which float a number of candles lighted and set upon an improvised boat. The first candle to be extinguished, according to tradition, dooms to a state of celibacy the maiden or swain who placed it in the tub. The tub is usually rocked vigorously, and if the candle is extinguished by the movement it carries with it the same degree as though it had burned out. Bobbing for apples is a sport originating in Conti- nental days and has never lost favor. Into one tub half filled with water are placed apples to the stems of which are tied bits of paper containing the names of the boys pres- ent at the party, while across the room is a similar tub in which the names of the girls are placed. With hands tied behind them the young folks endeavor to extricate the ap- ples with their teeth, and it is alleged that the name appear- ing upon the slip fastened to the apple is the patronymic of the future helpmeet of the one securing the fruit from the receptacle. If one thing in the world (not of it) is ever new, that thing is a ghost. So long as a Hallowe'en hostess can fur- 236 Games, Pastimes and Amusements nish sufficiently hair-raising spooks, she is bound to be voted a success. If you are the fortunate possessor of a garden, and if in that garden stands an arbor, let it be the masterpiece of your party. If you have no out-doors spot where mystery can lurk, choose an attic, cellar or some remote room in the house, and let it be dark. In one corner build your ghost. A dressmaker's frame stood upon a box furnishes an excellent form upon which to drape the sheet. Without it, you can arrange some sticks. There is no need that the human form be imitated closely, for the drapery will be loose. Cut a skeleton face from pasteboard. Arrange a stick at the top to hold the draped white cloth that is to cover the supposed head. Place some sort of a shelf in the form upon which you can put the green fire. It can be bought wherever fireworks are kept and its light, shining through the skeleton face, will produce a most satisfactory effect. Late in the evening, after ghost stories told by the clev- erest narrators you can obtain, lead your guests one by one to the ghost arbor or room and tell them that their for- tunes will be pronounced. Someone shrouded in black and invisible can be stationed behind the ghost and, in a voice of the tomb, pronounce sentence upon each trembling list- ener. "You will marry the man of your rival's choice/' is ambiguous enough to cause some merry guessing. "You must address the first strange red-haired woman you meet and tell her that her hat is on crooked; if she replies gra- ciously, you have met your fate." If you can prepare some fortunes that apply personally to the guests, all the better for the merriment of the party. Each one is obliged to re- port upon returning. An amusing trick is played in this way: With a cane, broomstick, or umbrella, measure the distance from the victim's elbow on the inside of the arm to the tip of his middle finger outstretched. Mark the point, tell him to Games, Pastimes and Amusements 237 clasp the stick so that the outer edge of the hand touches the point marked and the stick is held backwards, as shown in the picture. The hand must be held around the stick, not allowed to slope downward. He must now put the end of the stick into his mouth. The game will occasion much laughter, and few will accomplish the trick. To each who does accomplish it, a tiny package of seeds is given. He must go into the garden alone, plant the seeds, return to The Dance. the house, walking backward, and during the trip, the face of the bride or husband-to-be will appear in ghostly image. Place a round bottle lengthwise upon the floor, let a guest sit upon it with feet outstretched and upright, the heel of one resting upon the instep of the other. Give him two candles, one unlighted, the other lighted. Tell him to light the one with the other. He will no sooner have them in his hands and start to bring them together than the bot- tle will begin its rolling. From side to side the victim will rock, vainly endeavoring to bring the two together, and maintain his own balance. One minute should be allowed 238 Games, Pastimes and Amusements for the accomplishment of the feat and those who win with- in the time are given some appropriate prize. A pumpkin pincushion made of silk and hung with green ribbons; a pasteboard pumpkin or apple filled with candy; a flat pocket pincushion, made to resemble an autumn leaf; a skull design in the form of a matchsafe or any other small article — all these are easily bought or made. A group of children may help pass the evening by a little dance. Any simple dance steps will serve. The chil- dren should wear jack-o'-lantern masks made of pasteboard or real pumpkin jack-o'-lanterns over their heads. If you can obtain some phosphorescent substance with which to coat the masks, it will be delightful to darken the room and let the little elves dance in suddenly through the dark. The old games of throwing an apple peel to see it form an initial, sailing a pair of walnut shells on a tub of water and reading their owners' fates in the manner of the tiny boats' course — their sailing together, apart or with conflict — all of these can be played again with new laughter. Swing an apple in a doorway and bob for it there as well as in the tub. Walk down the cellar stairs backward and see your fate. THANKSGIVING. Games: Thanksgiving Feast. Trussed Fowls. Tossing Chestnuts. Parcels Post. Nothing is prettier for decorating than chrysanthe- mums and autumn leaves. These are in abundance this time of the year. Lay leaves around on the white table cover, and have a large turkey in the center — this to con- tain smajl turkeys of bonbons, one for each child. You might serve turkey sandwiches, nut salad, the marron- nlled ice cream known as Nesselrode pudding, nut, cakes, salt nuts, and marrons glaces bonbons. Games, Pastimes and Amusements 239 CHRISTMAS. Games : Holly Wreath. Christmas Candles. Christmas Stockings. Snap Dragon. Hot Cockles. Christmas-tide is the season of all others for a chil- dren's party. Rooms hung with holly and mistletoe need no other decoration, and the Christmas colors in red and green are repeated in gifts and favors. Suspend above the centre of the table, from the chan- delier (wreathed with Christmas greens), a bell made of three hoops of graduated sizes hung together with rope or stout cords. Cover this with scarlet tissue paper, and cover it thickly with holly. For the clapper of the bell use a tiny candle-lamp of red glass. From the top of the bell suspend five long ropes of evergreen dotted with scarlet berries — these to fall over the edge of the table. Red-cheeked ap- ples and white iced cakes, and bonbons complete the table furnishings. A small scarlet stocking, rilled with bonbons, can be placed at each plate. HARD TIMES PARTY. A party by no means novel, but which nevertheless furnishes plenty of amusement is a "Hard Times Party/' sometimes called An Immigrants' Party. To this the guests come attired in any grotesque costume depicting poverty. Any particularly unseasonable article of dress, as for in- stance, a straw hat with a winter overcoat, overalls with an old silk hat, etc. The girls may wear faded or patched dresses or aprons, or some old-time or ridiculous summer headgear with heavy shoes or wraps. Old-fashioned games, corn-popping or taffy pulling furnish the entertain- ment. If desired hasty-pudding with milk, dried apple or pumpkin pies may be served as refreshments. <6 ■ I, iiiiiitl TOMS H ^H^H nHHHPBH ^^^l '.JW-;:. .-^ '..:•:: ^,:|H fit -■I I Hi h 1 MBJUBtt ^1 HUH Ml SIMM W U MM m R HBfl ■wm 8991 flm Hi 9R will ffiflT hHHE mm- w H xnXnlt • Eft ■ ■1