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This game, as its name denotes, is played by means of nine pins, which are set up in a regular order, the aim of the players being to throw down as many as possible in the fewest attempts. Each player is permitted to throw three times at the pins, and if he can knock them all down in two throws, it is called a "single," and they are again set up for his last throw; or, if he can knock them down in one throw, it is called a "double," and they are set up. A heavy wooden ball, called a "bowl," is used to throw at the pins.
SKITTLES.
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Skittles is played in a manner somewhat similar to the preceding game, but the number of pins is only four. These are very large, and are arranged on a square framework, so as to present one of the angles to the player. The bowl used for playing this game is of the shape of a cheese, and is usually made of lignum vitae, as being very heavy and hard wood. The game requires more bodily strength than nine-pins, as the bowl must be thrown upon the skittles, and not rolled up to them.
The best play is to throw the bowl with a round-handed swing of the arm, so as to strike the nearest skittle at the right of its upper third. The ball then springs to the second skittle, and from this generally twists to the third, while the fourth skittle is sent down by the roll of the one first struck. It is very difficult to make this throw successfully, and many players prefer driving down the first and third skittles with a straightforward shoot, and then making their second ball spring across from the second to the fourth. This latter stroke appears very difficult, but is soon learnt; the great point being to throw the bowl high, so that it may drop as perpendicularly as possible on the left of the upper third of the second skittle. In the long run, the constant repet.i.tion of this practice will overbalance occasional brilliancy of play.
DUTCH-PINS.
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This game is nothing more than a modification of nine-pins; the pins being higher, and the centre one bearing the name of king, and a crown upon its head. The great point in this game is to strike the king out of the board without knocking down any of the subjects. If this can be done, the game is won. In all other cases, the king counts for no more than any of his subjects.
THROWING THE HAMMER.
This is a good athletic sport, but the Hammer can scarcely be called a toy. The hammer used by rustics is generally the sledge-hammer of the blacksmith, with a head weighing some twelve or fourteen pounds. The players are all single and do not join in parties, and the prize is given to him who makes the greatest number of long throws in a dozen. It does not merely require strength to throw the sledge-hammer, but a nice calculation of the area which the Hammer has to pa.s.s over in its flight, combined with the strength of the thrower.
THE BOOMERANG.[1]
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This instrument is a curved piece of wood, flat on one side, and slightly rounded on the other. It is used by the natives of New South Wales, who can throw it so dexterously as to kill a man behind a tree, where he may have fled for safety. It should be held horizontally in throwing it, and cast by bringing the arm backwards, and after making a variety of curves it will come back again to the person who send it. If skilfully thrown, it may be made to go in almost any direction the thrower pleases.
[1] The instrument represented in the cut is the Australian boomerang.
Those used in England have a sharper curve.
THE SKIP-JACK, OR JUMP-JACK.
The skip-jack is manufactured out of the merry-thought of a goose, which must, of course, be well cleaned before it is used. A strong doubled string must be tied at the two ends of the bone, and a piece of wood about three inches long put between the strings, as shown in the marginal ill.u.s.tration, and twisted round until the string acquires the force of a spring. A bit of shoemaker"s wax should then be put in the hollow of the bone at the spot where the end of the piece of wood touches, and when the wood is pressed slightly on the wax the jack is set; it adheres but a very short time, and then springs forcibly up. The skip-jack is placed on the ground with the wax downwards, and in some parts of the country it is usual to call out, "Up, Jack!" or "Jump, Jack!" just before it springs.
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THE SLING.
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The art of slinging, or of casting stones with a sling, is of very high antiquity. We see it represented on the Nimroud monuments, and the feat of the divine youth, David, is familiar to every one. In the earliest times there were bands of slingers, and probably whole regiments of them, and there is little doubt that the art of slinging preceded that of archery. The former seemed, however, to belong to the Asiatic, as the latter did to the European nations. Our Saxon ancestors, also, seem to have been skilful in their manner of holding the sling. Its form is preserved in several of their paintings, and the manner in which it was used by them, as far back as the eighth century, may be seen in the annexed cut. We have also sufficient testimony to prove, that men armed with slings formed part of the Anglo-Norman soldiery.
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In country districts, slinging of stones is a common sport; and the sling so used consists simply of a piece of leather cut into the subjoined form, to which are affixed two cords, one having a loop. In using it, leather is suffered to hang from the strong downwards; the slinger places his little finger in the loop, and holds the other end in his hand, and then putting the stone in the hole of the sling at A, which prevents its falling, whirls the whole round for three or four times, to obtain a strong centrifugal force, and suddenly letting go of that part of the sling held in his hand, the stone flies forward with inconceivable rapidity, making a tw.a.n.ging sound in the ear as it flies.
Slinging is a very good exercise for imparting strength to the arm, but young slingers should be very careful where they send their stones, or they may do much damage.
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If any of my readers may wish to construct a better kind of sling, they may do it in the following manner:--Get a currier to cut a piece of very strong buckskin leather in this shape, the centre being cut into bars.
Two long strips of the same leather are then cut of this shape,
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two cuts being made along them, so as to leave three leather cords.
These are plaited together, and the flat ends firmly sewn to the centrepiece. The shape will then be this:
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A sling made on this principle will carry a stone of a pound weight. The loop and point should be whipped with silk. The accuracy that can be obtained with such a weapon is astonishing, only the missiles should always be leaden bullets of the same weight--two or three ounces being the best average weight. At the school where my boyhood was spent, we used to send such bullets just over the weather-c.o.c.k of one of the loftiest spires in England, and stripped a chestnut-tree of its blossoms. One year there was a solitary blossom on the top of the tree, which defied our efforts for many days. The blossoms were soon knocked off, but the green stalk resisted the blows for a long time. It was battered to pieces, but bent to the strokes, and had to be knocked off in fragments. I mention this to show the accuracy of aim that can be attained by practice.
WALKING ON STILTS.
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Among the Swiss, and in several districts in the South of France, walking on stilts is not only an amusing, but a useful, practice, as by means of these crane-like legs men and women transform themselves into the order of "Waders," emulating the long-legged storks and herons, and can cross over marshes and flooded grounds without wetting their feet.
Stilts are easily made, being nothing but a pair of poles, with a wooden step at the sides for the feet to stand on. The poles are kept in their proper place by the hands. A little practice will soon render a youth "easy on his stilts," and they may be made an amusing and healthy exercise.
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THE SUCKER.
The sucker is a toy of the simplest construction imaginable; it is made by merely cutting a circular piece out of some tolerably stout leather, boring a hole in its centre, and then pa.s.sing a string through the hole, taking the precaution to make a large knot at the end of the string, to prevent its being drawn completely through the hole. Before using the sucker, it must be steeped in water until it becomes quite soft and pliable. If its smooth, moist surface be now pressed so closely against the flat side of a stone or other body, that the air cannot enter between them, the weight of the atmosphere pressing on the upper surface of the leather will cause it to adhere so strongly, that the stone, if its weight be proportioned to the extent of the disc of leather, may be raised by lifting the string. If the sucker could act with full effect, every square inch of its surface would support about the weight of fourteen pounds. The feet of the common house-fly are provided with minute natural suckers, by aid of which the insect is enabled to run up a smooth pane of gla.s.s and walk along the ceiling.
Our young readers will in all probability remark that we have laid but little stress on games with toys, and that comparatively few toys have been mentioned. We have done so intentionally, because the book is written expressly for boys, and those, English boys. Now an English boy always likes a toy that will _do_ something. For example, he cares not one farthing for all the elegant imitations of guns in the world, as long as he can have his pea-shooter; and the walnut stock, the glittering decorations, and the burnished but useless barrel of the toy gun, are nothing in his eyes, when compared with the plain tin barrel of his beloved pea-shooter, which will throw a missile with rifle-like accuracy of aim.
For these reasons, we have mentioned but very few toys, looking with contempt upon those innumerable fabrications that find their place in the windows of toy-shops, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred are only purchased for the immediate gratification of spoilt children, who unconsciously ill.u.s.trate the real objects of toys, by pulling them to pieces, and converting the fragments to unexpected uses.
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EASY GAMES WITH TOYS.
INDOOR.
There are many elaborate toys which are not included under this head, as they are always sold with printed directions for using them. The games which follow are played with toys of the simplest construction, many of which may be easily manufactured by the reader.