It looked so fine this morning that I determined to go for a long ride. So I got out the _pump_ and blew up the _tires_, put the _monkey-wrench_ to a few _nuts_, filled the _lamp_, trimmed the _wick_, polished up the _bell_ and the _handle-bars_, and started off. The _roads_ were perfect. The _fields_ were shining with dew, the _hedges_ were sweet with honey-suckle, and I skimmed along like the wind until suddenly, at the turn at the foot of Claymore _Hill_, I rode bang into a flock of _sheep_ and came down with a smash. You never saw such a ruin. The _lamp_ and _bell_ were lost completely, the _handle-bars_ were twisted into corkscrews, the _tires_ were cut to ribbons, the _spokes_ looked like part of a spider"s web, my hands and my knees were cut, and the worst of it was that the shepherd"s _dog_ mistook me for an enemy and I had to beat him off with the _monkey-wrench_, until the farmer heard the noise and came to the rescue.
During this story all the players named would, in the ordinary way, stand up for a moment when their adopted names were mentioned, except at the point when the accident occurs, and then every player bearing the name of a part of the bicycle--the handle-bars, spokes, tires, chain, air-pump, lamp, wick, bell, monkey-wrench, pump, nuts--should fall to the ground.
Drawing-Room Acrobatics
There are various feats which can be performed in a small room without injury to furniture. To lie flat on the floor on one"s back and be lifted into an upright position by a pair of hands under the back of the head, keeping stiff all the time, is a favorite accomplishment.
Another is to bend over and touch the floor with the tips of the fingers without bending the knees. Another is, keeping your feet behind a line, to see who, by stretching along the ground supported on the left hand only, can place a penny with the right hand the farthest distance and get back again to an upright position behind the line without moving the feet or using the right hand for a support. This done, the penny must be recovered in the same way.
Another feat is, keeping your feet together and one arm behind you, to see how far back from the wall it is possible to place your feet (remembering that you have to get into an upright position again) while you lean forward supported by the other hand laid flat against the wall.
Another is to keep the toes to a line, and kneel down and get up again without using the hands.
Another is to make a bridge of your body from chair to chair, resting the back of your neck on one and your heels on the other. This is done by beginning with three chairs, one under the back, and then when you are rigid enough having the third one removed.
Acrobatic Impossibilities
If you hold your hands across your chest in a straight line with the tips of the forefingers pressed together, it will be impossible for any one else, however strong, to hold by your arms and pull those finger-tips apart.
It is quite safe to stand a person against the wall with his heels touching it, and, laying a shilling on the floor a foot or so is front of him, to say it will be his if he can pick it up without moving his heels from the wall.
Another impossible thing is to stand sideways against the wall with your left cheek, left heel, and left leg touching it, and then raise the right leg.
The Trussed Fowls
In this contest two boys are first trussed. Trussing consists of firmly tying wrists and ankles, bringing the elbows down below the knees and slipping a stick along over one elbow, under both knees and over the other elbow, as in the picture. The game is, for the two fowls to be placed opposite each other with their feet just touching, and for each then to strive to roll the other over with his toes.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A TRUSSED FOWL]
The Candle-Lighters
Another balancing game. Two boys face each other, each with a candle, one of which is lighted and the other not. Kneeling on the right knee only and keeping the left leg entirely off the ground, they have to make one candle light the other.
Hat and Cards
A tall hat is placed in the middle of the room and a pack of cards is dealt out to the players seated round it. The game is to throw the cards one by one into the hat.
Tug of War
This is properly an outdoor game, but in a big room indoors it is all right. The two sides should be even in numbers, at any rate in the first pull. In the middle of the rope a handkerchief is tied, and three chalk lines a yard apart are made on the floor. The sides then grasp the rope, the captain of each side, whose duty it is to encourage his men by cheering cries, having his hands about a yard and a half from the handkerchief. The rope is then trimmed by the umpire until the handkerchief comes exactly over the middle one of the three lines. On the word being given, each side has to try and pull the rope so that the handkerchief pa.s.ses over the chalk line nearest it. The best of three decides the victory. For the sake of sport it is better, if one side is much weaker than the other, to add to it until the balance of strength is pretty even.
High Skip
The players stand in as wide a circle as the size of the room allows, with one player in the middle. He has a rope or heavy cord in his hand with some object, rather heavy but not hard, tied to it, such as a small cushion or a large bunch of rags. Stooping down, he begins swinging this around the circle. As it comes to them the players must jump over the cord. As the cushion is swung faster and faster it goes higher and is more difficult to jump over. The first one to miss takes the place of the person swinging the rope, who is not allowed to raise his hand higher than his knee.
Parlor Football
In this game goals are set up at each end of the room, the players are provided with fans, and the football is a blown hen"s egg, which is wafted backward and forward along the floor.
Balloon
A string is stretched across the room at a height of about three or four feet. The players divide into sides and line up on each side of the string. The balloon is then thrown up, the game being to keep it in the air backward and forward over the string, so that if it falls it will fall in the other side"s camp. It ought to be tapped with the back of the fingers and not hit hard.
Tissue-Paper Race
In this game tissue-paper is cut into pieces three or four inches square. As many squares as there are players are placed in a line at one end of the room, and at the other are placed two books, or other objects, a foot or so apart. At the word of command each compet.i.tor, who is armed with a j.a.panese fire-screen or fan, starts to fan his square through the goal-posts. For the sake of distinguishing them it is better to mark the papers or have them of different colors. A compet.i.tor may not fan any other square except by accident.
Walking Spanish
This game should not be played unless there are some older, stronger players to prevent possible accidents, but it is very amusing. Each player in turn goes to the end of the room, takes a cane or umbrella, puts his head down on the handle, closes his eyes and, stooping over thus, whirls rapidly about six times, not moving the point of the cane from its original position. Then instantly he straightens up and tries to walk steadily the length of the room along a string laid down or line marked. The one who steps nearest to the line all the time is the winner.
Potato Race
This is a good game for a hall or landing. Two baskets are needed, which are placed at one end of the hall about two yards apart, and then in a line from each basket are placed potatoes, at intervals of a yard or so all down the floor, an equal number to each line. Any even number of compet.i.tors can play, the race being run in heats. Each compet.i.tor is armed with a long spoon, and his task is to pick up all the potatoes on his line and return them to the basket before his opponent can. Each potato must be carried to the basket in turn, and if dropped on the way must be picked up again before another can be touched, and the spoon only must be used. Any help from the other hand or from the foot disqualifies.
Fire-Buckets
At a fire in the country, where there is no hose, a line of men extends from the burning house to the nearest pond, and buckets are continually being pa.s.sed along this line. Hence the name by which this excellent game is called here. It is played thus. A large number of miscellaneous and unbreakable articles--b.a.l.l.s, boots, potatoes, books, and so on--are divided into two exactly equal groups, and each group is placed in a clothes basket. The company then forms into two equal lines, and each chooses a captain. Each captain stands by the basket at one end of his line, at the other end being a chair and another player standing by that. At the word "Start," the articles are handed one by one by the captain to the first player in the line, and pa.s.sed as quickly as possible without dropping to the player by the chair. As they come to him he piles them on the chair (without dropping any) until all are there, and then returns them with equal speed until the basket is filled again. The side which finishes first is the winner.
If an article is dropped it must be picked up before any other of the articles can pa.s.s the player who dropped it.
Forfeits
In many of the games already described mention has been made of "Forfeits." They do not now play quite so important a part in an evening"s entertainment as once they did, but they can still add to the interest of games. "Paying a forfeit" means giving up to the player who is collecting forfeits some personal article or other--a knife, a pencil, a handkerchief--which, at the end of the game, or later in the evening, has to be recovered by performing whatever penance is ordered. When the times comes for "crying the forfeits," as it is called, the player who has them sits in a chair, while another player, either blindfolded or hiding her eyes, kneels before her, the remaining players standing all around. The first player then holds up a forfeit, remarking, "I have a thing, and a very pretty thing. Pray what shall be done to the owner of this pretty thing?" To which the blindfolded one replies by asking, "Is it fine or superfine?" meaning, Does it belong to a boy (fine) or a girl (superfine)? The answer is either "It is fine," or "It is superfine," and the blindfolded one then announces what its owner must do to get possession of it again.
Of stock penances there are a great number, most of which are tricks which, once known, are necessarily very tame afterward. In the case of those that follow, therefore, something definite and practical is required.
Frown for a minute.
Dance for a minute.
See how many you can count in a minute.
Say the alphabet backward.
Do the exact opposite of three things ordered by the company.
Crow like a c.o.c.k.
Say "Gig whip" ten times very rapidly.
Say "Mixed biscuits" ten times very rapidly.
Say rapidly: "She stood on the steps of Burgess"s Fish Sauce Shop selling sh.e.l.l fish."
Say rapidly: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, where is the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?"
Count fifty backward.