Every Boy's Book: A Complete Encyclopaedia of Sports and Amusements Part 5

Strike while the iron's hot.

Still waters run deep.

Safe bind, safe find.

The best part of valour is discretion.

Waste not, want not.

Where there's a will there's always a way.

Wilful waste makes woful want.

PUSS IN THE CORNER.

Four players take their stations in the four corners of a room, and a fifth, called "Puss," places himself in the middle of it; the players in the corners then change places by running to the opposite ends, and Puss must endeavour to get into one of the vacant places before the opposite player is able to reach it; if he can do so, the player left out becomes Puss.

RED-CAP AND BLACK-CAP.

The players sit round in a circle, each taking a colour. Thus one is red-cap, another black-cap, and so on. One of them, who takes the place of master, and has no colour, taking up a cap says: "Hullo, here's a false st.i.tch. Who made it, blue-cap?" Blue-cap then answers, "Who, sir?

I, sir?" "Yes, you, sir!" "Not I, sir." "Who then, sir?" "Yellow-cap, sir." Yellow-cap then starts up and says, "Who, sir? I, sir?" and goes through the dialogues, giving another colour. The player who neglects to start up when his colour is mentioned, or who does not repeat the question correctly, pays a forfeit.

SHADOW BUFF.

Shadow Buff differs very materially from Blind Man's Buff, but it is equally amusing. A large piece of white linen should be fastened neatly up at one end of room, so that it hangs quite smooth; Buff (not blinded) seats himself on a low stool with his face to the linen, and a table, on which is a lighted candle, should be placed about four or five feet behind him, and the rest of the lights in the room extinguished. Buffy's playfellows next pa.s.s in succession, between the candle and him, distorting their features in as grotesque a manner as possible--hopping, limping, and performing various odd antics, so as to make their _shadows_ very unlike their usual looks. Buffy must then try to guess to whom the shadows belong, and if he guesses correctly, the player whose shadow he recognises takes his place. Buff is allowed only one guess for each person, and must not turn his head either to the right or left to see who pa.s.ses.

SLATE GAMES.

_Birds, Beasts, and Fishes._--"Now, Tom," said Harry, "get your slate and pencil, and I'll show you such a jolly game. Well now, look here, I have put down h a. Now that stands for a beast's name, the first and last letters of which are _h_ and _a_, with three letters between, represented by the crosses."

"Let's see," replied Tom, scratching his head, "I know--Hare."

"You m.u.f.f! There are only four letters in 'hare,' and five in my word.

Try again--mind you have only three guesses; so look out."

Tom wondered again for a minute, and then suddenly blurted out, "I know--Horse."

"Wrong again," replied Harry; "the last letter of Horse is _e_ and not _a_. Now be careful, Tom, for this is your last turn."

Again Tom scratched his head, bit his fingers, and after meditating for at least two minutes and a half, shouted out in a moment of inspiration--"Hyena!"

As he was right, it now became his turn to put down a name. So he wrote on the slate s w, at the same time telling Harry it was a bird; for according to the rules of this game you must say whether this name represents a beast, a fish, a bird, an insect, or a reptile.

Harry in a minute shouted "Sparrow!" and so the game went on; and such a capital game did Tom and Harry have, that they sent this account of it to us in the hope that we would make it known to the world in "Every Boy's Book."

_French and English._--On the slate should be drawn a plan somewhat like the following. The dots represent soldiers, one side being termed French and the other English. Each player is provided with a sharply pointed pencil, and the game is played as follows:--English, keeping the point of his pencil on a spot denoted by a cannon, draws it quickly across the slate in the direction of the other army. The pencil naturally leaves a line to mark his track, and if this mark pa.s.ses through any of the men belonging to the other side, they are considered dead. The game is over as soon as all the men on one side are dead. Each player has a certain s.p.a.ce on the slate allotted to him, and he may dispose his men in whatever part of it he pleases. The track of the pencil must be straight or curved; any shot in which there is an angle does not count. In p. 38 we give a battle-field where the strife is ended. In this the English side has killed all the opposite side in eight shots, while the French in eight have only been able to kill nine men.

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_Noughts and Crosses._--This is a capital game, and one which every school-boy truly enjoys. A figure is drawn as follows, and the object of the one player is to draw three crosses in a line before the other can draw three noughts. Thus A begins by drawing a + in the centre division; B follows with a nought in the top right-hand corner. A then draws a + in the bottom right-hand corner, because by this means he gets two crosses in a line, and spoils one of B's chances. B in a hurry instantly places a 0 in the top left-hand corner, and A follows by placing his + between the two 0's. B then, seeing that in the centre line A already has two crosses, places a 0 in the third vacant s.p.a.ce of the line; while A, as a last resource, plants his + in the second s.p.a.ce of the left-hand line. Then when B puts a 0 in the centre s.p.a.ce at the left-hand, A places a + in the bottom left-hand corner, and the game is drawn, the plan standing as above.

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TRADES.

Every player, except one who holds the office of reader, selects a trade or profession, which he must retain throughout the game. When all have chosen their trades, the reader opens a book at random, and reads a pa.s.sage from it aloud; but when he comes to any common noun, he looks at one of the tradesmen, who must instantly name some article that he is supposed to have for sale, or some implement connected with the exercise of his craft. By this subst.i.tution of one noun for another, the most pathetic pa.s.sage is converted into an indescribable jumble of absurdities. In the following burlesqued extract from an Eastern tale, the words in italics are supposed to be supplied by the different tradesmen, in place of the nouns omitted by the reader:--

"One offered the prince a _bucket_ of the most precious _mutton chops_ of Golconda; another a curious piece of a _Wellington boot_, made by a European artist; another a piece of the richest _plum-pudding_ from the looms of China; another _a gridiron_, said to be a sovereign remedy against all poisons and infectious diseases; another a choice piece of the most fragrant _Turkey rhubarb_, in _a warming-pan_, inlaid with _acid drops_; another _a coffin_ full of genuine _treacle_; another _a rocking-horse_ of the purest breed of Arabia; and another _a Flanders brick_ of exquisite beauty. The whole court of the palace was overspread with _gingerbread-nuts_; and long rows of slaves were continually pa.s.sing loaded with _corn-plasters_, _tenpenny-nails_, _bees'-wax_, and other articles of high price."

TRUSSED FOWLS.

Two boys having seated themselves on the floor, are _trussed_ by their playmates; that is to say, each boy has his wrists tied together with a handkerchief, and his legs secured just above the ancles with another; his arms are then pa.s.sed over his knees, and a broomstick is pushed over one arm, under both knees, and out again over the other arm. The "trussed fowls" are now carried into the centre of room and placed opposite each other, with their toes just touching. The fun now begins; as each fowl endeavours, with the aid of his toes, to turn his antagonist over on his back or side, and the one who can succeed in doing this wins the game. It frequently happens that both players turn over together, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of the spectators. On board ship these comical encounters frequently take place between the boys, who are trussed by their elder shipmates.

THE TWO HATS.

This game, although only two persons are engaged in it at a time, furnishes much amus.e.m.e.nt, from the contradictory nature of its words and actions. The rules relative to it are as follow:--If three mistakes are made by the person who responds to the inquiries of the player who brings the hats round, and whom for distinction's sake we will call the questioner, he must pay three forfeits, and is out of the game; when the questioner desires the respondent to be seated, the latter must stand up; when he begs him to put his hat on, he must take it off; when he requests him to stand, he must sit; and in every point, the respondent must take special care to do always the very reverse of what the questioner wishes him. The questioner may sit down, stand up, put his hat on, or take it off, without desiring the respondent to do so, or giving him the least intimation of his intention; the latter must, therefore, be always on his guard, so as to act in a contrary way in an instant, else he incurs a forfeit. These rules being settled, the game is simply this: one player places a hat on his head, takes another in his hand, and gives it to one of the company; he then begins conversing with him, endeavouring both by words and actions to puzzle him as much as he can, so as to cause him to pay a forfeit. We will give a slight specimen of a dialogue, describing the accompanying movements of the hats, in which A is the questioner, B the respondent:

A. (_taking his hat off._) A very beautiful evening, sir.

B. (_putting his hat on._) Yes, indeed, a most lovely one.

A. (_putting his hat on, and sitting down_, B. _instantly taking his off and getting up_.) Pray be seated, sir; I really cannot think of sitting while you stand (_gets up, and_ B. _sits down_). Have you been out of town this year? (_takes off his hat._)

B. (_putting his on._) I have not yet, but I think I shall, before (A.

_sits down_, B. _gets up_) the beauty of the season has entirely pa.s.sed away, venture a few miles out of town.

A. (_putting his hat on._) I beg ten thousand pardons, you are standing while I am sitting; pardon me, your hat is on--you must pay a forfeit.

It generally happens, that before the dialogue has been carried thus far the respondent has incurred three forfeits, and is, of course, out; the questioner then goes in succession to the others, and the same scene is repeated by each: the conversation, it is almost needless to add, should be varied as much as possible, and the more nonsensical it is the better.

WHAT IS MY THOUGHT LIKE?

The leader of the game commences it by asking each of his companions in turn, "What is my thought like?" to which they reply at hazard, by mentioning anything that first comes into their thoughts, of course avoiding naming the same thing twice over, as that incurs the penalty of a forfeit. The leader carefully notes down all the answers he receives, and then revealing his thought, desires to know what the thing thought of resembles in what it has been compared to.

_John._--Charles, what is my thought like?

_Charles._--A young girl.

_John._--James?

_James._--A queen.

_John._--Now, Harry?