Part 6 (1/2)

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 s.h.i.+ning 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 s.h.i.+lling 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 cus.h.i.+on 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 cus.h.i.+on 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