Part 23 (1/2)

Soldiers

A good game of soldiers is to see how many shots are required from a cannon to kill the whole regiment. The cannon can either be a spring cannon or a pop-gun, or a pea-shooter. Just at first it is almost impossible not to clear off two or three men with each shot, but later it becomes more difficult and exciting.

Ninepins

With a box of ninepins very much the same game can be played. In wet weather, in the hall, a box of large ninepins is invaluable.

Spanish Cup and Ball

A good quiet game to play alone is ”Spanish Cup and Ball.” A long stick has fastened to it a loop of wire standing out at right angles, thus. To this is attached by a long string a worsted, or a very light rubber ball. The game is to see how many times you can throw the ball up to the ceiling and catch it in the loop of wire as it falls.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SPANISH CUP]

Balancing

All kinds of balancing games are excellent when you are alone and tired of toys. There is no way to acquire proficiency in these but by practice, but practice is fascinating work. Try balancing at first a long pole (an old broom-stick handle will do) on the palm of your hand, then on your finger, then on your chin and forehead. The longer the pole, the easier to balance it. Remember one golden rule. _Keep your eyes on the top of the pole._

Then try balancing a whole broom, or a chair. The practice of balancing is excellent for training yourself in quickness of eye and muscle.

Of course bricks and soldiers and ninepins, as well as b.a.l.l.s (see p.

139), are more interesting when more than one person plays; but one can pa.s.s the time very well with them.

Bruce's Heart

Where toys become tedious, games have to be made up; and in making up games no outside help is needed. At the same time, some games which E.

H. describes may perhaps supply a hint or two. ”One little girl,” she writes, ”used to find endless joy in pretending to be Douglas bearing the heart of Bruce to the Holy Land. A long stick in the right hand represented his spear; a stone in the left hand was the casket containing Bruce's heart. If the grown-ups stopped to talk with some one they met, or if there was any other excuse for running on ahead, the little girl would rush forward waving her stick and encouraging her men (represented by a big dog), and, after hurling her stone as far forward as possible, and exclaiming, 'Lead on, brave heart,' she would cast her spear in the same direction in a last effort against the Moors, and then pretend to fall dead to the ground.” This little girl had found the story of Bruce in _Tales of a Grandfather_, by Sir Walter Scott. Almost every book will yield people and events to play at.

The Hotel Camps

Another little girl whom E. H. knew ”once spent a short time in a hotel, and while there divided the other people into camps according to the floor on which they had rooms. The designs in the windows on the various floors represented the badges or heraldic signs of each camp. For instance, one window (they were of colored gla.s.s) had a border with eagles, another had gryphons, another lions, and so on. If she met some one of another floor coming in or going out of the hotel, it represented the meeting of two rival bands. If she actually found herself in the elevator with them, it was a dangerous encounter, in which, if they got out first, she had driven them off the field, but if she got out first it was she who was in retreat. If two people of different floors were seen talking together, a truce had been declared, and so on.”

Block City

The little book called _A Child's Garden of Verses_, by R. L.

Stevenson, has several poems which describe how a lonely little boy used to play. Thus (in ”Block City”):--

Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet a sea, There I'll establish a city for me, A kirk and a mill, and a palace beside, And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride.

Story-Books

And (in ”The Land of Story-Books”):--