What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games and Pastimes Part 23

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"):--

Now, with my little gun, I crawl All in the dark along the wall, And follow round the forest track Away behind the sofa back.

There, in the night, where none can spy, All in my hunter's camp I lie, And play at books that I have read Till it is time to go to bed.

The Bed Boat

That is ordinary play. There is also a poem describing play in bed:--

My bed is like a little boat; Nurse helps me in when I embark; She girds me in my sailor's coat And starts me in the dark.

Thinking Games for Bed

When more than one sleep in the same room, the time before sleep can be very interesting. Many games which have already been described are suitable for bed, such as "Telling Stories" (p. 99), "I Love my Love"

(p. 88), "Spelling" (p. 166), "The Grand Mogul" (p. 166), "Rhyming Lights" (p. 167), "The Apprentice" (p. 167), "Towns and Products" (p.

168), "Suggestions" (p. 91), and "Clumps," adapted (p. 93).

Games by Rote

On this subject B. R. L. writes:--"We made a list, which was stuck on the wall with a different game for each night. One was 'I Love my Love with an A' (see p. 88), which we steadily made up all through the alphabet. Another was 'Initials,' in which you take turns in saying the initials of people you know, while the other guesses the names.

Another was 'Twenty Questions,' in which one thinks of something that has to be guessed as quickly as possible, only 'yes' and 'no' being given as answers. One very girlish game was like this: suppose you had a little girl with golden hair and blue eyes, and she was going on a visit to London, what sort of frocks would you buy her?"

The Imaginary Family

E. H. recommends for girls the "Imaginary Family" game. This is her description of it:--"First you have to settle the names, ages, and characters of your family, and then you can carry on their adventures every night. One little girl who was devoted to books of travel, and who loved to pore over maps and charts, used to travel with her family every night in whatever country she happened to be interested in at the time. Thus she and a favorite son, Pharaoh, traveled for a long time in California, crossing every mountain-range by the proper pa.s.ses, exploring every valley, tracing each river to its source, and so on. In the same way she traveled with her family is Central and South America, the Malay Peninsula, and the South Sea Islands. Another little girl who was very fond of adventure stories carried her family through all sorts of perils by land and sea. At one time they were s.h.i.+pwrecked and lived like the Swiss Family Robinson. At another time they were exploring Central Africa, and traveled about with three years' supplies in a gigantic caravan with fifty elephants. Yet another little girl had for her family any characters out of books that particularly fascinated her. Thus, when she was reading _The Heroes_, her family was reduced to one daughter, Medea, a rather terrible daughter, who needed a great deal of propitiating, and for whose sake all other children had to be given up. Later on, when the same child was reading _Tales of a Grandfather_, her family consisted of three sons, Wallace, Bruce, and Douglas. (It is rather a good thing, by the way, to have a very heroic family, especially if you are at all inclined to be afraid in the dark, as they help to keep one's courage up.) Two little girls, who lived in a clergyman's household, had an imaginary poor family they were interested in, and they planned about them every night,--how much the father earned, what their rent was, whether the mother oughtn't to take in was.h.i.+ng, whether the eldest girl could be spared to go into service, and so on. When they weren't allowed to talk at night they carried the family history on independently and compared notes in the morning."

Making Plans

Making plans is always interesting, but particularly so just before Christmas, when presents have to be arranged for.

For Getting to Sleep

The favorite way is to imagine that you see a flock of sheep scrambling through a gap in the hedge, and to count them. A variety of this is a desert with a long train of camels very far off, coming slowly near, and then pa.s.sing and gradually disappearing in the far distance. Counting a million is also a good way.

Games for Convalescents

A good thing to do in bed when getting better from an illness is to cut out pictures for sc.r.a.pbooks. Any kind of cutting out can be done, as the scissors and paper are very light and do not, therefore, tire the arms. "Patience" (see page 76) is also a good bed game, because it needs very little thought.

Bed Soldiers

In _A Child's Garden of Verses_ there is a poem called "The Land of Counterpane," which tells what a little boy did when he was ill, lying among the pillows with his toys: