Hoops
Iron hoops are the best, but it is a matter of taste whether a stick or a hook is used for them. If the stick is a stout one you get rid of the skidding noise made by the hook, and there is more satisfaction in beating a thing along than in, as it were, pushing it. It should be every one's aim to make the hoop do as much as possible with as little treatment as possible. After a very fast run it is equally interesting to see how slowly a hoop can be made to travel. To make it keep as straight a course as may be is very absorbing. Bought hoops can be strong, but to get exactly what one wants it is necessary to go to a blacksmith. A hoop standing as high as its owner, through which he can run to and fro as it rolls, is a possession which only a blacksmith or working-ironmonger can supply.