CHAPTER XII
DO YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT THE GAME OF TAG?
The poet Pope says, "The proper study of mankind is man." If he did not mean this to include boys, then I don't quite agree with him, for I have found boys and girls, too, be it said, as a rule, far more interesting as objects of study than the average grown-up.
I have always liked these stanzas from Hood's fine poem, "The Dream of Eugene Aram": "'Twas in the prime of summer time, An ev'ning calm and cool, When four and twenty happy boys Came bounding out of school; There were some that ran, And some that leapt, Like troutlets in a pool.
"Like sportive deer, they cours'd about,
And shouted as they ran,
Turning to mirth all things of earth,
As only boyhood can."
If the boys had not already decided on a game, it would be safe to wager that the first thing they started off with was the old and ever- popular game of tag.
I have seen boys, and girls, too, playing tag among the Indian tribes of Arizona. The young and ever lightly-clad Mexicans delight in it, and the Chinese and Japanese youngsters never grow weary of a game needing so little in the way of equipment, and which is so easily started, but not so easy to give up, when the spirit of the game has taken full possession of the players.
Although so simple, there is never monotony in tag. If you don't like one form you can try another, and there are certainly a lot to choose from. One can have brick, wood, iron, tree or any other kind of object tag, the principle being that so long as the pursued has his hand on the object decided on in advance, he cannot be touched.
In what is known as "Cross Tag," the boy who starts the game tags another, who at once starts in pursuit. Now, if another boy darts across "its" path this second boy becomes the object of pursuit, and so he continues until he has made a capture and is free to join the field.