Our children would like to revive the hoops of the ancient Greeks. They surely were more tasteful than ours. I will describe them, and perhaps some enterprising boy will try to imitate, if not surpass them. They were made of bronze, three feet in diameter, very light, and adorned with little spherical bells and movable rings, which jingled musically as the hoops rolled along; the hoop stick was crooked at the point, and called a “plectron.”
Boys! do not be outdone by the young Greeks. Try and invent a hoop with bells of different tones, that will play a melody as it rolls. Some iron hoops have bells, but they are not musical. The Egyptians, too, excelled in toys of all kinds.
JACK-STRAWS.
Jack-straws were played centuries ago, and like many other good old games, have come into fashion anew and with some improvements. The game may be played with straws or fine splinters of wood, four or five inches in length. The straws are gathered in a bunch, not tied, but held firmly together by one end of the bunch, in the hand, a few inches above the table. Held in this manner the bunch will be spread at the bottom, somewhat in the form of a haystack. The player suddenly drops the bunch, and the straws fall in an irregular heap on the table. Each player is provided with a straw or stick, on one end of which a small hook or crooked pin is made fast, and each in turn tries to draw with his hook a single straw from the heap without moving in the slightest degree, any straw except the one he seeks to remove. If he succeeds, he keeps the straw, and proceeds to draw out another or others, but whenever he disturbs any other than the one straw he gives up his turn to his opponent. The one who gains the largest number of straws wins the game.
The jack-straws sold in the toy shops are usually made of wood, and each bunch contains pieces roughly representing kings, queens, bishops, &c. Each of these pieces has a number marked on it, and when one of them is drawn from the heap, it counts for the player as many straws as its number indicates. If the players so agree, each can gather up the straws, as often as his turn comes, and drop them anew.
JACK-STRAWS.