The two contestants are seated in chairs facing each other, all the others in a circle around them. Each contestant has a baby’s bottle, half full of milk. The necessary apparatus caps the bottle. One “apparatus,” however, has a large hole punched in it. At a signal they start in to drink the milk in approved fashion, to see which of the two can first empty his bottle. The one who has the tampered-with apparatus will probably be successful, and will certainly express great surprise at the ease which he revives a lost art.
The Lamplighter.
Two gallon jars, two candles, and any number of matches are necessary. The two contestants represent opposite factions in the group. Each one is given a jar, the candle and several matches, is told to sit on the jar with the right heel on the ground and the left heel resting on the right toe. He is to hold the candle in one hand, a match in the other, and is to light the candle without changing the position of the feet.
Before you scoff at them for being so slow, try it yourself.
Feathers.
Contestants are lined up at the starting line, each one provided with a plate on which there has been placed a handful of feathers kept in place by a saucer. At a signal they take the saucer off the feathers and start walking as fast as they dare the length of the course, some fifty feet, and return. Anyone who loses a feather must stop to pick it up and put it back on the plate.
A draughty hall is always a favorable setting for the feather race. Even on calm days, however, it is not an unheard of thing for someone on the sidelines, who is near a plate of feathers, to exhale rather strenuously.
Whoops!
Each contestant is provided with a large hoop and a small stick. The goal is pointed out to them, the goal being a chair about fifty feet away from the starting point. They are to roll their hoops up to and around the chair and back. Stout ladies should be used for contestants.