The sentence to be read, therefore, is, The pink hawthorn plays prettily three hundred and three fantastic operas.
The easiest way to draw will be to provide several slips of paper, of exact size and shape. Some of the papers must be blank, others numbered, 1, 2, 3, and so on, making nine in all. Put these papers on a tray and pass to all in the room. The one drawing the number 9 must be the reader, the other numbers decide whether that individual must whisper an article or an adjective, according to the example given. Those having blank papers do not play.
SING, BIRDIE, SING.
This game provokes laughter from the most solemn individual. The company should be seated in a ring. The one in command enters the ring and makes much ceremony in giving each player the name of a bird; which may be, for example, heron, kingfisher, bluebird, cat-bird, wood-thrush. When each have been named, the commander then whispers something to every person. What he whispers is a motion or sound or both, which he wishes the person to give. When everybody has received their cue, the commander steps to the centre of the ring and calls, “One, two, three.” The moment “Three” is spoken, each of the company rise, and running round the circle of empty chairs, flap their arms in imitation of wings, sing or call as they have been directed. The heron should make a motion as though trying to get little fish out of holes in the bottom of a pond, or he should stand on one leg and appear to be asleep. The kingfisher should brush up his hair, making it rough on the top, and then act as if diving for minnows. The bluebird should warble a sweet song. The cat-bird should appear full of fun and make melodious notes, but he should also add the complaining mee-aa; for the cat-bird is sometimes a wonderful songster, but after nesting gives a sound that is decidedly cat-like. The wood-thrush should sing a most tender melody, and the more melancholy the better. Hawks, wood-peckers, chickadees, parrots, screech-owls, ducks, geese and many other birds might be added. The greater variety introduced the better.
SQUIRREL IN THE MIDDLE.
This is a game for boys, and the player is decided by lot.
The easiest way to arrange the lot is to throw as many bits of paper, of similar size and shape, into a hat as there are players. All of these papers are blank excepting one, this has the word “player” written on it. The hat is then passed, and the boy drawing the word “player” immediately sits on the floor, the others stand in a circle around him. Whoever is behind his back, pulls his coat, or gently pulls his hair, taking him unawares. He turns to catch this boy, but while doing so another boy buffets him. As the players dance about the circle, they exclaim, “Squirrel in the middle catch him if you can.”
Finally one of the boys is caught, and he must then change places with the one he has been tormenting.