This requires an assistant to whom the secret of the game is intrusted. The assistant leaves the room, the other party remains with the company, and states that during the assistant’s absence she will put her hand on some object, person, or thing, and when the assistant returns he will tell what has been touched.
The assistant now being out, the piano stool is touched. On the assistant’s return he is asked, “What did I touch?” at once he replies, “The piano stool.”
Of course this causes great surprise and the assistant is asked to go out again, the company expecting, perhaps, to be able to guess this time. For a change a girl is touched, and on the assistant’s return he is asked, “Whom did I touch?” and he promptly says, “Bessie Brown,” or whatever the girl’s name.
Then the players think there must be some look or gesture given to aid the assistant when he re-enters, and so they are given the privilege of blindfolding him before his return, but all in vain, the assistant is as correct as before and no one is able to guess.
Then the company beg: “Do tell us the secret.” So when all give up they are told that just before the assistant leaves the room, the other player secretly touches some person or thing, or perhaps indicates what the object is with his foot or perhaps sits on it, if it be a chair or stool. Occasionally, to further mystify, it would be well to simply fold one’s arms. This would signify to the confederate, “I am touching myself.” Therefore the assistant, whether blindfolded or not, can answer correctly, because he has received his clue before he went out.
Of course, this game requires an intelligent assistant; indeed, both players must be very careful, as so many eyes are on the constant lookout.
This will be found a satisfactory game for a rainy afternoon in a summer hotel, when the grown people are taking naps and there seems absolutely nothing left for young people to do, and they are tired watching the weather, and saying, “If it would only clear!”
THE CONCERT.
Select a conductor. All others sit before him in a semicircle, and each is given an imaginary musical instrument.