Auction may be made a very merry game. It depends upon the auctioneer, however, to make the sales interesting; any articles may be chosen, though dolls, Teddy bears, etc., are suggested. The articles are catalogued. They are paid for with the beans given to the players with the catalogues.
BEAST, BIRD OR FISH
The players sit round in a circle, and one player, who is "it," points to some one, and says either "beast," "bird," or "fish." He then counts ten as quickly as possible. The person pointed to must name some "beast," "bird," or "fish" (whichever he was asked), before ten is reached. If he fails he must give a forfeit.
THE ROTATION OF THE GLOBE
When you next chance to eat an egg for breakfast, do not fail to try the following experiment. It is one which always succeeds, and is productive of much amusement to the company.
Moisten slightly with water the rim of your plate, and in the center paint with the yolk of the egg a sun with golden rays. By the aid of this simple apparatus, you will be in a position to illustrate, so clearly that a child can comprehend it, the double movement of the earth, which revolves simultaneously round the sun and on its own axis.
All that you have to do is to place the empty half-shell of your egg on the rim of the plate, and keeping this latter duly sloped, by a slight movement of the wrist as may be needful, you will see the eggshell begin to revolve rapidly on its own axis, at the same time traveling round the plate. It is hardly necessary to remark that the egg-shell will not travel uphill, and the plate must therefore be gradually shifted round, as well as sloped, so that the shell may always have an inch or two of descending plane before it.
The slight cohesion caused by the water which moistens the plate counteracts the centrifugal force and so prevents the eggshell falling off the edge of the plate.
ADVICE
Pencil and paper having been given the players, each writes a piece of advice and folds his paper. He passes it to his neighbor, who before opening it, tells whether he thinks the advice good or bad. If he guesses correctly, he scores a point. The game goes on this way, each at the table taking a turn, when new advices are written and passed along. This is done as many times as the hostess desires. The one getting the most points is winner.