The nine-pins are not all of the same value; those which are ranged in a circle reckon each for one point; three others which form the point of the opposite side count for 5, 4, and 3; the one in the middle is called the Siam, but it is necessary to throw that down by itself, otherwise the player loses all the points he has gained before, and is obliged to begin again.
The rock upon which the player is apt to split, is, as we have already said, the going beyond the number of points fixed upon; and no skill can avert this danger which may arise from the slightest chance, such as the least unevenness of the ground, or even a little sand upon the quoit; from causes thus trivial, the game is frequently lost, just at the moment that the player appears to be on the point of gaining it.
Our young people amused themselves, for the rest of the autumn, with a review of the games which had delighted them during the spring and summer; they returned to the capital in the beginning of November. The young ladies eagerly resumed the lessons which they took from their different masters. Victor, who for the first time, obtained a prize at the University, entered into a higher class, where he strove with a laudable emulation to surpass his fellow collegians. The Misses D’Hernilly, instructed by the first masters in the knowledge of languages, and in every other accomplishment suitable to their rank, passed their leisure hours in society, selected for them by their mother, and chiefly under her own eye. Between study and relaxation their time flew rapidly, but both the young ladies and their brother, often recollected with pleasure, the amusements they had enjoyed at the castle D’Hernilly, and looked forward with delight,
although without impatience, to the period when returning to the country they should once more resume their healthful and exhilarating sports.
Thus in their early season, gay,
In life’s delightful month of May,
Between those necessary hours,
When kind instruction gravely pours
Its various lessons on the mind,
Of knowledge useful or refin’d: