Birds, Beasts, and Fishes.—“Now, Tom,” said Harry, “get your slate and pencil, and I’ll show you such a jolly game. Well now, look here, I have put down h × × × a. Now that stands for a beast’s name, the first and last letters of which are h and a, with three letters between, represented by the crosses.”
“Let’s see,” replied Tom, scratching his head, “I know—Hare.”
“You muff! There are only four letters in ‘hare,’ and five in my word. Try again—mind you have only three guesses; so look out.”
Tom wondered again for a minute, and then suddenly blurted out, “I know—Horse.”
“Wrong again,” replied Harry; “the last letter of Horse is e and not a. Now be careful, Tom, for this is your last turn.”
Again Tom scratched his head, bit his fingers, and after meditating for at least two minutes and a half, shouted out in a moment of inspiration—“Hyena!”
As he was right, it now became his turn to put down a name. So he wrote on the slate s × × × × × w, at the same time telling Harry it was a bird; for according to the rules of this game you must say whether this name represents a beast, a fish, a bird, an insect, or a reptile.
Harry in a minute shouted “Sparrow!” and so the game went on; and such a capital game did Tom and Harry have, that they sent this account of it to us in the hope that we would make it known to the world in “Every Boy’s Book.”
French and English.—On the slate should be drawn a plan somewhat like the [following]. The dots represent soldiers, one side being termed French and the other English. Each player is provided with a sharply pointed pencil, and the game is played as follows:—English, keeping the point of his pencil on a spot denoted by a cannon, draws it quickly across the slate in the direction of the other army. The pencil naturally leaves a line to mark his track, and if this mark passes through any of the men belonging to the other side, they are considered dead. The game is over as soon as all the men on one side are dead. Each player has a certain space on the slate allotted to him, and he may dispose his men in whatever part of it he pleases. The track of the pencil must be straight or curved; any shot in which there is an angle does not count. In p. 38 we give a [battle-field] where the strife is ended. In this the English side has killed all the opposite side in eight shots, while the French in eight have only been able to kill nine men.