Sometimes the questions and the nouns are so thoroughly inapplicable to each other that it is impossible to produce anything like sensible poetry. The player need not trouble about that, however, for the more nonsensical the rhyme the greater the fun. Sometimes players are fortunate enough to draw from the hats both noun and question that may be easily linked together. A question once drawn was—"Why do summer roses fade?" The noun drawn was butterfly, so that the following rhyme was easily concocted:—
"Summer roses fade away,
The reason why I cannot say,
Unless it be because they try
To cheat the pretty butterfly."
CROSS QUESTIONS AND CROOKED ANSWERS.
This is a pleasant game, that may be enjoyed while sitting in a circle round the fire. The person at either end, who is honoured by commencing the game, must, in a whisper, ask a question of the player sitting next to him, taking care to remember the answer he receives, and also the question he himself asked. The second player must then do likewise, and so on, until every one in the party has asked a question and received an answer. The last person, of course, being under the necessity of receiving the answer to his question from the first person. Every one must then say aloud what was the question put to him, and what was the answer he received to the question he asked—the two together, of course, making nothing but nonsense, something like the following:—
Q. Who is your favourite author?
A. Beans and Bacon.