"HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR NEIGHBOUR?"
The company must seat themselves round the room, leaving plenty of space in the middle for passing to and fro. One person left standing then begins the game by putting the question, "How do you like your neighbour?" to any one he pleases. The answer must be either "Not at all" or "Very much." Should the reply be "Not at all," the lady or gentleman is requested to say what other two members of the company would be preferred instead as neighbours, when the new neighbours and the old must immediately change places. During the transition the questioner may endeavour to secure a seat for himself, leaving out one of the four who have been struggling for seats to take the place of questioner. When the reply "Very much" is given, every one in the room must change places. The questioner, therefore, will easily find a seat for himself, and the person left standing must take his place as interrogator.
"HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE?"
In this game, like the last, a word is chosen by the company, containing as many meanings as possible, the person who has volunteered to be the questioner having previously gone out of the room. On being recalled, the person who has been out begins by asking each of his friends how they like it.
Supposing the word "cord" to have been chosen, the first player might answer slight, the next sweet, meaning chord, the next loud, the next strong, and so on until all have said how they liked it. The questioner then recommences his interrogations at the first player by inquiring "When do you like it?" Replies to this question something like the following may be given:—"When I am preparing to take a journey;" "When I am in church;" "When I am driving;" "When I feel musical." Then to the last question—"Where do you like it?" the company may reply—"In a piano;" "In the garden;" "Not round my neck;" "Always at hand," &c. No doubt long before all the questions have been answered the word that has been chosen will have been discovered.
HUNT THE RING.
The game of Hunt the Ring is perhaps better liked than Hunt the Slipper, on account of its being in the estimation of most people more convenient and manageable. Either a ring or a small key may be used for the purpose. Whichever it is, a string must be passed through it, and the ends fastened in a knot, forming thus a circular band. The company then stand in a circle, allowing the string to pass through the hands of each person, and enabling every one to slide the ring easily along from one to the other. The object of the player standing inside the circle is to stop it in its progress, which, in most cases, he finds a rather difficult task. The game is also frequently played without any string, when every one tries, of course, to pass the ring round very rapidly, without being detected by the hunter.
HUNT THE SLIPPER.
This surely must be one of our oldest games, and one, no doubt, that our grandmothers and grandfathers played at when they were children. The players all seat themselves, like so many tailors, on the floor in a ring, so that their toes all meet. A slipper (the smaller the better) is then produced, and given by the person outside to one sitting in the circle, with instructions that it must be mended by a certain day. Finding it not finished at the time appointed, the pretended owner declares that he must have it as it is, and thereupon commences the hunt. How it is carried on is no doubt too well known to need further explanation.