THE TRADES.
In this game each player chooses some trade. For instance, one may be a carpenter, another a gardener, another a tailor, and so on. One person must then be nominated King, and at a certain signal from him every one must begin working at the trade he has chosen, imitating it by action the best way he can. After working for some time, the King may, if he chooses to do so, abandon his own trade and take up that of one of the others. Should he do this, every one must stop working, excepting the person whose trade he has adopted, and he must work at the King's trade instead of his own, until the King is inclined to return to his original occupation, when all may go on working as before.
Another game, quite as interesting as this one, though not perhaps so well known, is also played under the name of Trades. Each person fixes upon some trade which, for the time, he is supposed to follow. The leader of the game, or one of the party gifted with inventive faculties, then commences a narrative in which all the various branches of business occupy a conspicuous place. For instance, the narrator may recount to the company the amusing adventures of some old lady who set out one morning to do the family shopping. She first called at the butcher's. (Here the person who has chosen butchering as his trade must immediately, before ten has been counted, name a joint of meat;) and having extracted a promise from the butcher (another joint of meat must here be named) that her order shall be attended to at once, she went on to the greengrocer. (Here the greengrocer must mention something sold by him.) She then went on to the baker's, and having bought all she wanted for dinner, thought she would call on her way home at the shoemaker's to inquire if her shoes were mended. In a style of this kind the adventures of the old lady may be carried on to any length, the interest of the game depending, as in all games, on the amount of energy thrown into it. The great fun of the game also consists in the trades being mentioned very frequently, so that every one in the room may feel the necessity of being constantly on the watch, knowing that the various articles they are supposed to have in stock may at any moment be demanded of them.
THE TRAVELLER'S ALPHABET.
The players sitting in a row, the first says, "I am going on a journey to Amsterdam," or any other place beginning with A. The person seated next inquires, "What will you do there?" The verbs and nouns used in the reply must begin with A. The next player must adopt B, the next C, and so on, until the whole of the alphabet has been gone through; but perhaps an example will, best illustrate our meaning:—
John.—"I am going on a journey to Amsterdam."
Effie.—"What will you do there?"
John.—"I shall articulate ancient anthems."
Effie.—"I am going to Buckingham."
Will.—"What will you do there?"