This game is sometimes called "Egg-Hat," on account of the players using their caps instead of digging holes; the ball, in this case, is tossed into the caps instead of being bowled into the holes.
A SNAKE STORY.
Once in my home in Ceylon, when I was a little girl, we discovered a large snake coiled up in a corner of the chimney. It was during the rains, and the creature had come inside for warmth.
Well, there was a general stampede out of the room of ayahs and children, and the men-servants were summoned to dispatch the bold intruder. The snake was about seven feet long, and three or four inches in diameter at the thickest part of its body. It was yellow in color, like the old gold so much in favor now with fashionable dames. The men came with long poles to get rid of the intruder; but whether they were too timid to approach it, or the snake was too wide awake, I can not tell, but the creature glided swiftly out of the room into the veranda where we children were looking on with the ayahs, and went down into the compound.
I shall never forget what followed the snake's escape. The men rushed after it, but so quickly did it trail along, they could not even reach its tail. They were in hot pursuit; my little brother, a baby boy of three years, stood laughing and cooing with delight at the fun, his little legs widely astride, when, horror! the snake glided toward the spot where he stood. The men in pursuit stopped suddenly still, the ayahs screamed, my own heart beat with dread.
But judge of what followed. The snake glided, or rather writhed, swiftly between my little brother's legs, without touching him, and disappeared quickly out of sight, probably in the crevice of a tree or hole.
It would be idle to tell my readers what superstitious meaning was held by the natives at my little brother's escape, but they believed that he was especially singled out by the great God from earthly harm.
