Part 7

If there is neither snow, nor ice, have a bicycle match. Trim the bicycle with red, white and blue. Each rider should wear the same colors. The match may be simply a question of speed. In that case be careful to indicate the distance. Competent judges should witness the start and close of the race.

All difficult questions must be decided by an umpire.

ST. VALENTINE GAMES.

_A Valentine Hunt._

This should be given early in the evening, as it removes shyness and establishes good fellowship.

Hide as many small valentines as there are children, and give five minutes to hunt for them. Those finding more than one should put the extra ones on a table, and the children not finding any are then blindfolded and allowed to draw one each.

_Rose Guess._

Present a large rose and let each child guess how many petals it contains. When all have guessed, pick the petals off, counting them as they fall. The nearest guesser receives a prize. An appropriate prize would be a bonbon box filled with candied rose leaves.

_Rose Bowl Game._

Put on a small table, a mat of pink crinkled tissue paper, and in the centre stand a cut-glass rose-bowl. The bowl should be covered with huge pink rose petals, made of paper, inverted as though the rose were held in the bowl, the petals all meeting in the green calyx, which covers the opening of the bowl. Through the calyx, narrow green ribbons representing rose stems should appear. Each child, at a signal, should come to the table and draw one of the “stems.” On the end of each will be found a pink candy heart, and to one of these hearts will be fastened a tiny love-knot ring.

_The Walnut’s Fortune._

Open a quantity of walnuts in half. Into each walnut slip a narrow piece of paper which will predict the future. Slip a small elastic over each nut, which will prevent them from reopening. The boys’ walnuts should be put in one basket, and the girls’ in another. The girls’ basket should be offered first. As each girl holds her hand over the basket she should repeat:

“Steady, good fairy, I am wary, Pray let my hand make no mistake; I would only the right nut take.”

Then she puts her hand down, lifts up a nut, removes the elastic, and taking out the paper, reads her future aloud. Example, “You will travel around the world. At the age of twenty-three you will sing before two thousand people.” And thus the future is predicted in similar style for other players.

_Naming the Roses._

All the young people should personate favorite roses. Therefore, there should be many varieties. The parlors should have arches or wide doorways, through which a procession may readily move.

The musicians are advised to play something between a march and a reel, and immediately each boy signals out the girl that matches his rose. If more than one match, he asks the girl he prefers. Then, all keeping time to the music, they walk through the first arch or doorway, and so on to the second, thus in rotation going through all. The couples should keep about two feet back of each other.

When all have passed through the last arch, they join hands, thus forming a circle, and commencing with the first couple, enter the ring two by two. Two only being in at a time, when they come out, the two that followed them in the march enter, and so on. When in the circle the boy should ask the girl, “Which rose are you?” She answers, “Tell me, and I’ll tell you.” Very often his answer will be, “I don’t know,” though once in a while he will make a perfect guess. When his answer is right, he asks the girl the language of her rose; but if he has made a mistake, he is obliged to leave the girl in the ring, and stand under one of the arches. If the girl cannot answer his question, she must stand under an arch. If the boy leaves the ring before inquiring the rose’s language, those forming the ring put the same question, and if the girl does not properly reply, she has to pay the same penalty as when not replying to the boy.

When both questions are answered correctly, the boy and girl again join the hands of the others forming the circle. When each couple has been in and left the ring the game is concluded.

Among the rosebuds and their meaning are: White rose-bud, girlhood; red rose-bud, loveliness; white and red together, unity.

_Memory._

Put a small table behind a screen. On this table place thirty different articles, including pulverized spices, small bottles of liquid, books, etc. Each player is allowed ten seconds in which to familiarize himself or herself with the things on the table. Then each person writes a list of the things, titles of books, etc., from memory. The boy and girl whose lists are nearest perfection receive valentines as prizes.

_Love Box._

Present a pink silk bag to each of the young ladies, and ask them to take out what they first touch. Each will then draw a small pink box, inside of which will be her fortune written on ordinary sized note paper.

When the young ladies have finished drawing, pass a red silk bag, filled with red boxes of a similar size, to the young men. Each paper in the pink boxes should be numbered one, two, etc. and the same with the red. The following are the examples of the fortunes.

Whereso’er I am, below or else above you, Whereso’er you are, my heart shall truly love you. My name is John.

You will married be At the age of thirty-eight, Or else I’ve made a mistake, And the date is far too late.

Now you must guess my name Or this fortune’s very tame.

Or ask questions, to be followed with appropriate answers.

“Shall I marry Sue?”

“There’s a rival in the case. A very rich and stupid fellow.”

_The Prophetic Rose._

In an archway hang a huge rose made of tissue-paper of a deep red color, the petals being dark at the centre. The players are told that the darker petals belong to the boys, and the girls should visit the rose first. Each girl in turn should step toward the rose, and break off a petal. On the reverse side she may read her fortune; for delicately pasted to the rose petal will be a white one, and on this the girls fortune will be written. Everybody reads their fortune aloud, for all are as interested to learn the future of their friends as their own. When the girls finish, the boys follow in a similar way. Some of the fortunes might be:

“Thou drawest a perfect lot.”

“You will be wondrous happy.”

“Mistress of the Manse.”

“A curate—never slack in duty.”

_Make a Valentine._

This will create much merriment and prove equally suitable for grown-ups or boys and girls.

Before the guests arrive, have ready even-sized pieces of water-color paper. The hostess should distribute these and explain just what should be done. Have water-color paints, brushes, etc., conveniently near every one, also a few well-sharpened lead-pencils might not prove amiss. Either have the people seated at one long table or at several small ones, as would be convenient. Ring a bell when it is time to commence. In thirty minutes ring again, when all must stop.

As the designs should be original, no one must look over his neighbor’s shoulder. The fact that some would not know how to paint would have nothing to do with it, as the entertainment is only a bit of fun and every one should do his part. Valentines allow of such diversity in decoration, from the extreme of the grotesque to the æsthetic and beautiful, that every one should be glad to try. Remember, a line of prose or verse would be an added compliment. For instance,

Prithee tell me, Dimple chin, At what age does love begin?

might be written under the dainty portrait of some winsome wee thing; or,

My love is like a red, red rose,

might be added to the picture of a flaming red cabbage rose.

When the valentines are finished they should be numbered, each painter retaining his number on a slip of paper. This done, gather the valentines and submit them to the judgment of three people to decide as to their merit. The painter of the best valentine should receive a prize.

Then jumble together slips of paper on which are written numbers corresponding to the numbers of the valentines. Let each guest draw a slip, and present him or her with the corresponding valentine, which may be retained as a souvenir.

_The Court of the King of Hearts._

Decide who will be king. He may get his costume from a costumer’s or wear a home-made robe of gold color, decorated all over with hearts cut out of crimson velvet, six inches long and in correct proportion. He should wear a gold crown ornamented with Rhine stones, and carry a sceptre. There should be a throne, which may be a large chair placed on a raised platform. The throne and platform should be covered with gold paper, sprinkled with diamond dust.

All the decorations should suggest St. Valentine’s evening. Therefore, pink or rose should be the color effect, and such devices as Cupid’s arrows, hearts, valentines should appear. Ask the young ladies to gown themselves to represent roses. Therefore some would wear pink; others, white, etc. The gowns might further suggest the scheme by being trimmed with roses. The young gentlemen should wear rose boutonnières.

All the guests compose the court.

The entertainment may be opened by the minuet, danced by red and white roses, after which the entire court enter, marching two by two. As they march they sing in honor of their king. When the first couple reaches the throne, the leaders separate right and left and turn facing each other. The others do likewise, keeping the distance between regular. Last of all comes the king followed by two pages representing Cupids. The king marches between the columns, and finally reaches his throne. When there he looks smilingly over his court, and then seats himself. The pages stand to his right and left.

Then the court, at a motion of the king’s sceptre, waltz, after which the entire evening is spent amusing the king. He likes songs, and they become Singing Roses. He likes recitations, and the roses recite. All the songs and recitations must be of the heart. Among the recitations may be “The Garden of Love,” William Shakspeare; “The Day-Dream,” Alfred Tennyson; “Telepathy,” James Russell Lowell.

At the close of a song the king rises, and waving his wand, the company cease entertaining, and the Cupids, leaving the throne, walk side by side, and finally stop at a huge blackboard. Then in colored crayons they each draw a valentine. After which the King of Hearts asks each one of the company to do likewise. This affords much amusement, as many of the valentines will be exceedingly grotesque.

When all have finished drawing, the Cupids return to the throne, and the king signals for a dance. And now a surprise. Eight dancers appear in heart and valentine dominoes. Each heart dances with a valentine, and thus the king continues to be amused. The first eight who have drawn valentines quietly absent themselves, and thus they are ready at the desired time. The dominoes are made out of white cheese-cloth, the valentines and hearts are basted thickly over them.

After the dance the king should rise and thank the court for what has been done for his entertainment, after which the recession of the court should follow. The columns leading to the throne must be again formed, the king rises, and proceeds through the lines followed by his pages, and then the two nearest to the throne go next, and so on until all disappear.

WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY ENTERTAINMENT.

If the hostess is a girl, she should be costumed as Lady Washington; if she has a brother, his dress should be a faithful copy of General Washington’s. The mother of the young people may take the character of Mary Washington, mother of George. Ask your friends to wear an appropriate costume excepting that of the Washington household; that family excluded, they are fancy free. Decorate the house with flags and bunting; also give an eagle prominent position. For evergreens use holly, and whatever flowers may be peculiar to the State of Virginia. Suggest red, white, and blue in the supper-room. Example: Cover the dining-table with blue silk or bunting, and on it stand cakes frosted with red and white icing, mottoes in red and white papers, etc. Serve strawberry and vanilla ice-cream in blue dishes. Have all the confectionery red and white in color, and served from a blue-covered stand. Should you not have blue china suitable for the confectionery, deftly cover white china with blue crinkled paper, and so preserve the colors.

Open the evening with the flag dance. This is any square dance you may please. Immediately before it starts, present the dancers with a tiny American flag, and whenever a bow occurs, let the flags be triumphantly whirled. They may be retained as souvenirs. After the dance some one previously selected should come into the parlor. He must be entirely enveloped in tricolor, which may be done by the use of a large flag, and if necessary a smaller one may cover the head. The question now is to guess, Who is this distinguished visitor? whether it is some one of the Revolutionary period or of the present, of our own country, or of another. When the domino is removed, across his chest will be his name. It is George the Third, who did not feel very comfortable at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He should wear a crown, which is easily made from pasteboard, cover it with gold paper, and for precious stones glue on rounded buttons covered to suit whichever gem you may please-jasper, sapphire, diamonds, or what not. Whoever makes a correct guess should receive a gift suggestive of the occasion. A book about a Revolutionary hero would do, or any article of jewelry, suggestive of Washington’s time. There are stickpins which may be used for scarfs also, that have the flag in colored enamel. After this, another dance would be in place, and follow that with games and patriotic songs.

“The Star-Spangled Banner,” in march time, would be appropriate to use as the march to supper.

APRIL FOOL GAMES AND TRICKS.

It is always a question whether these games should or should not be played. Therefore I offer them with this preface as also a few words of advice. Be good natured and do not take offence over other people’s amusement at your expense.

Never play a practical joke.

Example, Mr. M—— died last night.

Mr. M—— was an intimate friend of a party present, and as the word pronounced dyed is capable of two different meanings, one of the guests interpreted it in its saddest sense, and immediately fainted. Wholesome fun promotes laughter and good-fellowship; indulge in it all you will, and so help your little world to be the merrier.

On a pure white tidy write in distinct letters upside down, the words, “April Fool,” and get some boy to lean back against them. When he walks about the room afterwards, his black jacket is decorated.

If you have an old cane-bottom chair, cut the seat out, but not too close to the frame. Fit this nicely in and offer the seat to any of the larger boys or girls. Instantly this individual finds himself slipping down, but is more frightened than hurt.

Upholster a long low box to represent a divan. The top should consist of neatly tacked down stiff brown paper, and over this throw a long thin rug. Suggest to two or three of your liveliest friends that they sit together on this divan. In a few moments the room will resound with shrieks of laughter, for they will be seated on the floor.

Give a florist’s box temptingly covered with tissue paper and tied up with gold cord to one of the guests. He will unfasten the cord, take off the paper, and lift the cover only to find _nothing_ within.

Should your mother or sister be expecting a new spring bonnet, beguile the milliner into letting you have one of her nicest hat boxes, into which you should put your three years’ old Derby, and then watch the result.

A questionable joke would be to send a party invitation to your old friend, inviting him to an equally old friend’s house, and wait around to see him enter.

Tell John or Mary there is an oat for them at Mr. Blank’s. They thinking you have said “a note” immediately go to get it, and fully comprehend your meaning when they are handed a tiny package of tissue paper which serves as a covering to one oat and the words “April Fool.”

Arrange portières so they may be drawn on either side of a long mirror, as window curtains are drawn from the centre of a window. Before this make an effective group of a number of boys and girls. The rear ones should stand, the ones immediately in front should be seated on the floor. Above them should be written on a mirror these words, “April Fools.” When every one is in place, a boy standing on the left and right of the mirror should draw the portières.

A part of the refreshments for such an evening should be cakes frosted with salt and others stuffed with cotton, oranges filled with sawdust, tiny blocks of wood and small balls of cotton, covered with chocolate, so simulating chocolate caramels and creams. Have also motto papers deftly covering little pebbles, and iced coffee, which will be found to be the most acid of iced vinegar. But do not let your refreshments end with such a menu, or good nature even with the jolliest would cease to be a virtue; when a little fun is gotten, serve a delicious supper.

EASTER FROLICS.

The time for Easter amusement is during the week which follows Easter Day, and it would be a pretty idea at such a season to give a short tableau entertainment in connection with music and games, the tableaux indicating the superstitions of various countries.

When the tableau is shown, announce what it is intended to represent; for example, in Russia the Easter festival might almost be termed the “kissing festival,” for beginning with the Emperor, who on Easter Day kisses various generals and even privates in his army, the singular contagion spreads throughout the empire, apparently affecting both aristocrat and plebeian.

_Tableau._—A boy representing the Russian Emperor kissing a member of the army.

In the olden days of France it was the custom for a Christian to give a Jew an Easter box.

_Tableau._—Two boys, one representing the Christian; the other, the Jew. The Christian must be in the act of boxing the Jew’s ear.

Follow this with the France of to-day.

_Tableau._—An interior of a church, extravagantly trimmed with flowers, and brilliant with lighted candles. It should be crowded with boys and girls, mothers and fathers, all in brand-new clothes.

Show Spain as a dark-haired girl, with a mantilla over her head, kneeling in a church before a mammoth candle—the Paschal candle, nine feet long. In order to make it seem taller, stand it on a marble pedestal.

Rome, with a procession of gayly attired children, and a boy representing the Pope, in the most elegant of robes, carried in a crimson chair, over which is a canopy. This chair must be preceded by two boys, each carrying white ostrich-feather fans.

Germany, with a group of dancing girls and boys, the girls wearing small, close-fitting white caps, full white aprons over dark gold-braided skirts and white sleeves; the boys with knee-breeches, white stockings, showy vests and gold buttons. Or show a hare running from a nest filled with colored eggs, before which two little children kneel. The nest should be placed under a bush, and one of the children should wear a laughing face, for she holds up an egg.

England, with a crowd of boys and girls returning from Hampton Court, Kew Gardens, or Stoke Pogis with their arms literally filled with willow-boughs and branches of blossoms—yellow, pink, and white—with which they will decorate the church for Easter Sunday.

Switzerland, with a band of musicians carrying guitars, and going from house to house singing some sweet carol, their hats and caps wreathed with flowers.

A very pretty way to amuse children of all ages is to hide eggs in the grass or under bushes, and then have an egg-hunt. All eggs found may, of course, be carried home. Give five minutes for the hunt, and it will prove great sport for lookers-on also.

For another game, raise a tent decorated with flags, cheese-cloth streamers, or ribbons. Opposite the tent in which the guests are to be seated, and ten feet distant, is a post or tree on which to put a prize. At the base of the post put a basket of thin china eggs or glass balls, and also one at the tent door, only fill this basket with excelsior. The game is to find the person that will throw the largest number of eggs from one of the baskets into the other and not break them. Whoever wins is rewarded by the prize.

For little children, form a ring, and pitch to the centre of the ring a hard-boiled egg, and let them scramble for it. For larger children, let them pair off, a boy and a girl; thus alternating, they form a ring. Then start thirteen china or glass eggs, one after the other, from hand to hand, taking the egg in the right hand, passing it to the left, and so on round the ring. If an egg drops, it must stay where it falls until the other eggs have gone around the ring three times. It may chance by that time that all the eggs have dropped. When the third time around is complete, immediately a grand chain is formed, and the children dance, and go back to position, picking up the eggs as they dance. If the egg is not picked up, keeping time to the music which is being played throughout the game, that person cannot retain it, but must give it to the one following. Sometimes no eggs fall, then the game is kept up until all the eggs have passed rapidly around three times. But when dropped and picked up, they must then go around once, and after this final circuit the game is concluded.

Boil a dozen or more eggs in logwood of different strengths of dye; they will then be colored violet or purple. Give these eggs, with a large pin or pen-knife, to young people to decorate. Offer a prize for the best decorations within fifteen minutes.

Still another game is to knock eggs. Hold an egg so that the small end is shown between the forefinger and the thumb. Sit or stand opposite to the person with whom you are playing. Then knock each other’s eggs. The knock should be swift and hard, and whoever’s egg is the first to crack must now be given to the opponent. When starting, each should have an equal number. Whoever has the most eggs after playing ten minutes has won.

_Finding the Hare._

The hare is nothing more nor less than a box made in exact copy of a hare, about six inches long. When opened it shall be found full of rose-colored and rose-flavored confectionery.

The company are told that a hare is hidden and whoever finds it is the owner. It is a bewitching sight to see the merry hunt and great sport for those engaged.

_The Parlor Egg Hunt._

Buy confectioners’ eggs, which come in all sizes, from the ostrich size to a humming bird’s, made of chocolate or icing, and trimmed with flowers or tiny ribbons. Hide the small eggs, and state in which rooms they are hidden. Allow five minutes for the hunt, each striving to find the most. Ring a bell to start and end the game.

_Ostrich Egg Search._

This is played exactly like the thimble game. Put a confectioner’s ostrich egg in full sight, and at a signal every one begins to look for it. When it is seen, the finder signifies the fact by sitting down, and this continues until all are either seated or give up. The hostess inquires of the first one who sat down where the egg is, and the answer is given in a whisper. If correct, it may be retained as a favor, if not, the egg must be drawn for.

The hiding must be cleverly managed, so that while the egg is in sight, it is, however, in an unexpected spot, and where it cannot be handled. Then, too, there should be a bogus egg, made from tissue paper, closely resembling the confectioners egg. Many will mistake the egg.

_Basket Eggs._