Chapter 11

A good quiet game to play alone is "Spanish Cup and Ball." A long stick has fastened to it a loop of wire standing out at right angles, thus. To this is attached by a long string a worsted, or a very light rubber ball. The game is to see how many times you can throw the ball up to the ceiling and catch it in the loop of wire as it falls.

Balancing

All kinds of balancing games are excellent when you are alone and tired of toys. There is no way to acquire proficiency in these but by practice, but practice is fascinating work. Try balancing at first a long pole (an old broom-stick handle will do) on the palm of your hand, then on your finger, then on your chin and forehead. The longer the pole, the easier to balance it. Remember one golden rule. _Keep your eyes on the top of the pole._

Then try balancing a whole broom, or a chair. The practice of balancing is excellent for training yourself in quickness of eye and muscle.

Of course bricks and soldiers and ninepins, as well as balls (see p. 139), are more interesting when more than one person plays; but one can pass the time very well with them.

Bruce's Heart

Where toys become tedious, games have to be made up; and in making up games no outside help is needed. At the same time, some games which E. H. describes may perhaps supply a hint or two. "One little girl," she writes, "used to find endless joy in pretending to be Douglas bearing the heart of Bruce to the Holy Land. A long stick in the right hand represented his spear; a stone in the left hand was the casket containing Bruce's heart. If the grown-ups stopped to talk with some one they met, or if there was any other excuse for running on ahead, the little girl would rush forward waving her stick and encouraging her men (represented by a big dog), and, after hurling her stone as far forward as possible, and exclaiming, 'Lead on, brave heart,' she would cast her spear in the same direction in a last effort against the Moors, and then pretend to fall dead to the ground." This little girl had found the story of Bruce in _Tales of a Grandfather_, by Sir Walter Scott. Almost every book will yield people and events to play at.

The Hotel Camps

Another little girl whom E. H. knew "once spent a short time in a hotel, and while there divided the other people into camps according to the floor on which they had rooms. The designs in the windows on the various floors represented the badges or heraldic signs of each camp. For instance, one window (they were of colored glass) had a border with eagles, another had gryphons, another lions, and so on. If she met some one of another floor coming in or going out of the hotel, it represented the meeting of two rival bands. If she actually found herself in the elevator with them, it was a dangerous encounter, in which, if they got out first, she had driven them off the field, but if she got out first it was she who was in retreat. If two people of different floors were seen talking together, a truce had been declared, and so on."

Block City

The little book called _A Child's Garden of Verses_, by R. L. Stevenson, has several poems which describe how a lonely little boy used to play. Thus (in "Block City"):--

Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet a sea, There I'll establish a city for me, A kirk and a mill, and a palace beside, And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride.

Story-Books

And (in "The Land of Story-Books"):--

Now, with my little gun, I crawl All in the dark along the wall, And follow round the forest track Away behind the sofa back.

There, in the night, where none can spy, All in my hunter's camp I lie, And play at books that I have read Till it is time to go to bed.

The Bed Boat

That is ordinary play. There is also a poem describing play in bed:--

My bed is like a little boat; Nurse helps me in when I embark; She girds me in my sailor's coat And starts me in the dark.

Thinking Games for Bed

When more than one sleep in the same room, the time before sleep can be very interesting. Many games which have already been described are suitable for bed, such as "Telling Stories" (p. 99), "I Love my Love" (p. 88), "Spelling" (p. 166), "The Grand Mogul" (p. 166), "Rhyming Lights" (p. 167), "The Apprentice" (p. 167), "Towns and Products" (p. 168), "Suggestions" (p. 91), and "Clumps," adapted (p. 93).

Games by Rote

On this subject B. R. L. writes:--"We made a list, which was stuck on the wall with a different game for each night. One was 'I Love my Love with an A' (see p. 88), which we steadily made up all through the alphabet. Another was 'Initials,' in which you take turns in saying the initials of people you know, while the other guesses the names. Another was 'Twenty Questions,' in which one thinks of something that has to be guessed as quickly as possible, only 'yes' and 'no' being given as answers. One very girlish game was like this: suppose you had a little girl with golden hair and blue eyes, and she was going on a visit to London, what sort of frocks would you buy her?"

The Imaginary Family

E. H. recommends for girls the "Imaginary Family" game. This is her description of it:--"First you have to settle the names, ages, and characters of your family, and then you can carry on their adventures every night. One little girl who was devoted to books of travel, and who loved to pore over maps and charts, used to travel with her family every night in whatever country she happened to be interested in at the time. Thus she and a favorite son, Pharaoh, traveled for a long time in California, crossing every mountain-range by the proper passes, exploring every valley, tracing each river to its source, and so on. In the same way she traveled with her family is Central and South America, the Malay Peninsula, and the South Sea Islands. Another little girl who was very fond of adventure stories carried her family through all sorts of perils by land and sea. At one time they were shipwrecked and lived like the Swiss Family Robinson. At another time they were exploring Central Africa, and traveled about with three years' supplies in a gigantic caravan with fifty elephants. Yet another little girl had for her family any characters out of books that particularly fascinated her. Thus, when she was reading _The Heroes_, her family was reduced to one daughter, Medea, a rather terrible daughter, who needed a great deal of propitiating, and for whose sake all other children had to be given up. Later on, when the same child was reading _Tales of a Grandfather_, her family consisted of three sons, Wallace, Bruce, and Douglas. (It is rather a good thing, by the way, to have a very heroic family, especially if you are at all inclined to be afraid in the dark, as they help to keep one's courage up.) Two little girls, who lived in a clergyman's household, had an imaginary poor family they were interested in, and they planned about them every night,--how much the father earned, what their rent was, whether the mother oughtn't to take in washing, whether the eldest girl could be spared to go into service, and so on. When they weren't allowed to talk at night they carried the family history on independently and compared notes in the morning."

Making Plans

Making plans is always interesting, but particularly so just before Christmas, when presents have to be arranged for.

For Getting to Sleep

The favorite way is to imagine that you see a flock of sheep scrambling through a gap in the hedge, and to count them. A variety of this is a desert with a long train of camels very far off, coming slowly near, and then passing and gradually disappearing in the far distance. Counting a million is also a good way.

Games for Convalescents

A good thing to do in bed when getting better from an illness is to cut out pictures for scrapbooks. Any kind of cutting out can be done, as the scissors and paper are very light and do not, therefore, tire the arms. "Patience" (see page 76) is also a good bed game, because it needs very little thought.

Bed Soldiers

In _A Child's Garden of Verses_ there is a poem called "The Land of Counterpane," which tells what a little boy did when he was ill, lying among the pillows with his toys:

And sometimes for an hour or so I watched my leaden soldiers go, With different uniforms and drills, Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets All up and down among the sheets, Or brought my trees and houses out And planted cities all about.

China Animals

Dolls are, of course, perfectly at home in bed when you are ill, but there is even more interest in a menagerie. On this subject it would be difficult to do better than quote from a letter from E. M. R., who has 590 china animals, mostly in families and all named. She began this magnificent collection with a family of monkeys.

The mother was called Sally, her eldest son Mungo, the next Pin-ceri, another, eating a nut, Jock, and the youngest, a sweet little girl monkey, Ness. I was soon given a family of three foxes, Reynard, Brushtail, and Whitepad, and from that time to the present my collection has been growing. I soon had enough to fill a shelf in a cabinet, and I turned my doll's-house into a boarding-school for the little animals with a big pig as headmaster. But when my collection rose to 400 animals, I had too many children to be all boarders at the school, so some had to be day-scholars, and the headmaster was changed to a green frog who swam beautifully, and who was assisted by two swans, a duck, a fish, two crocodiles, and a seal, who all swam. Another frog taught the children swimming by tying a piece of string round their bodies, and dangling them in the water from the edge of a basin.

The animals' abode was now changed, and they were put into a large cabinet containing six small shelves and one big one.

I called the big shelf a town, and the rest villages. The town was called Weybridge: the village where the birds lived, Airsbury; and that where the dogs were, Canistown. The rest had various other names. At this time an important addition was made to the collection, for a big lion was given me, which I immediately created king; then came a queen and four princesses, and shortly after a crown prince, another prince, and three more little princesses.

The royal family was allowed a village all to itself, which was called Kingston, and was given five servants, two nurses, a footman, a housemaid, and a cook.

As I had now two families of several of the kinds of animals, I determined that they should be married, so, nominating Sally's husband rector, I had several weddings. I built a church with some bricks I had, and formed a procession up the aisle, to the Wedding March, played on an American organ.

First came the bride and bridegroom, then the best man and the bridesmaids, and last the children of the animals who were to be married, two and two. When the ceremony was over, I marched them all back to their places on the shelf.

I now made eight laws, and copied them out in an exercise-book, together with the names of all the animals, the number of men, women, boys, and girls, and the number of married and single families.

I had had several little separate china animals given me, belonging to none of my families, so I made a law that if any family of their kind came to the collection they must adopt these little orphans.

I also made two acting companies, one of big animals, and one for the children, with a boar-hound called Sir Philip of Ravenswood for the manager of the first, and a little black and white kid, named Tim, for manager of the second, and at the Christmas of the same year that I formed the two companies I had two plays, the children acting "Hansel and Gretel," and the big animals "The Yeomen of the Guard."

Being now unable to get any fresh families of small animals, I started a collection of big china animals, and soon had thirty-five, among whom were a Jersey bull and cow, another brown bull and a brown and white cow, two beautiful horses, several dogs, two donkeys, and two goats.

These I kept apart from the small animals, in another cupboard; but I still kept the lion king over them as well, and gave them two big animals, a bloodhound and a St. Bernard, as governors over them.

Among the small animals I had a very learned-looking pig called Orsino, whom I made doctor, while an old bulldog, Dimboona, to whom I had been obliged to give two wooden legs, was Prime Minister. I also had a treasurer, a rent collector, a steward, and an under-steward. I also made a young boar-hound, called Panther, the son of Sir Philip, keeper of the stables, which consisted of ninety-two horses which I had made.

And this brings the narrative of the growth of my china animal collection up to the present time, when I have 555 small animals and 35 big ones, 590 in all.

AT THE SEASIDE

Low Tide

The first thing to do on reaching the seaside is to find out when it is low tide. In each twelve hours low tide comes twenty minutes later, and knowing this you can arrange your days accordingly. Nothing is so saddening as to run down the beach in the belief that the tide is going out and to find that it is coming in.

Paddling

To boys who wear knickerbockers the preparations for paddling are very simple; but girls are not so fortunate. Lewis Carroll (who wrote _Alice in Wonderland_) took their difficulties so seriously that whenever he went to the seaside to stay he used to have with him a packet of safety-pins for the use of any children that seemed to be in need of them. This piece of thoughtfulness on his part might determine you to carry them for yourselves.

A Cork Ship

Sailing a good boat in the sea is not the best fun, but there is a kind of boat which is very easily made as you sit on the beach, and which is useful to play with when wading, and afterward to throw stones at. You take a piece of cork for the hull. Cut a line down the middle underneath and wedge a strip of slate in for a keel to keep her steady. Fix a piece of driftwood for a mast, and thread a piece of paper on that for a sail.

Wet Clothes

When wading it is just as well not to get your clothes wet if you can help it. Clothes that are made wet with seawater, which probably has a little sand in it, are as uncomfortable as crumbs in bed. There is no reason why you should get them wet if you wade wisely. Sitting among the rocks, running through the water, and jumping the little crisping waves are the best ways to get soaked.

Rocks

Seaside places where there are rocks and a great stretch of sand are the best. Rocks make paddling twice as exciting, because of the interesting things in the little pools--the anemones, and seaweeds, and shells, and crabs, and shrimps, and perhaps little fish. Sometimes these pools are quite hot. To enjoy the rocks properly you want a net.

Sand Castles, and Other Sand Games

To make full use of the sands a spade is necessary and a pail important. The favorite thing to make is a castle and a moat, and although the water rarely is willing to stay in the moat it is well to pour some in. The castle may also have a wall round it and all kinds of other buildings within the wall. Abbeys are also made, and great houses with carefully arranged gardens, and villages, and churches. Railways with towns and stations here and there along the line are easily made, and there is the fun of being the train when the line is finished. The train is a good thing to be, because the same person is usually engineer and conductor as well. Collisions are interesting now and then. The disadvantage of a railway on crowded sands is that passers-by injure the line and sometimes destroy, by a movement of the foot, a whole terminus; it is therefore better at small watering-places that few people have yet discovered. If an active game is wanted as well as mere digging and building, a sand fort is the best thing to make, because then it has to be held and besieged, and perhaps captured. In all sand operations stones are useful to mark boundaries.

Burying one another in the sand is good at the time, but gritty afterward.

Seaweed

Seaweed and shells make good collections, but there is no use in carrying live fish home in pails. The fun is in catching the fish, not is keeping it; and some landladies dislike having the bath-room used as an aquarium. On wet days seaweed can be stuck on cards or in a book. The best way to get it to spread out and not crease on a card, is to float the little pieces in a basin and slip the card underneath them in the water. When the seaweed has settled on it, take the card out and leave it to dry. The seaweed will then be found to be stuck, except perhaps in places here and there, which can be made sure by inserting a little touch of gum. It is the smaller, colored kinds of seaweed that one treats in this way; and it is well to leave them for a day in the sun before washing and preparing, as this brings out their color. The ordinary large kind of seaweed is useful as a barometer. A piece hung by the door will tell when rain is coming by growing moist and soft.

Shell Work

A good use for little shells is to cover small boxes with them. The shells are arranged in a simple pattern and fastened on with glue. If the shells are not empty and clean, boil them, and scrub them with an old tooth-brush.

Good Seaside Friends

So many interesting things are to be seen at the seaside that there is no need to be always at play. Fishermen will come in with their boats, which need pulling up; or a net that has been dropped near the shore will be drawn in from the beach, and you can perhaps help. If the town is not merely a watering-place but also a seaport, it is, of course, better, because then there will be the life of the harbor to watch. To be friends with a lighthouse man is almost as good a thing as can happen; and if there is both a lighthouse and a shipbuilder's you could hardly be more fortunate.

IN THE COUNTRY

This chapter has been written more for readers who live in a town and visit the country only during the holidays than for those whose home is always there. Regular country dwellers do not need to be told many of the things that follow; but none the less there may be a few to find them useful. The principal special attractions of the country are--

In the spring Birds' nests. " June Bee-swarming and hay-making. " July Sheep-washing and shearing. " August Early windfalls and harvest. " September Blackberries, nuts, hops, mushrooms, and squirrels.

Making Friends

The most important thing to do when staying at a farmhouse is to make friends with the principal people. The principal people are those in charge of the chickens and ducks, the cows and the horses. The way to make friends is to be as little trouble as possible.

Exploration

On reaching the farm, it is well to make a journey of discovery, in order to learn where everything is. The more one knows about the things in store--the size of the barn, the height of the haystacks, the number of horses, the name of the watch-dog, the position and character of the pond, and so forth--the simpler will it be, on going to bed, to make plans for the visit.

Finding Hens' Eggs

The farmer's wife usually has charge of the chickens and ducks, but very often it is her daughter or a servant. No matter who it is, as soon as she is convinced that you will be careful and thorough she will let you hunt for eggs. This is very exciting, because hens have a way of laying in nests in the wood and all kinds of odd places, hoping that no one will find them and they will thus be able to sit and hatch out their chickens. The hay in the stable is a favorite spot, and under the wood-pile, and among the long grass. Sometimes one overlooks a nest for nearly a week and then finds three or four eggs in it, one of them quite warm. This is a great discovery. Just at first it is easy to be taken in by the china nest-eggs, and to run indoors in triumph with one in your hand. But the farmer's wife will laugh and send you back with it, and the mistake is not likely to be made again. After a while one gets to know the hens personally, and to know the noise which means that they have just laid. Sometimes, if a hen is going to lay just as you come to her nest, she will run off clucking and screaming and lay the egg on the ground.

Ducks' Eggs

Ducks' eggs, which are rather larger than hens' eggs, and pale green in color, are often more difficult to find. They have to be hunted for in the grass by the pond.

Feeding the Chickens

The farmer's wife also lets her visitors feed the chickens if they are gentle with them and thoughtful. It needs quite a little thought, because if you throw down the grain without thinking, many of the weaker and less greedy ones will get nothing, and many of the stronger and greedier ones will get too much. After a few handfuls you can see which are the weaklings, and after that you can favor them accordingly. A greedy hen is so very greedy that she will always, whatever you do, get more than her share; but it is possible to snub her a little. The very little chickens and ducklings do not have grain, but soft food, which is put in a saucer and placed inside the coop. It is after they have finished eating that they can most easily be picked up, but one must be very careful not to squeeze them.

The Dairy

If the farmer's wife makes her own butter there will be an opportunity to help her. Perhaps she will let you use the skimmer. Turning the churn is not much fun except just when the butter forms.

Bee-Swarming

Bees swarm on hot days in the early summer, usually in a tree, but sometimes in a room, if the window is open, and often in a bush, quite close to the ground. When they swarm in a tree you would think a black snow-storm was raging all around it. Every moment the cluster of bees grows larger and larger, until, after half an hour or so, it is quiet. Then the swarm has to be taken. This is the most interesting part, but you must be careful not to be too near in case an accident occurs and the bees become enraged and sting you.

If the farmer has the new wooden hives with a glass covering he will very likely let you peep in and see the bees at work. Before doing this you certainly ought to read something about their exceedingly wonderful ways. One of the best books is Sir John Lubbock's (Lord Avebury's) _Ants, Bees, and Wasps_, but most encyclopædias contain very interesting articles on the subject.

The Cows

The man who looks after the cows is a very valuable friend. He may even let you try to milk, which only specially gifted children ever succeed in doing at all well; and he will teach you the cows' names (in some farms these are painted up over each stall--Primrose, Lightfoot, Sweetlips, Clover, and so on); and perhaps he will give you the task of fetching them from the meadow at milking time.

Sheep