H again over the roof, or in the hand of an opponent, running around the corner, hence every one must be on the lookout. The game lasts until all the players are on one side. The name Haley-Over is probably from the old word hale, meaning to draw or drag, from the drawing over of the defeated player to the opposite side. The game is much played in some parts of New England. HALEY-OVER, a game of ball | caught or not until it either appears played by any number of persons, divided into two opposing parties. The parties stand on opposite sides of a building, and one of the players throws a base-ball over the roof. The players on the other side try to catch the ball, and if any one succeeds he runs around the building and tries to hit one of his opponents with the ball, either by throwing it or running with it in hand. If any one is hit, he has to join the side of the hitter. If the ball is not caught, it is thrown back over the building in the same way as at first. When a ball has been thrown, those on the throwing side have no means of knowing whether it has been HALLOWE'EN PARTY, an entertainment given on All Hallows Eve, or Hallowe'en, the night before All Saints' Day (Nov. 1). The amusements of this evening were supposed in ancient times to foretell future events. Some of them are | Sometimes, instead of this, each described below. runs around the outside of the house water. 1. Each person, alone with a look-three times, with his mouth full of ing-glass in one hand and a candle in the other, walks down stairs backward into a dark cellar or basement. It was supposed that each would see in the glass the face of his or her future wife or husband. 2. Each person melts some lead in an iron spoon, and pours it through a wedding-ring or through a key (Fig. 1) into a vessel of water. The lead will cool in curious shapes, which were supposed to be prophetic. Any one who is ingenious can cause much amusement by interpreting these shapes. For instance, if one of them looks like a shoe, it may be said that the owner will marry a shoemaker, or is going to have a pair of new shoes, or it may mean a wedding, as an old shoe is often thrown after newly-wedded couples "for good luck." Lead can easily be melted in any coal fire. Great care should be taken in pouring it through the ring or key, or serious burns may result. 3. Snap-dragons. These, which must be prepared before the party, consist of slips of paper with verses written on them. The slips are folded very small, and wrapped in lead or tin foil. They are then placed in a large dish, and covered with water, over which alcohol, or spirits, is poured and set on fire. While it is burning, each person in turn must snatch one of the snapdragons from the dish. The verse he gets is supposed to tell his fortune. This furnishes much fun if the verses are written skilfully. The "dragons" should be placed in an earthen or tin-plate dish. Silver should not be used, as it melts too easily. The dish must be placed in the middle of a bare table, for drops of burning spirits are often splashed about, and great care must be taken that they set nothing on fire. In floating the alcohol on the water it should be poured on the side of the dish and allowed to flow down gently; otherwise the two liquids will mix. 4. Each person takes a greased needle and floats it in a basin of water. This requires some care, but can be done if the needle is put down evenly and gently. The best way is first to lay on the water a bit of very thin tissue-paper and place the needle on it. In a short time the paper will become wet and sink to the bottom, leaving the needle floating on the water. Owing to a phenomenon called capillarity, the needles behave very curiously. Some run to the edge of the dish and stick there, while some rush together and cling together, avoiding others. The manner in which one person's needle behaves toward another's causes amusement, and may be supposed to be prophetic. 5. Bobbing for Apples. Apples are placed in a tub of water, and each in turn tries to pick one out with his teeth. Sometimes each apple is inscribed with a name, which is supposed to be that of the future husband or wife of the person who picks it out. Sometimes also each apple bears a letter, and each guest picks out two. The letters are supposed to be the initials of the guest's future husband or wife. 6. On a table are placed three dishes, one of clear water, one of soapy water, and one empty. Each guest is blindfolded, and after the positions of the dishes have been changed so that he does not know which is which, he advances and puts his finger into one. If it be the one of clear water, he will marry happily; if the soapy water, he will marry a widow; and if the empty one, he will not marry at all. are 7. Nutshell Boats. These made by pouring melted wax into halves of walnut-shells, in which are short strings for wicks. Several persons float these boats in a tub of water, after lighting the wicks, and the way in which they ride is supposed to show what the future life of the owner will be. 8. Kaling. Two persons are blindfolded and required to walk to the vegetable garden, where each pulls up the first cabbage-stalk he finds. From the shape of the stalk, the fortune of him who pulls it up is inferred. The dirt clinging to the roots represents wealth. 9. Apple and Candle.-At one end of a stick, about eighteen inches long, is fastened an apple, and at the other end a lighted candle (Fig. 2). The stick is then suspended from the ceiling by a string fastened at its centre, and swung backward and Fig. 2. forward, while the players, one by one, try to catch the apple in their teeth. 10. The Raisin. A raisin is strung at the middle of a string or thread about a yard long, and two persons take each an end of the string in his mouth. Whoever, by chewing the string, reaches the raisin first, is allowed to eat it. History. Superstitious persons believed in old times that spirits walked abroad on Hallowe'en, and that they would assist people to know the future by performing the feats, some of which are described above. Nobody believes this now, yet the feats are often performed for amusement on Hallowe'en. In some parts of England it is called "Nut-Crack Night," from the custom of eating nuts on that evening. HALMA. See CHECKERS. HAND-BALL, a game played by two or four persons with a small ball, which they strike with their hands against a wall. The game may be played in a court or room having walls on all four sides, or outof-doors against the wall of a building. In the latter case lines are drawn on the wall and the ground to represent the side walls, and when a ball goes outside these lines it is supposed to have struck a side wall. A board called the Backboard, or a line representing it, bounds the court on the fourth side, and a line, called the Ace Line, is drawn parallel to the front wall and Back-board half way between them. The two-handed game will be described first. The players toss up for the "first hand," and the winner stands inside the Ace Line, while his opponent stands outside of it. The former is called the striker and the latter the player. The striker begins the game by bounding the ball on the ground and then striking it with his hand so that it rebounds from the front wall. This is called a "service." The ball must be served so that it rebounds outside the Ace Line. If it does not, it is said to be a short service. If the striker make three successive short services, or if the ball bound on a side wall before striking the front wall, or if it bound outside the Back-board, it is a “hand-out,” and the striker and player change places. If the striker serve the ball properly, it must be struck by the player with his hand, either before it strikes the ground or after the first bound, so that it bounds from the front wall. This is called a "return." If he fail to return it properly, the striker scores one point, called an ace. If he do return it, the striker must bound it again from the front wall, and if he fail, it is a hand-out. After the service, the ball may strike the ground anywhere in the court inside the Backboard. This goes on till the striker has scored or made a hand-out, when an inning is said to have been played. He and his opponent change places, and the latter becomes striker in his turn After the first inning, an inning ends only when there is a hand-out, and the striker continues to serve after he scores. The player first making 21 aces wins the game. As will be seen by the rules, it is sometimes allowable to strike the ball with the foot. When four play, two against two, the partners serve and receive alternately. During the service the strikers' partner stands with his back to the side wall or side line, but after the return all take part in the game. RULES OF THE GAME. 1. If the striker or his partner stop the ball intentionally before it bounds after leaving the front wall, or while on its way to the front wall, it is a hand-out. 2. If a ball struck by the player strikes the striker or his partner, it shall be played over again. 3. When a ball is served short to the player he has the privilege of striking it with his hand or foot; if it is struck with the foot and fails to go upon the front wall, it does not score for the striker. If it is struck with the hand and fails to strike the front wall, it is an ace for the striker. 4. If a ball is served short to the player and he strikes it with his foot upon the front wall, the striker, after returning it on the wall, has the privilege of preventing the player from striking it again. 5. If a ball is struck with the foot and assisted by the hand on to the front wall, it is foul, and counts an ace against the offender. 6. When the player is about to strike the ball, and his opponent jostles him or gets in his way intentionally, it is an ace or a hand-out. 7. The contestants are allowed one minute at the expiration of each game before commencing another. 8. In a double match the striker's partner will stand with his back against either side wall, inside of the Ace Line, until the ball leaves the front wall. 9. If a ball served to the player goes over the Back-board or strikes the gallery before bounding on the floor, it is a foul. 10. The striker shall call time before serving the ball, and shall not serve the ball before the player or players are outside of the line. II. A foul must count as such whether the players play it or not. 12. In striking the ball the player shall not touch the ball with any part of his person other than the hand or foot, under a forfeit of an ace or hand-out. 13. If the striker in serving the ball strikes himself or his partner with the ball and it goes over the Ace Line, it is at the option of the player whether he plays to it or not. 14. In case there are only boundary lines drawn, and no side walls, if the ball after striking the front wall rebounds outside the side boundary line, such ball is foul, and is a hand-out. 15. All disputed balls may be decided by a referee chosen by the players, whose decision in all cases shall be final. The early history of hand ball is probably the same as that of TENNIS, which was formerly played by striking the ball with the hand. Temari, or Japanese Hand - ball. The ball used by the Japanese to play this game is about two inches in diameter, and generally of cotton, wound with thread. The players, usually girls, stand in a circle, and one, taking the bail throws it downward on the ground, striking it back as it rises. She continues thus till the ball bounds away from her, when the player toward whom it bounds, or who is nearest its direction, must strike it back. When any player misses a stroke, or fails to make the ball rebound, she is out of the game, which continues until only one player is left. That one is said by the Japanese to gain the honor of kachi (victory), and leads off in the next game. HAND, Experiments with the. I. Press the finger-tips of one hand forcibly against those of the other and open and shut the hands slightly. After a few seconds it is easy, on shutting the eyes, to believe that there are coins between the finger-tips. 2. Hook the fingers of each hand, holding them as widely apart as possible, and then move the hands backward and forward through the air rapidly and forcibly for several seconds. The air currents between the fingers make them feel as if the hands were full of cotton or some other woolly substance. 3. Holding one hand horizontal, palm downward, and fingers closed, blow through the crevice between the first and middle fingers. If a piece of paper two or three inches square be placed just under this crevice, it will stick to the hand, though you are blowing directly against it. The reason is, that the current carries away some of the air between the paper and the hand, reducing the pressure, and the paper is thus held up against the hand by the greater pressure of the air below it. puts on paper a row of dots, one for each letter of a familiar proverb, while the other tries to guess the proverb. The dots are separated into groups corresponding to the different words; for instance, for the proverb "Make hay while the sun shines" they would be placed thus: The guesser begins by saying "Write down an E" (or any other letter he chooses). If there is an E in the proverb, the other writes it down in place of the corresponding dot. If there are two or more, he writes which of them he chooses. The guesser then suggests another letter, and so on till enough are written down to enable him to guess the whole proverb. Fig. 1. head, is added to the rope on the gallows (Fig. 2). At his second mistake a neck is added, and, for the successive mistakes after that, a body, arms, legs, and feet, so that the gallows appears as in Fig. 3. In one corner of the paper is drawn rudely a picture of a gallows, with a rope dangling from it, as in Fig. 1. When the guesser makes his first mis4. Look closely at the inside of take, ordering the the fingers, particularly at the ends. other player to write It will be seen that they are covered down a letter not conwith very small furrows, running in tained in the provcurved lines. By using a lens, these erb, a little circle, furrows can be seen more plainly.representing a man's To make them plainer still, rub the finger lightly over a piece of chalk. The chalk will fill the furrows, which will thus be traced in white. A print of the furrows on paper can be obtained by spreading ink thinly on a piece of glass or a sheet of paper. When it is nearly dry, press the finger lightly on it and then on a sheet of white paper. After a few trials very good prints can be made. The arrangements of these furrows are said to be different in any two persons and to remain the same throughout one's life. An interesting experiment would be to verify this by taking a print of the same finger every year for a number of years. HANGING GAME, THE, a game played by two persons, one of whom Fig. 2. Fig. 3. If the whole man is thus hanged before he can guess the proverb, he loses the game, otherwise he wins. When it is found that the guesser has become very expert, it may be |