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If he cannot succeed in doing this, he endures as long as he can, and then hops into his den to recruit; if, however, while outside, he puts both feet to the ground, he is at once basted back remorselessly into his den, without the power of reply.

BASTE THE BEAR.

This is a game very similar to the last; only the Bear, instead of defending himself, like the Fox, entrusts his defence to a second party.

A circle about five feet in diameter is marked out on the ground, and a rope is tied round the waist of the bear, who is chosen by lot, leaving a loose end about four feet in length. His Keeper holds this in one hand and a knotted handkerchief in the other. Thus prepared, the bear goes down on his hands and knees inside the circle, calls "Ready!" and the game begins.

The other players baste him as in "Sling the Monkey," under the same penalties if struck by the keeper. The bear may aid his keeper in any way, so that some portion of himself remains inside the circle, and he preserves his position on all fours; he may even hold any of the players he can contrive to catch. Each bear is allowed to choose his own keeper.

In some places the bears stipulate for an extra coat or similar protection from their assailants, but that is an effeminacy to which no encouragement should be given. There is no occasion, however, for the handkerchiefs to be knotted to an abnormal degree of hardness; a little regulation in this matter would not be unreasonable.

TUG OF WAR.

A number of players divide into two parties, each under the command of a leader. A line is marked out on the ground, and the two parties, laying hold of either end of a stout rope, try to drag each the other across the line.

Simple as the game may appear, the party which is physically most powerful does not necessarily have it all its own way; a smart captain will often make up by superior finesse for any deficiency of his side in strength and weight.

The two captains stand facing each other at the line, and measure wits as well as strength.

One very common but very excellent ruse, especially with a side somewhat over-weighted by its opponents, is to put a heavy drag on the rope, not attempting to pull up the opponents--in extreme cases even allowing them to gain ground inch by inch-then suddenly, when, flushed with success, they are unprepared, to let the rope go by the run: if this be done neatly, down they must all go on their backs in a struggling, helpless mass. The instant they are down the successful party must clap on and run away with them, which they will now easily do, clean over the line.

The success of this manoeuvre depends chiefly upon the captain's seizing the right moment for its execution; but the whole of his side must obey instantly when the signal is given, or the attempt will prove futile: one hand on the rope after the others have let go is sufficient to ruin the whole affair; nothing but instantaneous and simultaneous action has a chance of success. This game, under the title of the "Tug of War," is now a regular part of the programme in athletic sports.

TIG.

This is the simplest of all games. Out of a number of players one goes "Tig," and tries to catch and touch any of the others indifferently: the player so touched becomes Tig in his turn until he touches some one else. The player touched cannot touch back until he has first chased another player. This is a capital impromptu game for cold weather: the running soon warms up even the most chilly. It must, however, to be played with success, be confined within tolerably narrow boundaries, or the game will become too scattered, and in consequence desultory.

CROSS TIG.

This is a mere modification of the preceding. Tig calls out the name of the player he intends to chase, and sets off after him; the other players then run across between Tig and the fugitive. Each time a player crosses between the two, Tig must leave the original chase and follow the player who has crossed, and so on, perhaps chasing in turn every individal player before he can effect a capture.

The same remark as to space holds good here as in the preceding.

TIG TOUCH-WOOD.

Another modification. A series of posts or trees is selected; as long að the player is touching one of these authorized posts, Tig cannot touch him; his only chance is to catch him while flitting from one post to another. Two players are not allowed to touch the same post: if Tig can catch two so situated he may touch the last comer, who thus becomes Tig.

The life of this game depends upon the pluck and spirit of the runners, for Tig can do nothing until they expose themselves by running. A constant interchange of posts should be kept up, or the game flags and loses its interest. It may be played either like "Puss in the Corner," with only one station for cach runner, so that running can only be effected by exchanging posts, which is perhaps the preferable game; or with a number of posts in excess of the number engaged. This is, however, a mere matter of detail, to be settled by agreement before commencing.

KNIGHTS.

Two sturdy boys take cach a smaller boy on their backs and engage in a mock tournament, themselves acting as horses, while the youngsters grapple and strive to unseat each other.

The real brunt of the fighting falls on the horses, upon whose strength and dexterity, much more than upon that of their respective "Knights," depends the ultimate issue of the combat. The horses may shove and jostle one another, but must not kick, trip, or use their hands or elbows.

The victor is he who gains most falls in three rounds. The game should only be played upon turf, for safety's sake; for sometimes, when horse and man go down together, the fall might prove a nasty one on hard ground, and at any time the rider is liable to be brought off backwards with a jerk, under which circumstances he will be thankful to measure his length on the soft turf, instead of lumpy gravel or unyielding pavement.

Indoor Games.

NINEPINS.

This game is very similar to skittles, but it differs in several details. The pins are nine, as the game implies, instead of four, and the ball is bowled instead of being thrown. The method of counting is much the same-by the number of pins knocked down.

There is not any particular difficulty in knocking down several of the pins at first; the great art lies in selecting the pins; that is, in knocking them down in such order, that each shot leaves the remaining pins standing in the way most suitable for the next. Success in the game depends a great deal, too, upon the “bias" imparted to the ball: as in bowls, a judicious use of “bias will often get the player out of a difficulty which he could overcome in no other way.

AMERICAN BOWLS.

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This is a good game, but it requires rather an elaborate court. Each court is a long narrow alicy, the centre of it floored with oak planking. As this floor must be very smooth and very level, the planks are only six inches wide, and there are generally twenty-four of them. Pins are set up at one end, and the balls are bowled at them from the other. The scoring is by trebles, doubles, and singles, as at skittles. (See page 98.) Along the right hand of the alley runs a wooden trough, slightly sloping from the top to the bottom. As fast as the balls are bowled, a boy picks them up and puts them in the trough, so that they roll gently back again to the hand of the bowler. The balls are of different weights, but the players will find that the skittles will fall in proportion to the size of the ball, co that he should use the largest ball that he can manage properly.

GAMES WITH MARBLES.

We will begin at the beginning, and describe the marble itself. This toy is seldom now made of marble, only a few, which are called "alleys," being made of different coloured alabaster. These are the most valuable, and are always reserved to be used as “taws,” i.e., the marble actually used by the players. In our younger days, a pure white alley with delicate pink streaks was considered the very best taw that could be procured, and we used to place an almost superstitious reliance on its powers.

Next to the alley comes the stone marble, or "stoney," which is made of some hard stone, and which is generally as round and smooth as an alley, though not so pretty. Stoneys are often of different colours, though a plain grey is perhaps the best. They answer very well for taws.

Next come the common or clay marbles, which are only made of clay rolled into a sort of roundness, and then baked. They are usually called "common

eys," or "clays," and can be bought at a very cheap rate. There is also a very large marble, mostly of pottery-ware, nearly as large as a tennis ball, and painted of different colours. This is called a "bounce," or "troller," and is of little real value, not being used in the legitimate games, and being too large to be properly "shot."

Shooting the Marble. We lay great stress upon this point, as the proper mode of holding and shooting the marble seems to be sadly neglected. Boys have got into a lazy way of throwing or bowling the marble, a practice which was not allowed "in the days when we were young." We had to “knuckle down" fairly, and if the hand moved forward, the opponent would not allow

the shot to be a fair one

In order to hold the marble properly, place the hand as shown in the illustration; the tip of the thumb being held under the bent middle finger, while the marble rests upon the tip of the finger and the joint of the thumb. By flinging out the thumb with a sharp movement, the marble can be sent to a considerable distance; and in a short time the young player will be able to aim very truly with it. Some boys have a stupid fashion of holding the marble in the bent joint of the forefinger, but those who do so cannot send it to any distance, or with a true aim. We used to call such boys "muffs," and to laugh at them so much, that they soon learned to hold the marble properly.

In shooting the marble, the hand ought not to move forward in the least, and if it does so the opponent has a right to make the player take the shot over again. Moving the hand is called “fubbing," and we always used to enjoin "knuckle down, and no fubs." By "knuckling down" is meant placing the knuckle of the forefinger on the ground, and not lifting it until the marble has left the hand.

In our opinion, the king of all games at marbles is RING-TAW, provided that it is played fairly and according to rule, as, indeed, all games ought to be played.

Áll that is required in this game is a moderately level surface of tolerable size, and whether the floor be boards, gravel, stone, or cement, does not matter in the least. Any number can play at it, but when there are more than four, the game is apt to be rather tedious. Suppose that four players are engaged, they proceed in the following manner: They first draw a circle on the floor, if possible using chalk for the purpose, because it makes no groove and shows out plainly. Each player then puts a marble in the ring, arranging them at equal distances from each other. Sometimes the player who begins is obliged to put another marble in the middle of the ring. A straight line is then drawn on the floor at some six or seven feet from the ring; and from this line, which is called the “offing,” “bar,” or “baulk,” the players have to start.

The game begins by knuckling down on the offing-line, and shooting the taw at the marbles within the ring. If one of the marbles be knocked out of the ring, the player may take it up and shoot again, not returning to the offing, but knuckling down at the spot where his taw rests.

As soon as he fails to strike a marble out of the ring, the next player begins, and so on in succession until the ring is cleared.

This, however, is not the whole of the game. If the taw of any player remain within the ring, he is called "dead," and is out of the game. He has,

besides, to put into the ring all the marbles which he has won, and one also by way of fine. If, however, the player shoot the last marble out of the ring, and his own remain within it, he does not lose, because the fact that the ring is empty shows that the game is over. Again, if one player can shoot at and hit the taw of another, he "kilis" his antagonist, who is obliged to hand over all the marbles which he may have won in the game. If a player kill the last opponent, he not only takes his marbles, but gets all those that are left in the ring.

There is much more skill in this game than is generally thought. A good player will not content himself with merely hitting other marbles, but takes care how he hits them. For example, he will shoot at a marble in the ring, and strike it so as to lay his own taw near that of an adversary, whom he can kill. Or, if he be tolerably near another taw, he will hit it in such a manner as to bring his own taw near the ring. Then, great judgment may be shown in placing the taw out of danger, and yet near enough to the ring to give a good chance.

As having the first shot is a great advantage, the players "lag" for it, i.e., they shoot from the offing-line, and try to put their taws in the middle of the ring. Whoever is nearest to the centre wins the first shot.

Another method of playing this game is by having two rings, one of six feet diameter, and another of one foot diameter; the little one inside the large one.

In this game the players are allowed to start from any part of the outside circle. The game is played exactly as the last-mentioned, but with one difference. No one is allowed to kill an adversary until all have had one shot. The reason of this rule is, that the last player would otherwise have the best chance, because the other players would probably leave their taws so close to the line, that they could be easily hit and killed before they have had a fair chance.

FORTIFICATIONS.-This is a variety of ring-taw, and is mostly played in France. Instead of a simple

ring, the ground is marked out as shown in the illustration, and the players try to knock the marbles fairly outside the lines.

Each player may start from either of the outside lines, and must make his first shot at the marbles in the "fortress," i.e., the chlong figure in the middle. As in ring-taw, if his marble remain within the fortress, the player is dead, and places in the fortress all marbles which he has won. In some places he is obliged to leave his own taw within the fortress, and to pay the marbles to the player who drives it out of

the lines. He has also to pay another marble as ransom for his taw. PYRAMIDS. This is a good game for teaching accuracy of shooting.

A rather large ring is made--say three feet in diameter--and in the middle are four marbles, three put closely together, and the fourth on the top, so as to form a pyramid.

One player is called the banker, and puts the four marbles into the ring. The other players then shoot at the pyramid in succession from a spot agreed

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