foolish habit.
THE JOLLY MILLER.
The Jolly Miller is a game that may be played either in the open air or in the drawing-room, therefore it may be allowed to take its place among the list of round games. Not being generally considered, however, one of the most refined of recreations, a good large empty room, or a servants' hall, will be quite as suitable for its performance as the drawing-room. Each gentleman chooses a lady for a partner, excepting one who may be kind enough to volunteer to be the miller. This solitary one takes his stand in the middle of the room, while his companions in couples arm in arm walk round him singing the following lines:—
"There was a jolly miller who lived by himself.
As the wheel went round he made his wealth;
One hand in the copper and the other in the bag,
As the wheel went round he made his grab."
At the word "grab" every one must change partners, and while the transition is going on the miller has the opportunity given him of securing for himself one of the ladies. Should he succeed in doing so, the one necessarily left without a partner must take the place of the Jolly Miller, when he, like his predecessor, must occupy his lonely position until he is fortunate enough to steal a young lady from one of his friends.
JUDGE AND JURY.
The first thing to be done in this game is to select a judge and three jurymen. A piece of paper is then given to each of the remaining company, who, after due consideration, must write down the name of some one in history, the incidents of whose life they recollect sufficiently to be able to narrate. All having made their selection, the papers are presented to the judge, who calls upon one after another to submit to an examination. Supposing the first player to have chosen Guy Fawkes, he would be asked in what year he was born, in whose reign, to what country he belonged, what he did to make himself remarkable, what great men were his contemporaries, and anything else that might occur to the judge. No one, of course, with a superficial knowledge of history should accept the position of judge, nor yet that of juryman. If agreeable to the company, living characters may be personified, still historical ones are generally the most interesting, and it is astonishing how much instruction as well as real amusement may be drawn from the game.
THE MAGIC ANSWER.
It is necessary that this game should be understood by two of the company who mean to take the lead in it, and that an agreement should be made between them as to what course to pursue. One of these leaders goes out of the room while the rest of the company choose a word for him to guess on his return. The agreement made is that the word thought of shall be named immediately after the mention of anything with four legs. Therefore the conversation carried on between the two actors in the ceremony would be something like the following:—
Q. "Was the word thought of a tree?"
A. "No."
Q. "Was it a book?"
A. "No."
Q. "Was it a canary?"
A. "No."
Q. "Was it the Queen?"
A. "No."
Q. "Was it a river?"
A. "No."
Q. "Was it a rabbit?"
A. "No."
Q. "Was it a purse?"
A. "Yes."
MAGICAL MUSIC.
This is a game in which music is made to take a prominent part. On one of the company volunteering to leave the room, some particular article agreed upon is hidden. On being recalled, the person, ignorant of the hiding-place, must commence a diligent search, taking the piano as his guide. The loud tones will mean that he is very near the object of his search, and the soft tones that he is far from it. Another method of playing the same game is for the person who has been out of the room to try to discover on his return what the remainder of the company desire him to do. It may be to pick up something from the floor, to take off his coat, to look at himself in the glass, or anything else as absurd. The only clue afforded him of solving the riddle must be the loud or soft tones of the music.
THE MAGIC HATS.
Though the following trick cannot exactly be designated a Round Game, it may be performed by one of the company with great success during an interval of rest from playing. The performer begins by placing his own hat, along with another which he has borrowed, on the table, crown upwards. He then requests that the sugar-basin may be produced, from which on its arrival a lump is selected and given to him. Taking it in his fingers he promises, by some wonderful process, that he will swallow the sugar, and then, within a very short time, will let its position be under one of the two hats on the table, the company may decide which hat it shall be. It is generally suspected that a second lump of sugar will be taken from the basin, if it can be done without observation, consequently all eyes are fixed upon it. Instead of that, after swallowing the sugar the performer places the selected hat upon his own head, thus, of course, fulfilling his undertaking.
THE MAGIC WAND.
This being a game of mystery, there is not only a peculiar charm attached to it on that account, but it can also be made exceedingly attractive by the voluntary artistic movements of the performer. As in the Resting Wand, not only the leader must understand the game, but one of the company also must be in league with him, so that the two may understand each other, and work together. The person thus acting with the leader announces to the company that he will retire while a word is fixed upon, to be written on the floor when he returns by means of the magic wand. This done, a word is chosen, the person who retired is summoned, and the performance commences. The leader then begins by flourishing his wand in the air, and imitating as much as possible the tricks of a conjuror. He also makes an appearance of writing on the floor, at the same time speaking to his friend in short sentences. The letter at the beginning of the first sentence must be the first consonant of the word that has been chosen by the company, the second consonant must be at the beginning of the second sentence, and so on; the vowels occurring between being expressed by thumps on the floor with the wand. "A" is expressed by one thump, "E" by two thumps, "I" by three, "O" by four, and "U" by five thumps. One good decided thump at the end signifies that the word is complete.
