Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun. Various
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feather with very little stem must be procured. The players then draw their chairs in a circle as closely together as possible. One of the party begins the game by throwing the feather into the air as high as possible above the centre of the ring formed. The object of the game is to keep it from touching any one, as the player whom it touches must pay a forfeit; and it is impossible to imagine the excitement that can be produced by each player preventing the feather from alighting upon him. The game must be heartily played to be fully appreciated, not only by the real actors of the performance, but by the spectators of the scene. Indeed, so absurd generally is the picture presented, that it is difficult to say whether the players or the watchers have the most fun.
FINDING THE RING.
The principle of the following puzzle is very similar to that contained in "Think of a Number."
First of all a ring must be provided, after which you can request the company to put it upon some one's finger, adding at the same time that you will tell them who has it, and also upon which hand, and even upon which finger it shall have been placed.
The ring being deposited on a certain finger, you must then ask some one to make for you the necessary calculation.
Multiply the number of the person having the ring by 2; to that add 3. Multiply this by 5; then add 8 if the ring be on the right hand, or 9 if on the left. Then multiply by 10, and add the number of the finger (the thumb is 1); and, lastly, add 2.
Ask now for the result, from which subtract mentally 222, and the remainder will give the answer.
For instance, supposing the ring were put on the fourth person, on the left hand, and the first finger, remembering that the thumb counts 1.
The following is the kind of sum to be worked out:—
| The number of the person multiplied by 2 | 8 |
| Add 3 | 11 |
| Multiply by 5 | 55 |
| Add 9 for the left hand | 64 |
| Multiply by 10 | 640 |
| Add the number of the finger 2 | 642 |
| Add 2 | 644 |
| —— | |
| Subtract | 222 |
| —— | |
| 422 |
Which result proves it to be, beginning at the right-hand finger, the second finger of the left hand of the fourth person.
When the number of the person wearing the ring is above 9, the remainder will stand in four figures instead of three; in that case the first two will indicate the person.
Like all games of mental calculation, the more quickly this is done the better.
FLYING.
To play this game well it is necessary that there should be a good spokesman in the company, who will find ample opportunity for his gift of eloquence.
Simple as the game may appear to be, it is one that is generally played with very great success.
Each member of the party wishing to take part in it must place the right hand upon the left arm.
The leader then intimates that in the discourse with which he intends to favour his friends, whenever he mentions a creature that can fly, every right hand is to be raised and fluttered in the air in imitation of a bird flying. At the mention of all animals that cannot fly, the hands remain stationary. It is, of course, needless to say that the leader will do his best to have the hands raised when other animals are mentioned as well as flying ones, in order that a good number of forfeits may be collected.
All being in readiness, he will begin in a style something like the following:—
"One lovely morning in June I sallied forth to take the air. The honey-suckle and roses were shedding a delicious perfume, the butterflies and bees were flitting from flower to flower, the cuckoo's note resounded through the groves, and the lark's sweet trill was heard overhead. It seemed, indeed, that all the birds of the air (here all hands must be raised) were vieing with each other as to whose song should be the loudest and the sweetest, when," &c.
Thus the game is carried on until as many forfeits as are deemed desirable have been extracted from the company.
FORFEITS.
As an evening spent in playing round games would be thought incomplete if at the end of it the forfeits were not redeemed, so our book of amusements would be sadly lacking in interest if a list of forfeits were not provided. Indeed, many young people think that the forfeits are greater fun than the games themselves, and that the best part of the evening begins when forfeit time arrives. Still, although we will give a list of forfeits, it is by no means necessary that in the crying of them none but certain prescribed ones should be used. The person deputed to pronounce judgment on those of his friends who have had to pay the forfeits may either invent something on the spur of the moment, or make use of what he has seen in a book or may have stored in his memory. Originality in such cases is often the best, simply because the sentence is made to suit, or rather not to suit, the victim; and the object of course of all these forfeit penances is to make the performers of them look absurd. For those players, however, who in preference to anything new still feel inclined to adopt the well-known good old-fashioned forfeits, we will supply a list of as many as will meet ordinary requirements.
1. Bite an inch off the poker.—This is done by holding the poker the distance of an inch from the mouth, and performing an imaginary bite.
2. Kiss the lady you love best without any one knowing it.—To do this the gentleman must of course kiss all the ladies present, the one he most admires taking her turn among the rest.
3. Lie down your full length on the floor, and rise with your arms folded the whole time.
4. Kneel to the wittiest, bow to the prettiest, and kiss the one you love best.—These injunctions may, of course, be obeyed in the letter or in the spirit, just as the person redeeming the forfeit feels inclined to do.
5. Put yourself through the keyhole.—To do this the word "Yourself" is written upon a piece of paper, which is rolled up and passed through the keyhole.
6. Sit upon the fire.—The trick in this forfeit is like the last one. Upon a piece of paper the words, "The fire," are written, and then sat upon.
7. Take one of your friends upstairs, and bring him down upon a feather.—Any one acquainted with this forfeit is sure to choose the stoutest person in the room as his companion to the higher regions. On returning to the room the redeemer of the forfeit will be provided with a soft feather, covered with down, which he will formally present to his stout companion, obeying,