MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

EACH player selects a trade, which he carries on in dumb show, thus,

The tailor stitches his coat,

The laundress washes clothes,

The blacksmith hammers,

The cobbler mends a shoe,
The painter paints, &c.

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One of the party commences the game by exercising his own trade, and is called the king; the others must then work away at their various callings. When the king changes his trade and adopts that of one of the party, the rest leave off work, and remain inactive, except the one whose trade the king has adopted; he immediately takes up the king's trade, until it shall please his majesty to resort to somebody else's trade. Those players whose trades have not been adopted remain idle until the king resumes his original occupation, when all must fall to their several parts again. Any player making a mistake, pays a forfeit.

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"NICKY NIGHT, SHOW A LIGHT."

HOOPS THE EXPRESS TRAIN.

ONE of the best games played with hoops is called the "Express Train," and the following is the way to play it: Stations are marked out at intervals of about ten yards, and at each station two large stones, about four inches apart, are placed. The party stand at equal distances; the watchword is given, "One, two, three, and away!" and the start is made. Each player is bound to stay whilst she counts three deliberately at every station.

The one who returns first to the

starting point is the winner. The most expert player takes the part of "Engine," at the head of the train; and the others must follow with their hoops, through all the stations. Should a player displace any of the stones, she must instantly stop, put them into their place again, and wait till the Train comes round, when he falls in behind the last. The player must also stop if she goes outside, instead of through a station, and wait till the Train returns.

"NICKY NIGHT, SHOW A LIGHT.”

THIS game can only be played in the dark, and is therefore suitable for the economically-minded during long winter evenings, especially in country homes unsupplied with gas; but is a very good one when the nights are dry and long. Formerly it was more frequently indulged in than in these days, and much more so on the universal adoption of lucifer matches, which entirely released the ancient "flints" and

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茶

KITES.

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"steels from active service, and gave to every boy the free use of the kitchen tinder-box. Nicky Night cannot be played without a flint and steel; and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, all the old ones have vanished. But don't despair, boys. The orthodox domestic tinder-box steel is not absolutely necessary; any piece of steel will do, and nothing

better than an old file.

The hiders lurk silently in a gloomy nook, one of them being provided with a light-striking apparatus. The seeker calls out, "Nicky Night, show a light!" The command is responded to, and a few bright sparks show the hider's whereabouts. To that point the seeker hurries; but if the players are quick and cautious, he is disappointed, and is as much "in the dark" as ever. Once more he calls, "Nicky Night, show a light," and once more he spies the sparks, and chases them till he catches one of the party, who on finding himself pursued, has liberty to run home, and if he reaches it without being touched, he is not "out." When one is fairly captured, the seeker is "in," and the captured one becomes the seeker in his place. A dark lantern would answer the purpose, too.

KITES.

FLYING kites, when the weather is propitious, is a very amusing and healthy exercise. Some young people like to make their own, which is very easily done. Procure one or two garden sticks, and cut them in half. A kite may be

KITES.

made by simply crossing two such slips, binding them well. together with fine twine, and covering them with thin paper, which is to be pasted over at the edges (see fig. 2.) Any ornament can be painted on the surface. Another shaped kite is to be crossed near the top with a piece of wood a third of its length, well tied to it by a cross-wise binding of string. Tie another slip of wood to the shortest point of the long piece of wood by the centre of it, and then tie the two edges to the

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Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

two ends of the short cross piece of wood (see fig. 1.) Cover it with paper, pasting over the edges. The lighter the wood of the frame, and the thinner the paper, the better it will fly. Fix the string to the centre of the wooden frame at the back; and add a long and a light tail. The kite may be painted by rubbing up some vermilion or light red in water, and with a large camel's-hair brush emblazoning a device on it.

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TWENTY QUEestions.

To make the tail, thin paper should be used. Cut or tear it in lengths three inches long and two inches wide. Fold these up, and tie them at distances of an inch apart to very thin twine. Cut two pieces of paper about four inches square, nip them into fringe with the scissors, and make tassels of them, to tie at the two corners of the kite. The tail enables it to rise well, while the tassels or wings assist to steady it. The tassels must be of equal quantities of paper, or the balance will be lost.

The Japanese kite is just now more popular, superseding for a time the ordinary English one.

TWENTY QUESTIONS.

THIS is a pleasant game enough for winter evenings, and is played by one person fixing on a word denoting a substance, object, &c., which he confides to one of the other players, to see all fair sailing-Substance (for the purposes of the game) being unshapen masses, such as marble, clay, wood; objects having both shape and form. Thus, clay is a substance, but a flower-pot is an object; marble, a substance, and the chimney-piece an object, and so forth. The others try to discover it, in turn, by putting questions, of which twenty only are allowed, the answers being confined to "yes!" and "no!" with the exception of that defining whether it be animal, vegetable, or mineral. The inquiries, of course, will be governed by the answers given as the game proceeds, and must depend on the tact of the questioner. It