Of course the market woman may go backwards and forwards along the line till the rhyme is finished. If the player first touched does not start before the market woman touches her (after she has said the word "flock"), she may not move, and the same market woman begins again; the player who was too slow in running off, paying a forfeit.

HUNT THE KEY.

One of the party must be ignorant of this game, or the fun of it is lost. The players sit round as in Hunt the Slipper. The one who does not know the game is put in the centre to hunt the key.

Meantime the others have managed to fasten it to her dress, and blow it behind her, making a whistle of it. The players keep their hands in motion all the time as if they were passing the key, and any little boy of the group will sometimes whistle to make the seeker think the key is with him. But it is always blown, of course, behind herself; and the fun is to see her whirling round in search of it.

This trick should not be long continued, or it would be unfair. It is, of course, only a jest; and jests require great consideration, kindness, and courtesy in the acting, or they are very objectionable.

JINGLER! WHERE ARE YOU?

This game resembles Blind Man's Buff. One of the players is blinded with a handkerchief, another takes a hand-bell and joins her companions. The one who jingles the bell is called the Jingler.

The blind girl goes round saying, "Jingler! where are you?" In answer

the jingler rings the bell. The blind one follows the sound, but the jingler dodges her all over the lawn or meadow, sometimes shaking the bell close behind her pursuer.

If the blindman catches her they change places.

The other players must take great care that no accident happens to the blind girl.

The use of these delightful out-of-door playthings is so well known that we shall not attempt any description of them. A pictorial representation is, we think, quite sufficient.

GAMES OF BALL.

The ball is one of the most ancient playthings, furnishing also the best games known in mediæval or modern times.

In the days of St. Cuthbert it was the amusement of British children; and seven hundred years ago the young London apprentices played games of ball on Shrove Tuesday as one of the time-honoured amusements belonging to the day. At present it holds a high place at "cricket" and quêt;" it is also suited for the games of the nursery-in the shape of soft woollen balls-or for little girls' sports on the lawn, when it may be of India

cro

rubber, or soft kid "with a cork inside it," as described in Hans Andersen's tale of "The Top and the Ball." It is an amusement which little girls may share with their brothers, and thus enhance their own pleasure.

Catch-ball is played thus: The players stand in a ring at some little distance apart from each other, and toss a ball (which should be a soft one) from one to the other all round till it returns to the first player. If any one fails to catch it, and it should fall, she is "out" of the game and must stand on one side. As in order to play a good game the distances between the players should be rather wide, the ball will often fall, and the circle will finally be diminished to two players, who must stand a good way apart, and toss it to each other till it falls, and one remains winner of the game.

Another ball game is this: The players take each the name of a day of the week, or (if there are more than seven) of a month, and they must carefully remember their several names.

Monday" stands at a little distance from the rest, and cries, "The ball will fall to Thursday,' or any other day or month she chooses to name. "Thursday" catches it, and cries, "The ball will fall to Monday,'" who must then run to meet it. Whoever fails to catch it when called, pays a forfeit.

Chinese children do not toss up balls as our children do. They throw the ball to the ground and "bounce" it, catching it at the rebound either inside or outside the hand; and they will keep up the ball in this manner for a great length of time without letting it escape them.

You can also play ball against the wall of a room with a woollen ball, or against the house wall out of doors with an India rubber one.

OLDER BALL GAMES.

There is a very old game at ball, called "Fives," which was known in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and declared by her to be "the best sport she had ever seen."

For this game a garden wall with a piece of smooth ground before it is necessary. A line is drawn with chalk on the wall at the distance of about a yard from the bottom. On the ground a long line is marked out, with two other lines at right angles with it reaching to the wall:

forming an oblong square. This space marks the "bounds."

The players stand in a row outside the boundary line, a player on each

side standing alternately; for, of course, as it is a trial of skill, the players divide as at croquêt.

The first begins the game by bouncing the ball on the ground in the Chinese manner of playing ball. On its rebounding, she strikes it with the palm of her hand against the wall in such a manner that at its descent it shall fall outside "bounds."

This is done only for the first stroke: after it, the ball must be struck so as to fall within bounds, otherwise the opposite party count " one."

The players strike the ball in turn-first one side, then the other.

If any player misses the ball at the rebound, or strikes it beneath the line on the wall, or hits it out of "bounds," the opposite side count "one." Fifteen" is the game: and the side which first counts it wins.

PRISONER'S BASE.

Prisoner's Base used to be considered a game for boys only; but the hardier education of the young ladies of the present day has caused it to become a game for both brothers and sisters. The exercise and animation of this pastime will render it delightful on a cold winter afternoon.

It is played thus: A long straight line is marked out on the ground parallel with a wall, hedge, laurel fence, &c., but at about two or three yards distance from it; and this space is divided into two equal portions. These are called bases. One belongs to the first of the two parties or sides into which the players are divided, the other to their antagonists. At some tolerable distance from the bases, two prisons are marked out parallel with each other, with a good space between them; each prison must be opposite to its own party's base.

The players should consist of an even number, and should have two leaders or chiefs, under whom they must be equally divided.

They range themselves in a long row, just behind the front line of their respective bases, and the game begins by one player (called "the Stag") running from her own base in the direction of the prisons. When she has run a few paces she shouts "Chevy," at which signal, one from the opposite party rushes out and tries to touch her.

Instantly another player from the stag's party darts off to intercept the pursuer, whom she endeavours to touch before she can reach the one who began the game, and who, of course, makes for her own base again.

Player after player follows, each trying to "touch" an enemy or to avoid being touched by one.

Those who are touched on either side have to go to prison.

The leaders on both sides endeavour to rescue the prisoners from their adversaries, which they may do if they can reach the prison, and touch their captive followers, without being touched by the enemy themselves; but it is very difficult to achieve this, as a good look-out is kept over the prisons. The game is ended when all the players on one side are in prison, with the leader, who alone can rescue them.

If the prisoners on both sides are all released, it is a drawn game, and they must begin again.

THE SURPRISE.

On a smooth lawn a little party of schoolfellows are assembled. They decide on playing a German game called "The Surprise," and Isabel, who has been to school in Berlin, tells them how to play it.