tell why the number is famous, or in what connection it is often quoted. For example:

No. 9.

No. 7.

No. I.

There were nine muses.

There were seven wonders of the world.

The most important of beings-self.

No. 2. The ideal number for happiness-"Two are company" or companionship.

Those who are unable to think of anything pass on their papers to their neighbours, and those who respond keep the papers as counters. The one who has the most counters at the end of the game is naturally the winner.

For clever persons, the game may be made more difficult by confining the answers to old proverbs, adages, facts, or quotations.

If No. 10 is drawn-"Ten cents make one dime." If No. 1-"One, two, buckle my shoe."

If No. 2 is drawn-"Two wrongs never make a right," or "Two heads are better than one.'

Whoever fails to respond within one minute must give a forfeit, to be redeemed later for the entertainment of the company.

STATE NICKNAMES

A journey in the United States. The blanks to be filled in by the nicknames of the various States.

The traveller started out for a walk. Having seen the new South, he concluded to pay a visit to the opposite direction, the

heard that the course of direction.

Taking his

grating a

although he had

was in another

cane, he went to bid his daughter good-bye. She was in the kitchen,

which she mistook for a

She gave him a luncheon of the wing of a

He left his home and hurried over the bridge, on the of which he paused to call his

servant, who was trying to

sailing on the

of a lofty

Then directing his course by a

which was just setting above the tops

Every one is provided with pencil and pad, or a generous supply of paper. A timekeeper is appointed. The office is usually much sought for at first, as an escape from the responsibilities of authorship. Each person is then requested to write an original poem

within fifteen minutes. No talent is necessary, only the courage to plunge.

A subject may be given, upon which all concentrate their efforts, or each may follow the flight of his or her separate fancy. Almost every one can write a jingle, or at least a few doggerel lines, and the gratification of some hitherto unsuspected poet at his own success is amusing. It seems difficult at the outset only. One young woman in desperation wrote the following: "You ask me for something original,

But I cannot think of a thing;

There's nothing original in me
Except original sin!"

Encouraged by success, some one proposed taking a half-hour limit and writing the poems (?) in French. Whereupon that versatile maiden made a free translation of her former attempt:

"Hélas, pensez vous me demander des vers? À moi, qui n'en fit de ma vie—

À moi, dont l'unique génie

Est de mettre toujours le bons sens à l'envers!

After being collected in a basket, the hostess reads aloud the effusions-the authors are anonymous. Votes are taken and the most successful poet is crowned with laurel.

HODGE-PODGE VERSES

This game is played in the same manner as the foregoing one, except that the poem or couplet must be composed of lines each from a different author. Or, it may be played so that each person in succession contributes a line, which rhymes with the preceding one, while preserving the metre of the first line.

As an example of the first mode:

"Be to her faults a little blind" (Prior),

"All think their little set mankind" (Hannah

More).

In the second manner, one knows only the metre and the last word of the line written by the player before him, which is told him for the rhyme and rhythm. The result following will justify the name of the game in all probability, as, for example, as was once written. "A frog he would a-wooing go" (Mother Goose). "To tyrants ever sworn the foe" (John Quincy Adams).

"Man wants but little here below" (Goldsmith). "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" (Doxology by Thos. Ken).

LOCALISED CHARACTERS

This game is popular among the book-lovers, and offers a test of memory to the readers of the company. Cards or slips of paper, with pencils, are distributed among the players, upon each of which is a list of characters chosen from well-known books. A space is left below each name wherein the players are to write the titles of the books from which the characters have been selected.

The time should be limited, and, at its expiration, each player signs his name and passes his paper to the person at his left.

The hostess or leader then reads the list aloud, assigning the characters to their correct place in literature. At the mention of each, a line is drawn through the incorrect ones, and those rightly assigned are counted and their number written at the top of the page.

The

papers are then collected, and the lady and gentleman having the highest marks have that honour proclaimed, and, if the hostess choose, a book may be presented to each as a prize. Among those who are well acquainted "booby prizes" add to the fun without embarrassment to their recipients. A primer to the lady and a huge fool's cap to the gentleman might be selected for the purpose.

The number of characters may vary, of course, but three dozen, with a time-limit of half an hour for writing them, will be found to present the game agreeably.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS

Nothing but a knowledge of history common to all educated persons, and no knowledge of art whatever, is requisite. Each person makes a sketch illustrating some historical event, the more absurd the better, the lack of artistic ability but contributing to the merriment: Pocahontas saving Captain John Smith, Excelsior, King Alfred in the shepherd's hut, etc. The papers are passed around to the left and each writes