This is a very good game, and to play it properly there must be in the centre of the playground a small hill or hillock.
Cat and Mouse Game. This sport, which is of French origin, is for two players only.
This, if well managed, is a very comical game. The players are arranged as in Fugleman, the player who enacts Simon standing in front.
Make a mark on the ground at a place called the “starting point.” At ten yards’ distance from this make another, called the “spring.”
This game can be played by any number of boys, who must all join hands; the game is begun by the outside players at each end of the line holding the following dialogue:
Various games are in vogue among boys, in which hopping on one foot is the principal object.
This is a capital game when well played, and the antics and grimaces of boys who are mimics cause great merriment.
This is a game played by hopping on one foot and kicking an oyster-shell or piece of tile from one compartment to the other, without halting the lifted foot, except in one case, to the ground, and without suffering the shell or tile to rest on any of the lines.
A tolerably large ring should be formed by several boys standing in a circle and joining hands;
This is an old Greek game, and, like very many simple boys’ games, has retained its popularity to the present day.
This is very simple play. The ball is thrown into the air by one player, the others standing round him. He calls out the name of the player, for whom the ball is thrown.
This is a capital game for the summer months. The players divide themselves into two parties, one party remaining at a spot called “Bounds,” and concealing their faces, while the other party goes out and hides. After waiting for a few minutes, the home party shouts, “Coming, coming, coming.”
In this game four or five stones or marks must be placed on the ground, as in the annexed figure, A, B, C, D, E, about twelve or fifteen yards asunder; these marks are called bases, and one of them, as A, is styled “home.”
This game is played by two boys, each of whom takes a smooth round pebble.
This game, which takes its title from the names assumed by the players, is played by seven boys, each of whom calls himself after one of the days of the week.
This is a very simple sport, but necessarily restricted to those spots where there is a river, or a pond of some magnitude.
Dig near a wall nine holes, of about six inches in diameter, and three deep. Let each player have one of these, according to his number, which must be determined by lot.
This is a most delightful game, and is a very great favourite among boys of all classes. It is commenced by choosing Captains, which is either done by lot or by the “sweet voices” of the youths.
This game is played with a trap and ball, which is struck with a bat or bludgeon at the pleasure of the players; but the latter is most commonly used.
Chalk or make a line, or, as it is usually termed, “a garter,” on the ground; on this line one of the players must place himself and bend down as in leap-frog, while the other players in rotation leap over him, the last one as he flies over calling out “Foot it.”