The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1842-12-18
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feits were accordingly coected and James select
ing couple, held them over Harriet Gibbs head.
=" Whose two pawns these" said he " and
what shall he and she do TO redeem themP
"The lady shall kiss the schoomaster," said Hair
net, land the gentleman shall go into the forenoon
% Miss Harriet Gibbs and Mr.. Ivory Harlow go
and do it, said James.
sob, la me shant do no SIGH thing" said Har-
re:, with a halt scream.
"Then you don't have your ring again." said
James.
swell, then, suppose must do it, or shall be
setting bad example TO the resi-, /" said Harriet.
And away she run across the room TO Mr.. Stephen
Long, and at once gave the whole company audible
evidence that she had fairly redeemed her ring
Ivory Harlow walked lesurey into the fore room.
What he did there the young people could not GER
tany say, but from the hearty laugh that came from
the elderly people there assembled, they inferred
that he did something, and on his return James gave
him up his pawn.
James then seIectedtwo more of the forfeits, and
held them over Bill Dingey's head.
- Whose two pawns are these, and what shall he
and she do to redeem them?" said James.
= We shall kiss each other through chair back"
said Ben.
Miss Susan Briggs and Mr.. Stephen Long have
got TO do it," said James
Whereupon Mr. Stephen Long readily took a chair
and approached Miss Susan Briggs. But Miss Su.
san, when she saw the schoolmaster coming towards
her. holding char up to his face, and his lips poked
throug the back OF It, colored up to the eyes, and
turned away.
'Do it, do t." cried half the company, Z" or you
shant have your handkerchief"
Mr. stephen Long seemed bent upon redeemng
his pawn at any rate, and he followed Miss Susan
with the char with an carnestness that showed he
did not mean TO be bailed. When Miss Susan
found herself cornered and could retreat no fur
Their, she kissed her hand and tossed II at the chair
:" That wont do" cried half dozen voices
:" had to redeem mne," said Harriet Gibbs,
and it's no more than tar that she should redeem
! hers
:" Well, you may redeem mine too if you are a
mind to-" said Susan, pushing the chair from her
with her hand.
When Mr. Stephen Long found he could not re.
deem his pawn through the chair, he declared he
would redeem ii without the chair. So setting the
| char down, he commenced fresh attack upon
| Miss Susan, who held both hands tightly over her
| face. After some violence, however, the company
heard the appropriate signal OF triumph but wheth-
er the victory had been achieved upon cheek or
hand, always remained matter of doubt
In redeemlng the rest of the pawns the penalties
were various as the characters of the several
persons who stood as judges. One had to measure
half dozen yards OF love ribbon One had to hop
across the room one foot backwards Another
had to kneel to the prettiest, bow 10 the wttiest,
and kiss the one he loved best But when Bill
Dngley stood as Judge, he declared he wasn't in
dinghy adjudged the delinquens 10 kiss every lady
and gentleman in the room that is the lady kiss
the gentlemen, and the gentleman kiss the ladies',
which penalties the aforesaid delinquens performed
| according to the best of their abilities.
When the game of pawn over, the general
vote seemed to be in favor of blind mans buff. =
James nad 10 pima ne Wflrled about The
room, and flew from side to side and corner to cor
ner, with much ease and boldness though he
had nothing over his eyes and he kept the compa-
ny continually flying from end of the hall to the
other, like flock OF frightened pigeons He, how
ever, killed them OIL pretty fast, by catching
| after another, and sending them into the room
While they were running for their lives this way
and that, Ivory Harlow couldn't help noticing that
somehow other, Harriet Gibbs most always blum
| dered into the same where the schoomaser
was and sometimes she would run right against
him before she him; and then sometimes she
would almost fall down, and the schoolmaster would
have to catch hold of her to keep her from falling.
More than once that evening Ivory wished he had
| not bro ught her, and more than twice he wished
| susan Briggs might forget that he did bring her.
The brisk running and hustle at blindman's buff
drew the elderly people TO the door Of the fore room,
caught about half the company, Mrs. Briggs could
not stand it any longer. She slipped off her shoe,
| and in she went right am Dngst them, and joined in
the game; and she ran about lighter and quicker
| than any girl there. SO much upon the alert was
she and moved about with such noise less and nim-
BILE footsteps that she was In fact the very last
be taken. And when at last, she was cornered and
caught, James wos little puzzled to know who it
was, for he felt almost sure he had caught all the
large girls But when he put his hand upon her
head and face, and neck, and shoulders, he exclam-
i" Well done, mother; this is you Now you shall
blind ~
"Oh, no. can't do that, James," said Mrs Briggs
retreatlng towards the forenoon.
Eyes, but you must" said James, "you are the
last caught"
eyes, yes, you must, you must" echoed the
young folks on all sides
"Wen," said Mrs Briggs at last, eli Mr.. Briggs
and the rest OF EN- will come out aad rum I'll
blind 0,-
The elderly people stood and looked at each other
minute and at last they haw hawed right out, and
then half dozen OF them came out upon the floor
to JOIN the game. The handk erchief was put upon
Mrs. Briggs eyes, and the young folks commenced
running and the old folks commenced running
| he folk hpay nd he
| folks laughed loud, and there a most de-
cided racket. Mrs Briggs, however, soon cleared
the coast, tor she was as spry as cat and caught
her prey as fast that useful animal would do when
shut up in a room with swarm of mice
When this was run over, the play went back again
exclusively into the hands of the young folks, and
after several Of them had been blinded, il came at
last 10 Bill Dingleys turn Bill went into II like
days work. He leaped upon his prey like tiger
| among sheep He ran over one, and trpped up
other, knocked one this way and another that, and
caught three or four in his arms at He made
very quick work OF 1t and caught them all off, but
when he got through, Two or three were rubbing the
bruises their heads, and was Bile edng at the
nose This wound up the blind mans buff.
Mrs. Briggs then came out and told Susan to get
a table out in the middle of the room She then
brought forward couple OF nice little loaves Of
Christmas cake, and placed them on couple of
plates, and cut them up into as many slices there
were young folks present, men and women grown.
said h Mrs srlg ss, Te see which ofyou
each OF em a Christmas ring in them; and which
gets the slice that has the ring in will be mar
red before the year out So all the gals six
teen years old stand ny in a slde and all
the young men eighteen stand up in row on
the other side, and III pass the cake round'
She carried II roun1 the young men first and
each took slice and commenced eating to as
certain who had the ring
SPY ilngs, haven't got IT," said Bill Dingley
swallowing his cake az three mouthfuls
MAY be you've swallowed IT," said George
Gibbs
"Wel them that's got it," said Mrs. Briggs,
" please 10 keep quiet TIL we find ont which OF the
gals has the other''
She then passed the other cake round to The young
ladies'. When she came to Susan Harriet Gibbs,
who was standing by her side, said: