The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-06-30
FUN AT A SUNDAY PICNIC.
THE FRENCH SOCIETIES SPENDING A
JOLLY DAY IN JONES'S WOOD.

Ten Thousand Persons Making Merry with
Games, Dances, and Rerreshmcnts-A Pig
that was Much Too Tame for Lively Chasing
Twenty-three French societies united in a
picnic in Jones's Wood yesterday. Ten thou
sand tickets were printed. and most OF them
were sold. Tho multitude began to gather at
10 o'clock A. NJ. and kept on increasing until
7. NJ. when the dancing began. 1t was mainly
IN assembage Of families and in holiday at
tire All were orderly so III atthe solitary French
policeman had nothing to do except TO enjoy
himself; yet liquors and lager beer we're freely
drank. The many fiagstaffs Of the garden were
decorated with the bunting OF various nations.
and bands OF music filled the air with the pop
ular tunes OF France.
Tho games were characteristic OF French
amusements. First. there was plenty OF fun
for the children In the game OF the shoes. A
crowd OF lads took of their shoes. Each pair
was marked with number chalked on the soles.
Then all the shoes were mixed in a huge pile.
the boys were started on q short race. and on
the return each lad hunted through the pile to
find his own. The youngsters made uproarious
merriment with their eager scrambling. The
one who got to the judges first with his shoes on
received the first prize. An amusing employ
ment for the Young girls was the game OF the
scissors. large square was enclosed under
the trees. Within the square. near one side,
were hung dozen cords with tho lower ends
secured to pegs In the ground. Upon the pay
ment Of nvo cents girl was blindfolded. pair
OF scissors was placed In her hand. and she was
started toward the cords. II she succeeded In
cutting a cord at the first clip Of the scissors che
took prize; II not. she got laughed Mt. and re-
tired hlushing among her companions. II was
remarked that many OF the pretty girls man
aged to cut the cords. and some OF the girls who
moi hut
did the blndfolding put on the bandages SO
that the pretty girls could see the strings. IL
certainly did look suspicious when girl delib-
erately stopped and pointed her scissors IN the
right direction. The crowd was always large
| to watch the pretty cOquetry OF the girls.
. For the men there was funny game called
Old man" Each player was In turn the old
man. Upon the payment, OF ten cents huge
| mask was put over his head. and he was al
| lowed TO walk about ton PAGES and strike at n
short stick laid loosely over the top OF stake.
| II he hit the short stick without stepping on
the stake he got prize Most Of the players
walked wide OF the mark, and struck vanly AT
| the air. amid roars ot laughter. The masks
| secmed TO put on different Expressions with
different men. and the iUH ut this point was
| roaring throughout the aIr. Another diver
sion for the men WAS thH tr.tg Of rubber balls
at n set of manikiu-. t.c contestants who
knocked down the mos, ot tue dummies taking
But the livcliest sport Of all was tho sack
races. At intervals IN the afternoon standard
hnarer with tho French colors look his place
bciman attracted the crowd. and three or four
young man tied up in sacks ran races Tor
prizes. The young women always gathered in
force at these raccs. and their merry laughter
was not the least enjoyable part OF the enter
tainment Then there were improysed games
OF puss IN the corner, whereat the merry maid
ems romped with delicious careessness. Some
OF the boys played leap-frog. or Jumped the
younger ones used the merry-go- round and
shooting galleries and not n few OF the misses
showed the brass heels OF their CATERS in the
swings.
Great fun was Anticipated with a pig race.
This was arranged for L. NJ. but II was long
after that before the pig made his appearance;
into the galleries that surround the woods.
leaving a free course for the pig in full sight of
all. But there was 50 much delay in brinRinR
the pig out TINT straggiers wandered into the
There was IA thrilling rumor that the pig had
escaped. but this proved false as at last the
committee. with the changing OF big bell.
ushered in the brute, duly CREASED. and. after
whoever caught the pig could have him. and a
general scramble was begun. The pig. how
ever, proved TO be disgustingly tame and would
not run. In vain was he urged with sticks and
with pretended Efforts to catch him. His cap:
ture was altogether too easy TO be exciting. and
not even surreptitous kicks and twists OF his
tail could make him lively.
During the day the picnic was visited by the
French Consul and the officers and crew Of the
French vessels OF war 10 the harbor. La Calls
sOnnierre and La Bourdonnais Admiral Peron
was with them.
Among the prizes for the games was q silver
cake basket and quantities Of Jewelry, wines,
artificial flowers fans. and fancy goods. The
French Consul presented a silver cake basket,
which was rafled for. In the course OF the
afternoon President ID. Debuchy welcomed the
guests with bumper Of champagne. and few
congratulatOry speeches were made. The
showers did not interfere with the amusements
rs the capacious cover was sufficient for all 10
fals aaha