The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1884-10-17
POM-POM PULLAWAY.

-boSt0H 1runScTtW.
POM-POM PULLAWAY.
A Broker Reviews the Games Of His Boy.
hood-Lively and Healthful Outdoor
Sports Of the Past Generation-Sheep.
Fold, Shiny and the Ancestors OF Base
Ball.
Were y.u ever boy?n asked a
broker of young friend the other day.
] he young man modestly admitted that
he had been. and asked the broker in
return what he meant by thus inquiring
into his private affairs. "Well, I'll tell
you," said the broker. eve got boy;
not an Office boy, but boy of my own.
He's turning h tenth birthday. and
thought I'd do something nice for him.
So l began hunting around to find out
what he'd like, and 1 asked him what
games he PLAYED at school. Well, NAV
/ be caught short on Northern Pacific il
the only game, as / underst md him,
that he PLAYS ism marbles. Now. mar
bles is all right, but / don't like the
idea of steady diet in that line. 1t
isn't broadening. It's sort of one
sided development. know that if my
repertoire of games when 1 was ten
years old had been limited to marbles
I'd have been of no earthly good in the
village where / was raised. 1t isn't
very much of q village, 900 or 1, 200in-
habitants I don't suppose there
were more than twenty five or thirty
boys who usually ran together, but we
had a great many different games.
ITO begin with, there were half q
dozen games, of which i spy or as we
called It, high spy. was the prototype.
The most famous of these was sheep
9; ard down, or as it was sometimes
called .sheep-fold.' 'Sheep-guard down
was RAFT ing good game, and I've
spent hours chasing around my father 8
house whe we usually played it. 1t
was too hot a game for summer, but
first rate for fall and early winter. We
lived aoout half mile o It of the village
then. When cold weather approached
my father used to bank up the house.
and then we were ready for sheep guard
down. You don't know what banking
up house is, do you? Well, it's build
ing wall of tan bark or sawdust, or
earth even, around the walls on which
yOul uO iSC ct0uoS W pAOtCCt Tic CclldI
from frosts- The wall is held up in
place by boards and the boards BY
stakes driven down outside of them into
the ground. But to return to the game.
We ok stick-sometimes q broom
handle, sometimes one of those banking
stakes-and leaned it up against the
bank ng, and then the shepherd closed
his eyes and counted twenty, thirty, for
fy, any number agreed on, while the
rest us skipped out. When he'd fin
ished co Mt ng he began looking for Us.
All he had to do was to see one of us,
get to the guard that is. the stick
before the man seen could. and, touch
ing the guard, call the man by name.
TIL It man was out OF the game unless
the guard was thrown down by one of
the men hiding. in the shepherds alb
sence. While the shepherd was looking
in one direction one of the men would
slip up. throw the stick over, and shout
Sheep guard down. The they wo Id
MI come in. and the shepherd would
have to start in afresh.
.The e was another game we used to
play which / venture to say you never
eYen heard of. We called it blank a
! Now, rs to the meaning If that
be, If it has any meaning, haven't
b . Theory. It's . sort Of hare and
Rounds in the dark. with = call for i
trail instead Of bits Of paper. A man is
selected good runner-for the blank
lilo. and he Is given q little start.
Then the rest of the players start after
him, guided in the chase BY his cry Of
blank lilo. which he is obliged to ut
ter every tine he turns corner or
starts in new direction. We had !
tip-top place to play it l used to think
Il fun. and / like hare and hounds for
no other reason spent . fortnight in
the village last summer. was sitting
one night in front Of store facing the
Green IS the little park in the center
Of the village is called, talking with the
proprietor, who was an old school
chum Of mine. It was after nine q. clock.
. starlight night, witt no moon. All
at once bo. dashed through the store
from . rear door, sprang by us, and
on . out on the street fairly rose on his
tip-toe as he yelled. Blank . lilo! By
JOve. l almost answered him, and was
half tempted to go after him as he tore
across the Green and up the street.
The boys play it there now, I'm told.
- We played Il years before them.
.stf the running games there were
number which called for agility Is we'll
Is speed. The hest Of those, in NV
opinion. Was 1e1poa goal see the
same game played now and then nights
u front Il to City Hall BY the Bows
hanging around there. JkoF al Il