The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-05-10
HOW TO ENTERTAIN.
When Conversation Fails
Try Some of These
Expedients.
FUN AT A cOBwEB PARTY.
Memory Contests to Sharpen the
Wits-COmpetitiye sketching
in Crayon.


informal affairs. Formal affairs are diff
ferent, one seldom goes to them for genu-
inc fun. To wedding reception, one
puts on ones best, congratulates the
happy couple, listens to the music if it
can be heard above the din of voices, and
generally tries to get away from the
rush as quickly as possible. An after
noon tea? Have you dainty evening
bonnet? Oh, all right. you can go and the
lovelier it is, the loveIier time you viii
have. OF course one talks. but after all
how many can confess that they have not
been bored? But it is at the smaller
affairs where all the company, soon know
each other that real pleasure can be had,
and where the simplest most child
ish amusements often fluid favor
and things are universally merry.
Recently heard young doctor who
was serving on a hospital staff say that he
had been tempted while walking In New
York to buy Il set of the now famous It'd
dledy Winks. He took 1t to his room, ands
was the subject of much good uaJured
chaff and joking in consequence. He
afterward told with much giee how there
was always a seventh fellow waiting
anxiously for the game TO be finished, so
that he too could take turn at it. So.
much as we may smile at these simple,
almost childish games, they are not with
out some good purpose when they serve
to evoke laughter and merriment for us
in this busy rushing world.
OF course the fact that these games are
always more or less contests, aud that
prizes are given to the winners and losers
makes them doublJ interesting.
a MEMORY CONTEST.
The memory contest tends considerably
to sharpen the wits and induces habits
OF observation. Let table be prepared
in an adjoining room, or In hall, with
number of small articles placed upon it,
books, pocket knives, cards, ornaments,
knitting needles. pens and pencils-ali
the paraphernalia that goes to make up
the living room. Let the players pass
into the room. one by one, slowly and
take good look at the table and It's
contents; then let them pass into the other
room, and. in ave minutes, write down
the names Of al the things that they can
remember. The person who has charge
calls Time p and then each one writes
how many things he has rememberee.
After that each one reads the list, and
amusement and amazement are the re-
suit. One person will remember some
thing no one else noticed, while almost
everyone viii have been struck with some
one thing, and include that In his or her
list.
Care should be taken that only familiar
objects should be used, and not less than
twenty-five articles should be shown No
| one, to my knowledge, has eyer remem-
bered more than twenty or twenty two,
while the majority remember even less.
SKETCHING.
| In sketching contests large easel is
placed in prominent part of the room
and upon white drawing paper with
! black crayon, each person is told by the
| general manager of the affair to sketch a
fish, a four legged animal or a bird.
Each person is given number which IS
i attached to his particular sketch. After
all the works of art nave been comp leted
! they are all held up, and one by one the
| party writes on slip % paper what it
/ appears TO them to be, thus:--No. 1, Cow;
| No. 2, Hippopotamus. But in confidenc e
| let me tell you that the probabilities are
| that No ! was intended to be the hippo
potamus, and vice versa. For it is as
founding how wretchedly most people
draw. After all the sketches hav
had Judgment passed upon them, the win
ners and losers are decided upon thus
| The drawing which has been distinguish
ed the most number of times is the win
ner. aud the one which has not been dis
! tinguished at all, or the least number of
/ times, gets the BOBBY prize, OF course
there are No. 2 winning aud No. 2 losing
| prizes also.
A COBWEB PARTY
A cobweb party is great fun.
It is work, too--work for the amiable
| and inventive hostess and most tantaliz-
| ing and pleasurable work for the investi-
eating guests. It is as exciting as
chase, with the game just beyond the tips
OF your fingers, or the reach of your gun.
AT first 1t seems as if one were trying to
catch will-o'- the-wisp or find the bag of
gold at the root of a rainbow In fact the
effect of the gay yarns. worsteds or rib
bous whichever enc chooses to use),
crossed and recrOssed and interlaced and
fnterwined, is not unlike very beautiful
rainbow, which had at the end of each
bright strand a real prize. Not the ira
ditonaI bag of gold, to be sure, but any
thing from silken shoestring to a dia-
mond pin. or a book, or picture or any.
thing and everything that ready, inven-
tive faculty, artistic taste or fun-loving
fancy can make or devise.
Cobweb parties may have a juvenile
sound. but they are not for the endowment
of rollicking youngsters, but for the di-
version of those who have learned, as the
years increased, to rein in their animal
spirits and to take their pleasure with
certain amount of self-control.
So the hostess knows as she weaves ner
cobweb of ribbons for her party that no
matter how often they are twisted and in
tertwisted by her there will not be any
fear of them getting into a hopeless
tangle.
She takes as many strands of worsteds
or yarn or riDDOn as the NUMBER Oh people
she has invited, and fastens at one end o I
each strand prize. Some of the strand
are yards and yards in length and some
are snort The prizes are snugged away
in hooks, under Chairs. behind pictures
up stairs. down in cellar or upon a
shelf. The different strands are crossed
and woven and interviewer like the airy
threads of a cobweb. Inc ends are Jef' t
within reacn.
The guests are invited to select strand
and to lind the other end of it, which
holds the prize Each goes to work and
follows the wanderings Of his strand IN
the seemingly inextricable mass of bewil-
dering twists and turns and coIors
It's great fun to watch the busy prize
seekers. AT first it seems deliciously
silly, but the philosopher forgets the fun
of it as he marks how each one works ac--
cording TO his temperament. With what
zest and energy and enthusiastic haste
one grabs his string and follows its leads
with eager expectancy With what slow,
deliberate inquiry another pursues tn
windings OF his strand With what doubt
ing and timidity and misgiving another
hunts for his prize, asking nnmberless
q uestions and having to be helped by his
co mrades in the knotty piacesl
But cobweb parties are not intend ed for
the entertainment of philosophers, bat to
Deafness Can't BE Cured
nv 10 cal applications as they can not reach the