Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-03-09
QUIET GAMES FOR LENT.
Indoor Anusements to Take the
Place of Parties and Balls.
The story Play the "Secretary," the
"Traveler's Tour " Preferencns," the
"BlInd Abbot" Fortune Telling
and q Host OF Other Games.


Certainly there is no amusement for
a town or country house where the peo-
pie like to stay at home so perfectly in
nocent and amusing as the games which
require a little brain.
It is a delightful feature Of our mod
ern civilization that books are cheap and
that the poets are read by everybody.
That would be a barren house where
we did not find Scott, Byron, Gold
smith, Longfellow, Tennyson, Brown
ing, Bret Harte and Jean Ingelow.
Therefore there would be little en-
barrassmcnt if we ask the members of
the circle around the evening lamp to
write a parody on Evangeline, Lady
Clare, We're de We're or the Heather
Chinee. The result is amusing.
Among games requiring memory and
attention we may mention "Cross Pur-
poses," 1.-THE Horned Ambassador" 81
Love My Love with an A." the "Game
of the Ring" (arithmeticaO, The Deaf
Man." 1.-The Goose's History" 'Story
Play" which consists in putting a word
into a narrative SO cleverly that it will
not readily be guessed, although several
may tell different stories with the word
repeated. The best way to play this Is
to have some word which is not the
word, like Ambassador" (if the word
be banana for instance) so by thus re-
peating ambassador the listener may
be bafied. The Dutch Conceit," my
Lady's Toilette" ''Scheherazade's Ran
SON. are also very good.
This last deserves a description.
Three of the company sustain the parts
of the sultan, the vizier and the prin-
cess. The sultan takes his seat at the
end of the room and the vizier then
leads the princess before him with her
hands bound behind her. The vizier
then makes an absurd proclamation
that the princess having exhausted all
her stories is about to be punished I'M
| less sufficient ransom be offered. All
the rest of the company then advance
in turn and propose enigmas which
| must be solved by the sultan or vizier,
sing the first verse of q song, to which
| the vizier must answer with the second
verse or recite any well known piece
| of poetry in alternate lines with the
vizier. Forfeits must be paid either by
the company when successfully encoun-
tered by the sultan and vizier, or by
the vizier when unable to respond to
his opponents, and the game goes on
| till the forfeits amount to any specified
number on either side. Should the
company be victorious and obtain the
greatest number of forfeits the princess
is released, and the vizier has to execute
all the penalties that may be imposed
upon him.
If otherwise, the princess is led to ex-
ecution. For this purpose she is then
seated on low stool. The penalties
for the forfeits, which should be previ-
ously prepared, arc written on slips OF
paper and put in a basket, which she
holds in her hands tied behind her.
The owners of the forfeits advance and
draw each slip Of paper. AS each
person comes forward the princess
guesses who it is, and, if right, the per-
son must pay an additional forfeit, the
penalty for which is to be exacted by
the princess herself. When all the
penalties have been distributed the
hands and eyes Of the princess are re-
leased, and she then superintends the
execution of the various punishments
that have been allotted to the company.
Another very funny game is Con
fessions by a DE-" played with cards
and dice. 1t would look at first like a
parody on Mother Church, but it is not
so guilty. A person takes some blank
cards, and counting the company writes
down a sin for each. The unlucsy sim
ner, when called upon must not only
confess, but, by throwing the dice, also
confess as many sins as they indicate
and do penance for them all. These
can, with witty leader, be made very
amusing.
The Secretary" is another good
game. The players sit at table with
square pieces Of paper and pencils, and
each one writes his own name, handing
the paper, carefully folded down, to the