The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-02-23
ideas for IMo1nem


Don't imagine the Mttle ones Of pour
family can get along without plenty Of
good, healthy home amusement. They can't
The jolly good times. che merry evenings
with games and sport and general fun"
are just as much q part OF life to them
as they were some ten or twenty-five or
forty years ago to you. No childhood ID
complete without them.
We can all remember the time when a
~"grown-up'' person who s.s1Snew a lot" Of
games. new or old, and could get them
going was a hero or heroine in every day
habiliments. And each woman who has
the happiness OF youngsters in her charge
should make herself au fait upon this
point.
Charades In pantomime are not a new
idea But perhaps you lave never real
lied what an e~cstatie evening they
make for young people who range up
ward to II years.
Let the performers dress up" There
Is nothing which children so thoroughly
enjoy. And the costumes are neither In
tricate nor costly. A crash towel sus-
pended from the shoulders makes a hand
some cloak. The hearth rug with al anil
Anoeco pCAuS 0CACdth II fl1idhCS AC1OSiCuS
beast. A strip of cardboard cut in the
shape of a fan represents the article of
Tissue and silk. And so the possibilities
of a rug and a feather buster.
If possible. choose q pair of folding
doors for the performance. If not this,
arrange a sheet upon aswire to serve as a
curtain. The charades are performed by
separating some long word in syllables.
BY acting each syllable In turn and lastly
the word ITSELF
Thus. Shakespeare, may be represented,
first Of all by some MISUNDERSTANDING
individual who comes Upon the stage
shaking from head to foot. The doors
are then closed to signify that the first
part of the world IS completed. They
open once more to exhibit a gallant knight
in hot pursuit of some snarling beast. The
knight hrandishes a spear OF any stiff
material available. u the second
syllable is disposed of.
The final scene shows a court room. A
small, scourier-like man reads-dumb
show. of course-to aiady seated upon a
throne and wearing a huge neck ruffle.
1t is the Board Of Avon reading before
Queen .Bess. Thus the entire name
Shakespeare is brought in.
Teasing" as a charade, calls. first
OF all. for a number. of old ladies' drink
ing tea with a funny dumb show. The
second syllable brings in the first attempts
OF a young prdma donna, the more lu-
olcrous the better. For the entire word.
l. e., teasing, v a fat man asleep upon
a bench. while two w~de-awake youths
tickle his face with long bits of straw.
Htf F s
Stll another example:-Arrange a coun-
try school room and attire one of the per-
FORMERS as school master. Let all the
scnooi fehildren have books. Let them
con their lessons with much dumb show
OF working the mouth and pickering the
forehead. This will serve for the syi-
liable .aeon.
secondly, have a Jewish peddIer enter
selling small merchandise, suspenders.
pins, etc.
For the syllable gate. have the entire
company Of actors dress In odd gar
ments and walk about the stage in
couples, each with a different gait-hob-
bling. striding, hopping, skipping, etc.
For the entire word have several verbs
written upon the blackboard, the master
pointing to these and the pupils in yariA
GUS stages of s~conJugating.
Ihese examples are meant merely to
Nexplain the plan Of the amusement. There
re thousands of words tosbe readily
sAought of which can be used with excel
.3lent effect
1t adds much to the pleasure of the
charades If the actors be divided into two
bands While band No. / is acting, band
NO. 2 forms the audience tries. to discoy-
ersthe hidden word, and vice versa. The
pfan Is to make the word as difficult and
az the same time as1elever as possible.
Each guess successfully made scores one
h band making most successful guesses
wins the game.
Above all It is necessary that the Older
members conducting a children,s pleas
pre affair should show a. live interest in
IT, Should see that each difficuity is
smoothed out. Each scene made to pass
Off well.
Few charms possessed by wornankind
are more delightful h a that which is
known as "graciousness.s
What in -gractousness? 1t is sfmpIv the
presence sin the mind and the manifes-
tatfon in the manner of an innate gem
erous kiadliness of spirit combined with
unselfsh I ctfulnessAas different, this
last tqualdty, from policy and diplomacy
assis faisehood from truth.
Our English. cousins regard the Gift of
g~raciousness from a narrow point Of view:
they mistake It fer gush, or, worse still.
perceive is It some underlying motive.
some unseen. social x which must be
ground
Consequently, on the tight little Isle
the charm is more honored in the breach
than in 1.-THE observance, and Il is this
very quality, perhaps. which most of all
assists IN lowering the bars of English
society and afording free pasture there
to the fair American. Her possession of
the charm of -graciousness is, indeed,
the first factor Id her social success; she
displays 1t alike in her Intercourse with
women and menAit succeeds with the
former because they see in it something
subtly nattering. a desire to be markedly
amiable. and, with the latter, because it
conveys a hint of warm appreciation of
masculine superiority!
The Frenchwoman, whose charm Of
manner is proverbial, possesses the gift
IN f6S bfphacf 1a~ran -fxL 80. "a - 49,