The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-02
YOU'RE IT,
w hen YouAre
Tagged.
UNIVERSAL is
The Game, for It's Been at
Since Creation.

A famous surgeon once visited an in
sane hospital to consult with the resi-
dent physician about the case of a rich
man who was confined there. 1t was
hoped that the skill Of the great medical
savant might be able to suggest some
remedy for the disease of the wealthy
lunatic whose mania was a murderous
one and impelled him to make all sorts
of desperate attacks on his keepers and
those who visited his cell. The cele-
brated surgeon was ushered into the
cell where the demented man sat glow
ering with averted face.
The visitor attempted to engage him
in conversation in order to diagnose his
case, but to no avail. At length the
patient made q request for something
that took the attendant out Of the room
and to a distant part of the building.
The man carelessly left the door of the
cell open and it was possible to look out
of it and down the passage way which
led to the physicians private entrance,
which also happened to be open. The
crafty eye Of the maniac took in the
situation and in an instant he acted on
it. AS the footsteps Of the attendant
died away in the echoing corridor that
led to the interior of the building, the
lunatic leaped to his feet with a fierce
yell, reached under the eoverlet of the
cot on which he had been sitting, and
in moment was menacing the surgeon
with an immense carving knife which
he had succeeded in concealing.
With a presence of mind remarkable
under the circumstances, the doctor
turned and rushed for the door with the
maniac in close pursuit. Then began a
race for life with the physicians hair
turning whittier at every step. Out
through the cell door, down the passage
way that led out Of the building and
through the grounds the fleeing medic
sped, and the man right at his heels.
Yelling like Comanche, the lunatic
pursued his victim around and around
the spacious grounds which We're en-
closed with high wall over which no
one could climb. The physician had been
Splinter in his college days and no
hotly contested race was ever run by
him with more sincerity of purpose
than this wild chase, but he could not
gain an inch.
AT length he felt his strength giving
out and he knew he must soon yield. He
turned at last to the wall and deter
mined to scale it If possible Making a
final effort, he sprang toward what
looked like the lowest portion Of the
barrier and made desperate leap for
the top. To his horror he missed 1t ana
fell in shuddering heap~at its foot
He knew all was over and in speeches.
terror he covered his eyes and waited
for the end. With whoop Of triumph
the maniac sprang upon him, waving the
Offering weapon in the air, stopped
down and gently touched the surgeon
on the shoulder, and cried with a. laugh
Of childish glee, Tag, you're IT, This
is the original tag story.
OF all the pastimes that the iflgenll-
ity of man and the natural iAstinct Of
the animals have invented to while
the idle hours of existence, there Is
but one that is universal There is
but one game that has been played
since the merry shouts of children
first awoke the prehistoric echoes Of
the primeval forest; but one that has
amused alike the scions Of the rich and
poor since time began; but one among
whose devotees have been included all
the people that ever trod the earth
and in which even the young of the
animals have ever been participants
and even the teachers Of their human
companions; but one that will endure
as long as the world affords the OPP
portunity for outdoor sports. This is
the one game that has been played
from the land of the fur clad youth
of the north to where the brown
limbed boys of Uganda disDorc them
selves in the simplicity of palmleaf
hats and cheerful smiles, from the east
to the west-the universal, and now
the great Anglo-American game of
tag.
Tag is the Oldest pastime in exist
ence. The first impulse o. the young
animal, the first tendency of the tod
ding child is to pursue it's fellows,
touch them and be pursued in turn.
Tag is the one great spontaneous
amusement Of the animal race
The sport has taken different form
in every country where 1t has been
played, but the fundamental idea of
somebody being ~IT' has pervaded all
note of human existence. Some one
has to be "PT'' in all the affairs Of life
In ancient Assyria, the noble youth
has played the game In their mimic
war chariots and the unfo ctunate was
often tagged with a spear thrust The
Spartan youth played it when he went
counting ON the sly. The Germans and
Celts, whom Caesar fought in the for
est of trans-Alpine Gaul, played it
with the wild aurochs for the central
figure, and when once tagged they
were tagged for good and ALL The
Kamschatskan boys play it in a ring
cut out in the eternal snow and the
reward of being caught is a path in
some icy ford near at hand Minia~
ture mandarins in China pursue each
other with waving shirtnaps and TOD
ding walk and gravely tag each other
with their gayly pictured fans, while
even the stoical American Indians run
their wild course over The western
prairies, and true to their equine PRE-
objections, enjoy the sport on horse
back.
In lands of more modern civ
ilization, the youth have invented
many unique forms of the game. in
the Highlands Of Scotland tile bonry
tig' and the pursued one must touch
some iron object in order to be safe
from the "tigger." This is the form
among the peasant youth, and the vel-
vet clad scions of the nobility vary
as they play about their ancestral
halls by making the safety giving met
al gold, instead Of the baser one. IT is
said that this form of the game has
it's origin in the symbolism Of an evil
spirit, represented by the pursuer,
against whom iron was talisman. In
other parts of Great Britain The safety
spot is a certain area maclSe1 out AMI
called in some portions o. the country
Kings land" or the ftC&stle," While
in Connecticut the boys term 1t Wan
Diemens land" in New York Dixie
land" and in Philadelphia rho golden
pavement"
In France the more airy Gauls play
what they call Chat perche." or, lit
orally, "Cat on perch" which means
that the only safety from the cat
chaser Is to mount the branch Of tree
or some place where the feet will not
touch the ground until he is out of the
way. Another form is called the
Gorilla" in which the tagger mounts
the tree and sits there in sullen silence
while all the other players approach
hi ard i,,,ifofa fl,at,. ,,nus,,.e. ~.