The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-03-07
A PEANUT FROLIC.
An Interesting and Amusing Game
for Family Party on a
Winters Evening.

When the invitations came, bidding
us to a peanut frolic, under the aus
pieces of the Round Robin Club" we
wondered what there could possibly
be in plain, ordinary, everyday pea
nuts to keep a crowd of young folks
busy for one whole evening. But the
Round Robin club never gave any par
ty that did not prove exceedingly
good fun, and we accepted as a mat
ter of course, by next mail, says a
contributor of the Cleveland Leader
The affair proved to be one of the
jolliest of the season. The room was
kept in a constant state of excite
ment from the arrival to the de-
parture of the company-and it was
founded, every bit of it, on peanuts.
First of all, as each guest entered
the room, he was shown huge punch
bowl full of "goobers," and asked
to see how many of these he could
gather up in the right hand at one
time without the assistance of the
left. The nuts in each handful were
counted, and two prizes awarded. One
to the lady making the biggest catch
and similar award to the gentleman
whose handful was largest among
those of the men. The prizes, little sill,
yer articles for the desk, were pre-
scented in yellow paper bags marked
peanuts. Five Cents"
To test the calculating powers OF
the players all nuts were then put back
in the bowl. Pencils and paper were
distributed, and we were asked to
guess how many COOLERS the dish con-
tanned. When all had guessed the nuts
were counted by the floor manager
The player who came nearest to the
correct number received a box of pea.
nut brittle
Next on the programme came pea
nut dropping, a game which required
a deal of calculation and steady hands
A tall vase having the neck just large
enough to admit peanut was placed
in the center of the parlor carpet
Each one present received three nuts
These he endeavored to drop into the
vase. The rules of the game required
that the arm in dropping be held out
straight from the shoulder, the player
regulating his position accordingly.
The player who was successful in land
ing most drops was given the vase into
which he had dropped them.
If such a thing is possible, the sue
ceeding feature was yet more thrilling.
For this five peanuts were bestowed
upon each of us, and at the word ''go''
we commenced to shell them. The OBJ
ject was to she'll the entire five be-
fore any other player accomplished the
feat. The prize in this case was a
pretty silk bag suitable for carrying
either tobacco or fancy work, accord
ing as fate awarded it to a man or
woman. 1t came to the prize winner
filed with peanuts. This contest was
governed by several rules. One of
these regulations decreeG that every
person Smelling a peanut must remove
the inner as well as the outer husk.
Also, that any nut broken in Smelling
into more pieces than ma ture arranged
for it did not disquaHfy the shelter
for the prize. He was obliged, how
ever, to ask for another sound nut to
be shelled in place of the broken one.
Another good trick was played in
this way: member of the entertain
ment committee arranged a chair at
each end of the room and placed upon
it five peanuts. Each member of the
company in turn was hen required to
take the peanuts one by one and lay
them upon the chair at the opposite
end of the apartment, bringing them
back in the same way. The player who
accomplished this in the shortest time
won prize. We were allowed to
throw the peanuts instead of carrying
them. But as any peanut thrown to a
chair and rolling off it robbed the
player of his chance. few cared to try
this more rapid but venturesome meth
cd. The carrier who proved best in
this contest received a paper cutter
surmounted by the figure of hare in
silver, in appreciation of his celebrity.
Peanut pin was another good game,
whose acquaintance we made for the
first time that evening. A big pin was
placed, for this, upright in the parlor
carpet, and each of us received five pea
nuts. The nuts were pitched. one by
one, the particular nut which lodged
nearest to the pin carried off the
trophy, which proved to be pretty
silver brooch.
For peanut tread, another jolly idea.
the little nuts were strewn over the
carpet and each player in turn crossed
the carpet. endeavoring to avoid step
ping upon any of the shells. A prize
was awarded to the person who accom-
plished the crossing in shortest time.
This took the form of well-written
book giving the history of various ERE
markable feats."
In the last game, and a very laugh
able one it was, we drew lots. and the
player to whom the blank fell took up
his position at one end of the room.
Here he was obliged to stand with open
mouth while each of us tried to throw
into the facial aperture a shelled pea
nut. The player who failed to lodge
his nut was promptly made target.
The sport continued, recruited in this
way, for ten or fifteen minutes.