New-York tribune., 1904-09-17

GAMES with Suggestions for III ERteT5anmsas
12mo. PIP. xxi, 6lO. Doubleday, Page q 90
What shall we do?" is the universal ques-
ton asked when two or three are gathered To-
rether 10 play. The question is admirably an
s,,ere1 nv Mrs KingsIand. She has collected
opd surrested nearly four hundred diherehI
ooroae and entertainments for the diversion oI
,,oure, and old on almost every imaginable occa-
sion where they would be appropriate 4heS
range from the old familiar games Oh chilu
hoods happy hour. such as Postolhce an
Going to Jerusalem" 10 the Mysteries Vi
C,ba,rononcv" There are mpromptu games or
thought wit and memory and others 10 DC
played with paper and pencil or requiring even
more elaborate preparation: card games pro-
gressive games. singing games ana SUNDAY
games The latter half Of the book IS given
mn n suggestions of entertainments for special
occasions Some OF these grouped by
months: a New Years Resolution Party for
January Wash!ngton's Birthday celebrations
for February. Poverty Luncheons' for Lent.
down 10 a twentieth Century Christmas for
December These are mostly for grown-ups.
but there is a special list for childrens parties
After chapter devoted 10 dinners. dances
and luncheons. and another containing hints for
getting up tableaus. there is a final one on
wedding anniversaries, the names of some OF
which will be new to most readers. The first
anniversary we are informed. is the cotton we'd
ding the second the paper wedding, the fourth
the leather wedding. the seventh the woollen
wedding. the twelfth the china wedding. the
twentieth the linen wedding Adding 10 these
the more familiar wooden tin, crystal and silver
weddings the married people who observe them
all should certainly lie able TO keep well stocked
with household goods and chattels. Tho sub
iect of presents, however, IS one which. with
wise consideration for the guests, Mrs. Kings
land keeps in the background. Her suggestions
are for the host and hostess to aid them IN
arranging an appropriate entertainments one
of them that is sufficiently amusing Is that at
a wooden wedding each guest should be pro-
vided with a bit Of wood and a knife, prize.
preferably made OF wood being offered for the
best whitfield boat, doll or what-not.
Mrs. Kingsand might incorporate In future
edition of her book the variation of japanese
Gobang" which was devised by two college
students TO while away the duh hours of an un-
interesting lecture course. 1t was played on
the pages of a quadrille ruled notebook. like
tit-tat-to one player making cross and the
other a circle the winner being the one who first
got five of his marks in a row in any direction,
up and down across or diagonally. 1t took
two years of constant practice to make the play
ers so skiful that the winning of the game de-
pended simply on the question as to which OF
them made the first mark. Treating Of card
tricks, Mrs. Kingsland describes one of them
as follows:
really curious card trick, which yet is not a
trick, but nearer to verifying the claims Of
mesmerism than any thing / have known is the
following: Choose five cards from the pack. select
OF them in your mind. spread them
fan-fashion-theiT faces turned down. Now hold
the right hand of person. tell him shut
his eyes and command him to draw the card from
the fan OF five which you hold out TO him With
action IT,,
nine times out of ten take the card which have
chosen that he shall. There IS explsEation-it
simply happens.
The explanation really is very simple, and will
at be apparent to any one who has any
practical knowledge of tricks with cards The
person with his eyes shut necessarily gropes for
the cards. which the person holding them must
place within his reach. This is naturally, even
If invountarily. done in such a way as to pre-
sent the chosen card most prominently If
there is any hesitation, unconscious mus
cular signal passing from the performer 10 the
subject, through the casped hands settles the
matter. One of the easiest OF all sleight Of hand
tricks is to force selected card from a full
pack on spectator who has his eyes open and
who is not in physical contact with the per-
former. 1t Is in fact, the foundation on which
the majority OF seight OF hand tricks are built