Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-13
GAMES OF A PAST ERA

When the old fellows about town who
have reached their three score years and
ten, and the octogenarians. and even the
men who proudly confess to their ninety
years of age, were In their kid era. they
fairly revealed in all sorts Of out-of-door
games They were in greater variety than
the sports of the present age, which, IN g.
word can be condensed into one express
soin-"ball" The out-of-door pastimes IN
the days when this beautiful city had hard
" left it's swaddling clothes We're numerous
and diversified. Sound, healthy sports, with
lots Of fun and no business tinge In them'
held the middle of the stage.
One old gentleman, who first saw the
light of day IN the then separate munlc-
ipality of Georgetown, and who Is enjoying
his ease and dignity now that he is on the
shady side of eighty, in a recent enthu-
siastic discourse over how the boys en-
joyed themselves when he was a youngster
in his early teens, said day or two ago:
"One of the most high-spirited games that
we kids played in my day was the game
of prisoners base 1t was grand sport
TOR the winter time, and sometimes twenty
or two dozen boys engaged in 1t. There
were partners in the game, as 1t TOOK TWO
sets of players, and there were two prisons
facing each other at distance OF from
eighty TO two hundred yards, as might be
on one side running from a station near
one of the prisons, when one of the oppo-
site party rushes out after MN. Others
follow the object of each player being 10
catch one of his adversaries If he touches
him he is caught and must go TO prison.
One rule of the game was that man
was allowed to capture only the man mat
he started out for. Sometimes there were
a whole lot of fellows trying to catch pris-
oners each one after the one particular
boy he started after. When he is caught
he has to remain in the opposing party
prison He is not allowed, under the rules,
to escaue and the game is won by that
side which has all the players of the other
in prison at the same time.
NO more exhilarating sport than iiVe-
w game of prisoners base was ever
nlayed but it's out of date now as an out
door game. and has been for forty years
as far as l can remember.
1--WE fellows had another fine game, SAID
the old-time deyotee to athletic sports who
waxed enthusiastic as he remembered the
old games that we called Follow my
Leader This was a great kane when the
leader. who is agreed upon by the players,
Is youngster of daring and mettle
nimbIe and active leader, fellow whe
could climb trees, jump over FENCES ana
perform all sorts OF feats of agility wouio
give his followers plenty to DO. When
boy failed to follow the leader he was
out OF the game l have seen some funny
things in this game and some positively
dangerous trials of daring. Once In the
month of December / saw fellow, the
leader clothes on and all, jump into
an lev stream of water at least four feet
deep One ambitious player followed him,
but the others considered discretion the
better part of valor and backed out. There
was some danger in II occasionally, TOO, Tor
bows with a soul full of ambition didn't like
to show the white feather in athletic work
any more In my day than they do now.
Follow the leader had lots of exercise in
it. Many a time have / gone home with
torn pants and bruised limbs gained by try
ing to follow my leader in some outlandish
feat of agility that it was impossible for
me to perform. Whoever hears of that
game now?
'tOf course, the boys played foot ball In
my time. They played all sorts of ball ex-
cepting base ball That was unheard OF in
my early days We had game called hat
AS well as my memory serves in nine
holes a ball was to be bowled into holes
in the ground. In hat ball 1t was caught
in the players hats and tossed into holes
1t was, however, not much of favorite
game. Then We played catch ball. which
was something like nine holes Then we
| had round cat which was played with
ball and batzAThe player at the bat, II l
| can use that base ball phrase, tossed the
ball into the air and struck it into crowd
| 1t bounced provided 1t struck the earth,
1 han h96 ff.ra n