The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-01-20

known, Is called spelling down the
line" Any number can play, but TWEEN.
~ to thirty make the best game. Two
are captains. aud each In turn chooses
player. and these players stand in
order, one Oh one team aud then one
on the other team. all in line. When
the line Is finished the captains are at
each end.
Either Of the captains can begin, and
he looks down the line and sees all are
ready. Then be thinks of a word.
usually as long a one as possible, and
spells the first letter out loud, but does
not tell any one what the word is that
he has In mind. Suppose he thinks of
pronunciation" and starts with p"
The next player. not knowing what
the word Is. thinks Of as long a word
as he can beginning with "p' and
, hits upon ''promIscuous," SO he spells
out loud "r." The third mans idea OF
good long word beginning with pr
is perhaps ''propitiatory," so lie spells
20" The fourth man thinks of pro
tectorate" and says It"
Now it is getting down to the fun,
| and each begins to think hard before
it comes to his turn, so as to be ready
with good long word. The fifth man
cannot think of any word beginning
with prot except prototype" so he
says TO- and the man beyond. who
was hoping he would say that. is all
ready with ''protoplasm' aud snaps
out "p."
Now the next poor fellow In line Is
stuck. He thought ii would be a &C.
or It" and he was all ready to go on
with either prototype" or protocol
but he cannot think of any word that
starts with "protop," so he is down and
out. The player who puts him out must
then state the word he thought OF to
show that 1t was fair, because II there
is no such word or 1t Is not spelled thai
way the one who gave false lead Is
out of 1t instead. Sometimes they have
{, an umpire. who follows the words In
the dictionary. as It must be one OF
two or three when 1t gets to the fourth
or fifth letter.
The captain at the other end then
starts a word, and 1t passes down the
line In .the opposite direction to the
first, so that player at the other end
is usually weeded out. Sometimes the
| spelling narrows down to a word that
is well known and then the Ingenuity
comes in lengthening It out, so that II
shall not end with a certain player
nor with one Of his teammates.
AS the ranks thin out, each player
has to see who stands next him. Sup
pose 1t gets to Il player who sees one
OF his own team is next him aud the
word so far is 'measur." IL he says
"ep he escapes. but his friend must
say ID If he says anything and steps
out. To escape this the first one says
81" and his terminate says ~" AMI
there Is nothing left for the third one
who belongs to the other team. to say
but "g." as there Is no other continue
ton possible that will extend the word
Sometimes. instead OF having each
team alternately in the line. they have
all Of one team at one end and all OF
the other at the other end. Then the
scheme is to get words long enough to
reach to the opposing team and die
there, and words that end in illness
or such easy syllables are In demand
Az the line gets shorter word may
pass clear through and back to the
originator. The game may be further
varied by having the new words start
ed where the last one dies.
Those who are knocked out still
have plenty OF fun guessing what
word will come out and thinking what
they would say il they were still in 1t
IL is very seldom that the following
player will think Of the same word as
the one ahead OF him, and this Is one
Of the surprises OF the game.-NeM
York Sun.