Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun. Various
The three words.—The names of three articles are given to you, when on the spur of the moment you must declare to what use you would put them if they were in your possession for the benefit of the lady you admire. Supposing the words to be, a penknife, a half-crown, and a piece of string, you might say:—"With the penknife I would slay every one who attempted to place any barrier between us; with the half-crown I would pay the clergyman to perform the marriage ceremony; and with the string I would tie our first pudding."
31. Make a perfect woman.—To do this the player has to select from the ladies present the personal features and traits of character that he most admires in each, and imagine them combined in one individual. Although the task is by no means one of the easiest, it may be made the opportunity of paying delicate little compliments to several ladies at once.
32. Show the spirit of contrary.—The idea in this imposition is the same as in the game of contrary. Whatever the player is told to do, he must do just the contrary.
33. Give good advice.—Go round the room, and to every one of the company give a piece of good advice.
34. Flattering speeches.—This penance is usually given to a gentleman, though there is no reason why the ladies should always be exempted from its performance. Should it be a gentleman, however, he must make six, twelve, or as many flattering speeches as he is told to a certain lady, without once making use of the letter L. For instance, he may tell her she is handsome, perfect, good, wise, gracious, or anything else he may choose to say, only whatever adjective he makes use of must be spelt without the letter L.
35. The deaf man.—This cruel punishment consists in the penitent being made to stand in the middle of the room, acting the part of a deaf man. In the meantime the company invite him to do certain things, which they know will be very agreeable to him. To the first three invitations he must reply—"I am deaf; I can't hear." To the fourth invitation he must reply—"I can hear"; and, however disagreeable the task may be, he must hasten to perform it. It is needless to say the company generally contrive that the last invitation shall be anything but pleasant.
36. Act the parrot.—The player condemned to this penance must go round the room, saying to every one of the company—"If I were a parrot, what would you teach me to say?" No end of ridiculous things may be suggested, but the rule is that every answer shall be repeated by the parrot before putting another question.
37. Make your will.—The victim in this case is commanded to say what he will leave as a legacy to every one of his friends in the room. To one he may leave his black hair, to another his eyebrows, to another (perhaps a lady) his dress coat, to another his excellent common sense, to another his wit, and so on until every one in the room has been remembered.
38. Spell Constantinople.—This trick, as most people are aware, consists in calling out "No, no!" to the speller when he has got as far as the last syllable but one. Thus he begins:—"C-o-n con, s-t-a-n stan, t-i ti." Here voices are heard crying "No, no!" which interruption, unless the victim be prepared for it, may lead him to imagine that he has made a mistake.
39. The natural historian.—Go to the first player, and ask him to name his favourite animal. Whatever animal he may mention, you must imitate its cry as loudly as you can. You then ask the second player to do the same, and so on until you shall have imitated all the animals mentioned, or until the company shall declare that you deserve to have your forfeit returned to you.
40. The blind dancers.—Among players who are not anxious to prolong the ordeal of forfeit crying any longer than is necessary, the following method of redeeming several forfeits at once may be acceptable:—Eight victims are chosen to be blindfolded, and while in this condition are requested to go through the first figure of a quadrille.
41. The cats' concert.—This is another method of redeeming any number of forfeits at once. The players who have their forfeits to redeem are requested to place themselves together in a group, when, at a given signal from the leader, they all begin to sing any tune they like. The effect, as may well be imagined, is far from soothing.
42. Spelling backwards.—Spell some long word, such as hydrostatics, &c., backwards.
GIANT.
The wonderful performance known as the Giant is accomplished by the united efforts of two gentlemen, one of whom takes his position on the shoulders of the other, sitting of course with one leg on each side of his companion's neck. Cloaks, rugs, or coats of any description are then arranged round the two figures in order to hide the real state of things, so that when the Giant makes his appearance nothing is to be seen but one huge figure. The lower gentleman who supports his friend is expected to do little more than patiently to carry his burden, though he may be called upon to exert himself a little in the way of dancing should the Giant feel so inclined. The talking and gesticulating business all devolves upon the gentleman perched aloft, who may wear a mask, paint his face, or do anything else of the kind, to avoid being identified by the company.
THE GIRAFFE.
A very good imitation of a Giraffe may be contrived, on the same principles as those adopted in constructing the Baby Elephant. Provided with an animal's head as nearly like that of a Giraffe as possible, no more difficulty need be feared. First of all, the head must be fastened to the end of a long stick. One of two performers must then hold the stick aloft while his companion, standing close behind, must place himself in a stooping position, so as to make the outline of his own person like that of the lower part of the Giraffe's body. The long stick will of course form the neck of the animal, and the first performer will form the front part of the body. A cloth is then pinned round the stick and round the bodies of the two performers, leaving the legs, of course, to represent the legs of the Giraffe. A rope tail must be stuck in by some means or other, and if cleverly managed, it is astonishing what an excellent imitation of the real animal can thus be manufactured.
THE GRAND MUFTI.
One person is appointed to have the dignity of Grand Mufti conferred upon him, which means that, whatever ridiculous action he may choose to perform, that is preceded by the words, "Thus says the Grand Mufti," every one else must follow his example. Nothing that he does, however, unaccompanied by these words, is to be regarded; he may laugh, sneeze, throw up his arms, or do anything else equally absurd, no one must imitate what he does, unless he has uttered the words, "Thus says the Grand Mufti." In order to lead the company astray, and that more forfeits may be paid, the Mufti will no doubt occasionally alter the order of the words, or change them in some way; but all must be on the alert, and remain perfectly silent and motionless, whatever the Mufti either says or does, unless he has been pleased in the first instance to utter the proper words in their right order.
HANDS.
In this game the company generally divides into two parts, half being players, while the rest do the work of guessing. A thimble is then produced by one of the party, or something equally small, that may be easily held in the hand. Seated by the side of the table the players begin passing on the article from hand to hand. When the working has been done sufficiently, the closed hands are all placed on the table for the opponents sitting opposite to guess in succession whose hand holds the treasure. As soon as the hiding-place is discovered, the opposite side take their turn.
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