Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1895 — INDOOR CHRISTMAS GAMES. [ARTICLE]

INDOOR CHRISTMAS GAMES.

How the Young Folks May Find Pleasure if the Day Be Stormy, Parlor games like chess, draughts, dominoes, etc., are too heavy for Christmas. The boys and birls want more rollicking, hip-hip-hurrah games. A committee appointed to provide desirable amusement for a well-known charity in New York selected the following program. Ten hours were spent in selecting appropriate indoor games and pastimes, and even then no more than were actually needed were decided upon, says the New York Mail and Express. If the children can get out of doors their amusement is easy, for baseball, leap frog, hide and seek, and other games suffice, but indoors something akin to these games is wanted. In this class is a game known as "The Country Circus.” It consists in making riders, tumblers, clowns, strong men, etc., of all the children and with this improvised company giving a performance. Another good game for the house is called “Jack-of-All-Trades,” in which those engaged must perform some work in the particular trade to which they are assigned by the foreman. In this game on Thanksgiving the boys and girls of an institution in Jersey cut and sewed a lot of carpet rags, made a lote of brushes, and split and bundled several cords of wood. “The Boy Hunters,” in which the children learn the name, habits, and peculiarities of the entire animal kingdom, is another good game, and “Robinson Crusoe” one of the same kind and value. All these games are active ones, require constant movement, and are meant only for the daylight. For the evening, games less boisterous must be chosen. In this class are “Anagrams,” “Authors,” “History of Our Times,” and shadow pantomimes. The last named, however, are the most popular and enjoyable and have so increased in favor that books written especially to show how to prepare and perform them can be had at any well-stocked book store.