Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1904 — FOR THE CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FOR THE CHILDREN

Why the Tortoise Worn. Did you ever bear the true story ot the race between the hare and the tortoise? Old Brother Terrapin told It to me oue day as I lay on my back in the grass by the pond. “Never beard the real truth of that victory of mine, did you?” he squeaked as he crawled up to me. “No, never,” said I. “How was it?” “Well,” he laughed, “you see, they always supposed that I won that race Uy keeping on plodding along at my usual gait, while Old Man Rabbit frißked around and fooled and wasted his time ‘showing off’ before the spectators. “But It was nothing of the sort. Let me tell you at the start that all the plodding in the world without a little thought and common sense will never win anything. “You see, I had a little bone to pick with that yaller dog at Bill Sykes* ’cause one day when I was asleep he turned me over on my back, and I didn’t get my footing for two days and was nearly starved, to say nothing of the worry brought on the old lady and the three children. So when Mr, Rabbit and I started on that race that you have read of I knew at the start I had no chance to win without some little game. Just then along comes Bill Sykes’ yaller dog. “‘Mornin’!* says he. ‘Nice day for the race.’

“ ‘Yes,’ says I, ‘and If you -want to see the start sit right down where you are, and you’ll see a great show.’ “So down he sat on his yaller tail and opened his yaller jaws and let his red tongue hang out. ‘One, two, three; go!’ says the starter. And just then I saw my chance and grabbed Mr. Dog’s tail between my jaws. He gave one yell of terror and surprise and set off through the woods toward the goal at lightning speed, pulling me through the air after him. My, but we did fly! And when we got near the goal I let go and walked the rest. Mr. Dog was so scared he ran on home. Served him right for turning me over. But I won the race. I tell you, brains count” Saying which he ambled off into the woods.—St Louis Post-Dispatch. “Thinking A'p” Names. This game requires nothing except pencils and paper, and it is one in which young and old can join. The first thing to do is to write a list of names down one side of a piece of paper, leaving a blank space opposite each. The names may be something like the following: Author, actor, general, river, statesman, color, town, painter, flower, fruit, etc. One of the players chooses a letter of the alphabet, and every one must write a name beginning with this initial opposite each of the chosen words. If the letter were G, the list might commence as follows: Goldsmith, Garrick, Gordon, Guadalquivir, Gladstone, green, Godaiming, gillyflower, greenage. It does not matter whether the celebrities are alive or dead. At the end of ten minutes one of the players reads the list aloud, and one mark is allowed for each name which is common to more than one list and two marks for a name which .only one person has thought of. The person who wins the game chooses the list of titles for the next and also the letter of the alphabet. _ If very little children are playing, It is best to choose things which are easy to think of. Localities. You who are in school, with all its lessons freshly in mind, will enjoy the game of localities. Let some one begin by saying the natae of a city, country, state, river, ocean and so on, any locality that is likely to be prominently mentioned in your geographies. Suppose the first word is Philadelphia. The child next to her must at once say another word which commences with the last letter of the first word—Atlantic ocean, for instance. The third child will naturally think of Niagara, which forces the fonrth to say Asia ot Antwerp or Ann Arbor. The game goes the rounds of the circle until all have guessed. The second time round the test may be doubled. Starting with Cambridge, for instance, the second child will probably say Camden and Eton.