Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1904 — FOR THE CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FOR THE CHILDREN

Good ladoor Game. Vj This is a game In which no one is allowed to smile «or laugh. All the players except one sit in a row or half circle. One goes out of the room arid returns with a stick or poker in his hand and a very grave and solemn face. He is supposed to have Just returned from a visit to Buff. The first player asks him, “Where do you come from?’’ “Prom Buff.” The next asks, “Did he say anything to you?” To which the reply is: “Buff said ‘Baft’ s And gave me thia staff, Telllns me neither to smile nor to laugh. Buff says ‘Baff’ to all his men, And I say ‘Baff’ to you again. And he neither laughs nor smiles. In spite of all your cunning wiles; But carries his face with a very good grace And passes his Staff to the very next piece.” If he can repeat all this without laughing he delivers up his staff to some one else and takes his seat, but if he laughs’ or even smiles he pays a forfeit before giving it up. Fan For a Party. A pretty feature of a progressive party was a table on which was a cushion full of pins and needles. A prize Is given the girl who can thread the most needles and tie a knot after each within a given time. Another game which always causes lots of merriment is called spooning potatoes. Clean potatoes are placed on the bare dining room table and each girl tries to lift one with a silver spoon. As the potatoes roll all over the table before lodging on a spoon and sometimes fall on the floor this is almost as much fan as trying to blow an egg off a line. This is done by pricking the egg to let out the contents and placing a number about six feet from a chalk line. The idea is to blow the eggs over the line. If a more intellectual party is desired a number of cards may be prepared with the letters of at least twenty flowers scattered over the surface. The girls who are invited to the party are asked to put the letters together to make twenty flowers.

The Elephant’s Trunk. Naturalists consider the elephant’s trunk the most marvelous miracle of nature. It contains over 4,000 muscles, whicb is a great many more than are found in the entire human body. By aid of these muscles the trunk will uproot trees or gather grass, lift a cannon or a peanut, kill a man or brush off a fly. It is as good as a hand with all its fingers to supply the elephant with food and, being hollow. Is used as a suction or a force pump. Its length serves Its owner better than a long neck, which could not carry the heavy bead nor be stiff enough to make the sharp tusks of any value in defense. No other animal has a single member or organ so perfect and so useful aB this. Her Opinion of Bor*. A little girl wrote the following essay Off boys: “Boys are men that have not got as big as their papas, and girls are women that will be ladles by and by. When God looked at Adam he said to himself, ‘Well, I think I can do better if I try again,’ and he made Eve. Boys are a trouble. They wear out everything but soap. If I had my way the world would be girls and the rest dolls. My papa is so nice that I think he must have been a little girt when be was a little boy. Man was made, and on the seventh day he rested. Woman was then made, and be has never rested since.”—Philadelphia Inquirer. Winter Care of PoultryDo not feed yonr laying hens onions or anything of this character_ during the winter months that Is apt to destroy the flavor of eggs. Good, plain, wholesome food means well flavored eggs, says Country Gentleman. Skim milk bad better be made use of to mix the mash for the laying bens rather than the slop for hogs. Have it scalding hot, mix the mash with this and feed the mash warm, but not hot The Farm Hank. A good hired man deserves to be provided with winter work if possible, says American Cultivator. It Is better for the man to be kept busy the year round and much better for the employer to retain good help in these times when this kind of labor Is scarce. Fmrrowtair Sow*. After farrowing feed rather sparingly for a few days to prevent fever and to avoid too copious flow of milk before the pigs are old enough to take It aIL Butter is the most condensed product on the farm—that most readily marketed at long distances. Eggs and cream follow closely. Ia the Poultry Task. Sand la not a substitute for gravel In the poultry yard. The hens usually pick 'up the sharpest and most irregular pieces.

A Sod Loos. Poor Uttle Mary Geraldine, Before the clock struck eight. Had loot a very precious thing. It mode her breakfast late; It made her hurry off to school Without one griddlecake; It made her give dear Uttle Ned A really truly shake Because the wind blew off his hat; It made her cheeks feel hot. And tears kept coming os she ran. And quite a lumpy spot Was In her throat. ’Turns not her ring; Twos not her new gray muff. ’Twos not her skates that she hod lest; 'Twos really not enough. She thought to trouble her so much. She lost It In her bed— Just one short Uttle half an hour Made aU that fuss, she sold. —Youth’s Companion.