Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1907 — FOR THE CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FOR THE CHILDREN

Ths Hut of Afrioa. The late Henry M. Stanley, the explorer of Africa, corrected a widespread erroneous Potion about the climate of that country. It la no won* than that found In other tropic lands. The heat la not as great as in India or aa it sometimes is in New York in summer. Fortunately the coaat belt on both sides of Africa, where the heat is greatest and where the climate is most unhealthy, Is so narrow that a railway train at ordinary speed would cross it In four hours. Ascending the sides of the coast range by the same conveyance, one could in two hours reach a rolling plain that gradually rises in height from 2,500 to 3,500 feet above the sea. There the climate is sensibly cooler, and the white man may work six hours of the day in the open without fear of sunstroke, though he must not count on Immunity from fever. The* central plateau of tbe«contlnent Is from 5,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea and is from 600 to 1,000 miles across. In that section the great lakes, the snowy mountains and the highest hills are found. The sun Is hot there If the sky be unclouded, but the nights are quite cool, and even In the daytime In the shade it is frequently cool enough for an overcoat, all of which gives us quite a different Impression of Africa from that which we hav* long had. A Rhyming Game. ' A rhyming game to be prepared for before the guests arrive. Take as many sheets of paper as there are guests expected, and at the top of each sheet write the last stanza of a nursery rhyme, a different one On each paper. For example: He put In his thumb And pulled out a plumb And said, “What a good boy am I!" You will probably need a copy of “Mother Goose" to find enough verses for the occasion. When the guests arrive give a pencil and one of the pa? pers with a verse at the top to each one, telling them that the point of the game Is to write a sequel or consequence to the nursery rhyme each will find on his paper, the time allowed being half an hour. When this is done the papers are collected and the verses read aloud. A prize may be given for the best rhymes to be awarded by a committee chosen from among the players. Here is an example: SEQUEL TO “LITTLE JACK HORNER." This Jack was not good To eat all he could Off in a corner so sly. Such pain he did suffer— The mean little duffer— That he doubled all up to "kl-yL”

A Rainbow Party. An attractive plan In which the popular searchers, clips and blindfold games can be utilized in a new guise is a rainbow frolic. Invitations are written on note sheets which shade prettily from one tint into another, suggesting a rainbow or prism. Each boy or girl entering the room on the evening appointed is asked to close his or her eyes and to select from a basket any one of a quantity of colored ribbons collected from it. When the choice has been made the ribbon selected by the small guest is tied after ✓ the fashion of a necklace and hung around his or her neck. When the number of the expected company is completed a gift search is inaugurated, the children being told to search for gifts bound with the colors they are wearing. The search lasts until each little person has found a present, and gifts are retained by their discoverers. Game of Wonderful Gueaaer. One of the company must explain privately to another how this trick Is done and later propose that an exhibition of guessing be given. No. 1 then leaves the room while the company decides upon an object to be guessed. No. 2 asks the question, always naming the desired object Immediately after something with four legs. In case the company thinks It has discovered the signal, it may have been agreed fipon previously that on alternate guess ings the object will be named after something black.

A Blowgun Fish. There is a fish in the East Indies that is a regular blowgun. It bas a* cylindrical snout or beak, and when it sees a fly sitting on a plant in shallow water it ejects with accurate aim a drop of water from Its snout which hits the fly and knocks it into the water; then the fish seizes the fly and swallows it A Happy Delusion. Early In the morning. Up in Treetop Town, Flew the little news bird. Uniformed In brown. “News, news! Good newsf" h* cried, "Buy the Morning Leaf! Ail about the shower bath! f ' Other news In brief!” Then, oh, such a clatter Up In Treetop Town! Hear the birds a-cbatter: "Do you think we’ll drownT“ “Is it new and modern?” “Is the water cold?” "Huy we take pur children T“ , “Who will be so bold As to bathe the very first?" Then a silence fell. # Shower baths were risky things; That they knew right well. Then they all decided In a flock to go Underneath the pine tree, And we saw them so. * All the birds together In a brave array, Where the new lawn sprinkler Tossed its cooling spray. One by one they tried it. That brave company— Shook their dusky feathers clea% Chattered merrily. Every single birdie thought ■j. That the bath so chllb , . Was invented Just for him, lif . And they think so still. tBB: * -Washington Staft