Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1910 — FOR THE CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FOR THE CHILDREN

What Time Is. It? It requires two players who understand this game, a leader and bis accomplice. The accomplice leaves the room, while the leader and tbe rest remain inside. Tbe leader asks the players what hour they will choose for the accomplice to guess. Suppose some one says “Four o’clock.” The assistant is called in. and he questions the leader, saying. -‘Well, what time is it?" Tbe leader answers thus: “Don’t you know?” and then. “Doubtless dancing time.” The assistant Immediately says “Four o’clock.” to the general mystification of the company. The key is that each hour from 1 to 12 o’clock has been named according to tbe letters of the alphabet Ln rotation from A to K. The leader tn answering most be very careful to begin each answer with .the letter indicating tbe chosen hour. Thus in the above the assistant noticed that each answer began with “d.” and “d.” being the fourth lettqr of the alphabet. Indicated that 4 o’clock was the time chosen. Only the exact hour can be chosen. As the different players think they have solved rhe trick they may take turns in being assistant, and many funny "mistakes will result till the game has been explained to all. Fox and Geese. This is an old game, but one that children always, enjoy. It can be played indoors, but better out. One of the party, called the fox, goes a tittle way off. and the rest of the-children arrange themselves in a string, one i«ehind the other, the tallest first and the smallest. The first one is called “Mother Goose.” Tbe=game begins by a conversation between the fox and Mother Goose. “What are you after this fine morning?” says she. ‘“Taking a walk.” the fox answers, “What for?” “To get an appetite for breakfast” ‘What are you going to have for breakfast?” “A nice fat goose.” Where will you get it?” “Well, as your geese are so handy I’ll take one of them.” “Catch one if you can.” Mother Goose then stretches out her arms to protect her geese and not let the fox catch one. The fox tries to dodge under, right and left, until he is able to catch the last of the string. Of course tbe brood must try to keep out of reach of the fox. As the geese are caught they must go over to the den of tbe fox. and the game continues till all are caught

A Squirrel Barometer. A merchant in a western city has a queer barometer. It is a domesticated fox squirrel. He keeps the little pet in a large paint barrel, all inclosed with the exception of a small round hole in one end. Inside the barrel is a good supply of straw, old paper and leaves. During a run of weather of any kind. hot. cold, wet or dry. the little animal is in and out of the house, keeping an open door. But should there be a change coming. say ten or twelve hours off, the squirrel plugs up his hole with the matter from bis bed and keeps it closed until the change comes. It is claimed the squirrel never makes a mistake and that he gives no false alarms to his keeper

Hanging Garden* of Babylon.

The banging. gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the world. They weregardens of the most beautiful description, but raised high in the air above the Babylon plain on walls so gray that from a distance it seemed as if there were no support beneath the towering foliage and that the gardens were in reality floating above the earth. They were built in terraces that reached, it is said, a height of 300 feet. The gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar, the king, for his wife Amytis. who had longed for the mountains among which she bad passed her youth and who disliked the flat country about the city of Babylon. Origin of an Old Saying. “In apple pie order” is traced to Puritan times, to the good housewife Hephzibah. Every Saturday the good woman baked, two or three dozen apple pies, which were to last her family through the week. These she placed in her pantry, labeling one or more for each day. The pantry thus arranged was said to be "fin apple pie order.” With all due respect for Mrs. Heph zibah. one is inclined to think that her family must have got very tired of apple pies. Mount Piiatus. In Switzerland the peak of Mount Piiatus is said to be haunted by the ghost of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Jerusalem. The story is told that Pilate was banished to the wild lands in the north of the Roman empire and came to this mountain, where he threw himself from a crag into a lofty lake. The ghost appears once a year in the formal robes of a Roman governor, and the person that sees it is doomed to die within the year.