Are there any of you who do not know the game of bean-bags? It is
capital exercise for rainy days, besides being very good fun, and we
would advise all of you who are not familiar with it to make a set at
once. Usually, there are four bags to a set, but any number of persons
from two to eight can play at bean-bags. Each player holds two,
flinging to his opponent the one in his right hand, and rapidly
shifting the one in his left to the right, so as to leave the left
hand free to catch the bag which is thrown at him. A set of these bags
would be a nice present for some of you little girls to make for your
small brothers; and there are various ways of ornamenting the bags
gayly and prettily. The real bags must first be made of stout ticking,
over-handed strongly all round, and filled (not too full) with white
baking-beans. Over these are drawn covers of flannel, blue or scarlet,
and you can work an initial in white letters or braid on each, or make
each of the four bags of a different color--yellow, blue, red, green;
anything but black, which is hard to follow with the eye, or white,
which soils too soon to be desirable.
[Illustration: DIAGRAMS FOR MAKING THE LITTLE NUN.]