Masters and misses, by your leave,
I beg this kind advice to give;
Whate’er your games, whate’er your plays,
Let them no rival anger raise.
But play as sisters should with brothers;
For recollect this wholesome truth,
To man as useful as to youth;
Ambition’s drum, and Fancy’s toy
Excite the man and charm the boy;
But know, you dear, delightful elves,
You ne’er can truly please yourselves,
While you give pain to any others.
[Illustration: Girls skipping rope]
Two may play together with the same rope, each of them holding one
end, one with the right, and the other with the left hand. We must,
however, observe, that they cannot do in this manner, either the
double turns, or the knights’ cross; it would be difficult, if not
impossible. It is necessary to move so as to keep time exactly; both
parties must also turn the rope with the same degree of swiftness.
When the movements of the players are perfectly in unison, they may
overrun a good deal of ground without the motion of the cord being
interrupted.
The Misses D’Hernilly, to whom this idea had been communicated, took
advantage of it to run races with the rope. Nothing could be more
graceful than their manner of performing those races; several grown-up
people, who were lookers-on, agreed that the skipping-rope, thus used,
was as conducive to health, as it was useful in giving the young
ladies an easy and graceful carriage, and that they might amuse
themselves with it not only without impropriety, but with advantage.