This game is usually played out of doors, but it may be played in large
rooms or conservatories, provided you put out of accident’s way all
the _bric-à-brac_, potted plants, and palms. Try the game also in an
enclosed veranda or sun-parlor, should the time appointed prove stormy,
or the grass be soggy from last night’s storm, or there be too high a
wind.
Grace hoops require a pole, not as tall as a maypole, but one smooth
at the top. The one we lately saw had been a noticeable balsam tree,
until cut off five feet from the ground. Its top was stocky, its side
branches as healthful and green appearing as ever, notwithstanding the
fact that they had been trimmed close enough to allow a small hoop to
easily fall over them.
The rings called grace hoops are made of light wood, not dissimilar to
embroidery rings, excepting that they are nearly two feet in diameter.
To make such a game very pretty, trim the hoops with wild flowers,
wintergreen berries or leaves. All the girls should wear gay frocks and
flower-dressed, broad-brimmed hats.
If you are playing the game in the spring, suggest spring flowers
and colors in your costume. A pretty effect would be gotten from a
violet-colored cloth, trimmed with purple velvet, with a glint of gold
revealed in the shoulder-bow ribbons and wide sash, the hat being a
deep yellow straw flat, massed with single violets. Arbutus, wild
roses, lilies of the valley, lilacs and cowslips, as, also, the new
green, are all suggestive of spring, and catchy lawn toilets.
Throw the grace hoops over the pole, and there let them hang until the
score has counted. You may each throw in turn, as often as has been
decided before the game opens. Each time the hoop hangs on the pole it
counts one.
Pretty silk badges may be lettered or gold-starred, to denote your
score, or you may use plain cardboard, and mark such with a lead
pencil. Between each round the score must be marked. After the last
round is played distribute rewards, which may assume any character you
please, but it is better to give wreaths of flowers, or crown the hero
with laurel. The wreath might go to the highest girl scorer, and the
laurel to the boy, or give each wreaths, or each bouquets.
A simple grace-hoop game is played by two people. Stand facing each
other, ten feet apart, and rapidly toss the hoop from one to the other,
catching it on sticks. Try and see how often you can keep it from
falling.