_Charades._
1. Eyelash.
2. Independent.
3. Teapot.
4. Level.
_Anagrams._
1. Conversion.
2. Magnanimity.
3. Surgeon.
4. Termination.
5. Pragmatical.
6. Madrigal.
7. Demonstratively.
8. Dangerous.
9. Annoyance.
10. Phantasmagoria.
_Cross-word Enigmas._
1. Sewing-machine.
2. Saxifrage.
3. London.
4. Heliotrope.
_Numerical Enigmas._
1. Helot.
2. A soft answer turneth away wrath.
3. Dandelion.
4. Antelope.
_Decapitations._
1. Brook, rook; 2, plane, lane; 3, wheel, heel, trout, rout.
2. Pray, ray; 2, spell, pell; 3, skin, kin; 4, mother, other.
3. 1, plover, lover; 2, blame, lame; 3, reel, eel; 4, mate, ate.
4. 1. Spear, pear. 2. Mace, ace. 3. Galley, alley. 4. Goats, oats.
_Drop Letter Riddles._
1. Why was Ruth rude to Boaz?
Because she trod on his corns, and pulled his ears.
2. She walked on earth,
She talked on earth,
She rebuked a man for sin;
She’s not on earth,
She’s not in heaven,
Nor likely to get in.
Balaam’s Ass.
3. Why did Adam bite the apple Eve gave him?
Because he had no knife.
4. What did Adam first set in the Garden of Eden?
His foot.
5. Why are Adam and Eve an anomaly in grammar?
Because they are two relatives without an antecedent.
6. How did Noah dress his hair in the Ark?
With the fox’s brush and the cock’s comb.
_Drop Letter Puzzles._
1. Make hay while the sun shines.
2. Early to bed and early to rise, makes men healthy, wealthy,
and wise.
3. Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.
4. Virtue alone is happiness below.
_The Opening Lines of Familiar Songs._
1. “Oh! don’t you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt,
Sweet Alice, with hair so brown;
She wept with delight when you gave her a smile,
And trembled with fear at your frown.”
2. “The elephant now goes round,
The band begins to play,
The boys are around the monkey
cage, You’d better keep away.”
3. “I dread the day you’ll forget me, Marguerite,
And still I know it soon will come.
The festive dance, the rich, the gay,
So different from our home, Marguerite.”
_Forfeits._
The exacting of forfeits for tardiness or failure in the playing of
games will usually lead to as much amusement as the games themselves.
Those who subject themselves to forfeiture may give a trivial article
just as satisfactorily as an expensive one, or they may simply write
their names on a slip of paper, and hand that to the person in charge.
Each player is bound to redeem his name.
At the conclusion of the game the host, or any individual he may
appoint (provided that person has no forfeits), collects all and puts
them out of sight of the audience, and commencing with the one at his
right, he takes the players in turn.
That party now sits down and the one in charge holding over his head
one of the trinkets or whatever the object may be, says: “What a jolly
thing! What a smart, pretty thing! What will the owner do?”
The party in the chair inquires, “Does it belong to a lady, or to a
gentleman?” He is at once answered correctly and then responds by
advising a difficult or ridiculous performance. The individual who owns
the forfeit must now perform what has been advised. As soon as the
party has redeemed his pledge, another forfeit is redeemed after the
same method, and so on, one by one, until all articles are returned to
their owners. Each forfeit is naturally redeemed amid peals of laughter.
The following may prove helpful to those who have to declare penalties.