holding it. When all is ready, the players are blindfolded in
turn--placed facing the donkey a few steps back in the room--then
turned around rapidly two or three times, and told to advance with the
tail held at arm's length, and with a pin previously inserted in the
end, attach it to the figure of the donkey wherever they first touch
it. When the whole curtain is adorned with tails--(not to mention all
the furniture, family portraits, etc., in the vicinity)--and there are
no more to pin on, the person who has succeeded in fastening the
appendage the nearest to its natural dwelling place, receives a prize,
and the player who has given the most eccentric position to the tail
entrusted to his care, receives the "booby" prize, generally some gift
of a nature to cause a good-humored laugh.

THROWING THE HANDKERCHIEF

A very old and still quite popular game. The company being seated
around the room in a circle, some one stationed in the center throws
an unfolded handkerchief to one of the seated players. Whoever receives
it must instantly throw it to some one else, and so on, while the
person in the center endeavors to catch the handkerchief in its passage
from one player to another. If he catches it, as it touches somebody,
that person must take his place in the center. If it is caught in the
air, the player whose hands it last left enters the circle.

The handkerchief must not be knotted or twisted, but thrown loosely.




CHAPTER IV