GAMES OF MAKE-BELIEVE.

-1-xTrumsicALITY is delightful, but not to the general. V V Lady Bell has written a whimsical little book which will greatly please a few people. It is called Little Games for Travellers (Published by Arthur L. Humphreys, Is. net),

but there is not much in it about travel, and, speaking literally, there is nothing at all about games. It is in reality a collection of tiny satirical essays, each cast in the form of a description of a game. In order to read it with enjoyment the reader must be familiar with this form. He must know that " It " means the person singled out to play the chief part in a game, and he must know that "There" stands for the desired goal, and " Home " for the starting-point, and some- times for the place of safe return. The first of these little conceits is called " Coming too !" It describes the efforts of "It" to circumvent the other players, "It" playing single- handed against two.

"The players having determined on the place which is to be coiled 'There,' the game begins. The object of the players is to get 'There' without 'It' guessing the name of the place they have chosen. This is a very difficult game for the players, and they must be on their guard against the insidious approaches of 'It.' Above all, they must never mention the name of the place they have chosen as 'There.' Should they unwarily do so, 'It' may instantly cry out, 'Coming too ! Coming too !' which ensures to ' it ' an almost certain victory."

The humour is elusive, no doubt, but a common situation is admirably set in a few words. Had Lady Bell liked to continue her parable she might have told us that in this game the greatest sufferer is usually the victor. One of the most awful of social situations is to be tied to two people who do not want one. The punishment for winning is, as a rule, so cruel that the most heartless looker-on must be sorry for the least admirable victor, and will soon in all probability realize that this is a game in which "It" never really wins, or only on very rare occasions when by the exercise of social genius he changes places with one of the players and leaves another member of the trio to "Come too."

Two or three of Lady Bell's scenes are laid in railway carriages, and one, so far as the reader can guess, in an hotel. Here is a very ingenious little bit of nonsense called "Travel Draughts," described as a pretty game for two players :—

"It is played with two boards, the middle of which is made of glass. The players sit at different ends, though at the same side, of an enclosure, each one having beside him his board, which is movable and worked up and down by a strap. The strap has holes in it, which fasten on to a peg. The game consists in the rapid moving up and down of the board, and pegging along the strap."

Each player lets his window up or down at short intervals exclaiming, "Draught!" or "No draught!" Soon it is time for one of them "to declare, which he does in these terms : Well, I

declare !' If after A has declared, twice he has not succeeded in making B more his board up, he is then defeated, and has no alternative but to move to the opposite side of the enclosure and sneeze." The last time that the writer of the present article saw this game played he was in the Scottish express on the Midland railway. The winner was a clergyman. He played it both with the window and with the heating apparatus, and though not very well placed. for winning—not sitting, we mean, in the seat usually considered to command either the window or the heat, he won with extraordinary rapidity.

Intoxicated with triumph, he made bold to ask the severest of ticket-takers, who came down the gangway at the precise psychological moment, whether "Mr. Caudle is driving this train P" The joke was not in the least appreciated either by the vanquished passengers or by the official. The pulpit accustoms men to the last word, and. no fear of reprisals seemed to mar the comfort of his journey.

The game described under the heading " Tippum " has been played by all those who frequent large hotels ; it might have been called "Hare and Hounds." It is played by one man alone against the field. "The solitary player is called the Goer ; the others the Askers. The Goer's object is to get away from ' There ' with as few as possible of the Askers

seeing him. The object of the Askers is that the whole Field should see him. This can generally be effected by the Field being judiciously .distributed, and concealed at points of vantage along his route." Any member of the Field who waylays the Goer cries, " Tippum ! Tippum !" and a forfeit must instantly be placed in the hand of the waylayer. Would

it be a good thing if this game were abolished P The fact that it is still in fashion is very convenient at times to many a (prospective) "Goer." Without destroying the rights of the individual altogether it is difficult to know how it could be abolished. It should, however, be played for smaller stakes. No doubt the system of tips already gives to the rich individual an unfair advantage, but which of us would refuse to buy a favour on occasion, or would always be ready to bless the day which put an end to their sale ?

The most interesting of the games described by Lady Bell is the game of "Consequence." It is a universal game, and, as she says, it is as old as the hills and much more complicated.

"The players move in circles," and "the object of the players in each circle is to move into the next. The players are named as follows : Nobodies, who may be said to correspond to the pawns in the game of chess ; Little Somebodies; Somebodies; Big Somebodies. In addition to these, there is the designation of Persons of Consequence, which each person usually assumes on passing from one circle to another." This last is a very clever touch, it is as we leave the circle in which we were born that the delicious sense of consequence refreshes us after our efforts. Once inside the next enclosure the garment of humility is forced upon us. It may be years before we are again of consequence unless we revisit our former circle. This, however, is a dangerous move, seldom undertaken by those whose hearts are in the game. "According to the rules, a Nobody may become a Little Somebody by moving in the right direction, a Little Somebody may become a Somebody, and all of them may become Persons of Consequence ; occasion- ally, even, a Big Somebody, bat this is rare." Yes, it is still very rare. We think the Nobodies stand a better chance to-day than the Little Somebodies. Is it not in accordance with the very newest rules that a good many circles may now be skipped ? The Somebodies, big and little, play with less energy than the Nobodies, and occasionally will not move at all :—

"Although played with the same nomenclature at Home' and 'There,' a given player is not always in the same circle in both. Thus, Nobodies at Home may be Little Somebodies when There, and conversely, Little Somebodies at Home may find themselves Nobodies when There. Big Somebodies are Big Somebodies every- where, and are in the innermost circle, from which they have a right—not, however, always exercised—of moving in every direction."

The real advantage, we think, possessed by the Big Somebodies is not that they can move in all directions, but that they, and they alone, can watch the game at ease. From their seats they can see, and do not need to exert themselves. The crowd is too thick round the Little Somebodies, their view is always obstructed, and the Nobodies must fight for even a bad place. " Conse- quence" is one of the few games more amusing to watch and to bet on than to play. The social game, which is played between what Lady Bell calls "The Knowers" and "The Posers," is a mere variant on the game of Consequence, but the stakes are perhaps less trumpery.

"The organizers of the game, called the Knowers, must agree beforehand in front of which objects the attitudes are to be struck; and the players, called the Posers, are at liberty to find out in any way they can which are the objects agreed upon. If they have not been able to do so, they must guess. But when they strike an attitude in front of the wrong thing, it counts against them."

This, again, is a game to look on at. "The fun of the game

is, of course, to see the strange poses of those who are going round the course." But only a few among the initiated know

what they are laughing at. Sophisticated as it may sound, the game of "Knowers and Posers" is an instinctive game. It is played by children far too young to understand the game of " Consequence." Those who have ever tried to teach anything to several children at a time will know what we mean. On first acquaintance the little posers are irritating, but in the end they enlist the teacher's sympathy, for they become Knowers. Very often it is the ardour of their desire to know which causes them to pose. The same thing is true of their grown-up antitypes. They are always trying (literally) to put themselves in a position to know. There is another set of posers not alluded to by Lady Bell. They pose as ignorant.

No one knows precisely why they do it, but they have an ingrained contempt for intellect and a supreme pride in any other kind of advantage. They are hopeless, both in youth and age. Their small modicum of original intelligence is turned by the lapse of years into slyness.

One of the games in which our entertaining authoress gives us instruction will strike terror into the hearts of all those people who love buying, and seek in generosity an excuse for their mania. For such she has plainly no sympathy. Their game is called " Where shall we put it ?" or "Souvenirs." It is played between "The Travellers" and "The Dear Ones."

The Travellers collect while they are " There " a sufficient number of "small, unnecessary objects" (oh, what a cruel way to speak of the treasured bag of the born purchaser !) to deal one each to The Dear Ones. The Travellers then turn their backs while The Dear Ones cry, "Where shall we put it ? "

There is no answer but "Somewhere," and the person who puts it somewhere wins, while The Travellers retire crestfallen. There is, we are told, another form of the game in which The Travellers return and cry out, "'Where did you put it ?

Where did you put it P ' but this is not considered the best form." Again, we must defend The Travellers. Surely they do not often do this tactless thing ! It is such an innocent, benevolent entertainment, theirs! Surely the horrid "Dear Ones" should try to play nicely, and not grumble and sulk and look out for little deviations from the rigour of the game !

Lady Bell says in her last paragraph that all these games are more amusing to play than to read about. We are not sure. Just at this time of the year there are a vast number of little books for everybody. This is, as we said at the beginning,

not one of them. It is for the few, and to those "Dear Ones " the " Travellers " should venture to give it.