The inquirer into futurity is blindfolded; the plates are moved and changed about so that she cannot tell how they stand. Then she is led to the table and puts her hand out, and whichever plate she touches, is significant of her future fate.

If she touches the clean water, she will marry the man she loves.

If she touches the dirty water, she will marry unhappily.

If she finds the earth, she will die unmarried. The same divination can, of course, be used by gentlemen.

The Quiet Little Dears.

THREE GENTLEMEN.

They must sit in the middle of the room with books on their laps, on which they must each build a card house. They are not to move until the three houses are standing together.

The Man who is too Happy.

ONE GENTLEMAN AND SIX LADIES.

The gentleman sitting in the middle of the room must be complimented and paid attention by each lady in turn. Without rising, he is to respond by every species of grateful manner; first murmuring in a whisper, "I'm too happy," increasing in the tone of his voice each time, till reaching the highest note, he rushes out of the room.

The Quakers' Meeting.

THE WHOLE COMPANY.

The leader of the game must arrange the company in a circle as Quakers. The ladies need only sit up very primly, and twirl their thumbs round and round slowly, looking steadily on the carpet. Any lady looking up, or ceasing to twirl her thumbs, must pay a forfeit. Then the leader of the game must direct a gentleman to repeat after him, in a drawling tone (twirling his thumbs slowly all the while), these words:

"Verily, verily, I do say."

Each gentleman must repeat the same words, in turn, twirling his thumbs the while. When they have been repeated by all the gentlemen, the first must say:

"Verily, verily, I do say
That I must go to-day."

The words are to be echoed in like manner.

Then the first speaker adds:

"Verily, verily, I do say

That I must go to-day,

To visit my sick brother,
O-BA-DI-AY."

After which he rises, goes into the middle of the room, and kneels down. The nearest gentleman follows, and kneels close to him; the next close to the

The

last, and so on, till they form a line. Then the leader of the game must place himself last, kneeling also; and, by giving a sudden push to the last player, he will cause the whole row to fall down like a row of cards on the carpet. ladies are strictly forbidden to laugh at the catastrophe, or to cease twirling their thumbs, under pain of paying a forfeit.

To Tell Any Number Thought of.

Ask a person to think of a number; then tell him to subtract 1 from that number; now tell him to multiply the remainder by 2; then request him again to subtract 1, and add to the remainder the number he first thought of, and to inform you of the total. When he has done this, you must mentally add 3 to that total, and then divide it by 3, and the quotient will be the number first thought of. This is an excellent arithmetical pastime, examples of which we give below:

A leader is chosen, and the remainder of the company must follow every motion that he makes, while he sings the description.

04

I put my right hand in, I put my right hand out,

I

give my right hand a shake, shake, shake, I turn my self

The leader should stand facing the others, and his gestures are exactly as he

describes them.

LEADER. (Singing and making the appropriate gestures, which all imitate.)

I put my right hand in! (extending the right hand before him.)

I put my right hand out! (turning half round, and again extending the
right hand.)

I give my right hand a shake, shake, shake! (shaking the right hand.)
I turn myself about! (turns back to first position.)

The same gestures are performed with the left hand while singing,

I put my left hand in !

I put my left hand out!

I give my left hand a shake, shake, shake!

I turn myself about !

The same performance is gone through with both hands, while singing,

I put my both hands in, etc.

At the conclusion of which, the leader continues the gestures with his right foot, singing:

I put my right foot in!

I put my right foot out!

I give my right foot a shake, shake, shake!

I turn myself about !

The same thing is done with the left foot, with the words:
I put my left foot in, etc.

The head is the next member brought into active service.

I put my ugly mug in! (stretching the head and neck forward.)

I put my ugly mug out! (turning half round and repeating the same motion.)

I give my ugly mug a shake, shake, shake! (nodding the head vigorously.) I turn myself about !

If the gravity of the company will stand this test, knowing every smile must cost a forfeit, choose a new leader, and try again to collect some forfeits. This will, however, be scarcely called for, as the first time round will surely provide a pretty large crop of forfeits.

The Hutchinson Family.

Several of the party who do not know the trick of the game must be selected to leave the room, while the others are instructed in their parts. One of the absent ones is then recalled and introduced as Mr. or Miss Hutchinson.

The remainder of the party must then imitate exactly every movement made by this member of the Hutchinson family, even of the most trifling description. If the unconscious leader moves an arm, every arm in the company makes the same movement; if any play of feature, such as a look of surprise, follows, every one in the company assumes the same expression; if a wondering look

is given around the room, the head moving to each side, all make precisely the same gesture. This procedure is continued until Mr. or Miss Hutchinson Number One sees into the little game, and ends it by taking a seat in motionless quiet. Hutchinson Number Two is next ushered in to go through the same ceremonial, and the game is repeated until the Hutchinson family is extinct.

It sometimes happens that a quick-witted Hutchinson will find out the trick before acknowledging the discovery, and lead the others a dance they did not anticipate, as one merry young lady, "seeing the point," walked slowly and with great gravity up and down a long drawing-room, and out of one door into the hall, across this into the room again, and round the room, all the others following her till they cried for mercy.

A gentleman, after staring, yawning, and making horrible grimaces at his imitators, suddenly commenced a series of taps on each side of his nose with the forefingers of both hands, and with constantly increasing rapidity, all trying to follow him, till they were so convulsed with laughter that they were forced to admit the joke was all in his hands.

The Messenger.

The party are seated in line, or round the sides of the room, and some one previously appointed enters with the message, "My master sends me to you, madam," or "sir," as the case may be, directed to any individual he may select at his option. "What for?" is the natural inquiry. "To do as I do;" and with this the messenger commences to perform some antic, which the lady or gentleman must imitate-say he wags his head from side to side, or taps with one foot incessantly on the floor. The person whose duty it is to obey commands his neighbor to the right or to the left to "Do as I do,” also ; and so on until the whole company are in motion, when the messenger leaves the room, re-entering it with fresh injunctions. While the messenger is in the room he must see his master's will obeyed, and no one must stop from the movement without suffering a forfeit. The messenger should be some one ingenious in making the antics ludicrous, and yet kept within moderate bounds, and the game will not fail to produce shouts of laughter.

Among the other tricks which may be commended are such as rocking the body to and fro, wiping the eyes with a pocket-handkerchief, yawning, whistling, stroking the chin or the beard, and making any grimace.

Another game, of much the same character, is known by the title, "Thus says the Grand Seignor." The chief difference is that the first player is stationed in the centre of the room, and prefaces his movements, which the others must all follow, by the above words. If he varies his command by framing it, "So says the Grand Seignor," the party must remain still, and decline to follow his example. Any one who moves when he begins with "So," or does not follow him when he commences with "Thus," has to pay a forfeit.

How to Make a Scrap Screen.

The first step towards a screen is to get the frame of it made by a carpenter. This may be either in wood round each panel and across, and covered with can vas, or entirely in thin wood like a door.

The first plan looks best, and is lightest, but has one disadvantage: the paper being very tightly stretched, is apt to get broken if the screen receives a knock. whilst the wooden one would resist a strong blow. In both cases your first proceeding will be to cover, or have done by a paper-hanger, the entire screen with paper. This should be of some even color that will take varnish.

French grey, lavender, egg-shell blue, sea-green, or crimson, are the prettiest colors for either prints or colored scraps to be mounted on.

The great mistake people fall into in making these large folding screens is to load them so with pictures and color as to destroy all taste, and give them the appearance of grocers' windows decorated for Christmas-time; therefore, be careful not to overload your screen either with subjects or bright tints.

Having covered one side of the screen with gray paper, proceed to paste on the pictures which you may have amused yourself collecting and cutting out some months before. An immense quantity are required to ornament four panels five feet high on both sides, and the better plan is to have them all ready before starting, otherwise one panel may get over-filled, whilst another is but thinly covered.

Paste is much better than gum, and can be made very strong by boiling until it becomes glutinous, and adding to it a sixth part as much powdered alum as you put flour.

Having decided what your design is to be-whether a border of flowers with medallions in the centre, or a border of medallions interspersed with flowers and a bouquet in the centre, or a lot of pictures thrown down as if carelessly in the middle, and dancing figures or Arabesques all round-make a little drawing of it roughly in pencil on a piece of paper, and let that be your guide.

You cannot paste a flower on without its leaving a mark if you pull it off again, and an ungraceful group will only be rendered more hideous by putting anything over it to hide the defects; therefore, do not place a single leat on without intention.

If you think of ornamenting it with medallions, cut them all evenly, the same sized oval or round, and measure the spaces, and mark with a penci! before finally fixing them.

If you wish a panel or space filled with prints, as if carelessly thrown down, they must not be stuck one over the other, but must only join like a Chinese puzzle. To make them fit in this manner, first measure the space they are to occupy; then clear a large table, and paste some thin strips of white paper ou to it the exact size of that space. Place your prints within the radius of the strips of paper, taking care that the most important portions of the pictures are those unconcealed. As you place your prints, put a weight, stone, vase, book,