Show by the playground which 0 the summer sound Is sweetest to tired hearts 7 the low hum of the bee in the clover bed the hymn of the thrush at durkt robins that call in ane rain cool waves slipping away from the boat as she sails through the sea whisper of wind in the wheat or from the fresh smell ng field when the heal en Is thick with her stars the cricket s comforting chirp telling of welcome and homec hot winds bearing the noise of a city s traffic and cries and from the little square the voices 0 children in song hundreds of children at play birc ing and singing their glee glad in the g ft of to day the sunshine and warmth of the earth the joy of youth but begun chorus of mirth and good will childhood s treble of hope this Is the summer sound the sweetest the tired heart knows mary white ovington in the outlook hidden telegrams in this game you are to imagine you have a distant friend with whom you have an understanding about an expected message it might be that there are two or three contestants for a certain prize of honor the name of one might be jenkens that of an other barnson and that of the third sheldon suppose jenkins Is the sue contestant and that you wish to telegraph to your friend simply the nama of jenkens however you wish to conceal the message as much as possible so the understanding Is that the first letters of the words you tele graph will spell the name with this explanation each player sets to work to write a clever sentence in which the first letters will spell jenkins the various players may get sentences like these judge angles never knew I 1 noticed sally julia s elbow next knocked irish nora silly jack expects to kiss in nova scotia jam eating nearly killed ikey nath am saturday it Is immoss ble that there will be any two alike and the game Is to see who can write the cleverest the telegrams are read aloud and the players vote to see whose Is best unidentified A neat parlor trick this is a neat and effective trick to perform before a company of men women and children from whom you can borrow the few materials you need these are a silver halt dollar a large wire hairpin a heavy ring and a long hatpin or stickpin bend the hairpin into the shape shown in the picture force the half dollar into the narrow hook on one end of the hairpin which hook you have pinched well together so that it will grip the coin tightly and hang the ring on the other more open hook now balance the coin at a po nt near its edge and in line with the two hooks on the point of the hatpin which you hold vertically in your left hand ou can nearly always make it bal ance on some point but to make the trick effective the p n should be very the needle coin and ring near the edge of the coin so it the ring Is not very heavy you may have to borrow another one and slip it in the hook beside the first or you can use a light ring and substitute a quarter for the half dollar now if you blow against the ring the whole affair will turn on its pivot and by giving a good puff every time the ring conies round you can make it spin very fast and keep on spinning a long time if the hatpin is very sharp and of very hard steel it will gradually bore a hole in the coin in deed it is possible to bare clear through a soft n in this way of course you should practice this trick benere ou try it in public then if the ring is a brass one and the coin your own ou can give your merry go round to the youngsters who will have lots of fun with it blind boys football football and many other outdoor games are blaed by the blind certain changes being made so that in each game the sense of hearing takes the place of sight says the baltimore her aid in football for instance a tiny bell is fastened to the ball and by the bell s tinkle the ball s location Is determined ter mined the blind delight in races of all sorts they do not run toward a tape as the seeing do but toward a belt that jangles briskly it is odd to see the blind at their games they play gravely and they maintain a profound silence for it they made a noise the voices of their guiding bells could not be heard A peaceful family A parrot a dog and a cat share the same quarters and eat from the same plate at the of the so ety tor prevention of cruelty to ani 1 in philadelphia poll chatters away all day while don the dog sleeps and watches visitors poll sometimes scolds him at meal time for eating too much but don takes it good natu it a peddler comes in poll raises a cry and don drives the intruder don also meets the let ter carrier at the door and takes the mail to the chief clerk joe the cat shows impatience occa signally sio nally when poll screeches loud that he cannot sleep joe Is a light eater and often gives up his dinner voluntarily for the benefit of don As a rule this little family gets on very well the three are quite fond of each other poll sometimes perches on don s head but the talkative bird has to be careful to keep the claws from scratching don objects to that barrel swing this picture will show you how to make a barrel swing they are novel and comfortable and look very quaint hanging from the porch of a country house all vou have to do is to saw away a part of the barrel as the picture shows and screw tour stout into the four sides of the barrel to these are fastened ropes which meet above on an iron ring which comes the barrel swing complete just above the head of the person sit ting in the swing the barrel head is fitted into the bottom half as a seat and may be covered with cushions or left bare A geographical game there must be a leader someone who Is pretty good in geography and is capable of doing some quick think ing himself any number of players may take part in the game when all are seated the leader takes his place in front of them and tells them that he is going to give them the name of a state and a letter of the alphabet and is then going to count five slowly while he is counting five all the players must be trying to think of a city or town in the bbate he called whose name begins with the given let ter for example suppose he gives maine as the state and F as the let ter then the players must all try to think of ty or town in maine the name of which beg ns with the let ter F it Is necessary for them all to do the thinking for he has a right to ask anyone of them tor the answer and they never know which one of them it Is going to be when he has received a correct an awer he may ask another player to name some other town beginning with the same letter or he may change the letter two or three times then he names some other state and con finues the game as long as it inter ests the players home made traps in gibson s camp life in the woods and the tricks of trapping published some years ago the follow ing effective traps that can be easily made are described A arouse trap may be made with a bowl and a knife blade put a piece of cheese on the end of the blade of a table knife lift one edge of the bowl and put the knife standing on its edge under it allowing the bait to be about an inch and a half beneath the bowl the odor of cheese will attract the mouse and he will find his way under the edge of the bowl and a very slight nibble will tip the blade and the bowl will fall over on the prisoner A thimble may be used in place of the 1 nife force the cheese into the thimble and put the thimble under the bowl filth the open end inward al lowing about half the length of the thimble to project out of it the mouse in trying to get the cheese out of the thimble will cause the bowl to fal if the thimble be too small to allow the mouse to pass under the edge of the bowl put a bit of pasteboard or a flat chip under the thimble to make a fly trap take a tumbler and half ill it with strong soapsuds cut a circle of stiff paper which will exactly fit into the top of the glass and in the center of the paper cut a hole half an inch in diameter A of bread may be used in place of the stiff paper smear the under side ot the disc with molasses before insert ing files will find their way dowa ward through the hole and once be low the paper their doom Is sealed in their efforts to escape they will tall into the soapsuds and speedily by setting a number of such traps in a room it will soon be rid of the pests cat s paper boots did you ever put paper boots on your cat that Is what dicks play mates did to him I 1 was one of them and it was great fun even for dick himself his feet were tied up in smooth paper and then he was put down on the floor then a spool tied to a string was put before him dick loved to play with spools and was quick to catch them he liked to play ball with them or make believe they were mice to be tossed or worried but when dick tried to catch the spool with his paper boots on it was a funny sight his legs went aher ever they chose they did not care what we wanted at all each foot went skating by itself and left poor dick flat on the floor he kicked rolled over and over and was the most puzzled cat you ever saw he looked at that lively spool winked at it snatched at it but could never catch it he thought that it was the queerest spool he had ever seen and that his feet were the queerest things he had ever owned st nicholas two lively contests for a jolly contest a bottle partly filled with water and a generous supply of thin nails have each guest write down on a piece of paper or a blackboard the number of nails he thinks it will take to make the water overflow each guess should have the name of the guesser written beside it when all have guessed the hostess begins dropping the nails one by one into the water when the first water runs over the edge she stops and the various guesses are examined the boy or girl whose prophecy hits or comes closest to the real number of nails wins a point or a prize for another lively sport secure a long necked vase or pitcher the open ing of which is just large enough to admit a peanut give each player three peanuts and have him or her circle the room three times at a good pace each time in passing the vase the player attempts to drop a peanut into the vase the boy or girl land ing most peanuts wins the point A devoted cat one day a little dog a pet in the home of a clergyman disappeared says the animals defender after a long search it was found in a med ical laboratory in almost a dying con dialon it was carefully carried back to its home and placed on a soft bed near the fire all the family minis to the sick dog but the most constant con stint care was given by another household pet a cat ahe made the suffering animal comfortable by stretching out her soft body as a rest and on one occasion when the dog staggered to uis feet to drink from a dish of milk the cat rose and went over to the dish to serve as a sup port for her feeble charge to lean against while he drank kitty was thirsty too but not a drop of milk did she touch until she had escorted the patient back to his bed fishing tr ck there are plenty of patented hooks and devices tor catching fish but when they are not available all sorts of ingenious devices are rigged up by those who tire of sitting in the sun tor hours wondering why the fish don t hook themselves here is one of them it Is not recommended when there is a scarcity of bait but other wise it can be used with success it must be kept in mind even with this device that all fish do not bite on a hook and pull anxiously in the hope of being caught the slightest pull of how the hooks are placed i line should be responded to by the fisherman who must pull hard enough to jerk the barb of the hook through the very tough fiber of the mouth with this in mind a fisherman has setter chances with this device than ne with the plain hook each hook should carry a very small bece of bait nicely covering the point md barb the bottom hook can carry he attractive bait but the others are ased to catch the fish A constructive PLAY to make a simple combination cut out toy begin by cutting out the stand fig ure I 1 cutting around the heavy out side lines then cut around the two inside sections A and leaving the dotted lines uncut as these are intend ed to hold the sections bend the loosened sections down along the dotted lines in such a man ner that they will turn toward each other then lap them and pin or paste them together now cut out the rug the little girl and the cat bend the girl a dress down along the dotted line also bend the base under cat along dot ted line fasten both to the rug alu pin or paste so that they will ba up right |