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Show I Fun For Your Family By MISS ABBIE CONDIT National Recreation Association. The pioneers of America may have vanished and Buffalo Bill may live only in a history book, but this need not stop us from using a' pioneer pio-neer setting for an evening of fun. Whole families trekked West in pioneer pio-neer days some of your ancestors no doubt among them so naturally this pioneer play party must include fathers, mothers, boys and girls. The pioneer theme offers endless possibilities for decorations. Bales of hay may be placed beside the entrance en-trance to the hall. Wagon wheels may serve as wall decorations inside in-side along with old-time lanterns, harnesses, bridles, and similar equipment Shocks of corn and bundles bun-dles of grain may be stacked in the corners of the room, and there are always pumpkins, ears of yellow and red corn, bittersweet and red peppers. pep-pers. Each guest should be tagged as he enters with a brightly colored piece of wool. Four different colors may be used, and they should be distributed distrib-uted as evenly as possible among those present A novel idea would be to have the colored yarn threaded thread-ed on long darning needles. The person in charge of tagging the guests might stitch a length of yarn to the sleeve of each player, cutting the yarn and tying the loose ends. As the games begin the pioneers discover the meaning of these pieces of yarn. Each color represents a pioneer settlement perhaps "Dead Man's Gulch," "Split Rock Crossing," Cross-ing," "Cow's Horn Creek," and "Gold Nugget Pass." These groups, assembled in corners of the room, compete against each other for the remainder of the evening. Here are a few of the games which might be used: Corn Shelling Contest. A stool and a gunny sack filled with ears of corn are placed at the head of each of the lines representing the four settlements.. set-tlements.. At a signal the first individual in-dividual in each line runs up to the stool, sits down, shells an ear of corn (putting the kernels in a container), con-tainer), and returns to his place, touching off the next person in line. The winning team is the one whose last player finishes first Cantankerous Cattle. Contestants are told that they are to bring the cows home from pasture. The first player in each line is given a stick and an empty tin can the cow. On the signal the players drive the cows (rolling the tin cans with the sticks) up to the designated goal, around it and back again. The second ones in line repeat the process, and so on. The first team home with its cow, every member of the team having hav-ing had an opportunity to play, is the winner. Refreshments might be served in tin plates and cups. If the crowd is small enough for a covered dish supper, each family might bring a dish from Grandmother's recipe book. On the other hand, refreshments refresh-ments may consist of apples, cider, doughnuts, or pumpkin pie and coffee. cof-fee. Released by Western Newspaper Union. |