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This newspaper page contains 35 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Boston Weekly Globe
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Date
Dec 08, 1885
Page
3
A column offering descriptions of many games and problems to entertain all ages during the long winter evenings. The piece promises plain descriptions and illustrations with contributions from readers and notes that Triat will prove all are entertaining.
Sibyl selects numbers from 1 to 50 and reads fortunes from Leaves of Destiny. Predictions cover love, travel, marriage, flirtation, fashion, and fortune for the year, naming places like Brighton strand and Coney Island, with notes on weddings, separations, and life choices.
A simple classroom game teaches fruit growth while entertaining children. One player is seller. others guess the fruit with yes or no questions. Wrong clues lose a turn. correct guess becomes seller next, transferring role through a sequence of buyers with fruit shown as examples like raisins and quinces. Natick, November 265. Mrs. C
A detailed description of a hand puppet illusion called the talking hand. It explains creating a concealed elderly female figure on a palm using painting, a hood, and clothing to simulate a head and shawl. The piece notes its antiquity and links it to Hogarth and Albert Smith.
A street theatre sketch features a performer conversing with an old lady using falsetto to mimic her voice. The exchange twists through her Irish accent, jokes about apples, politics, and a threat to sing for a sip of whiskey, ending with a stray note about a “very fair giant for domestic purposes.”
A quirky 19th century note describes creating a giant illusion using a senior staff member as a body and a cloak, with a fake head and moustache to entertain. A showman may dialogue with the concealed figure to boost laughs, but avoid overlong exposure to prevent discomfort or danger to the legs and escape risks. MISS MATTIE.
A detailed description outlines a tapering robe from eight inches to two feet, with two cane hoops at knee and chin height to distend the garment for freedom of movement. A belt-mounted lower hoop keeps height and prevents foot snagging. With practice, the performer can execute eccentric maneuvers including a dwarf-like compression, a head circle, and a serpentine exit with the lead passed between the legs, avoiding abrupt movements.
A magician describes a two plate illusion using a clean and a blackened plate to mesmerize a boy. The performer demonstrates placing plates, rubbing a finger on the plate to leave a mark, and mirroring the motion with a mirror to reveal the illusion. He notes the audience will be amused and urges further tricks for entertaining parlors.
A stage performer interacts with an elderly singer in a comic tavern scene. The old woman, calling Georgie, performs a song in falsetto and pleads for a drink as the other character tests her recollection. She continues with the second verse and toasts, ending with well wishes for long life.
A detailed, finished deception performed with a four foot broomstick and a grotesque pasted head. The figure uses a dark extinguisher shaped robe gathered at the neck with a frill, long enough to nearly touch the ground when held aloft.
An exhibitor presents the giant Uncle-Eater, a tall grotesque figure described as seven feet long with a distinctive build. The creature, part ant eater family, is said to live on odd foods in captivity and is showcased in a showman’s tone to amuse the audience.
The passage describes a piece in B flat titled What-do-you-Think performed with theatrical dress. A performer wears a conical paper cap and black kid gloves then crawls as an animal, aided by a rag fur garment, while a second person helps assemble the setup UNCLE JAKE.
The excerpt describes crafting a baby elephant costume using a gray shawl as the body and improvised ears eyes tusks and trunk from paper and fabric. It notes creating a mahout driver character offers acting scope and that more grotesque props boost success in a production.
A playful description of a long standing parlor game where two players enact a mock royal scene with a forfeit for giggles under a measured ceremony. The blindfold variant adds rounds and misdirection, while the guessing blind man version uses touch and disguise to identify players.
The passage explains a party game where players craft sentences about their love using words starting with successive letters from A onward. Each participant repeats a line starting with their designated letter recounting affection or dislike, skipping X, and may pass or call for others to continue to keep the game lively.
The article describes party amusements where players draw numbers and justify why each number is famous, with examples like seven days a week and twelve in a dozen. It also details a verb guessing game where half the group pantomimes a verb rhyming with a chosen word, the other half guessing it under penalties.
A description of a party game where children form a line behind chairs placed in a row one chair fewer than players. While a music-playing girl leads a chant to Jerusalem the chairs are removed as players scramble for seats. The player left without a chair pays a forfeit. the process repeats until two remain, and the seat winner forfeits play.
A collection of simple party games. Players pass scissors while matching speech, race in Clamps style guessing, try keeper for a feather, balance a basket on a broom handle, imitate grand gestures, play the mammoth sneeze division, and shadow-guess from a lighted sheet. Includes roles and forfeits for wrong answers.
A column describes a party game titled Quaker Meeting where women sit and twirl thumbs while men recite phrases and kneel in sequence. The leader signals a cue and the row collapses like a deck of cards as the laughter rule triggers forfeits. The note ends with MAGGIE.
A bright 19th century yard game uses a 3 by 18 inch board with a six by six hole set nine inches from the top and six inches from each side. Players toss six small bags and one jumbo bag across a fifteen foot distance, scoring ten and twenty points respectively, with penalties for misses. The game includes a chant and rules for scoring, plus a playful lead line about love and descriptors.
A peculiar domestic note describes instructing a friend to set two chairs back to back two feet apart and leap over them. When the friend hesitates or fails, the narrator suggests removing shoes and jumping over them. The intended meaning remains unclear to the reader.
A list of humorous party forfeits is described with wagers such as saying a phrase ten times in one breath and kissing the one you love best. It explains forfeits can be prewritten, folded, placed in a hat, and drawn to assign tasks, including elbow placement and spelling Hood's Sarsaparilla backwards. Margie.
Puzzle hints direct readers to print on one side of the paper and to enclose answer sheets. L. H. Patterson of Danvers invites Pastime Association members to submit matters for the column.
A batch of puzzles from small-town newspapers features charades and rebus word games with names and places from Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Entries list numbers tied to clues for words, with contributors from Orland to Guilford and Worcester to Taunton sharing solutions and signatures.
A puzzle item listing six clues followed by the surname Guass. The clues read as 1. A letter 2. A word meaning father 3. That which encloses the heart 4. Part of a window 5. A sticky substance 6. The name of an Indian ruler.
A compact teaser page presents No. 107 Enigma and No. 168 Charade from Graniteville and Brewer Maine with lines hinting at common house items and actions. The page also lists winnings, subscriber notes, and a rolling set of past puzzle answers including Unconstitutional and Constantinople along with a playful verse ending Too cross you are too cross you be.
The fragment lists individuals and locations: Le N Tinel of Worcester Massachusetts, C A Foster of Concord New Hampshire, Marion Mark’and of E Conway New Hampshire, Josiah Allen of Boston Massachusetts, Leclair of Potomac Virginia. It reads like a partial directory snippet.
Fragmented OCR extract lists scattered names and phrases including Leclair Le N Tinel Tet E Foster M M Josiar Allen ly Bina Faux G M Gs Can't Do It Xcuse Me He Readhoedances Old Plantation W BK 1 J E A Cohannet I Did It Dick Baens Gayberd Dead.
The committee report shows James R. Elliott of Freeport LL awarded first prize 35 with a score of 2428. Miss Ida R. Darling of Bridgewater Mass received the nearest 1st place. A note on rules explains repeated letters in words, and an extra prize of 1 may be offered if a larger list arrives before the second content closes.
The column announces Christmas puzzles from Cohannet and A F Holt with several from the pen of Holt. The New England League grows with twenty two joining for a convention and urges attendance to ensure success. It invites puzzlers to subscribe or simply solve and send in puzzles.
The note lists several individuals including Poemy Haverhill Emulator Nau tilus Speirs Nibbs Sammy Soi Ajax Jenny Brophy and Tah-koo-ish and asks for their names and addresses. It mentions sending hundreds of copies of the issue to puzzlers to grow a list of friends and to solicit subscriptions or contributions. It invites responses from the readers.
The first convention of the N E P L will be held in Boston Massachusetts on December 26 at 10:00 a.m. Edwin F. Edgett of Cambridgeport or J W Smith of East Boston will act as chairman and L Patterson of Danvers as secretary. Invitations will be sent out by the organizing committee in a week or ten days.
A mosaic of quirky notices from across the nation. A Buffalo firm touts nasal reshaping while juries in Iowa face burdensome female lawyers. Reports touch on post offices, orphaned crops, dog antics, unusual marriages, engraved death forms, and peculiar public acts.
Charles F Barker announces Barker's American Checker-Player from Boston Cambridge address details. The volume includes twenty two openings with five hundred twenty four variations and thirty five critical positions contributed by Wardwell and Lyman. Cloth bound, price one dollar post-paid. Addressees and ordering options given.
Notes by Theo W Kimley of Greenford Ohio describe a chess game variation and move sequence in an 84th move, Bowen Bristol drawing after A J Heffner's 24 28, with white leveraging a draw. Includes references to Game No 2057 Double Corner and other players like Mr A J Heffner and Mr G W Tracy.
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