tale, but a game still played by all classes of
children--

"There were two birds sitting on a stone,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.
One flew away, and then there was one,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.
The other flew after, and then there was none,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.
And so the poor stone was left all alone,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de!"

The way boys play it may be briefly told as follows:--Pieces of paper
are wetted and fixed on the fingers, the first finger of each hand.
Being thus ornamented, they are placed on the table or knee, and the
rhyme repeated--

"There were two birds sitting on a stone."

Then by a sudden upward movement, throwing the paper on one finger, as
it were, over the shoulder, the next finger--the second--is substituted
for it, and the hand is again brought down and placed beside the
remaining paper bird--

"Fa, la, la, la, lal, de."
"One flew away, and then there was one."

The same sleight-of-hand is gone through with the other finger--

"The other flew away, and then there was none,
And so the poor stone was left all alone."

Another but more modern game, embodying the same idea, is told in--

"There were two blackbirds sitting on a hill,
One named Jack and the other named Jyll.
Fly away, Jack, fly away, Jyll.
Come again, Jack, come again, Jyll"--

to the wonderment of the child watching the quick change of fingers.

It is the earliest sleight-of-hand trick taught to the nursery child.

A B C GAME.

A spirited game may be played after this fashion. All seated round the
table or fireplace. One child sings a solo--a verse of some nursery
rhyme. For instance--

"Hi diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed to see such fine sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon."

A chorus of voices takes up the tune and the solo is repeated, after
which the alphabet is sung through, and the last letter, Z, sustained
and repeated again and again, to bother the next child whose turn it now
is to sing the next solo. The new solo must be a nursery rhyme not
hitherto sung by any of the company. If unable to supply a fresh rhyme
the child stands out of the game and pays forfeit.

"I APPRENTICE MY SON."

In another parlour game of a rather interesting kind the youngest in the
room begins by saying--

"I apprentice my son to a butche