f what they are like.

Two of the leading young men of the place take entire charge of the day's
amusements, selecting for the purpose as the scene of festivities some inn
or _Wirthschaft_, to which is attached a large garden or meadow.

For several preceding evenings, when work is over, they go about from
house to house, dressed in their best, and carrying large baskets on their
arms. Everywhere they are kindly received, and bread with wine or cider is
placed before them. While they eat and drink, the baskets are quietly
slipped away by some member of the family, a generous donation of eggs is
placed within them, and they are secretly returned to their places. The
eggs are not asked for, neither are they alluded to in any way; but the
object of the visit is well understood and prepared for long beforehand.

When Monday morning dawns, the inn is found to have been gayly decorated
with garlands of green and flowers, and fluttering ribbons of many colors.
The tree nearest the house is ornamented in like manner, and on it the
prize to be contended for, conspicuously hangs. On the smooth grass hard
by, a strip, a few feet wide and perhaps a hundred long, has been roped
in, and at either end of this narrow plot a large, shallow, round-bottomed
basket, called a _Wanne_, is placed, one filled with chaff and the other
with eggs, dozens upon dozens, cooked and raw, white and colored.

[Illustration: THE CATCHER.]

The plan of the peculiar game which follows is that one player is pitted
to run a given distance, while another safely throws the eggs from one
basket to the other, he who first completes his task being, of course, the
winner. Accordingly, when the young men and maidens have arrived, two
leaders draw lots to determine who shall run and who shall throw. That
decided, the contestants are gayly decked with ribbons, a band strikes up
a lively air, a capering clown clears the way, and the game begins. He who
throws takes the eggs, and one after another swiftly whirls them the
length of the course, and into the chaff-filled basket, which is held in
the hands of an assistant. Occasionally he makes a diversion by pitching a
hard one to be scrambled for by the crowds of children who have assembled
to see the sport. Meantime (while wagers are laid as to who will likely
win) the other contestant speeds the distance of a mile or two to an
appointed goal, marks it as proof of his having touched it, and if he
succeeds in returnin