or any round pieces of wood) or twenty-five cent pieces, or
large flat buttons, although discs of lead are the best because the
heaviest. Your pusher should be a little tool made especially, like
the illustration, about a foot long, and anybody with a jack-knife can
whittle a satisfactory "shovel" as it is called.

[Illustration]

But if an impromptu game is desired, your counters may be pushed off
with a common ruler, with a long lead-pencil, or even snapped with the
finger nail, though this is apt to hurt. Each player has six counters
which he plays by three's, thus one person begins by shoving off three
of his counters toward the board on the end, trying to make them fall
on the places that count the highest. The next player then shoots
three of his counters, trying not only to place his own men well but
to dislodge his adversary's men if they are in good places. After all
have played in turn, the first player shoots his other three counters
and so on till all have played again. At the close of each round the
board is inspected and each person is credited with the sum of the
numbers on which his men rest. The game is continued thus, until some
one has reached the limit set, which may be a hundred, or fifty, or
any other number according to the skill of the players.

The counters of each player may be distinguished from the others by
any distinctive sign marked on them. They must not be pushed along but
struck a sharp blow with your shovel. The head of your shovel must not
pass the line marked for the counters. Counters which rest on, or
touch a line do not count. A very considerable degree of skill can be
attained in this game and it is a never failing resource on dull days.

A rainy day is a good time to practice various tricks and puzzles so
as to perfect yourself in performing them.

Balancing Tricks

There are a number of balancing tricks which are easy and ingenious.
The secret of most such tricks is in keeping the centre of gravity
low, and when this idea is once mastered you can invent tricks to suit
yourself. For instance a tea-cup can be balanced on the point of a
pencil thus: put a cork through the handle of the cup (it should be
just large enough to be pushed in firmly) and stick a fork into it,
with two prongs on each side of the handle, and with the handle under
the bottom of the cup. (Fig. 1.) The centre of gravity is thus made
low, and if you experiment a little and have a little skill, and a