the family. The paper is then passed on
once more, and a reply to the letter, in the form of a telegram, is
written. That is to say, you must say as much as you can in ten words.
Example:--

THE LETTER

_The first player writes_:--My dear Buffalo Bill.
_The second player writes_:--Can you give me any information about
suitable songs for our village choir?
_The third player writes_:--Believe me yours slavishly.
_The fourth player writes_:--Kitchener of Khartoum.

THE REPLY TELEGRAM

_The fifth player writes_:--Be with you to-morrow. Have sheets
aired. Am bringing everything.

Telegrams

There is also the game of "Telegrams." In this the first thing to
write is the name of the person sending the telegram. The paper is
then passed on, and the name of the person to whom it is sent is
written. The papers are then passed on again and opened, and the
players in turn each say a letter of the alphabet, chosen at random,
until there are ten. As these are spoken, each player writes them on
the paper before him, leaving a space after it; so that when the ten
are all written down his paper may look like this:--

From the DUKE OF YORK
To BARNUM AND BAILEY.

H ... A ... P ... N ...
W ... E ... K ... S ... F ...
T ...

A period of five minutes or more is then allowed in which to complete
the telegram, the message having to be ten words long, and each word
to begin, in the same order, with these letters. The players should,
as far as possible, make the telegrams reasonable, if not possible.
Thus, the form given above might, when finished, read like this:--

From the DUKE OF YORK
To BARNUM AND BAILEY.

Have Awning Prepared Next
Wednesday Evening Kindly Send Five
Tickets

In calling out the ten letters which are to be used in the telegram,
it is well to avoid the unusual consonants and to have a vowel here
and there.

An amusing variety is for all the players to compose telegrams on the
same subject; the subject being given beforehand. Thus it might be
decided that all the telegrams should be sent from President Roosevelt
to Alice in Wonderland asking for her views on the tariff. Then having
completed these messages, the answers may also be prepared, using the
same letters. But, of course, as in all games, family matters work out
more amusingly than public ones.

Initials

Paper is handed round, and each player thinks