HIDE AND SEEK

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 56, 28 May 1927, Page 25 (Supplement)

HIDE AND SEEK

A NEW GAME It was an expectant little group that gathered around the friendly old fireplace, although Aunt Ella, trying to look very serious, had told them that their knowledge of books would b«* tested severely. Aunt Ella was th.* young librarian-aunty ot' five sti' l younger nieces and nephews Marjorie. Joyce, Donald, Torn, and Jerry Wright. Their guests were Annabelle. Nan arid Harvey Jones, who lived in the apart - ment just beneath them. Mr. Jones had come along to talk with Mr. Wright, but, first thing the children knew, both fathers had joined them around the fireplace, as eager as they, to learn Aunt Ella’s game

“Yes,” Aunt Ella told them, *T meant it when I said we would play hide-and-seek in the bookcase this evening. The game is to hide in sonv book in this room—a just-pretend sort of hide, of course. The person who is “it” selects the book in which 1 • wishes to hide- and begins to talk about it. The person who makes the correct guess first, may be the next t . hide.’ I’ll be ‘it’ this time just t-» show you how to play. 1a in with .i brother and sister—”

“Hansel and Gretel.” shouted Ton . "That was easy. Aunt Ella.” Wrong. Tom: let me finish. This brotiter and sister are having wonderful adventures.” "Jack and Jill." Annabel!.* guesse l

“No, it’s a book, not* just a few verses. Oh. oh,” she went on. as tha fathers walked over to the bookcase, "you must keep your seats whHe guessing. No reading over the title* in the bookcase! Well, this brothei and sister \l_:ited the land of their ancestors and the land of the futur** where the unborn children live. Their Cat and Dog went with them, as we 1 as Bread and Fire and Water. Thee were searching for happiness, or, in other words, the ” There was a moment’s silence, then Nan piped up with, "Oh. I know. Miss Ella. You're hiding in ‘The Bluebird.’ ”

So Nan was “it” and hid in a very* hard place, so very hard that she suggested that anybody who made a wrong guess would have to pay a forfeit. When they finished playing they, could redeem these forfeits in the regular old-fashioned way. It was' agreed, and Nan said in a very complacent little giggle, “I’m hiding on the back of a kangaroo.” Well, all kinds of guesses were made and all sorts of forfeits given * into the keeping of Aunt Ella. Even the,, two fathers didn’t know-, although one guessed “Wild Animals I hav.* Known,” and another Kipling’s “Jungle Book.” Finally Nan had to tell them that she been hiding in “The Adventures of a Brownie,” for hadn’t one of the Brownie’s pranks been to change himself into a kangaroo? So she was “it” again and hid on a bridge of monkeys. But she wasn’t so fortunate this time, for Donald had just finished reading “The Story of Dr. Dolittle” and guessed it right away. Donald hid on top of a mountain underneath an old man’s beard. It took them several minutes, but Mr. Jones finally remembered thaf the only gentleman he ever heard about with a beard long enough to cover a ten-year-old boy was Rip Van Winkle. Mr. Jones selected a desert island for Ills hiding place, a desert island with footprint on the sand. Joyce beat Harvey just a little in saying “Robinson Crusoe” first and hid in a circus tent with “Toby Tyler." Nobody could guess that, so she hid again. This time she thought it would be a good joke to hide ir. an arithmetic, but* Harvey guessed it right away, and hid in "Tom Brown’s School Days.” After that Marjorie hid in a book of Aesop’s Fables, Tom in “Adventures of Don Quixote.” Annabelle in “Alice in Wonderland,” Nan in “Little Women,” Aunt Ella in “Heidi," Mr. Wright in "Arabian Nights.” and Marjorie again in Andersen’s “Fairy Tales.” In fact, the game was more fun —so the children said—than real, everyday hide-and-seek, because th« places to hide were so much more interesting. "Just think.” said Annabelle, her eyes shining, "when we play down in the yard we just hide behind the same pillars and the same trees, over and over again, while this way we ran hide in castles and windmills and 1 haunted houses and rabbit holes and desert islands and circus tents and ” She stopped for lack of breath. "Ready to try to regain your forfeits?” asked Aunt Ella.

Now all the children had given real forfeits when they made mistakes — jacknives and rings and neckties —and did all sorts of ridiculous things to get them back.

But the fathers acted very strangely, for every time they were called on for a forfeit, they just presented Aunt Ella with another penny, and at the end they simply refused to do the things demanded of them in order to get them back. You couldn’t blame them, though, for they were asked *o hop around the room on one foot and to stand on their heads and other things equally undignified. And you shouldn't blame them, for afterwards there was a penny apiece for all the children.

“Well,” Aunt Ella said, “that will be enough to start it.”

“Start what?” demanded the eight children.

“A Book Crusade account,” explained Aunt Ella. “A great many children in this town are saving their money to buy new books.” "Well,” boasted Donald. “We are too.”