A FASHIONABLE GAME.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1216, 28 October 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

A FASHIONABLE GAME.

I am informed on unimpeachable authority that the game of "Dumb Crambo" is all the rage just now in polite society. The clever little vignettes in ■Punch, by "Dumb Crambo, Jr," may have had some hand in the revival of" Dumb Crambo." I mention it here,for the reason that I haveasked at least twenty ladies and gentleman in society how "Dumb Crambo" is played, and no two of the number have been able to agree as to the ex?ct manner of conducting it, But I have ferretted out the rules for "Crambo," as laid down in a book called " Games and Sports," published' in 1837, aud written by the indefatigable Donald Walker, the author of" Manly Exercises" and "Exercises for Ladies." The book is illustrated with delicate little outline engravings,,and is dedicated to Miss Anna Maria Birbeck; the daughter, I apprehend, of the philanthropic Dr. Birbeck, _ " Dumbo Crambo," according to Walker, is played thus: The players are seated in a circle, no table occupying the intermediate space so as to intercept the view of all the parties, The person who begins the game then pronounces aloud a word of a single syllable. The, person on his right must find another monosyllable to rhyme with the first' orie j but if he pronounces the word he forfeits—he must act it, Ho accordingly rises, and by signs or actions must so clearly express the thing signified that all the other players understand it, He must not be articulate; but he may eke out his pantomime by inarticulate sounds, Thus, if the word to which he has to find a rhyme be" dog "or " pig," he must either bark or grunt to signify that he is acting the part of a dog or of a pig. Each player in succession finding a new rhyme acts similarly, concluding with the person who first gave the word; and this lady or gentleman would do well to keep in .reserve some uncommon word which i 3 not likely to be discovered by some one else. When the party is numerous the 1 first player is nearly always forestalled in the rhyme which he is keeping in reserve, arid-in that case he has to pay forfeit j whereat is great sport.—G, A, S,, in Illustrated London News. ■ ' i.