There Are Thirty-Five Guests In Our House, Who Form A Pleasant Company;
And Though Of Course There Is Great Diversity Of Taste And Character
Shown Among Them, They Form A Harmonious Assembly.
In the evenings we
have "sings", readings, games, and charades, frequently growing
hilarious.
Sedate professors, dignified divines, and learned writers
enter into these sports with the zest of schoolboys on a holiday. Some
of these games may be new; and that others may derive amusement for
similar occasions, I will describe two of them. In one, called
Comparison, the company seat themselves in a circle. Each one whispers
to his right hand neighbor the name of a person (known to the company);
to the one at his left, the name of an object. Then each in turn gives
aloud the name which his neighbor whispered to him, and tells why he or
she resembles the object, making the comparison complimentary or
otherwise. The uncomplimentary comparisons are generally the most
laughable, and of course all understand that 't is "all for fun", so no
one takes any offence. For instance: "Mr. J. resembles the harbor bar,
or did this morning, because there was a heavy swell rolling over him;"
the company understanding this as an allusion to a frolicsome tussle
which Mr. J. had with the beau of the house. A rhyming game also affords
much amusement. One person gives his neighbor a list of words, - the
words ending the lines of a sonnet or part of a poem, - and the person
receiving the list must fill in the lines, bringing in the words given,
in proper order, at the ends of the lines. In the following instance
the words italicized are the ones which the player received from his
neighbor; in this case the terminal words of Longfellow's beautiful
description of a calm night by the sea will be recognized, although the
word "ocean" was inadvertently substituted for "organ": -
"All the long white beach is silent
As a beach should ever be,
While the sea gulls stand and listen
To the moaning of the sea,
All the solemn oysters gather,
Gazing upward to the sky,
While a lobster breaks the silence,
Crooning low his litany
Little shrimps in their dark caverns,
Eating supper all alone,
Looking out upon the ocean,
Whispering in an undertone
'Tis sad and lonely by these beaches,
Shall we ne'er go beyond?'
All the barnacles, uprising,
'Never,' tearfully respond."
As we are by the sea, nautical rhymes seem to turn out naturally. The
writer of this remarkable effusion is evidently not an evolutionist,
though he may think there are some "queer fish" among the heterogeneous
inhabitants of this island.
At last the day comes when we must turn away from these lovely scenes;
and it is with regret, and many a backward look, that we are conveyed
to the Rockland boat. That vessel pursues a circuitous route along the
coast, among the picturesque islands; the trip suggesting quite forcibly
the St. Lawrence with its Thousand Isles, as old Neptune is fortunately
in amiable mood, and shows a smiling countenance.
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