THE BEST GAME WE PLAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXVI, Issue 152, 24 December 1903, Page 12

THE BEST GAME WE PLAY.

There's nothing wonderful or grand in our back yard at all — Jusf g rass ftpdi' trees an( * ta^ BWeet P 6 **, that gr6w along the wall; And yet w© liav© the finest times and p.ay the greatest plays Right m our yard ! Why, now and then the game will last for days ! Sometimes we have a circus there. For tents we have the trees, With cages of wild animals ; I fear you'd laugh at these,. But Bruitf makes a lovely lion— bur tigers are just cats. , The girls all bring their dollies out, ana sit uround on mats. Charlie and John and Will and I wild horses like to be ; And how we run and prance aud kick! I just wish you could see. We murk a ring out on the grass, and Bob's the finest clown, f While Jim, as inubter, crack's his whip aud drives us up And down. Then, in the swing we boys all do the . best tricks that we can ; And Will and Charlie "wraatle," and Boh plays the "strongest man" ; And Tim, our little spaniel, is the funniest of all : He jumps through hoops and over ropes, and tries to catch a ball. Sometimes ws play our yard's a park* and take pins at the gate ; And sometimes it's a "forest dark," where bears and Indians wait To catch the hunters fearless, who boldly wander there "■ In search of grisly giants and enchanted castles fair. We sometimes play the grass it sea, where whales and fishes float ; The garden bench turned upside down makes just a lovely boat. W© sately row or sail and sing, though awful storms arise, And mermaids try to steal our hats be* fore our very eyes. But lately w© play soldiers, most, and havo a dandy, camp; We boys just begged to sleep in it, but niamjna said 'twas "damp." We drill, and march, and "sound the calls," and polish up our guns, And shoot the biggest cannon-balls — they weigh a thousand tons. We call Jim "Dewey" all th© time— he't captain of our corps ; W© have our trousers trimmed with whit* — of badges wear a score, The girls just love to watch us march and fix our tents each day ; I truly think this ''soldier game" is best of all our play. —Annie C. Steele, in St. Nicholas.