Untitled

New Zealand Tablet, 11 May 1916, Page 54

A Washington man had in his employ a faithful but at times stupid servant in the person of an old darkey named Zeke. Recently when t)ie employer had vainly endeavored to get something done in a certain way, he gave up in despair, exclaiming: ‘Zeke! Zeke! Whatever do you think your head is for

Zeke, who evidently thought that this was another of the troublesome questions that his employer was always asking, pondered deeply. Finally he replied: ‘ Well, boss, I guess it’s to keep my collar on.’

‘GUILTY OR INNOCENT.’

The game called ‘ guilty or innocent ’ is interesting. One of the company gets himself up to represent the old man of the woods; the rest take the names of various animals, such as. lion, tiger, leopard, and so on. The players seat themselves around the room, and the old man, standing in the centre, tells them that some one of their number has committed a crime, and he is about to question them in order that he may discover the guilty one. He then begins, ‘ Now’, Mr. Lion, where have you been hunting, and what have you eaten to-day ?’ ‘ I hunted in the forest and caught an antelope.’ Then you are twice guilty and must pay two forfeits,’ says the old man, and the lion must pay his forfeit without being told the crime he has committed. The old man passes on to a polar bear, ‘ Where did you hunt, and what have you eaten ?’ he asked. ‘ I hunted in the water, and had a fine fish to eat.’ The polar bear is pronounced innocent. The real game is that nd animal may bring in the letter ‘ o ’ either in his hunting ground or the food he eats. ‘ Forest ’ and ‘ antelope ’ both have an ‘o’ in them, so the lion has to pay two forfeits, whereas, ‘water ’and ‘fish,’ having no ‘o,’ the bear was declared innocent. The great fun is for the old man to keep the secret of ‘ guilty ’ or ‘ innocent ’ to himself , but even if the other players know the secret it is very difficult not to make a slip, as the answers must be given promptly. When the game is over the players must pay for their forfeits in any way the old man decides.