After the coffee and the customary _pousse-café_ the company went out
into the court-yard to dance country dances and to play fox and geese
and my lady's toilet. Nothing could be more picturesque than this
latter game, played in the open air in a yard studded with trees. The
players took their places each under a tree. One only remained in the
open. Each furnished his or her contribution to my lady's toilet--one
being her dress, another her necklace, another her ring, and so forth.
It was the office of one of the players to direct the game. As soon
as he called for one of these articles the one representing this
article was obliged at once to leave his post, which was promptly taken
possession of by another. Then, as the different articles of my lady's
toilet were called for rapidly, a lively interchange of positions
was set up between the players, the one left out in the first place
striving to capture any post that might be left for an instant vacant.
This merry game was continued until my lady considered her toilet
complete. Then, on the cry, "My lady wants all her toilet," all the
players change places with alacrity, and the one who was left out had
to pay a forfeit. It is not to be supposed that this game was conducted
without a vast deal of laughter and clamor and ludicrous mishaps.
When the ladies were tired the party went into the house to amuse
themselves less vigorously with such games as "does the company please
you," or "hide the ring," "shepherdess," or "hide and seek," or "hot
cockles," etc. They ended up with a game proposed by Jules, which was
ordinarily productive of much laughter.
The early Canadians, though redoubtable warriors on the battle-field,
were thorough children in their social gatherings. Being nearly all
kinsfolk or friends of long standing, many of their games which in
these days might be regarded in the best circles as overfamiliar were
robbed of the objectionable element. The stranger would have said that
they were a lot of brothers and sisters letting their spirits have free
play within the privacy of the family.
It was not without deliberate purpose that Jules, who still felt the
pinch Elise had given him, proposed a game by which he hoped to get
his revenge. This is the game: A lady seated in an arm-chair begins by
choosing some one as her daughter. Her eyes are then blindfolded, and,
by merely feeling the faces of the players, who kneel before her one by
one, with their heads enveloped in a shawl or scarf, she is required to
pick out her daughter. Every time she makes a mistake she has to pay a
forfeit. It is often a man or an old woman who kneels before her thus
disguised, whence arises many a laughable mistake.
When it came the turn of Elise to take the arm-chair, she did not fail
to select Jules for her daughter, with the purpose of tormenting him a
little during the inspection. As each person knelt at the feet of the
blindfolded lady, all the others sang in chorus:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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