For a late October social, perhaps for a Hallowe’en frolic, this will be liked by many; but it is good at any time of the year.

A good-luck fairy, or witch, in a long red cloak and high pointed hat, should be mistress of ceremonies. If the time is Hallowe’en, the rooms may be lighted with Jack-o’-lanterns. One doorway may have a portiÈre of apples hung on strings of different lengths. The tallest Juniors are to stoop and “bite” for those hanging on the longest strings; the shorter ones reach for those above, in the same way. In the middle of this portiÈre hangs a horseshoe, and for the first game let the Juniors each try to throw three tiny apples between the prongs of the horseshoe. Those successful in doing so are supposed to have good luck throughout the coming year.

Another game that might be played is apple-shooting. Place apples of distinctive colors, red, yellow, and green, afloat in a tub of water, and let the Juniors shoot at them with toy bows and arrows. To fire an arrow into a red apple assures one of good health; to shoot a yellow one means wealth; and those who succeed in hitting the green ones are to have some especial piece of great good luck.

Arrange the chairs in the form of a horseshoe, and seat the Juniors, all except two—one who goes out of the room, and one who acts as “reporter,” and must have a good memory. This is the game of “wishes and compliments.” Each player makes a remark or wish concerning the one out of the room. For instance, one says, “She wears a wig.” Another, “I wish she would sing a song.” A third, “She can’t sing a note.” A fourth, “She can recite beautifully.” A fifth, “I wish she may go to Africa as a missionary.” A sixth, “She is dreadfully conceited.” A seventh, “She is the best scholar in her class,” etc. The “compliments” will not all be of the most flattering kind, and the wishes will be either sensible or nonsensical ones, as occur to the wishers. Then the reporter calls in the absent one, tells her that one person has said so-and-so about her, and asks her to guess from the remark who the person is. She has only one guess for each remark. As soon as she guesses one correctly, the one thus discovered must take her place; and so on throughout the game.

This game might be followed by a number of “good-luck stories,” each Junior telling the best piece of good luck, as he considers it, that ever happened to him.

A hunt for four-leaf clovers, of which there may be a hundred or more made of green paper and hidden about the rooms, will be enjoyed. The one who finds the most may be rewarded either by some trifle like a pin-tray or by a stick-pin in the form of a four-leaf clover or horseshoe; or, if he is one of the younger Juniors, by a copy of that charming little book for children, by Mrs. Annie Rix Militz, “The Wonderful Wishers of Wishing-Well.”

Again the Juniors may be seated in their horseshoe row, and play the game of “wishes and results,” which is quite different from the other wishing game. Each is given a slip of paper and a pencil, and is asked to write his greatest wish. These slips are then collected and others passed, on which each player answers the question, “What do you think would happen if you should have your wish?” These “results” are collected as were the wishes, and after thoroughly mixing the slips, but keeping the two sets separate, each set is numbered from one up, and the wishes and results are then read in pairs, according to number; the results, as might be expected, often proving amusingly inappropriate to the wishes.

Refreshments may be apples roasted and corn popped by the Juniors themselves, to which may be added nuts, lemonade, and cookies in the shape of horseshoes and four-leaf clovers. Just before the close, the good-luck fairy or some other “grown-up” should give a short talk clearly explaining the truth that every person really controls his own “luck,” and saying that a magical recipe will be given to each Junior on starting for home, which, if followed, will keep him always fortunate. This “recipe,” typewritten and handed to each in an addressed envelope labeled “Good-Luck Recipe,” is the definition of “luck” given by Max O’Rell, as follows:

“Luck means rising at six o’clock in the morning, living on a dollar a day if you earn two, minding your own business, and not meddling with other people’s. Luck means the appointments you have never failed to keep, the trains you have never failed to catch. Luck means trusting in God and your own resources.”