  Send the Juniors an invitation reading somewhat like this: “You are invited to enter one or all of the athletic events of the Parlor Athletic Club, on Wednesday evening, November third, at 65 Sycamore Street. Everybody will break training at the end of the meet. “Bertrand C. Frost, Field Marshal. “October twenty-fifth, 1903.” As each guest enters the front door, the scorer should put down the guest’s name, number it, and pin on his back a plainly numbered card. As he enters the parlor or dining-room, a paper and pencil should be given to him. The events should be plainly listed on a blackboard. The announcer should say: “Will each competitor please write his number at the head of his sheet, and under this the numbers, but not the names, of the events which he means to enter? The more entries, the better. Hand your sheets to me.” Four judges (grown people are the best) can quickly make lists of the people entering each event. Then the announcer should clear the field, and the events should begin as promptly as possible. The following list may be too long: 1. Taking the largest bite from an apple hung by a string. The hands of the competitor must be held behind his back. 2. Holding the breath the longest without laughing. 3. Balancing a cane on one finger the longest. 4. Throwing bean-bags into a hole cut in a board. Fifteen feet is a good distance. Each competitor should be allowed five bags. 5. Laughing in the most original manner. 6. A tickling-match. Two competitors should each be given a feather. One hand must be held behind the back. An eight-foot circle is drawn. The winner is he or she who stays the longer in the circle without making a sound. 7. Hand-wrestling. Two people stand opposite each other, with legs braced, and grasp each a hand, holding the other hand behind them. The point is to jerk or pull your opponent in such a manner that he is forced to move one of his feet. 8. Standing on one foot, on a chair, the longest. The right arm must be held up straight, and not supported. 9. Sitting down on the floor, and getting up again most gracefully. The arms must be folded. 10. Thrusting a cane through a swinging napkin-ring. The fewest thrusts count the most. 11. Running up-stairs in the quickest time. Every stair must be used. 12. “Putting” the balloon. The competitor must stand in a seven-foot circle, or come up to a line from not more than seven feet back, and “put” a toy balloon as far ahead as possible. The distance must be measured from the spot on the floor or ceiling where the balloon first strikes, to the middle of the putting-edge of the circle or of the putting-line. 13. Bending over and touching the ground with the palms of both hands. The knees must not be bent. The point is to go over as many times as possible. Three places should be counted in each event. A first place should score three points; a second place, two points; a third place, one point. The largest reward should be given to the boy or girl having the largest total score. Be sure to give rewards that either a boy or a girl would like, for girls have a way of winning them when they have a good chance. |
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