When the arrow is nocked it should be at right angles with the string. Some archers are accustomed to try to alter the sange of the arrow by heightening or lowering the nocking point, but this is a great mistake. Care must be taken that the whipped portion of the string exactly fits the notch of the arrow. If too large or too small, it will probably split it.

DRAWING. Having nocked the arrow according to the foregoing direction, the next thing to proceed with is the drawing, which is managed as follows: Extend the left arm downwards until it is perfectly straight, the hand grasping the handle of the bow, the arrow being held by the nocking end by the two first fingers of the right hand passed over the string and on each side of the arrow, care being taken not to pass the fingers too far over the string, or the sharpness of the loose will be interfered with. This done, the Jeft arm should be smoothly raised, still extended, until at right angles, or nearly so, with the body, the string being drawn at the same time with the right hand until the arrow is drawn about three-fourths of its length, when the right wrist and elbow should be at about the level of the shoulder. Having got it thus far a slight pause may be made before drawing the arrow to its full length (although we think it better to make it all one motion), which done, the archer must take his aim before loosing. By drawing the arrow below the level of the eye, the archer is enabled to look along it as he would along the barrel of a rifle. As regards the direction, the archer will find that it is but seldom he will be able to aim directly at the gold. He will almost always have to aim to one side or the other, to make allowance for wind, etc. This cannot be taught. The archer will soon learn by experience whereabouts on the target his proper point of sight lies, and will aim accordingly. He will also learn the degree of elevation required by his bow at the various distances, which elevation he will always give by raising or lowering his left hand, and in no other way if he values success.

Remember! the arrow must always be drawn to exactly the same spot. If possible, let the spot where the pile and stele join just reach the bow.

LOOSING.-Having drawn the arrow to its full extent, the next thing is to loose it properly, and this, although appa rently a very simple thing, is by no means so easy as it looks. The great object to be attained in loosing is to remove the obstruction of the fingers from the string suddenly, and yet in such a manner that no jerk is given to the string (which would be fatal to the aim), and that the fingers do not follow the string, which would weaken the force of the shot. The string should lie across the fingers at an equal distance from the tip of each--not too near the joint nor too near the tip; about midway between the tip and joint of the first finger, (and on the others in proportion, will be found about the most (convenient position for a good loose. The fingers must all be katthdrawn at once, for should one be an instant behind the athers, it would be fatal to the sim.

FGIN by putting out of your mind the notion of walking. Skaters place their feet flat on the ice so as to slide along it, but do not rise on the toe, as if they were walking.

The best way to learn to advance on skates is as follows: stand as if in the "third position" in dancing, but with the heel of the right foot a few inches away from the hollow of the left. Then, with

the edge of the left foot press against the ice, so as to push the right forward. Bring up the left foot parallel with the right, and slide along until the impetus is exhausted. Do this with both feet alternately for some little time, and you will then begin to "feel your skates," as the saying is.

After you have practiced these movements for some time, gradually increasing the length of each stroke, you will begin to find yourself skating on the "inside edge," a movement to which nine out of ten skaters restrict themselves. It is, however, an ungraceful plan, and is of little use except in racing, and, moreover, tires the ankle sooner than the "outside edge" skating, which is the only mode worth practicing.

The mode of learning this is very simple. Put a stone or stick on the ice, to act as a center for the circle you are about to describe.

Now stand about three or four yards from the stone, with your right side towards it, and your head looking over your right shoulder at the stone. Press the outside edge of your right skate as firmly as you can into the ice, and with your left skate propel yourself round the stone, leaning as much inwards

as you can.

After a short time you will be able to lift the left foot off the ice for a short time, and as soon as you can do this, try how long you can keep the left foot in the air. Practice these movements with both feet alternately until you feel that you can confidently trust yourself to the outside edge.

As soon as you are firm on the edge, try to describe a complete circle, taking care to keep the right knee quite straight and the left foot the least particle in advance of the right. When you can get completely round on either foot, combine the two circles, and you have the 8, which, with the 3, is at the bottom of all figure-skating.

Now for the 3. Start forwards, as before, on the outside edge of the right foot, but leave the left foot well behind the right, the toe slightly behind the heel. Do not change the position of your feet, and you will find that when you have rather more than half completed your circle, you will spin round on the right foot and make half another circle backwards.

The books on skating say that, in order to turn round, the skater ought to rise on his toe a little. I consider this advice as totally wrong. True, the rising on the toe does bring the

body round, but it gives an appearance of effort, which a good | skater never shows. If you will only keep the off foot well behind the other, you must come round at the proper spot, and without effort of any kind.

In fact, in all outside edge skating you steer yourself by the foot which is off the ice, and on no consideration ought any of the work to be done by the foot which is on the ice.

When you can cut the figure 3 equally well with either foot, combine them, passing from one foot to the other without jerking yourself, Practice this until you do it without any effort, the mere swing of the body at the time supplying just enough impetus to carry you round.

The next thing to be done is to get on the outside edge backwards. This feat, difficult as it looks, and indeed is at the first attempt, in reality is easy enough. It all depends on the position of the feet. If you have kept your feet precisely in the attitude which has been described, the outside edge backwards is a necessary corollary of the figure 3.

After you have turned on your right foot and got partly round the lower half of the 3, simply put your left foot on the ice and lift your right foot. Don't be afraid of it. Press the outer edge of the left foot well into the ice, and you must complete the circle. Provided that you do not alter the position of your head, body, or limbs, it is the easiest thing in the world. Only dare to do it, and it will be done,

When you have learned to shift in this way from one foot to the other with ease, you will soon attain to the summit of a skating ambition, the quadrille.

We will end with a few cautions.

Keep the knee of the acting leg perfectly rigid: a knee ever so slightly bent ruins the effect of the best skating.

Never carry a stick.

Never raise, bend, or fold your arms; but let them hang easily by your side, and keep your hands out of your pock Keep the toe of the off foot within an inch of the ice, the heel rather up.

SLIDING.

The only remark that need be made about sliding is the feet should always be kept close together and parallel h the line of the slide. The sideways sliding adopted by mang boys is altogether wrong, and is sure to lead to a nasty fall some time or other.

Accustom yourself to put your weight on each foot alternately, so as to be able to lift the other off the slide, and with the off foot give a double stamp on the ice. This is called the "postman's knock." Keep the arms close to the body, and, as in skating, if you find yourself likely to fall, slip down and roll aside, so as to be out of the way of those who are follow. ing you.

Consequences.

This is a capital indoor table game, especially when there are some ten or a dozen players to keep the game alive.

It is founded upon the absurd incongruities that result when a number of people combine together to make one connected sentence, each taking his own part irrespective of each and all of the others.

Just as in the preceding game a connected drawing was made by uniting three several parts, each drawn in ignorance of the other two, so in this the several component parts of a sentence are written down by a number of players separately and without collusion, and then joined together in one.

We will suppose eleven players are sitting round the table, severally provided with a pencil and a strip of paper. Each writes on the top of his paper one or more adjectives attributable to a man, folds his paper down over the writing, and passes it to his left-hand neighbor, receiving one in return from him on his right; and proceeding in the same order he writes in succession,

Have you seen Jumbo ?-Ask mamma-They both perished miserably-It always knew how it would be.

When all have been filled up, the president takes the pa pers and reads them out; the one instanced above reading thus: The irascible and enthusiastic Paul Pry met the pious and charitable Queen of the Cannibal Islands at Coney Island, famous for its bloaters and ginger beer, on Christmas Day, B.C. 450. He asked her in tender strains, "Have you seen Jumbo?" To which she replied, with a modest blush, "Ask mamma." As a natural consequence they both perished mis. erably; and the world said it always knew how it would be.

This is a game only for those who have some facility in rhyming and versifying; with half dozen such it will always afford unlimited amusement. It is played as follows:

The players sit round the table, each with a pencil and two slips of paper; on one he writes a question-any question that occurs to him, the quainter the better-and on the other, a noun,

These slips are put into two separate baskets or hats, and shaken up well, so as to be thoroughly mixed. The hats or baskets are then passed round, and each player draws two slips at random, one from either basket, so that he has one slip with a question and one with a noun.

The players thus furnished now proceed to write on a third slip each a practical answer to the question before him. The answer must consist of at least four lines, and must introduce the afore-mentioned noun.

For instance, supposing a player to have drawn the ques tion, Who killed Cock Robin and the noun Faw, he might answer it somewhat as follows;

"1, said the Sparrow,

With my bow and arrow,

If you'd known him too

You'd have wished him at Harrowi

With his cheek, and his jaw,

And his dandy red vest,

He became such a bore.

Such a regular pest !

'Twas really no joke:

Such troublesome folk

Must not be surprised if they're promptly suppressed."

Or, as a more concise example, question asked, Do you bruise your oats? Noun, Cheese. Answer,

As I don't keep a steed,

For oats I've no need ;

For myself, when my own private taste I would please,
I prefer wheaten bread to oat-cake with my cheese.

Here is another example of veritable crambo rhymes, The question was, "Can you pronounce Llyndgynbwlch?" and the noun "Oil." Answer as follows:

"Pronouncing Llyndgynbwich
My glottis will spoil,
Unless lubricated
With cocoa-nut oil."

There happened to be cocoa-nut cakes on the table. These will be amply sufficient as guides to the method of playing the game. They are not offered as models of poetry or diction, but as just the sort of things anybody might write on the spur of the moment, and therefore better suited for our purpose than any more finished and elaborate productions.

Of course this game can only be played by those who will take an interest in it, and who possess some little facility of

versification. A player who, after half an hour or so spent in puzzling his brain and beating about for rhymes and sense, cannot succeed in turning out a few lines of doggerel, had better, for his own sake and that of others, turn his attention to other and less intellectual amusements.

But we would not alarm any timid players-we have no wish to seem to require any great poetical gifts in the player, though, of course, the more witty and brilliant they are, the more delightful and interesting the game: the merest doggerel is quite sufficient for all purposes, and the facility of stringing verses together will be found to increase rapidly with every days' practice. None but a veritable dunce need despair of taking at least a creditable part in this very amusing game.

The theory of this game is very simple, but the opening it gives for wit and satire is simply unbounded, and for pure in. tellectuality it stands unrivaled amongst evening games.

The players sit round a table each with a pencil and piece of paper; a noun is then selected at random from a list, or in any convenient way, and each is then bound to furnish an original definition. This done, another is given out and sim. ilarly defined.

When a convenient number have been thus disposed of, the papers are handed up to the president, who is chosen for the occasion, and the several definitions read aloud.

Some very brilliant impromptus are sometimes flung off in this manner; and we would strongly advise, where the game is much played, that a book should be kept for the enshrinement of the special flowers of wit.

We offer a few here as examples, not so much for imitation, but as illustrations of the modus operandi, or perhaps we might rather say, ludendi.

NOUN-HUMANITY.

DEFINITIONS.

(a) The best abused virtue in the calendar.

() The highest triumph of civilization.
() The basis of Christian charity.
(d) The most God-like of virtues.

(e) A common cloak for cupidity.

The begging impostor's Tom Tiddler's ground. (The weakness of the many, the virtue of the few.

time each has to prepare a satisfactory answer-one that shall satisfy all conditions and yet give no clue to the word.

The whole fun in this game, as in "Proverbs," depends en tirely upon the wit and spirit of the players. To be seen at its very best it should be played by a party of really clever grown-up people. The contest of wit is then, as Mr. Cyrus Bantam would say, "to say the least of it, re-markable." Below will be found a few words, taken almost at random, suitable for this game:

HOW DO YOU LIKE IT, WHEN DO YOU LIKE IT, AND WHERE DO YOU LIKE IT?-This is also, like "Proverbs," a guessing game. One player, as before, goes out of the room while the others fix upon a word. He then returns, and puts to them severally in turn the question, "How do you like it?" and then, having completed the circle, "When do you like it?" and thirdly, in like manner, "Where do you like it?" To each of which questions the other players are bound to return a satisfactory reply.

At the end of these questions, or at any time in the game, the questioner may make a guess at the word, being allowed three guesses in all, as before in "Proverbs." If he succeed in guessing rightly, he points out the player from whose answer he got the right clue, who therefore pays a forfeit and takes his place, and the game goes on as before. If he do not succeed in guessing rightly, he himself pays a forfeit and goes out again.

The great secret of the game is to select words that, though pronounced alike (spelling does not matter), have two or more meanings.

For instance, Z goes out, and the word "bow" is chosen. He asks of each, "How do you like it?" A answers "In a good temper" (beau); B, "With long ends" (a bow tied in ribbon); C, "Very strong" (an archer's bow); and so on, ringing the changes upon three different sorts of bow.

In the next round the players are not bound to adhere to the same meaning they selected before, but may take any meaning they think most likely to puzzle the questioner.

Thus, to the question "When do you like it?" the answers Day quite legitimately be as follows: A, "When I am dressing B. "When I want exercise;" C, "When I am going to a party." And to the last question, "Where do you like it?" A answers, "Under my chin ;" B, "At my feet;" C, "Out side on the lawn."

If there be only three to be questioned, this would prove hard enough to find out, though "Under the chin" might perhaps give a clue. Z's chance lies in the number of answers that have to be given to the same question, and in the short

Ball

This game is somewhat like the last, only that the ques tioner does not leave the room, and the onus of the game lies on the questioned, not on the questioner.

The players being seated in a semicircle round the ques tioner, he thinks of something or a person-it matters not what-and demands of each player, "What is my thought like?" The answers, of course, being given without any clue to the word thought of, are of the most incongruous nature.

This, however, is only the commencement of the fun. Having taken and noted each player's simile, the questioner now reveals the word he had thought of, and demands of each a verification of his simile under penalty of a forfeit.

As the answer must be given promptly, without time to ar range an elaborate defense, much quickness of wit and readi. ness of resource is required to avoid the forfeit for failure.

If the whole party succeed in justifying their similes, the questioner pays a forfeit, and a new questioner is appointed. The decision as to an answer being satisfactory or not lies in disputed cases with the whole party of players.

An illustration of the working of the game may be, perhaps, not out of place.

We will suppose that Z, the questioner, has thought of a baby, and has asked the question, "What is my thought like?" all round, and received the following answers:

A, "A lump of chalk;" B, "Alexander the Great;" C "The Great Eastern ;" D, "A gooseberry:" E, "A fishing rod;" F, "A carpet bag ;" and so on.