Game Of The Cat

: NURSERY GAMES
: Popular Rhymes And Nursery Tales

This is another slate game, in which, by means of a tale and appropriate

indications on the slate, a rude figure of a cat is delineated. It

requires, however, some little ingenuity to accomplish it.



Tommy would once go to see his cousin Charles. [Here one draws T for

Tommy, and C for Charles, forming the forehead, nose, and mouth of the

cat.] But before he went, he would make walls to his house. [Here he

raws lines from the arms of the T to its foot, forming the cheeks of

the cat.] But then it smoked, and he would put chimneys to it. [Here he

inserts two narrow triangles on each arm of the T, forming the ears of

the cat.] But then it was so dark, he would put windows into it. [Here

he draws a small circle under each arm of the T, forming the eyes.] Then

to make it pretty, he would spread grass at the door. [Here he scratches

lines at the foot of the T, representing the cat's whiskers.] Then away

he went on his journey, but after a little while, down he fell. [Here he

draws down a line a little way from the foot of the T.] But he soon

climbed up again. [Here he draws a zig-zag horizontally from the foot of

the last line, and draws one up, forming with the last movement the

first foot of the cat.] Then he walks along again, but soon falls down

once more. [Here he draws a short horizontal line, and one downwards.]

He soon, however, got up again, as before, &c. [The second leg is then

formed, and by similar movements the four legs of the cat appear.]

After thus falling down four times, Tommy determined to proceed more

firmly, and climbing up, he walks along [the back of the cat] another

way round till he comes to C. His journey is now accomplished, and an

animal, called by courtesy a cat, appears on the slate, "the admiration

of all beholders."