Winter Games We Used to Play
Since my siblings were teenagers when I was born, I grew up here in this house pretty much as an only child; therefore, had to entertain myself. Paper dolls were number one game fopr my entertainment. I would crawl all over that linoleum-covered floor (and cold) pushing my car (made from a box) around from place to place for the dolls to visit (and they lived in a shoe box). Lots of time could be spent cutting the paper dolls from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. I had a pattern I could fold soft cardboard to make a settee or chair and the dolls were folded at the hip-line so they could sit. I took delight in cutting out curtain pictures, etc. to glue on the shoe box wall in order to furnish the make-believe house. Needless to say, the glue was made from flour and water and spread with a straw taken from the broom.
Another quiet game my parents and I could play was Chinese Checkers. In case you are not familiar with that one — there’s a board with a star design painted on it and each star point is a different color. Marbles the color of the star points are placed in holes there and then it’s played kind of like checkers — marbles can jump each other. Of course, the object is to get more of your “men” across to the opposite star than your partner.
When there were several children blindman’s bluff was a fun game to play. Hull gull was another fun game with several people playing — it’s played with marbles (or something similar) held in cupped-together hands and then guessing how many of whatever was in the other fellow’s hand.
Thimble is a similar game.
Families (no TV back than) used to walk to a neighbors house to “sit ’til bedtime” and when our neighbor would come, we played a little game called “I Spy.” In this game, the person doing the talking would tell the first letter of whatever they were spying and others tried to guess what it was. I have no idea why I remember this one particular night so well — but our neighbor family came in and we were playing I Spy. The father of the visitors spied MLLT. Well, we guessed and guessed, but could not come up with four words that started with those letters. As it turned out my mother had on a pair of worn out house shoes (with a hole in the side) and the visitor was spying Mrs Lang’s little toe!! You see — MLLT.
After I got older I owned a set of jack stones and that kept one busy for a while. Pick-Up-Sticks also could be used to entertain (after I finally got some for Christmas). Coloring books were scarce, but when we were lucky enough to get one — complete with a little box of crayons that was fun. I embroidered my very first quilt block when I was about eight years old. It was a puppy piloting an airplane.
Life seventy and eighty years ago was so different from today — it was slow-paced country living.