Freedom to Play: We Made Our Own Fun

A GAME OF WAR

light was one lamp at each intersection, although the snow brightened the night considerably. The hill was not officially blocked off, but we posted a guard at each intersection with a “bug” consisting of a tin can with a wire handle affixed and a large hole cut in the side so the light of a candle could shine out. If a car was approaching an intersection, the “bug” was waved frantically to warn the sledder coming down the hill to head for a snowbank in the ditch. A GAME OF WAR Maple Leaf Club, Family Herald and Weekly Star August 15, 1915 Laura Whitelaw BINGO Guelph, Ontario (Your game of “war” sounds most realistic, and it must have been very exciting. —Editor.) Dear Maple Leaves: I am going to tell you about a game we played at school. “War” it is called. All the boys dressed as soldiers, they had strips of cloth from their right shoulder to their left side, and they had pieces of cloth wound around their legs. The general and most of his men wore tissue paper caps, and had pieces of cloth with brass buttons on their shoulders. (Last of all, they had swords made of wood.) We girls were dressed as Red Cross nurses. We wore pieces of white cloth with red crosses on our left arms and white caps on our heads. We divided into two equal sides; the school was our hospital. The war was held in the woodshed where some wood was piled up and the boys made trenches of it. We got some snow for bullets and put it in the trenches. The gun was fired and the war began. For a while the bullets flew as fast as hail and hit many soldiers , and many men lay dead on the field. They seemed to come into the hospital very fast, and we were kept busy bandaging their wounds. But, at last, the British crept closer and closer to the GerPlaying Is Playing Games 121 man trenches and fired a volley which knocked down their trenches and killed many of their men. There they were, fighting face to face, it was a terrible scene. But the British would not yield, and the Germans found it useless to try to capture the British trenches, so the flag was put up. Don’t you think King George would have been pleased had he seen them fighting so bravely? A SKATING PARTY Pathfinders, Free Press Prairie Farmer January 6, 1924 Ruth Pinder (13) Springside, Sask. Dear Pathfinders, I am going to tell you of some the pleasure we have skating. Some of the young people and myself go down to the river about a quarter of a mile from our place to skate. When it gets cold the boys make a big fire, and then we get warm and we go skating again. This is how we spend our winter evenings. I have a mile to go to school, but we are having our holidays now; we are going to have no school for a month or two. I have two sisters and two brothers. I must close now and would like to have someone of my own age write to me. MAKING A RINK Pathfinder Page, Free Press Prairie Farmer January 1, 1919 Theodore Holden (9) Boissevain, Man. Dear Pathfinders: This is my third letter to your club. I have been reading them for a long time. I found them very interesting. I am going to tell 122 Freedom to Play ...