Every Boy's Book

Hop-scotch to hare-and-hounds, conjuring to chemistry, rabbits to rowing — the complete Victorian repertoire of things for a boy to do, set down with rules and diagrams.

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Head, Body, and Legs

One player takes an oblong piece of paper, and having divided it into three equal parts by folding, he sketches a comic head, either with pen or pencil, in the upper space; he then doubles the paper over, and hands it to another, who draws a body in the middle compartment, folds the paper over once more, and passes it to a third, who completes the figure by drawing a pair of legs in the lower space. The player who draws the head, must continue the neck a little way into the middle space, and he who sketches the body must just commence the legs in the lower compartment; this arrangement insures the connexion of head, body, and legs. Our first illustration shows how the paper is to be folded over for drawing the different parts of a figure. Each player should be provided with a pen or pencil, and a few pieces of paper; having drawn a head, he should fold his sketch in a proper manner and pass it to his right-hand neighbour; in this way a number of figures may be finished simultaneously. A knowledge of drawing is not expected of any player, as the crudest notion of a head, a body, or a pair of legs, will fully meet the requirements of the game. Those who have never played at Head, Body, and Legs, can have no idea of the absurd combinations that spring from the independent labours of the different players; thus, a man's body will sometimes get joined to a donkey's head, and be supported by the legs of an ostrich.

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