fox and geese oon draught board
The secret is to keep the geese in a line. The fox tries to prevent this, and if he can succeed in doubling the geese, or getting one to stand before the other, he is nearly sure to pass through them.
2594. The Royal Game of Goose
In the old German game the figure of a goose is printed on a large sheet of paper, and divided into 63 squares or divisions. The object of the players,—any number of whom may join in the game—is to make 63 points by successive throws of two dice. A pool is made by equal contributions by the players, the first of whom gaining the required number wins. The players throw alternately and add each individual throw to that already made.
Each player's position is shown on the goose by a counter, a wafer, or any small article. Any number beyond 63 sends the thrower back as many points as he exceeds 63. Thus if he were 58, and by a 6 and 5 he threw eleven he would go forward 5 squares to 63, and back 6 squares from 63. In addition to this, certain numbers on the goose are barred; and if the player make them he is fined two counters, which are added to the pool. The numbered goose is sold at most toy shops, but a numbered draughtboard will serve as well.
2595. Troco or Lawn Billiards
This is a game that may be played by any number of persons in a field or open space. The implements are wooden balls and long-handled cues at the ends of which are spoonlike ovals of iron. In the centre of the Troco ground is fixed a ring of iron, which moves freely on a pivot, the spike of the ring being driven into a piece of wood let into the ground. The wooden ball is lifted from the ground by means of the spoon-ended cue, and thrown towards the ring—the object of the player being to pass the ball through the ring; and he who succeeds in making any given number of points by fairly ringing his ball, or canoning against the other balls, wins the game.
Canons are made by the player striking two balls successively with his own ball fairly delivered from his spoon. Thus (says the most recent writer on the game) a clever player may make a large number of points—five, seven, or more at a stroke: two the first canon, two for a second canon, and three for the ring. This, however, is very seldom accomplished.
Considerable skill is required in throwing the ball, as the ring, turning freely on its pivot, twists round on being struck. To "make the ring," it is necessary, therefore, that the ball be thrown fairly through its centre. But in order to get nearer to it a judicious player will endeavour to make two or three canons, if the balls lie within a convenient distance and at a proper angle to each other. If the ball be thrown with sufficient force, it will glance off from the ball struck in a line corresponding to its first or original line of projection.
2596. Rules
The game is played fifteen, twenty-one, or any other determined number of points. The balls should be perfectly round and smooth. They are generally made of boxwood or lignum vitæ, and weigh about three to five lbs. each; the balls, cues, &c., are sold by most dealers in croquet implements.
2597. Habits of a Man of Business
A sacred regard to the principles of justice forms the basis of every transaction, and regulates the conduct of the upright man of business. The following statements afford a bird's-eye view, as it were, of his habits, practice, and mode of procedure:
Let a man act strictly to these habits—ever remembering that he hath no profits by his pains whom Providence doth not prosper—and success will attend his efforts.
2598. Taking a Shop or Place of Business
If you are about to take a place of business, you will do well to consider the following remarks:
2599. Small Capitalists
Let us take the case of a person who has no intimate knowledge of any particular trade, but having a very small capital, is about to embark it in the exchange of commodities for cash, in order to obtain an honest livelihood thereby. It is clear, that unless such a person starts with proper precaution and judgment, the capital will be expended without adequate results; rent and taxes will accumulate, the stock will lie dead or become deteriorated, and loss and ruin must follow. For the last absorption acting upon a small capital will soon dry up its source; and we need not picture the trouble that will arise when the mainspring of a tradesman's success abides by him no more.
2600. Larger Capitalists
The case of the larger capitalist can scarcely be considered an exception to the same rule. For it is probable that the larger capitalist, upon commencing a business, would sink more of his funds in a larger stock—would incur liability to a heavier rent; and the attendant taxes, the wages of assistants and servants would be greater, and, therefore, if the return came not speedily, similar consequences must sooner or later ensue.
2601. Localities
Large or small capitalists should, therefore, upon entering on a shopkeeping speculation, consider well the nature of the locality in which they propose to carry on trade, the number of the population, the habits and wants of the people, and the extent to which they are already supplied with the goods which the new adventurer proposes to offer them.
2602. New Neighbourhoods
There is a tendency among small capitalists to rush into new neighbourhoods with the expectation of making an early connection. Low rents also serve as an attraction to these localities. General experience, however, tends to show that the early suburban shops seldom succeed. They are generally entered upon at the very earliest moment that the state of the locality will permit—often before the house is finished the shop is tenanted, and goods exposed for sale—even while the streets are unpaved, and while the roads are as rough and uneven as country lanes.
The consequence is, that as the few inhabitants of these localities have frequent communication with adjacent centres of business, they, as a matter of habit or of choice, supply their chief wants thereat; and the newly arrived shopkeeper has to depend principally for support upon the accidental forgetfulness of his neighbour, who omits to bring something from the cheaper and better market; or upon the changes of the weather, which may sometimes favour him by rendering a "trip to town" exceedingly undesirable.
2603. Failures
"While the grass is growing the horse is starving;" and thus, while the new district is becoming peopled the funds of the small shopkeeper are gradually eaten up, and he puts up his shutters just at the time when a more cautious speculator steps in to profit by the connection already formed, and to take advantage of the new improved condition of the locality. It seems, therefore, desirable for the small capitalists rather to run the risk of a more expensive rent, in a well-peopled district, than to resort to places of slow and uncertain demand; for the welfare of the small shopkeeper depends entirely upon the frequency with which his limited stock is cleared out and replaced by fresh supplies.
2604. Precautions
But should the small capitalist still prefer opening in a suburban district, where competition is less severe, and rents and rates less burdensome, there are certain precautions which he will do well to observe. He should particularly guard against opening a shop to supply what may be termed the superfluities of life; for the inhabitants of new suburban districts are those who, like himself, have resorted to a cheap residence for the sake of economy. Or if this be not the case—if they are people of independent means, who prefer the "detached villa" to the town house, squeezed up on both sides, they have the means of riding and driving to town, and will prefer choosing articles of taste and luxury from the best marts, enriched by the finest display.
2605. Necessaries or Luxuries
The suburban shopkeeper should, therefore, confine himself to supplying the
necessaries
of life. Hungry people dislike to fetch their bread from five miles off; and to bring vegetables from a long distance would evidently be a matter of considerable inconvenience. The baker, the butcher, the greengrocer, the beer retailer, &c., are those who find their trade first established in suburban localities. And not until these are doing well should the tailor, the shoemaker, the hatter, the draper, the hosier, and others, expect to find a return for their capital and reward for their labour.
2606. Civility
In larger localities, where competition abounds, the small shopkeeper frequently outstrips his more powerful rival by one element of success, which may be added to any stock without cost, but cannot be withheld without loss. That element is
civility
. It has already been spoken of elsewhere, but must be enforced here, as aiding the little means of the small shopkeeper to a wonderful degree. A kind and obliging manner carries with it an indescribable charm. It must not be a manner which indicates a mean, grovelling time-serving spirit, but a plain, open, and agreeable demeanour, which seems to desire to oblige for the pleasure of doing so, and not for the sake of squeezing an extra penny out of a customer's pocket.
2607. Integrity
The sole reliance of the shopkeeper should be in the integrity of his transactions, and in the civility of his demeanour. He should make it the interest and the pleasure of the customer to come to his shop. If he does this, he will form the very best "connections," and so long as he continues this system of business, they will never desert him.
2608. Duties of a Shopkeeper
He should cheerfully render his best labour and knowledge to serve those who approach his counter, and place confidence in his transactions; make himself alike to rich and poor, but never resort to mean subterfuge and deception to gain approbation and support. He should be frugal in his expenditure, that in deriving profits from trade, he may not trespass unduly upon the interest of others; he should so hold the balance between man and man that he should feel nothing to reprove his conscience when the day comes for him to repose from his labours and live upon the fruits of his industry. Let the public discover such a man, and they will flock around him for their own sakes.
2609. A Very Useful Book
A very useful book, "The Handy Book of Shopkeeping, Shopkeeper's Guide"
1
(published at one shilling), enlarges upon these subjects in a very able manner, and gives most useful hints to people in every department of trade.
Footnote 1:
Houlston and Sons, London.
return to footnote mark
2610. Early Rising
The difference between rising every morning at six and eight, in the course of forty years, amounts to 29,200 hours, or three years one hundred and twenty-one days and sixteen hours, which are equal to eight hours a day for exactly ten years So that rising at six will be the same as if ten years of life (a weighty consideration) were added, wherein we may command eight hours every day for the cultivation of our minds and the despatch of business.
2611. Frugality
"Many estates are spent in getting,Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting,And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting."
2612. Cash and Credit
If you would get rich, don't deal in bill books. Credit is the "Tempter in a new shape." Buy goods on trust, and you will purchase a thousand articles that cash would never have dreamed of. A shilling in the hand looks larger than ten shillings seen through the perspective of a three months' bill. Cash is practical, while credit takes horribly to taste and romance. Let cash buy a dinner, and you will have a beef-steak flanked with onions. Send credit to market, and he will return with eight pairs of woodcocks and a peck of mushrooms. Credit believes in diamond pins and champagne suppers. Cash is more easily satisfied. Give him three meals a day, and he doesn't care much if two of them are made up of roasted potatoes and a little salt. Cash is a good adviser, while credit is a good fellow to be on visiting terms with. If you want double chins and contentment, do business with cash.
2613. Hints upon Money Matters
Have a supply of change in hand—shillings, sixpences, halfpence. This will obviate the various inconveniences of keeping people at the door, sending out at unreasonable times, and running or calling after any inmate in the house, supposed to be better provided with "the needful." The tradespeople with whom you regularly deal will always give you extra change,
when
you are making purchases or paying bills; while those to whom you apply for it, on a sudden emergency, may neither be willing nor able to do so. Some housekeepers object to this arrangement, that, "as soon as five-pound notes or sovereigns are changed, they always seem to go, without their understanding how;" but to such persons I would humbly intimate, that this is rather the fault of their
not getting understanding
, than any inevitable consequence of
getting change
.
The fact is, that it is the necessity of parting with your money which obliges you to get the larger pieces changed, and not the circumstance of having smaller coin that
necessitates
your parting with your money, though it certainly facilitates your doing so when the necessity arrives. However, as it is easier to count a few sovereigns than many shillings, and loose money is most objectionable, it is well to put up reserve change in small collective packets, and to replenish the housekeeping purse from these daily or weekly, as may be most convenient.
Death does not Blow a Trumpet.
2614. Save Time and Trouble
If Money for daily expenses has to pass through the hands of a servant, it is a time-and-trouble-saving plan to settle with her
every
night, and to make up her cash in hand to a certain
similar
sum. This will prevent such puzzling calculations as the following:
"Let me see: I gave you 10s. on Saturday, and 9d. the day before. Was it 9d.? No, it must have been 11d., for I gave you 1s., and you gave me 1d. out for the beggar; then there was 6s. 6d. on Monday, and 8d. you owed me from last money; and then the 1s. 6d. your master gave you for a parcel—you brought him 2d. back, and 3d-1/2. out of the butcher's bill; no—youhad to give 3-1/2d. to the butcher, but you came to me for the 1/2d., and I had no coppers, so we still owe him the 1/2d.; by the way, don't forget to pay him the next time you go. Then there's the baker—no, I paid the baker myself, and Ithinkthe housemaid paid the butter-man; but you got in the cheese the day before, and I have a sort of recollection that I may possibly owe you forthat, all but a few pence you must have had left of mine, that I told you to take from off the chimney-piece. Well, cook, I think that'snearlyall! Now how do your accounts stand?"
This the poor cook, who
is
a cook, and
not
a conjuror, finds it no easy matter to discover; all that she is quite certain of is, that her disbursements have somewhat exceeded her receipts, and being an honest woman, though a poor one, she wishes to cheat neither her mistress nor herself; but what with her memory and her want of it, her involved payments, and different receipts; what she owed her mistress, and what her mistress owes her; what she got from her master, and what was partly settled by the housemaid; the balance from the butcher's bill, and the intricacies of the cheese account, the poor woman is perfectly bewildered.
She counts again and again; recapitulates her mistress's data and her own; sums upwards, backwards, and forwards, and endeavours to explain the differences between them; then, if she can read and write, she brings her slate to "explain the explanation," and the united calculations of maid and mistress, which are after all entirely unavailing to produce a more correct account, probably consume more time, and are expressed in more words, than would suffice to fill another volume like the present. Two minutes' daily reckoning from a
regular
sum in hand would do the business effectually, and prevent either party from being out of pocket or out of temper. Thus, for instance, the maid has her usual sum of five shillings to account for; she pays during the day, for:
This is easily reckoned, even by the unlearned; the mistress enters the items in her day-book, takes the remaining sixpence, and again gives her servant 5s., in convenient change, to be as readily accounted for on the succeeding day.
Home Truths for Home Peace
; or,
Muddle Defeated.
Time Brings Everything to Those who can Wait.
2615. Don't Run in Debt
"Don't run in debt;"—never mind, never mindIf your clothes are faded and torn:Mend them up, make them do; it is better by farThan to have the heart weary and worn.Who'll love you the more for the shape of your hat,Or your ruff, or the tie of your shoe,The cut of your vest, or your boots, or cravat,If they know you're in debt for the new?There's no comfort, I tell you, in walking the streetIn fine clothes, if you know you're in debt,And feel that, perchance, you some tradesman may meet,Who will sneer—"They're not paid for yet."Good friends, let me beg of you, don't run in debt;If the chairs and the sofas are old,They will fit your back better than any new set,Unless they are paid for—with gold;If the house is too small, draw the closer together,Keep it warm with a hearty good-will;A big one unpaid for, in all kinds of weather,Will send to your warm heart a chill.Don't run in debt—now, dear girls, take a hint,if the fashions have changed since last season,Old Nature is out in the very same tint,And old Nature, we think, has some reason;But just say to your friend, that you cannot affordTo spend time to keep up with the fashion;That your purse is too light and your honour too bright,To be tarnished with such silly passion.Men, don't run in debt—let your friends, if they can.Have fine houses, and feathers, and flowers:But, unless they are paid for, be more of a manThan to envy their sunshiny hours.If you've money to spare, I have nothing to say—Spend your silver and gold as you please;But mind you, the man who his bill has to payIs the man who is never at ease.Kind husbands, don't run into debt any more;'Twill fill your wives' cup full of sorrowTo know that a neighbour may call at your door,With a claim you must settle to-morrowOh! take my advice—it is good, it is true!But, lest you may some of you doubt it,I'll whisper a secret now, seeing 'tis you—I have tried it, and know all about it,The chain of a debtor is heavy and cold.Its links all corrosion and rust;Gild it o'er as you will, it is never of gold,Then spurn it aside with disgust.
2616. Carving, Ceremonies of the Table, &c.
A dinner-table should be well laid, well lighted, and always afford a little spare room. It is better to invite one friend less in number, than to destroy the comfort of the whole party.
2617. The Laying out of a Table
The laying out of a table must greatly depend upon the nature of the dinner or supper, the taste of the host, the description of the company, and the appliances possessed. It would be useless, therefore, to lay down specific rules. The whiteness of the table-cloth, the clearness of glass, the polish of plate, and the judicious distribution of ornamental groups of fruits and flowers, are matters deserving the utmost attention.
2618. A Sideboard
A sideboard will greatly relieve a crowded table, upon which may be placed many things incidental to the successive courses, until they are required.