Character Corner
Welcome to Character Corner. Here you can meet characters from my current or upcoming releases and learn more about what makes them tick. Please note the links to additional vignettes in the sidebar.
Girls Playing Graces
Young girls growing up in the 1880s weren't that much different from girls today. They went to school, did their chores, played games, got into arguments with their siblings—all pastimes that continue to endure in the 21st century.
Eight-year-old Tessa James had more responsibilities than many girls her age since she and her siblings worked at the laundry, helping her widowed mother run the business that supported their family. Yet when she wasn't pressing out wrinkles with the sadiron or tacking on loose buttons, she found time to play.
 Tessa and her older brother, Danny, enjoyed playing jackstraws. They would gather a bunch of straw pieces similar in length, hold them between their hands, then set them up on the floor in a haystack shape. They would each take a turn removing a straw until the stack collapsed. Whoever had the most straws, won.
 Sometimes Tessa would roll hoops with other girls in the schoolyard. They'd take turns trundling the large wooden hoops with a pusher stick as they ran alongside. Her little sister, Mollie, had a real talent for the sport, but her legs were too short to win any of the speed races. However, when the competition entailed seeing who could roll it the farthest, Mollie usually beat out even the boys.
Tessa also enjoyed skipping rope, hopscotch, and jacks. But by far, her favorite game was graces.
The banker's wife always brought a crate filled with beribboned hoops and throwing sticks to the Founder's Day Picnic, and every year, Tessa looked forward to playing. Graces was devised to teach young girls poise and grace of movement, yet Tessa had a tendency to get a little competitive and forget the poise part. Miss Richards, the seamstress from next door, seemed to have the same weakness, so when the two of them teamed up at the picnic, Tessa had more fun than ever.
To play, each girl holds two throwing sticks. The first player dangles the hoop on the end of one stick then dips the second stick through the circle, making an X with the stick ends. When she pulls the sticks apart, the hoop flies toward her partner. The other player tries to catch the hoop on her sticks.
This is an easy game to make at home. For my daughter's 9th birthday, we made several sets of hoops and sticks and played in the backyard. The game was a hit with boys and girls alike.
Take the inside circle from a 9-inch wooden embroidery hoop and wrap it with ribbon. (We alternated two contrasting colors.) Tie off the ends, leaving about 8-10 inches hanging for a tail. The ribbon cushions the hoop and makes it softer to catch, while the tail flutters prettily in the breeze and slows the flight of the hoop through the air. For throwing sticks, use thin wooden dowels cut to approximately 18 inches in length. It takes a little practice to control the flight of the hoop, but most of our kids figured it out in minutes. We never quite mastered the art of catching the flying hoop on top of the sticks, but it was a lot of fun to snag it out of the air by jabbing a stick through its center.
Enjoy! |
