Little Author in the Big Woods (14 page)

Games Laura Played

Laura, her sisters, and her friends played all sorts of games outside. Some of them, like softball and tag, will be familiar to you. Others will not. Here are the rules for some of their favorite games; try them yourself!

 

Ante I Over

To play this game, you'll need a ball that has enough weight to be thrown far but is not heavy enough to break a window. Divide the players into two teams. The teams take their places on either side of a small building with a two-sided slanted roof. One team throws the ball over the roof and calls out, “Ante I over.” When the ball comes across the roof, the other team tries to catch it. If the ball is caught, the team has to run around to the other side of the building and throw the ball at a player to claim him or her as their own player. If the team does not catch the ball, a player throws the ball back over the roof while calling out, “Ante I over.” The goal of the game is to capture all the players from the opposing team.

 

Pull Away

Imagine two 20-foot-long lines that are about 50 feet apart from each other. All the players line up on one line or the other. One person is “It.” That person stands between the two lines and calls out to both sides, “Pump, pump, pull away, come out or I'll pull you out.” Players from both sides try to race to the other side without getting caught by “It.”

While the players are racing to the opposite side, “It” tries to catch one of the players by tapping her lightly three times on the back. If this player cannot get away before “It” has finished tapping, this person also becomes “It.” Now when the lead “It” calls out the same phrase, the players again try to get safely to the other imaginary line. Both “It” people can catch these players and tap them three times gently on the back. Anyone caught becomes “It.” Sometimes a number of “It” people will gang up on a person to catch her.

The goal of the game is to be the last person caught. The last person caught becomes “It” for the next round of the game.

 

Prisoners' Base

Imagine two 20-foot-long lines that are about 50 feet apart. These lines are considered “home.” About a yard's distance in front of each of these lines is another imaginary line about one yard long. This is the prisoners' base.

The players are divided into two teams. They line up on these imaginary home lines facing each other. The game starts by players leaving their home lines and going out between the two home lines, taunting each other to be tagged. The last person out from the home line is the “freshest” player, so he or she is able to tag a “less fresh” player from the other team.

Team players will try to cover each other by “freshening” themselves before going after an opponent player. When a player is tagged, he becomes a prisoner on the other team's prisoner base. The prisoner needs to stand on the prisoner base but may stretch out from it as far as she can in order to touch a rescuer.

Now her team will try to rescue her before her team player is tagged by an opposing team player. If a rescue player manages to touch the prisoner before the rescuer is tagged, the prisoner and the rescuer are free to go home without any interference. The goal of the game is to make all the players of the opposing team prisoners of your own team.

 

A Prairie Craft: Corn-Husk Doll

Wherever corn was grown as a crop, children in both pioneer and Native-American families used the husks to make dolls. Since Laura's family often grew corn, it's quite possible that she and her sisters made and played with dolls like these. Follow the simple instructions below to make a corn-husk doll of your very own.

YOU WILL NEED:

•
string

•
scissors

•
a bucket of water

•
bags of corn husks (these can be purchased already cleaned, dried, and in uniform sizes at a craft store)

1. Soak corn husks in a bucket of water until they are soft and easy to work with.

2. Arrange four corn husks as they appear in this drawing.

3. Tie the tops together with a short piece of string.

4. Cut the ends so that they are rounded.

5. Flip over and pull the husks down over the cut ends.

6. Use string to form the doll's head

7. Flatten another husk and roll it tightly.

8. Secure each end with string to form arms for the doll.

9. Slide the arms inside the husk as shown.