London Street Games. By Norman Douglas. (St. Catherine Press. 5s.
net.)—This " breathless catalogue," as the author calls it, enumerates " about a thousand of the outdoor games they play down our way " somewhere in the wilderness of London streets. The curious variants of the game of touch and the scraps of old ballads will interest scholars. Mr. Douglas Vents to show how inventive our poor children are when left to themselves. He disapproves of " organized games " ; half seriously, he doubts whether cricket is not a little too formal. He is quite in earnest when he says that " boys need more excitement than they did," and he blames the cinematograph for making them restless and the " cigarette-picture " for encouraging the gambling instinct in them. Does every one know that the " cigarette-picture," for which small boys ask the smoker, is used by them in a whole series of new card-games ?
Previous page
