it differently, and one
of the virtues of a cat is to be a good eater.

The boys continued to play until the bell rang for the evening session.
They referred to many different games which they had received from
Europeans, but played only those which Chi had learned upon the street
before he entered school. This was repeated day after day, until we had
gathered a large collection of their most common, and consequently
their best, games, the number of which was an indication of the
richness of the play life of Chinese boys.

Another peculiarly interesting fact was the leadership of Chi. The
Chinese boy, like the Chinese man is a genuine democrat and is ready to
follow the one who knows what he is about and is competent to take the
lead, with little regard to social position. It is the civil service
idea of a genuine democracy ingrained in childhood.

GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS

After having made the collection of boys' games we undertook to obtain
in a similar way, fullest information concerning games played by the
girls. Of course, it was impossible to do it alone, for the appearance
of a man among a crowd of little girls in China is similar to that of a
hawk among a flock of small chicks--it results in a tittering and
scattering in every direction, or a gathering together in a dock under
the shelter of the school roof or the wings of the teacher. One of the
teachers, however, Miss Effie Young, kindly consented to go with us,
and a goodly number of the small girls, after a less than usual amount
of tittering and whispering, gathered about us to see what was wanted.
The smallest among them was the most brave, and Miss Young explained
that this was a "little street waif" who had been taken into the school
because she had neither home nor friends, with the hope that something
might be done to save her from an unhappy fate.

"Do you know any games?" we asked her.

She put her hands behind her, hung her head, shuffled in an embarrassed
manner, and answered: "Lots of them."

"Play some for me."

This small girl after some delay took control of the party and began
arranging them for a game, which she called "going to town," similar to
one which the boys called "pounding rice." Two of the girls stood back
to back, hooked their arms, and as one bent the other from the ground,
and thus alternating, they sang:

Up you go, down you see,
Here's a turnip for you and me;
Here's a pitcher, we'll go to town;