A complete change took place at the Castle of D’Hernilly; the master of the house and his son arrived to pass the vacation at the castle. The gentry of the neighbourhood also hastened there to enjoy the last fine days of autumn. Several young companions of Victor renewed their acquaintance with him, and they gave themselves up to games much less sedentary than those played by the ladies. The young people of both sexes very rarely met during the week-days, but they walked and conversed together on the Sundays and holidays; sometimes during the latter they amused themselves with country-dances in a temporary ball-room raised in a grove. Victor, who played very well on the flute, was occasionally one of the musicians, but more frequently appeared among the dancers.
When the boys had a holiday, they amused themselves in the park with noisy sports, such as prison bar, leap frog, le cheval fondu, &c. &c. The little ones played at the poison ball, the skipping-rope, and the hoop. Madame D’Hernilly’s daughters were very frequently the witnesses of these sports; they admired the cleverness which the boys shewed, but they did not envy them their amusement.
One day, Victor and his friends went with their preceptor, a walk of some miles to join in a village feast. Adriana and Ernestina found in the hall several of their playthings mingled with the books, maps, &c., which they used at their studies. Among the rest they found a hoop, and a skipping-rope. They were impatient to try whether they could use these with any dexterity; though at the same time, they were a little ashamed to be seen at such masculine exercises. Their young neighbour Valeria conquered their scruples; she said, that she had been in a school where the young ladies were permitted to play at these games, because their governess considered that they afforded a healthful exercise, but the players were obliged to observe that moderation, which the delicacy of their sex, as well as their tender age, required.
They found Valeria’s reasoning very good, and they determined to practise the games with that moderation which she recommended. The weather, which till then had been very warm, changed on a sudden; a cold sharp wind had succeeded to the most suffocating heat. Nothing could be more healthful, therefore, than those games which required activity.
As there were only two hoops, they resolved to make use of them by turns. Each had recourse to the assistance of a stick to enable her to manage the hoop, which she trundled sometimes forward, sometimes on one side, and sometimes she turned it round. It was agreed that the game should be adjudged to be won, by the lady whose hoop arrived first at the goal without its having fallen to the ground.
This was a matter which could not be managed without great difficulty, on account of the turnings and windings which they had to pass; the trees, hedges, and other obstacles also made the hoop upset every moment. Added to this, the young ladies in imitation of what they had seen their brothers do, were mischievous enough to try to take advantage of those who played with them, and by pushing their hoops a contrary way, to occasion those of their competitors to fall, in order that they themselves might have a better chance of being first at the goal.
While two of them were amusing themselves at this game, the others having seized on a skipping-rope, made their young friends skip alternately. The two young ladies who held the cord moved it circuitously, but gently; a third, and sometimes several of them jumped with their feet close together through it. Sometimes they practised the most difficult steps which they had learned from their dancing-master, or tried who could rise the highest from the ground in cutting capers. The most boisterous endeavoured to imitate the boys, and like them they asked for vinegar, that is the term which they use when they want the rope to go more quickly.
When Victor and his companions returned, they were quite delighted to find that the young ladies had been playing at their games. Victor proposed the next day that they should all play together; but the young ladies very properly refused. They contented themselves with being spectators. The boys, who were some of them first-rate players both at the hoop, and the rope, shewed considerable skill and strength. Victor excelled in the double leaps, the chevaliers or knights’ cross, and he even performed several triplets with infinite grace and lightness.
The player who performed, without interruption, the greatest number of the knights’ double crosses, won the game. The cord turned with so much swiftness in Victor’s hands, that you could hardly believe he held it if you had not heard it whiz in the air, for it passed between his feet and the floor of the apartment without touching either, and it was almost imperceptible to the sight.
When they had each amused themselves singly, as long as they liked with the rope, they formed into groups of six or eight, to dance in the middle of the long skipping-rope. The first who touched the rope with his foot stopped the play; he was obliged, by way of penance, to stand on one side, and was left out of the game till some one else had failed in it.
Two may play together with the same rope, each of them holding one end, one with the right, and the other with the left hand. We must, however, observe, that they cannot do in this manner, either the double turns, or the knights’ cross; it would be difficult, if not impossible. It is necessary to move so as to keep time exactly; both parties must also turn the rope with the same degree of swiftness. When the movements of the players are perfectly in unison, they may overrun a good deal of ground without the motion of the cord being interrupted.
The Misses D’Hernilly, to whom this idea had been communicated, took advantage of it to run races with the rope. Nothing could be more graceful than their manner of performing those races; several grown-up people, who were lookers-on, agreed that the skipping-rope, thus used, was as conducive to health, as it was useful in giving the young ladies an easy and graceful carriage, and that they might amuse themselves with it not only without impropriety, but with advantage.