EASTER. 35 
posed to have come from an egg. These con- 
sisted of races in an egg-shaped ring, with eggs 
for prizes. 
An old Saxon chronicle tells of an egg tourna- 
ment. At suitable distances, in a circle, were 
placed twelve short poles, and on top of each an 
eg. 
Around this, at full speed, ran the youths 
armed with blunt lances. The one breaking the 
most eggs was declared victor. Later, eggs 
grew too valuable to be wasted, and a similar 
game was played with wooden rings or balls. 
In this country there has of late been a revival 
of some of these games with other quaint Easter 
customs. 
Many children in days past have matched 
their eggs or rolled them over the green grass 
lots in the grounds of the pene House at 
Washington. 
Probably the Easter eggs were first boiled hard 
for greater safety in these games of matching. 
At a Paas festival once held in the studio of 
a New York artist, colored eggs were hung 
by ribbons from a pussy willow-tree, while quaint 
