August 2, 1886.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



819 



THE TLAY. 



Card underlined takes trick, and 

 card below leads next. 



O O 









—3— 



■? 



<? 



o 







o 



o 



o 



8 





<• 4- 



•5- 4- 



1. y should not liave covered. 

 With onl}' three in suit, or with 

 nine instead of seven as his second- 

 best Club, he would have been 

 right in playing the King. (See 

 play second hand in " How to 

 Play Whist.") 



'S. B holds two by honours in 

 his own hand, and therefore 

 " game " unless Y-Z, who are at 

 the score of two, can make three 

 by cards. Under these circum- 

 stances B'a play in leading out 

 trumps is most unwise. If trumps 

 are led at all, the most effective 

 card would liave been tlie nine, 

 though in a plain suit Ace followed 

 by Queen would of course be 

 riglit. 



3. Y wisely plays his smallest 

 trump, being sure of two tricks if 

 li goes on with the suit. Had lie 

 taken the trick, he would liave 

 left the major terrace with B; as 

 it is, he retains it himself. 



1 and 5. Y makes his terrace 

 A properly discards from his 

 shortest suit. Y is quite right 

 in drawing B's last trump. For 

 there is do other chance of saving 

 the game. }'-/fmust make every 

 other trick but one, and }' has 

 not anotlier trick in his hand. Z 

 must not only have a long suit, 

 but must not waste a single card 

 from it. In any case. Z would 

 play ill in following to the letter 

 the wooden rule (suited only for 

 wooden-headed players) of dis- 

 carding from the suit he wants 

 led because the trump lead came 

 from the enemy. Anything more 

 inconsistent with the principles of 

 Whist strategy than tliis rule, as 

 presented in this general form, it 

 is almost impossible to conceive. 

 " Play the card you can best spare, 

 which will usually be one of jour 

 longest suit, when tlie enemy have 

 command in trumps," is the only 

 form in wliich the rule for dis- 

 carding under such circumstances 

 can be given ; and here A-B have 

 not command in trumps, while 

 the short suit is that from which 

 cards can best be spared. Had 1' 

 allowed the Heart discard to direct 

 hira to a Heart lead lie would have 

 plaved verv ill. But "luckily for himself and partner, he saw that 

 the" only chance they had was that Z might have length and 

 strengtli in one suit, and sense enough not to discard from it, when 

 probably every card of the suit would be wanted to save the game. 

 Therefore 



6. r leads his best Diamond 

 be it noticed), and 



7, 8, 9, &c. 3' going on with Diamonds, Z makes six more tricks, 

 saving and winning the game. 



Had the score been " love all " and the game properly played on 

 both sides, it would have resulted as follows : — 



First trick taken by A (Club Queen) ; second trick taken by Z 

 (nifiing B's Ace), Y holding up King ; third trick by Z (Diamond 

 Ace); fourth trick by A (ruffing); fifth trick by B (trump 

 Knave, to ^'s defensive lead of trumps); sixth trick to i? (trump 

 Ace); seventh, eighth, and ninth tricks to B (Heart, King, 

 Queen, Ace); tenth trick to Y, trump 10; and then two tricks 

 fall to All however Y may play, one going to i 's trump 

 King. Result .—A-B make two by cartls and count two by 

 honours. 



10 



13 



<? 



<? 



9 <7 



Z finesses (only against one card 



Again, had the score been " love all," and after five tricks played 

 as in the actual game 1' had regarded Z's Heart discard as directive, 

 A-B would have made five by cards ! 



Sun-Worship among the Blaikfoot Indians. — Tho 

 chief religious ceremony of the Blackfoot tribes is of 

 foreign origin. This is the famous " Sun-dance," to which 

 they, like the Dakota tribes and some of the AVestern 

 Crees, are fanatically devoted. That this ceremony is not 

 properly Algonkin is clearly shown by the fact that among 

 the tribes of that stock, with the exception of the Blackfect 

 and a few of the Western Crees, it is unknown. Neither 

 the Ojibways of the Lakes, nor any of the tribes^ east of 

 the Mississippi, had in their worship a trace of this extra- 

 ordinary rite. The late eminent missionary among the 

 Dakotas, the Rev. Stephen R. Biggs (author of the " Dakota 

 Grammar and Dictionary "), says of this ceremony : " The 

 highest form of sacrifice is self-immolation. It exists in the 

 Sim-dance, and is what is called ' vision-seeking.' Some, 

 passing a knife under tho muscles of the breast and arms, 

 attach cords thereto, which are fastened at the other end to 

 the top of a tall pole, raised for the jnirpose ; and thus they 

 hang suspended only by those cords, without food or drink, 

 for two, three, or four days, gazing upon vacancy, their 

 minds intently fixed upon the object in which they wish 

 to be as.sisted by the deity, and waiting for a vision from 

 above. Others, making incisions in the back, have attached, 

 by hair ropes, one or more biiflalo-heads, so that every 

 time the body moves in the dance, a jerk is given to the 

 bufi"alo-heads" behind. The rite exists at present among the 

 western bands of the Dakotas in the greatest barbarity. 

 After making the cuttings in the arms, breast, or back, 

 wooden setons^sticks about the size of a lead-pencil— are 

 inserted, and the lopes are attached to them. Then, 

 swinging on the ropes, they pull until the setons are pulled 

 out with the ilesh and tendons; or, if hung with buffiilo- 

 heads, the pulling is done in the dance, by successive jerks, 

 keeping time with the music, while the head and body, in 

 an attitude of .supplication, foce the sun, and the eye is 

 unflinchingly fixed upon it." 



#ur CftfSJJ Column, 



By " Mepuisto." 



ENGLISH PROP.LEM COMPO.^EES. 



I.— G. Planck. 



HIS composer of problems may, with profit to 

 himself, adopt the motto, " By my work shall ye 

 know me." Mr. Planck has not only done a great 

 deal of work, but he has likewise done it well in 

 every respect. His correctness in composition is 

 excelled bv none, while for oiiginality of ideas .and 

 neat construction his problems have been famous 

 all over the world. Mr. Planck lias composed no 

 less than thirty problems, which have either 

 gained prizes, or have been honourably mentioned. This is, indeed, 

 a fine record, and the best attainable record as far as modern 

 problem composing goes. But we must confess to a feeling of 

 rei'ret that the old classical ideas of problem composition have been 

 entirely forsaken, at least as far as Eeglish composers are con- 

 cerned. Not but what we admit that the modern canons of con- 

 struction, purity of position, economy of forces, &c,, are correct ; but 

 alas: these are considered primarily, and imagination has to take 

 second place, whereas in classical problems imagination predominated 

 without at all unduly straining the total effect of the problem. 



By enjoying the following fine examples of Mr. Planck s art, it 

 will be admitted that bis compositions are, as a whole, far less open 



