“You turn until some one trips,” the others answered.

Elizabeth spent the remainder of the afternoon with the children, who were glad to have her because she played fair.  Elizabeth herself was very happy.  She was even glad that she wasn’t a princess or a grown-up lady; glad that she was just a little girl who had learned to play with other children.

* * * * *

Johnnie Jones and the Hoop-Rolling Club

One day, all the children of the neighborhood decided to form a hoop-rolling club.  Each child was to buy a hoop and decorate it with bells and ribbons.  Then, every Saturday morning, all of them were to go to the park and have a procession.  They were to try their best to turn square corners, to roll their hoops in a straight line, and to keep them from falling down.  No matter where they rolled them, up hill or down hill, over smooth ground or rough, they were not to let the hoops fall.

The one who could do all these things the best was to be the captain and lead the procession wherever he wished.  He could go swiftly or slowly, just as he liked, and all the rest were to follow in the same manner.  The captain was to remain captain only so long as he could roll his hoop better than anyone else in the club.

The children were delighted with their plan, and ran to the shop to buy the hoops.

All except poor little Johnnie Jones!  He was not quite as old as the others, and he could not manage a hoop.  He had tried to roll one belonging to Sammy Smith, one day, but he had been unable to prevent its falling down every time he struck it.  Of course he wanted to join the club, and he asked Mother what she thought he had better do.

Mother went with him to the grocery-store, and bought a small hoop, much smaller than Sammy Smith’s.  Then she told Johnnie Jones that no one could teach him to roll it.  “You must just try and try until you succeed, little boy,” she said.

Johnnie Jones tried, all the way home, but he was as unsuccessful with the new hoop as he had been with Sammy Smith’s old one.  The other children watched him, but they did not know how to help him, much as they wished to do so.  One big boy was rude enough to laugh at him, which hurt his feelings so much that he went out into his back yard to practise.  There he tried, and tried again, until he was very tired.

Every day while the other children were decorating their hoops or were playing together, Johnnie Jones would practise all alone in the back yard, where no one could see him.  He tried so hard that at last he succeeded in rolling his hoop from the porch to the gate without letting it fall a single time.  He was greatly encouraged then, but he had to continue practising, because he could not even yet guide the hoop very well, and he could not turn corners at all.

When Saturday came, he went to the park to watch the first procession.  It was a very pretty sight, for the hoops had been decorated with bright ribbons, and with bells which made a merry tinkling sound.  Ned was the captain, as he was the oldest and could manage his hoop most skilfully.  He led the children through the park, stopping now and then for breath.  Whenever anyone dropped his hoop, he had to go to the end of the line, for that was the rule of the club.