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HE amusement of acting charades has long been popular in Europe, and is becoming more and more in vogue among young people in this country. The dialogue is sometimes improvised, but, when it is written and committed to memory, the performance is much smoother and more entertaining. Each syllable of the word, chosen to be divined, should compose the subject of one scene, and the whole word the subject of the closing scene.

The answer to the following charade, written for some young friends who delight in these evening games, is a word of three syllables.

. . . . A travelling authoress. . . . . . . . Her Secretary. . . . . . A chambermaid.

(Enter Bessie, ushering in Madam Dishuplivre, followed by Penpoint. Madam D. is attired in a fantastic travelling-dress. Penpoint ostentatiously carries open tablets of an extraordinary size.