AUNT SALLY

aunt sally, the english name for a game popular at fairs, race-courses and summer resorts. it consists in throwing hard balls, of wood or leather-covered yarn, at puppets dressed to represent different characters, originally a grotesque female figure called "aunt sally," with the object of smashing a clay pipe which is inserted either in the mouth or forehead of the puppet. in france the game is popular under the name _jeu de massacre_. in a variation of the pastime the mark consists of a living person's head thrust through a hole in a sheet of canvas. in case of a hit a second shy is allowed, or a small prize is given. aura (from the gr. for "breath" or "breeze"), a term used in old days to denote a supposed ethereal emanation from a volatile substance; applied later to the "electrical aura," or air-current caused by electrical discharge; in epilepsy (q.v.) to one of its premonitory symptoms; and in spiritualism to a mysterious light associated with the presence of spirit-forms. see also aureola.