One for mammy, one for daddy, one for Uncle John. Where, child! where, child! have you been all the day? Up to granny s. What have you been doing there? [The answer to this is often, Washing doll s clothes, but anything may be mentioned.] What did she give you? [The reply is again left to the child s fancy.] Where s my share? The cat ate it [or, In the cat s belly]. What s in that box, mother? Twopence, my child. What for, mother? To buy a stick to beat you, and a rope to hang you, my child. --Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 55, 56). VII.
(_b_) The children form a ring, all joining hands and dancing round while singing the first verse. When singing the last line they unclasp their hands, and each one turns rapidly round. They then sing the next verse, suiting their actions to the words they sing, again turning round singly at the last line. This is done with every alternate verse, the first verse being always sung as a chorus or dance in between the different action-verses. The verses may be varied or added to at pleasure. The actions generally consist of washing and dressing oneself, combing hair, washing clothes, baking bread, sweeping the floor, going to and returning from school, learning to read, cleaning boots, and lacing stays. When going to school, the children walk two by two in an orderly manner; when coming home from school, jumping and running is the style adopted; lacing stays, the hands are put behind and moved first one and then the other, as if lacing; this is the way the ladies walk, holding up skirts and walking primly; gentlemen walk, walking with long strides and sticks. The dressing process and cleaning boots preceded school. (_c_) This game is well known, and played in almost all parts of England. It is always played in the same way.
_=Frames.=_ Each player rolls ten frames or innings, in each of which he is supposed to have three balls, although as a matter of fact he rolls two only. In match games, two alleys are used, and the players roll one inning on each alternately. _=A Strike=_ is made when all ten pins are knocked down with the first ball of the innings, and it is scored on the blackboard with a cross, the number of pins made with the three balls being filled in afterward. _=A Spare=_ is made when all ten pins are knocked down with the two balls of one inning, and it is marked with a diagonal stroke. If the player fails to get either a strike or a spare, it is a _=Break=_, marked with a horizontal line, under which is written the actual number of pins down. After each ball is rolled any pins that have fallen on the alley are called _=deadwood=_, and must be removed before the second ball is rolled. _=Counting.=_ If a player makes a strike in one inning, all that he makes on the next two balls rolled, whether in one inning or not, counts also on the strike, so as to give him the total score on three balls for the frame. Three successive strikes would give him 30 points on the first frame, with a ball still to roll to complete the second frame, and two balls to roll to complete the third.
This game is usually played in a house or schoolroom, by boys and girls. A boy or girl is chosen who is considered to be able to stand a joke. He sits on a chair. A stool is put behind, upon which a boy called Ezzeka stands. Then the other boys and girls in the room sing the lines. As they are finished, Ezzeka, who has a bottle of water in his hand, takes out the cork, and pours the water upon his victim s head. This game may be compared with the game of King Arthur mentioned by Brand (_Pop. Antiq._, ii. 393).
_=Third.=_ On discovery of the false opening, each player is allowed to take down whatever amount he may have paid into the pool, including his original ante and all fatteners, and the false opener must then make the entire amount good. The cards are then dealt afresh. This is a very harsh punishment for a very trifling and common error. The second method is the most popular, and probably the fairest, and is now the universal rule. If the false opener does not discover his mistake until he has drawn cards, his action is at least suspicious, and he should be compelled to put up the total amount in the pool, as in case three. In some localities such a player is barred from playing the next two jacks, but compelled to ante his share in each. _=Betting Jacks.=_ When a jack pot has been properly opened, and all have declared whether or not they will stay, and have drawn cards, the players proceed to bet on their hands. As there is no age in jack pots, the rule is for the opener to make the first bet; or, if he has been raised out before the draw, the player next on his left who still holds cards.
Where is the butcher? Behind the churchyard, cracking nuts, and leaving you the shells. --Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). III. Please, mother, may we go out to play? Yes, if you don t frighten the chickens. No, mother, we won t frighten the chickens. [They all go out and say, Hush! hush! to pretended chickens.] Where have you been? To grandmother s. What for? To go on an errand. What did you get? Some plums. What did you do with them? Made a plum-pudding.
If the pone does not take all the cards to which he is entitled, he is allowed to look at those that remain of the first five that were on the talon; but on no account may he look at any of the dealer’s three. If the dealer leaves any cards in the stock, he has a right to look at them, but the pone may not see them until he has led for the first trick, or announced the suit he will lead. If he announces a suit, and after seeing the cards in the stock does not lead that suit, the dealer may call a suit. If the dealer does not look at the remaining cards the pone cannot see them either. Each player keeps his discards separate from those of his adversary, and is allowed to refer to them at any time during the play of the hand, but on no account can he see his adversary’s discards, unless that adversary has mixed with them one or more of the unseen cards that were left in the stock, and afterward picks up and looks at his discard, including the card which the other is entitled to see. For instance: The dealer leaves a card without looking at it. This he afterward mixes with his discard. Now, if he looks at his discard, of course he sees the card left in the stock, and the pone may demand to see not only the card left, but the entire discard. The same rule applies to the pone if he takes into his discards an unseen card of the stock. _=Irregular Discards.
=_ Each pair carries its own score-card with it from table to table, until the 24 hands have been played. The 7th column is used to designate the pair played against. The pairs at the second table should begin scoring with hands Nos. 5, 13 and 21 respectively; as they will presently receive from the first table the series beginning 1, 9 and 17 respectively. Eight hands complete a match, and the result must be tabulated in the same manner as for teams of four, ties being decided by the majority of tricks won. We give an example. [Illustration: +-------+----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | Pairs | a | b | c | d || Matches | Tricks | +-------+----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | a | \ | +3 | -2 | +5 || 2 | +6 | | |----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | b | -3 | \ | +4 | -1 || 1 | 0 | | |----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | c | +2 | -4 | \ | -2 || 1 | -4 | | |----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ | d | -5 | +1 | +2 | \ || 2 | -2 | +-------+----+----+----+----++---------+--------+ ] The _=a=_ pair wins the tie with _=d=_, being 6 tricks plus. _=Six Pairs.=_ This is a very awkward number to handle, and should be avoided if possible. The whole could be played at three tables simultaneously; but such a course would necessitate their changing places ten times, following a very complicated schedule in so doing.
Two are chosen, the one to be Namer, and the other Guesser or Witch. The rest of the players range themselves in a row. The Guesser retires out of sight or to a distance. The Namer then gives each player a secret name. When names have been given to all the players, the Namer calls on the Guesser to come, by saying-- Witchie, witchie, yer bannocks are burnin , An ready for turnin . Whereupon he approaches, and the Namer says-- Come, chois me out, come, chois me in, to ---- (naming one by the assumed name). The players all shout, Tack me, tack me, repeatedly. The Witch points to one. If the guess is correct the player goes to the Witch s side, but if it is incorrect he goes to the Namer s side. This goes on till all the players are ranged on the one side or the other.
It is mentioned in _Peregrine Pickle_, cap. xvi. Cope (_Hampshire Glossary_) says, Halfpence are placed in a cap and thrown up, a sort of pitch-and-toss. Hynny-pynny A peculiar game at marbles, sometimes called Hyssy-pyssy, played in some parts of Devon and Somerset. A hole of some extent was made in an uneven piece of ground, and the game was to shoot the marbles at some object beyond the hole without letting them tumble into it. The game occasionally commenced by a ceremony of no very delicate description, which sufficed to render the fallen marble still more ignominious.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Isabella [Music] --Ogbourne, Wilts (H. S. May).
* * * * * _=THE SIGNAL GAME.=_ Having become thoroughly familiar with the elementary conventionalities of the game, so that they can be used without the slightest hesitation at the whist table, the player may proceed to acquaint himself with the details of what is commonly known as the Signal Game, which comprises all the various methods of signalling up hands between partners, according to certain arbitrary and pre-arranged systems of play. Many players object to these methods as unfair; but they are now too deeply rooted to yield to protest; and the best thing for a player to do is to familiarise himself with his adversaries’ weapons. _=The Trump Signal.=_ A player anxious to have trumps led, but who has no immediate prospect of the lead, may call on his partner to lead trumps at the first opportunity, by playing any two cards of a suit led, the higher before the lower. Let us suppose him to hold five good trumps, with the Six and Two of a suit of which his partner leads King, then Jack. By playing first the Six, and then the Two, he calls upon his partner to quit the suit, and lead a trump. Among some players, the lead of a strengthening card when an honour is turned, is a call for trumps to be led through that honour at the first opportunity, but it is not good play. Passing a certain winning card is regarded by most players as an imperative call for trumps. The discard of any card higher than a Seven is known as a single-card-call.
| -- | -- | -- | | 7.| -- | -- | -- | | 8.| -- |Fairest young lady | -- | | | |ever seen. | | | 9.| -- | -- |All pretty fair maids | | | | |are fit to be seen. | |10.|Flowers all faded, | -- | -- | | |none to be seen. | | | |11.| -- | -- | -- | |12.| -- | -- | -- | |13.
--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. Down in the Valley I. Down in the valley where the green grass grows Stands E---- H----, she blows like a rose. She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet. In came F---- S---- and gave her a kiss. E---- made a pudding, she made it nice and sweet, F---- took a knife and fork and cut a little piece. Taste of it, taste of it, don t say nay, For next Sunday morning is our wedding day. First we ll buy a money box, Then we ll buy a cradle; Rock, rock the bottom out, Then we ll buy another. Bread and cheese all the week, cork on Sunday, Half a crown on Saturday night, and a jolly good dance on Monday. --Cowes, Isle of Wight (Miss E.
--Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). The children form into a ring and sing the above words. They bop down at the close of the verse. To bop means in the Suffolk dialect to stoop or bow the head. --Moor. Allicomgreenzie A little amusing game played by young girls at country schools. The same as Drop Handkerchief, except that the penalty for not following exactly the course of the child pursued is to stand in the circle, face out, all the game afterwards; if she succeed in catching the one, the one caught must so stand, and the other take up the cap and go round as before (Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_). No explanation is given of the name of this game. See Drop Handkerchief. Alligoshee I.