Cat and Dog An ancient game played in Angus and Lothian. Three play, and they are provided with clubs. These clubs are called dogs. The players cut out two holes, each about a foot in diameter, and seven inches in depth. The distance between them is about twenty-six feet. One stands at each hole with a club. A piece of wood about four inches long and one inch in diameter, called a Cat, is thrown from the one hole towards the other by a third person. The object is to prevent the Cat from getting into the hole. Every time that it enters the hole, he who has the club at that hole loses the club, and he who threw the Cat gets possession both of the club and of the hole, while the former possessor is obliged to take charge of the Cat. If the Cat be struck, he who strikes it changes places with the person who holds the other club; and as often as these positions are changed one is counted in the game by the two who hold the clubs, and who are viewed as partners.
Mother, mother, may I go to play? No, daughter, no! for fear you should stay. Only as far as the garden gate, to gather flowers for my wedding day. Make a fine curtsey and go your way. [They all curtsey and scamper off, and proceed to plan some mischief. Then they return.] Now where have you been? Up to Uncle John s. What for? Half a loaf, half a cheese, and half a pound of butter. Where s my share? Up in cupboard. Tisn t there, then! Then the cat eat it. And where s the cat? Up on the wood [_i.
The aces are sometimes valued at 14 each. SPADE CASSINO. In this interesting variation every spade counts one point toward game. The spade Jack counts one in addition to its being a spade, and the extra point so made takes the place of the count for “spades” in the ordinary game, so that 24 points are made in every hand, exclusive of sweeps: Cards 3; Big Cassino 2; Little Cassino 1; the four Aces 4; the spade Jack 1, and 13 spades. It must be remembered that the spade Jack and deuce count 2 points each, the extra point being for the spade. The game is scored on a cribbage board, every point being pegged immediately; that is, every spade, every Ace, the Cassinos and the sweeps. There is nothing to count at the end of the hand but the cards. Sixty-one points is game, once round the board and into the game hole. DRAW CASSINO. In this variation, no more cards are dealt after the first round, but each player keeps his hand filled to four cards by drawing one from the top of the stock as soon as he plays one from his hand.
The two sides have then a tug of war. The game ends at this point with girls. With boys the conquered have to run the gauntlet. The victors range themselves in two lines, each boy with his cap or handkerchief tightly plaited in his hand, and pelt with all their might the vanquished as they run between the lines. The boys of Nairn call this running of the gauntlet, through fire an watter. The method of playing the Warwick, Fernham, and Louth versions is practically the same. The children stand in half-circle beginning with the two tallest at either end. All clasp hands. The two at one end question those at the other end alternately (fig. 1).
These are pushed along the deck with long sticks that have enlarged and flattened ends to fit the pieces. The object is to get each piece to settle fairly and squarely within the borders of some one of a number of spaces which are chalked out on a diagram about 10 feet by 6, which is about 30 feet from the player. These spaces are numbered from 1 to 10, and some of them are marked “minus.” Each side has four shots with four separate pieces. Fifty points is game. BILLIARDS. _=THE TABLE.=_ The standard American billiard table for championship games is ten feet by five; but that in common use is nine by four and a half. The old tables for the four-ball game had only four pockets, but all modern pool tables have six. The English billiard tables are all twelve feet by six, with six pockets, which are used for both billiards and pool.
take ten moves. To destroy a railway culvert R.E. take one move; to repair R.E. take five moves. To destroy a river road bridge R.E. take one move; to repair, R.E.
| Shropshire. | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.|Draw a pail of water. |Draw a pail of water. |Draw, draw water. | | 2.| -- | -- | -- | | 3.| -- | -- | -- | | 4.|For my lady s |Send a lady a |For my lady s | | |daughter. |daughter.
It is played in this manner. The lads crowd round and place their fists endways, the one on the other, till they form a high pile of hands. Then a boy, who has one hand free, knocks the piled fists off one by one, saying to every boy as he strikes his fist away, What s there, Dump? He continues this process till he comes to the last fist, when he exclaims:-- What s there? Cheese and bread, and a mouldy halfpenny! Where s my share? I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it. Where s the cat? She s run nine miles through the wood. Where s the wood? T fire burnt it. Where s the fire? T waters sleekt (extinguished) it. Where s the water? T oxen drank it. Where s the oxen? T butcher killed em. Where s the butcher? Upon the church tops cracking nuts, and you may go and eat the shells; and them as speaks first shall have nine nips, nine scratches, and nine boxes over the lug! Every one then endeavours to refrain from speaking in spite of mutual nudges and grimaces, and he who first allows a word to escape is punished by the others in the various methods adopted by schoolboys. In some places the game is played differently.
L. Gomme. Clapham Miss F. D. Richardson. Hersham _Folk-lore Record_, vol. v. Redhill Miss G. Hope. SUSSEX { Parish s _Dialect_, Holloway s { _Dictionary_, Toone s _Dictionary_.
). Chambers (_Pop. Rhymes_, p. 148) gives a similar verse, used for starting a race:-- Race horses, race horses, what time of day? One o clock, two o clock, three, and away; and these lines are also used for the same purpose in Cheshire (Holland s _Glossary_) and Somersetshire (Elworthy s _Glossary_). Halliwell, on the strength of the corrupted word Bellasay, connects the game with a proverbial saying applied to the family of Bellasis; but there is no evidence of such a connection except the word-corruption. The rhyme occurs in _Gammer Gurton s Garland_, 1783, the last words of the second line being time to away. Bellie-mantie The name for Blind Man s Buff in Upper Clydesdale. As anciently in this game he who was the chief actor was not only hoodwinked, but enveloped in the skin of an animal.--Jamieson. See Blind Man s Buff.
This is what gamblers call the _=maturity of the chances=_, and it is one of the greatest fallacies ever entertained by intelligent men. Curiously enough, the men who believe that luck must change in some circumstances, also believe in betting on it to continue in others. When they are _=in the vein=_ they will “follow their luck” in perfect confidence that it will continue. The same men will not bet on another man’s luck, even if he is “in the vein,” because “the maturity of the chances” tells them that it cannot last! GAMES. ODDS. One 1 to 1 Two 3 to 1 Three 7 to 1 Four 15 to 1 Five 31 to 1 Six 63 to 1 Seven 127 to 1 Eight 255 to 1 Nine 511 to 1 Ten 1023 to 1 If Smith and his adversary had started with an agreement to play ten games, the odds against either of them winning any number in succession would be found by taking the first game as an even chance, expressed by unity, or 1. The odds against the same player winning the second game also would be twice 1 plus 1, or 3 to 1; and the odds against his winning three games in succession would be twice 3 plus 1, or 7 to 1, and so on, according to the figures shown in the margin. GAMES. 1st 2nd 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 That this is so may easily be demonstrated by putting down on a sheet of paper the total number of events that may happen if any agreed number of games are played, expressing wins by a stroke, and losses by a cipher. Take the case of two games only.
This prevents A from going any further, because it is not his turn to say anything. He is not asked to meet any one’s raise, nor to make any bet himself, but simply to show his hand, in order to see whether or not it is better than D’s. _=SHOWING HANDS.=_ It is the general usage that the hand _=called=_ must be shown first. In this case A’s hand is called, for D was the one who called a halt on A in the betting, and stopped him from going any further. The strict laws of the game require that both hands must be shown, and if there are more than two in the final call, all must be shown to the table. The excuse generally made for not showing the losing hand is that the man with the worse hand paid to see the better hand; but it must not be forgotten that the man with the better hand has paid exactly the same amount, and is equally entitled to see the worse hand. There is an excellent rule in some clubs that a player refusing to show his hand in a call shall refund the amount of the antes to all the other players, or pay all the antes in the next jack pot. The rule of showing both hands is a safeguard against collusion between two players, one of whom might have a fairly good hand, and the other nothing; but by mutually raising each other back and forth they could force any other player out of the pool. The good hand could then be called and shown, the confederate simply saying, “That is good,” and throwing down his hand.
That is, holding both King and Queen, he plays the Queen, not the King. If his cards are not in sequence, he should always play the best he has. With Ace and Queen, for instance, he must play the Ace if the King is not in the Dummy. To play the Queen would be to throw it away if the declarer has the King. If the leader has the King, third hand gets out of his way by giving up the Ace. _=FOSTER’S ELEVEN RULE.=_ In trying to win tricks as cheaply as possible, third hand may often be guided by the Eleven Rule, which can be applied to any lead of a small card. By deducting from eleven the number of pips on any low card led by his partner, the pone may ascertain to a certainty how many cards there are _=higher than the one led=_, which are not in the leader’s hand. This rule, which was invented by R.F.
Limit is 3,000 francs. 7. _=Bas à cheval=_, between any two of these columns. This pays ½ for 1. Limit is 3,000 francs. 8. _=Premier, Milieu, Dernier.=_ Bets placed in the spaces marked P 12, M 12, and D 12, are upon the first, middle and last twelve numbers; that is, from 1 to 12, 13 to 24, and 25 to 36 respectively. This pays 2 for 1. Limit is 3,000 francs.
Elworthy (_West Somerset Words_) calls it Duck, and Ducks off and Cobbs off in Dorsetshire. In London the boy repeats the words, Gully, gully, all round the hole, one duck on, while he is playing (_Strand Magazine_, November 1891). Newell (_Games_, p. 188) calls it Duck on a Rock. Duffan Ring Name for Cat and Mouse in Cornwall.--_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 57. Dumb Crambo An undescribed game mentioned in Moor s _Suffolk Words_, p. 238. Dumb Motions Two sides are chosen, which stand apart from each other inside the line of their den.
May. WORCESTERSHIRE Chamberlain s _Glossary_. Upton-on-Severn Lawson s _Glossary_. { Atkinson s, Addy s, Easther s, YORKSHIRE { Hunter s, Robinson s, Ross and Stead s { _Glossaries_, Henderson s _Folk-lore_, { ed. 1879. Almondbury Easther s _Glossary_. Epworth, Lossiemouth Mr. C. C. Bell.