In no version that I am acquainted with do the elements of love and marriage or kissing occur, otherwise the resemblance it bears to the Scotch Merry-ma-tanzie would suggest that it is a portion of that game. This game possesses the centre tree, which is not preserved in Merry-ma-tansa. Trees were formerly sacred to dancing at the marriage festival, as at Polwarth in Berwickshire, where the custom once prevailed, which is not unworthy of notice. In the midst of the village are two thorn trees near to each other; round these every newly-married pair were expected to dance with all their friends; from hence arose the old song, Polwarth on the Green (_New Statistical Account of Scotland, Polwarth, Berwickshire_, ii. 234). Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_), under Kissing Bush, says, A bush of holly, ivy, or other evergreens, which is hung up in farm kitchens at Christmas, and serves the purpose of mistletoe. The kissing bushes are usually prepared by the farm lads on Christmas Eve, and they are often tastefully decorated with apples, oranges, and bits of gay-coloured ribbon. I have occasionally seen them made upon a framework of hoop iron something in the form of a crown, with a socket at the bottom to hold a lighted candle. Brand (ii. 15) also describes how in Ireland men and women dance round about a bush in a large ring on the Patron Day.
_=Dealing.=_ The entire pack is distributed, the dealer giving each player in rotation two or three cards in each round. No trump is turned. All irregularities in the deal are governed by the same laws as at Hearts; but a misdeal does not lose the deal under any circumstances. The same dealer must deal again. _=Objects of the Game.=_ The object in Slobberhannes is to avoid taking either the first or the last trick, or any trick containing the Queen of clubs. The player who wins any of these loses one point, and if he wins all three of them, he loses an extra point, or four altogether. The penalty for a revoke is also the loss of a point. _=Method of Playing.
In such case the player who first declared out of turn is the only one penalized. (7) The player making the final declaration, _i.e._, a declaration that has been passed by both of the others, plays his own hand and that of the dummy against the two others, who then, and for that particular hand, assume the relationship of partners. (8) It is advisable that the game be played at a round table so that the hand of the dummy can be placed in front of the declarer without obliging any player to move; but, in the event of a square table being used, the two players who become the adversaries of the declarer should sit opposite each other, the dummy being opposite the declarer. At the end of the play the original positions should be resumed. (9) If, after the deal has been completed and before the conclusion of the declaration, any player expose a card, each of his adversaries counts 50 points in his honour score, and the declarer, if he be not the offender, may call upon the player on his left to lead or not to lead the suit of the exposed card. If a card be exposed by the declarer after the final declaration, there is no penalty, but if exposed by an adversary of the declarer, it is subject to the same penalty as in Auction. (10) If a player double out of turn, each of his adversaries counts 100 points in his respective honour score, and the player whose declaration has been doubled may elect whether the double shall stand. The bidding is then resumed, but if the double shall be disallowed, the declaration may not be doubled by the other player.
Here is War, done down to rational proportions, and yet out of the way of mankind, even as our fathers turned human sacrifices into the eating of little images and symbolic mouthfuls. For my own part, I am _prepared_. I have nearly five hundred men, more than a score of guns, and I twirl my moustache and hurl defiance eastward from my home in Essex across the narrow seas. Not only eastward. I would conclude this little discourse with one other disconcerting and exasperating sentence for the admirers and practitioners of Big War. I have never yet met in little battle any military gentleman, any captain, major, colonel, general, or eminent commander, who did not presently get into difficulties and confusions among even the elementary rules of the Battle. You have only to play at Little Wars three or four times to realise just what a blundering thing Great War must be. Great War is at present, I am convinced, not only the most expensive game in the universe, but it is a game out of all proportion. Not only are the masses of men and material and suffering and inconvenience too monstrously big for reason, but--the available heads we have for it, are too small. That, I think, is the most pacific realisation conceivable, and Little War brings you to it as nothing else but Great War can do.
This would be perfectly even betting if the house did not take raffles. Some houses allow a player to bet on raffles generally; that is, to bet that a raffle of some kind will come. Such bets are paid 30 for 1. The percentage of the house, even in a square game, may be seen from the following table, which gives the odds against the event, and the odds which the house pays:-- The odds against 3 or 18 are 215 to 1; the house pays 180 ” 4 ” 17 ” 71 ” 1 ” 60 ” 5 ” 16 ” 35 ” 1 ” 29 ” 6 ” 15 ” 20½ ” 1 ” 18 ” 7 ” 14 ” 13¼ ” 1 ” 12 ” 8 ” 13 ” 9¼ ” 1 ” 8 ” 9 ” 12 ” 7¼ ” 1 ” 6 ” 10 ” 11 ” 7 ” 1 ” 6 _=Cheating.=_ There are endless ways of swindling at Chuck-luck, the most modern being to turn the dice over after they have reached the table through the funnel. This is done by an apparatus under the cloth, the dealer looking down the funnel to see how the dice lie, and then adjusting them to suit himself. Another method is to hold out one die, throwing only two down the funnel, and slipping the third down the outside, turning it so that when it is combined with the two already in the funnel it will beat the big bets on the layout. Raffles can be forced in this way whenever the two dice in the funnel are paired. RONDEAU. This game is played on a pocket billiard table.
Why, mother, why? I shan t be gone long. Make a fine curtsey And glad git you gone.-- Wait for your sister. --Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase). IX. Please, mother, please, mother, may I go out to play? No, child, no, child, tis such a cold day. Why, mother, why, mother, I won t stay long. Make three pretty curtseys and off you run. --Northants (Rev. W.
Wood says there is a rougher game played at country feasts and fairs in which a pig takes the place of the boy with the bell, but he does not give the locality (p. 7). Strutt also describes it (_Sports_, p. 317). Blind Bucky-Davy In Somersetshire the game of Blind Man s Buff. Also in Cornwall (see Couch s _Polperro_, p. 173). Pulman says this means Blind buck and have ye (Elworthy s _Dialect_). Blind Harie A name for Blind Man s Buff. --Jamieson.
Put yourself through the keyhole. Place two chairs in the middle of the room, take off your shoes, and jump over them. Measure so many yards of love ribbon. Postman s knock. Crawl up the chimney. Spell Opportunity. Miss Burne mentions one penance designed to make the victim ridiculous, as when he is made to lie on his back on the floor with his arms extended, and declare-- Here I lie! The length of a looby, The breadth of a booby, And three parts of a jackass! --_Shropshire Folk-lore_, pp. 526-27. (_c_) Halliwell gives, in his _Nursery Rhymes_, pp. 324-26, some curious verses, recorded for the first time by Dr.
=_ There is neither age nor straddle in jack pots. Every one at the table must ante an equal amount. Any player may decline to ante, by saying: “I pass this jack;” and the dealer will give him no cards. _=38. Opening.=_ After the cards are dealt, each player in turn, beginning on the dealer’s left, may open the pot for any amount he pleases within the betting limit, provided he holds a pair of Jacks, or some hand better than a pair of Jacks. If he does not hold openers, or does not wish to open the pot with them, he must say: “I pass;” but must not abandon his hand, under penalty of paying five counters to the pool. _=39. False Openers.=_ Should a player open a jack without the hand to justify it, and discover his error before he draws, his hand is foul, and he forfeits whatever amount he may have already placed in the pool.
_=CARDS.=_ Bézique is played with two packs of thirty-two cards each, all below the Seven being deleted, and the two packs being then shuffled together and used as one. It is better to have both packs of the same colour and pattern, but it is not absolutely necessary. The cards rank, A 10 K Q J 9 8 7; the Ace being the highest, both in cutting and in play. [Illustration: PULL-UP BÉZIQUE MARKER.] _=COUNTERS.=_ Special markers are made for scoring at Bézique; but the score may easily be kept by means of counters. Each player should be provided with four white, four blue, and one red, together with some special marker, such as a copper cent or a button. The button stands for 500 points, each blue counter for 100, the red for 50, and the white ones for 10 each. At the beginning of the game the counters are placed on the left of the player, and are passed from left to right as the points accrue, exchanging smaller denominations for higher when necessary.
Should any one in the ring exclaim I have it! she also forfeits; nor must the servant make known who has the ring until all have guessed under the same penalty. The forfeits are afterwards cried as usual.--Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 223. (_b_) This game was a general favourite at juvenile parties years ago. The hands were held in the posture described by Halliwell, but any child was pitched upon for the first finder, and afterwards the child in whose hands the ring was found had to be finder. There was no guessing; the closed hands were looked into (A. B. Gomme). Mr.
The girls answer with the seventh. Then all the ring sing the next verses, imitating washing clothes, wringing, ironing, baking bread, washing hands, combing hair, &c., suiting their actions to the words of the verses sung. The boy who was chosen then presents a ring, usually a blade of grass wrapped round her finger, to the girl. The ring then sing the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth verses. When all have chosen, if any lad is left without a partner, the last verse is sung. The version recorded by Chambers is similar in action, but there are some important differences in detail. The centre child acts as mistress of the ceremonies. The ring of children dance round her, singing the verses. At the end of the first line of the second verse they all courtesy to her, and she returns the compliment.
Suppose A bids two royals and Y doubles. B can take A out with three clubs, because, so far as the bidding goes, two royals are still worth only 18. Any over-call annuls the double, or redouble. Suppose A says two hearts, Y doubles, B redoubles, and Z says two royals. The doubling is all knocked out, and if A were to go three hearts and get the contract, hearts would be worth only 8 a trick in the scoring unless Y doubled all over again. A double reopens the bidding, just the same as any other declaration, allowing the player’s partner, or the player himself in his turn, to take himself out of the double by bidding something else. _=IRREGULARITIES IN DECLARING.=_ If any player declares out of turn, either in bidding a suit or in doubling, either opponent may demand a new deal, or may allow the declaration so made to stand, in which case the next player to the left must bid, just as if the declaration had been in turn. If a player pass out of turn there is no penalty, and the player whose turn it was must declare himself. The player who has passed out of his proper turn may re-enter the bidding if the declaration he passed has been over-called or doubled.
If an adversary of the single player leads or plays out of turn, the player may abandon the hand at that point, and claim the stock and last trick, the adversaries being entitled to count only the points they have won up to the time the error occurred. _=Suggestions for Good Play.=_ The general tactics of the game are extremely like those employed in Whist and Skat. The player establishes his long suit as rapidly as possible, and preserves his tenaces and cards of re-entry. The adversaries of the player should lead short suits up to him, and long suits through him, and every opportunity should be taken advantage of to discard counting cards on partner’s tricks, Aces especially, which are not the best of the suit, but count the most. Both sides scheme to get their hands in shape for winning the last trick, which usually makes a difference of ten or twelve points in the score, owing to the high cards held back, and those found in the stock. Each side should keep mental count of its score, so as to know whether or not it must win the last trick to get to 18. The exposure of the stock, the number of cards discarded by the player, the suits which are led and avoided, will all prove useful guides in determining where the strength or weakness in each suit lies, and proper advantage should be taken of all such inferences. Some judgment is required in selecting the suit in which the 3 is to be asked for, and the single player must plan in advance for all his discards, one for the exchange, and those for the stock. The player’s position at the table makes quite a difference.