Gomme). Jamieson (_Etymological Dict._) gives this as a sport of children. [Illustration: Fig. 1. Fig. 2.] See Dump, Green Grass, Hot Cockles. Doddart A game played in a large level field with a bent stick called doddart. Two parties, headed by two captains, endeavour to drive a wooden ball to their respective boundaries (Halliwell s _Dictionary_).
The number of points won or lost is determined by deducting the lower score from the higher, the difference being the number of points won on that deal. If it is a tie, neither side scores. If either side has incurred a penalty which prevents them from scoring any points they may have won, the adversaries have nothing to deduct, and score all they make. If the side that named the trump fails to make as many points as it bid, it scores nothing, and the number of points bid are scored by the adversaries, in addition to any points that the adversaries may have made in play. For instance: A-B are partners against Y-Z. B has bid to make 8, and named hearts for trumps. A-B make 10, which is 2 more than they bid, Y-Z getting the other 4; which leaves A-B 6. These are scored by placing one red and one white counter in the pool. But suppose A-B got only 5 points, Y-Z getting 9. A-B would score nothing, as they did not make good their bid; while Y-Z would score the 9 points actually won, and the 8 points bid in addition, or 17 altogether.
XV. Round the green gravel the grass grows green, All pretty fair maids are fit to be seen; Wash them in milk, and clothe them in silk, And write down their names with pen and black ink-- Choose one, choose two, choose the fairest daughter. Now, my daughter, married to-day, Like father and mother they should be, To love one another like sister and brother-- I pray you now to kiss one another. Now my daughter Mary s gone, With her pockets all lined with gold; On my finger a gay gold ring-- Good-bye, Mary, good-bye. Now this poor widow is left alone, Nobody could marry a better one; Choose one, choose two-- Choose the fairest daughter. --Sheffield (S. O. Addy). XVI. Round the green gravel the grass is so green, And all the fine ladies that ever were seen; Washed in milk and dressed in silk, The last that stoops down shall be married.
Malaga raisins are very good raisins, but I like Valencias better, is the saying used in the London version of this game, and instead of using a poker a paper-knife is used, and it is played at the table. Other formulæ for games of this kind are, As round as the moon, has two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. These words are said while drawing on a table with the forefinger of the _left_ hand an imaginary face, making eyes, nose, and mouth when saying the words. The fun is caused through those players who are unacquainted with the game drawing the imaginary face with the right hand instead of the left. Another formula is to touch each finger of the right hand with the forefinger of the left hand, saying to each finger in succession, Big Tom, Little Tom, Tommy, Tom, Tom. The secret in this case is to say, Look here! before commencing the formula. It is the business of those players who know the game to say the words in such a way that the uninitiated imagine the saying of the words correctly with particular accents on particular words to be where the difficulty lies. If this is well done, it diverts suspicion from the real object of these games.--A. B.
Johnson says: Handy dandy, a play in which children change hands and places: See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief! Hark, in thine ear: change places, and, handy dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? (_King Lear_, iv. 6). Malone says, Handy dandy is, I believe, a play among children, in which something is shaken between two hands, and then a guess is made in which hand it is retained. See Florio s _Italian Dictionary_, 1598: Bazzicchiare, to shake between the hands; to play Handy dandy. Pope, in his _Memoirs of Cornelius Scriblerus_, in forbidding certain sports to his son Martin till he is better informed of their antiquity, says: Neither cross and pile, nor ducks and drakes, are quite so ancient as Handy dandy, though Macrobius and St. Augustine take notice of the first, and Minutius Foelix describes the latter; but Handy dandy is mentioned by Aristotle, Plato, and Aristophanes. Browne, in _Britannia s Pastorals_ (i. 5), also alludes to the game. See Neiveie-nick-nack. Hap the Beds A singular game, gone through by hopping on one foot, and with that foot sliding a little flat stone out of an oblong bed, rudely drawn on a smooth piece of ground.
Davie-drap Children amuse themselves on the braesides i the sun, playing at Hide and Seek with this little flower, accompanying always the hiding of it with this rhyme, marking out the circle in which it is hid with the forefinger:-- Athin the bounds o this I hap, My black and bonny davie-drap; Wha is here the cunning yin My davie-drap to me will fin. --Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. The davie-drap is a little black-topped field-flower. Deadily A school game, not described.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. Diamond Ring My lady s lost her diamond ring; I pitch upon you to find it! Children sit in a ring or in a line, with their hands placed together palm to palm, and held straight, the little finger down-most between the knees. One of them is then chosen to represent a servant, who takes a ring, or some other small article as a substitute, between her two palms, which are pressed flat together like those of the rest, and goes round the circle or line placing her hands into the hands of every player, so that she is enabled to let the ring fall wherever she pleases without detection. After this she returns to the first child she touched, and with her hands behind her says the above words. The child who is thus addressed must guess who has the ring, and the servant performs the same ceremony with each of the party. They who guess right escape, but the rest forfeit.
132-134. (_b_) At Biggar (Mr. Ballantyne) this game was generally played on the green by boys and girls. A ring is formed by all the children but one, joining hands. The one child stands in the centre. The ring of children dance round the way of the sun, first slowly and then more rapidly. First all the children in the ring bow to the one in the centre, and she bows back. Then they dance round singing the first and second verses, the second verse being addressed to the child in the centre. She then whispers a boy s name to one in the ring. This girl then sings the third verse.
Triple bézique counts 1500, and the game is usually 2000 points. The deleted card from the third pack should be an Eight. POLISH BÉZIQUE. This differs from the ordinary game only in the value of the tricks taken. The winner of each trick, instead of turning it down after counting the brisques, takes from it any court cards it may contain, and the Ten of trumps. He lays these cards face up on the table, but apart from those declared from his own hand, and uses them to form combinations, which may be scored in the usual way. The chief difference is that cards so taken in tricks cannot be led or played to subsequent tricks, nor can they be taken in hand at the end of the stock. Combinations may be completed either by cards in the player’s hand, or by cards won in subsequent tricks. CINQ-CENTS. This might be described as Bézique with one pack of cards.
If he is weak, but has a chance in the next suit, or a bower in the cross suits, he should turn it down. It is a common stratagem to turn it down for a euchre when the dealer is better in the next suit, and has only 2 to go. _=PLAYING ALONE.=_ The dealer has the best chance to get a lone hand; but the eldest hand is more likely to succeed with one, on account of the advantage of the lead. It is an invariable rule for any player to go alone when he has three certain tricks, unless he is 3 up, and can win the game with a march. A lone hand should be played with both bowers and the ace, no matter how worthless the other cards; or with five trumps to the ace without either bower; or two high trumps and three aces in plain suits; or three good trumps and two aces. The theory of this is that while the march might possibly be made with partner’s assistance, if partner has the cards necessary to make a march, the adversaries have little or nothing, and there is a very good chance to make a lone hand if three tricks of it are certain. Both bowers and the ace, with only the seven and eight of a plain suit have made many a lone hand. If the lone player is not caught on the plain suit at the first trick, the adversaries may discard it to keep higher cards in the other suit; or they may have none of it from the first. There is always a chance, and it should be taken.
_=Openings.=_ There are a number of standard openings in Checkers which are formed by the preliminary moves on each side. These openings are known by various fanciful names, dear to all checker-players. In the following list they are arranged in alphabetical order for convenience in reference. +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | |AYRSHIRE | | | | | | | ALMA. | LASSIE. |BRISTOL. | CENTRE. | CROSS. |DEFIANCE.
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. The two parties then come to a tug, with the Namer and Guesser as leaders.
--Hersham, Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 84). A version familiar to me is the same as above, but ending with For tumbling over cherry stones. The mother then chased and beat those children she caught. The idea was, I believe, that the children were imitating or mocking their mother (A. B. G.). In Warwickshire the four lines of the Surrey game are concluded by the additional lines-- We don t care whether we work or no, We ll follow our mother on tipty-toe. When the mother runs after them and buffets them.
If he draws a card that matches neither, and is not in the hand cards, it is placed on the table, and the players can bet upon it. As soon as the players’ card is matched, the banker withdraws both cards, but he cannot withdraw his own card. All cards matching the hand cards must be placed with them. TABLE GAMES. The common form of folding chess-board provides a field for three of our best known games; Chess, Checkers, and Backgammon, which are generally spoken of as “table games,” although, strictly speaking, Backgammon is the only game of Tables. These three games were probably played long before history noticed them, and they have survived almost all ancient forms of amusement. _=Chess=_ is not only the most important of the three, but the most widely known, and possesses the most extensive literature. According to Chatto, it is probable that all games of cards owe their origin to chess, cards themselves having been derived from an old Indian variation of chess, known as the Four Kings. Chess is also the most fascinating of the table games, its charm being probably due to the fact that, like whist, it is a game that no man ever mastered. Whether or not this is in its favour is an open question.
Open your gates and let us go through. Not without a beck and a boo. There s a beck, and there s a boo, Open your gates and let us go through. --Nairn, Scotland (Rev. W. Gregor). III. How far to Banbury Cross? Four score and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, if your legs are long and light. Please to let me go? Not without you bend and bow [pronounced bo].
W. Gregor). Knights Two big boys take two smaller ones on their shoulders. The big boys act as horses, while the younger ones seated on their shoulders try to pull each other over. The horses may push and strike each other with their shoulders, but must not kick or trip up with their feet, or use their hands or elbows. The game is usually won by the Horse and Knight who throw their opponents twice out of three times (G. L. Gomme). Strutt (_Sports_, p. 84) describes this, and says, A sport of this kind was in practice with us at the commencement of the fourteenth century.
SEC. 1. The trump card and the number of the deal must be recorded, before the play begins, on a slip provided for that purpose, and must not be elsewhere recorded. Such slip must be shown to an adversary, then turned face down and placed in the tray, if one is used. SEC. 2. The dealer must leave the trump card face up until it is his turn to play to the first trick; he must take the trump card into his hand and turn down the trump slip before the second trick is turned and quitted. SEC. 3. When a deal is taken up for overplay, the dealer must show the trump slip to an adversary, and thereafter the trump slip and trump card shall be treated as in the case of an original deal.
That was the charging of one or two isolated horse-men at a gun in order to disable it. Let me illustrate this by an incident. A force consisting of ten infantry and five cavalry with a gun are retreating across an exposed space, and a gun with thirty men, cavalry and infantry, in support comes out upon a crest into a position to fire within two feet of the retreating cavalry. The attacking player puts eight men within six inches of his gun and pushes the rest of his men a little forward to the right or left in pursuit of his enemy. In the real thing, the retreating horsemen would go off to cover with the gun, hell for leather, while the infantry would open out and retreat, firing. But see what happened in our imperfect form of Little War! The move of the retreating player began. Instead of retreating his whole force, he charged home with his mounted desperadoes, killed five of the eight men about the gun, and so by the rule silenced it, enabling the rest of his little body to get clean away to cover at the leisurely pace of one foot a move. This was not like any sort of warfare. In real life cavalry cannot pick out and kill its equivalent in cavalry while that equivalent is closely supported by other cavalry or infantry; a handful of troopers cannot gallop past well and abundantly manned guns in action, cut down the gunners and interrupt the fire. And yet for a time we found it a little difficult to frame simple rules to meet these two bad cases and prevent such scandalous possibilities.
36, gives a slightly different version of the verses, and says they were sung by children at their sports in Glasgow. Mactaggart alludes to this game as Bumpkin Brawly, an old dance, the dance which always ends balls; the same with the Cushion almost. Wha learned you to dance, You to dance, you to dance, Wha learned you to dance A country bumpkin brawly? My mither learned me when I was young, When I was young, when I was young, My mither learned me when I was young, The country bumpkin brawly. The tune of this song is always played to the dance, says Mactaggart, but he does not record the tune. _To bab_, in Lowland Scottish, is defined by Jamieson to mean to play backward and forward loosely; to dance. Hence he adds, Bab at the bowster, or Bab wi the bowster, a very old Scottish dance, now almost out of use; formerly the last dance at weddings and merry-makings. Mr. Ballantyne says that a bolster or pillow was at one time always used. One correspondent of _N. and Q.
6. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | ⛀ | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ⛀ | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ⛀ | | | | ⛂ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛂ | | | | | | ⛂ | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] [Illustration: No. 7. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛀ | | | | ⛀ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | ⛀ | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛂ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | ⛂ | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛂ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | ⛂ | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] In No. 6, White will play 19 16, forcing you to jump, and will then play 27 23, forcing you to jump again. In No. 7, White will play 30 26, making your man a King. He will then play 32 28, and wait for your newly made King to jump. This will give him three of your men, and he will catch the other before it gets to the king row. Another common form of trap is to get a player into such a position in the end game, when he has only one or two men, that he cannot get to the king row without being caught; sometimes because he is driven to the side of the board by the man following him, and sometimes because the man meeting him can head him off.
_=30. Calling the Bets.=_ As long as one player raises another’s bets, he gives that player the privilege of raising him again; but if a player who has made a bet is not raised, the others simply betting an equal amount, the first bettor is called, and all betting must cease. The players must then show their hands to the table, in order to decide which wins the pool. _=31.=_ Bets must be actually made by placing the counters in the pool, and no bet is made until the player’s hand has been withdrawn from the counters. Any counters once placed in the pool, and the owner’s hand withdrawn, cannot be taken down again, except by the winner of the pool. _=32. Betting Out of Turn.=_ Should any player bet out of his turn, he cannot take down his counters again if he has removed his hand from them.
Howell. Laws and Principles of Whist, by “Cavendish.” Modern Scientific Whist, by C.D.P. Hamilton. Philosophy of Whist, by Dr. W. Pole. * Practical Guide to Whist, by Fisher Ames.
--Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase). See Fool, fool, come to School. Auntieloomie The children join hands, and dance in a circle, with a front step, a back step, and a side step, round an invisible May-pole, singing-- Can you dance the Auntieloomie? Yes, I can; yes, I can. Then follows kissing.--Brigg, Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock). Babbity Bowster [Music] --Biggar (Wm. Ballantyne). Wha learned you to dance, You to dance, you to dance? Wha learned you to dance Babbity Bowster brawly? My minnie learned me to dance, Me to dance, me to dance; My minnie learned me to dance Babbity Bowster brawly. Wha ga e you the keys to keep, Keys to keep, keys to keep? Wha ga e you the keys to keep, Babbity Bowster brawly? My minnie ga e me the keys to keep, Keys to keep, keys to keep; My minnie ga e me the keys to keep, Babbity Bowster brawly. One, twa, three, B, ba, Babbity, Babbity Bowster neatly; Kneel down, kiss the ground, An kiss your bonnie lassie [or laddie].
Occasionally men came into contact, with remarkable results. Rash is the man who trusts his life to the spin of a coin. One impossible paladin slew in succession nine men and turned defeat to victory, to the extreme exasperation of the strategist who had led those victims to their doom. This inordinate factor of chance eliminated play; the individual freedom of guns turned battles into scandals of crouching concealment; there was too much cover afforded by the books and vast intervals of waiting while the players took aim. And yet there was something about it.... It was a game crying aloud for improvement. Improvement came almost simultaneously in several directions.
And a prophetess, too, from what I saw at the dice table. You know what a Psi personality is? I asked her. Say, what is your name, anyway? Pheola, she said. Yes, I ve heard of them, she said. You re one, I told her. You can heal many people. She shook her head. Only could do it because I love you, Billy Joe, she said. We ll teach you, I promised her. Would you like to learn? You ve heard of the Lodge, haven t you? Lordy! she gasped.
If no one makes a proposition of any kind, the hands are thrown up; the next dealer contributes to the pool, and a fresh hand is dealt. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ As in Boston, the eldest hand has the first lead, and the others must follow suit if they can, except in the misère des quatre as. When this is played, the bidder may renounce at pleasure for the first ten tricks. _=GATHERING TRICKS.=_ When a partnership is formed, each gathers the tricks he takes. If the partnership loses, the one who has not his complement of tricks must pay the adversaries and double the pool. If the demander has not five, and the acceptor has three, the demander pays. If the proposer has five, and the acceptor has not three, the acceptor pays; but they both win if they have eight tricks between them, no matter in what proportion. If neither has taken his proper share, they must both pay.
One child is selected for Gipsy, one for Mother, and one for Daughter Sue. The Mother says the lines, and points to several children to emphasise her words. During her absence the Gipsy comes in, entices a child away, and hides her. This process is repeated till all the children are hidden, when the mother has to find them.--Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 228). See Mother, Mother, the Pot Boils Over, Witch. Gled-wylie The name of a singular game played at country schools. One of the largest of the boys steals away from his comrades, in an angry-like mood, to some dykeside or sequestered nook, and there begins to work as if putting a pot on a fire. The others seem alarmed at his manner, and gather round him, when the following dialogue takes place:-- They say first to him-- What are ye for wi the pot, gudeman? Say what are ye for wi the pot? We dinna like to see ye, gudeman, Sae thrang about this spot.
There was no stock, the four deuces being discarded from the pack instead. Twelve cards were dealt to each player, and the last was turned up for the trump. About 1680 a variation of the game known as “swabbers” came into vogue. The swabbers were the heart ace, club jack, and the ace and deuce of trumps. The players to whom these cards were dealt were entitled to a certain share of the stakes or payments, independent of the play for tricks and honours. This variety of the game did not long remain in favor, but gave way to make room for one of the most important changes, the restoration of the deuces to the pack, which introduced the feature of the odd trick. This took place early in the last century, and seems to have so much improved the game that attention was soon drawn to its possibilities for scientific treatment. About this time whist was taken up by a set of gentlemen who met at the Crown Coffee House in Bedford Row, London; chief among whom was Sir Jacob de Bouverie, Viscount Folkestone. After considerable experiment and practice this little whist school laid down the principles of the game as being: “to play from the strong suit; to study the partner’s hand; never to force partner unnecessarily, and to attend to the score.” It is generally believed that Edmond Hoyle was familiar with the proceedings of this set, and on their experiences based his celebrated “Short Treatise on the Game of Whist,” which was entered at Stationers’ Hall in London Nov.