Then the cat have eat it. Where s the cat? Up in heath. Where s the heath? The fire burnt it. [The rest is the same as in the last version, p. 393.] --Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 221-222). VI. Mother, mother, may I (or we) go out to play? No, child! no, child! not for the day. Why, mother? why, mother? I won t stay long.
Whist rapidly became a “newspaper game.” The New York Sunday Sun devoted two columns every Sunday to the discussion and illustration of moot points in whist tactics, and the analysis of hands played in important matches. In a series of articles begun February 23, 1896, this paper gave to the world the first systematic statement of the theory and practice of the short suit game. In 1898 there were at least forty whist columns published in the United States. Two magazines devoted to whist and bridge are now published, one in Boston and the other in New York. While the parent game has been pursuing this prosperous course, many variations have been introduced. One of the most radical changes in the game itself has been cutting down the points from ten to five, which occurred about 1810. Mathews mentions it in 1813 as having occurred since the publication of his first edition in 1804, and Lord Peterborough, the unlucky gambler, for whose benefit the change was introduced, died in 1814. Another great change took place in America, where they played for the tricks alone, the honours not being counted at all. Turning the trump from the still pack was first tried by a Welsh baronet, and is mentioned by Southey in his “Letters of Espriella.
In _=Pitch=_, a misdeal does not lose the deal, because the deal is no advantage. _=BEGGING.=_ The deal completed, and the trump turned, the eldest hand looks at his cards, the other players leaving theirs untouched. If the eldest hand is not satisfied, he says: _=I beg=_; and the dealer, after examining his own hand, has the option of giving him a point or _=running the cards=_. If he decides to give the point, he says: _=Take it=_, and the eldest hand immediately scores one for the _=gift=_. If the dealer will not give, he lays the trump card aside, and deals three more cards to each player, including himself; turning up another trump. Should this be a Jack of another suit, the dealer scores a point for it at once. Should it be of the same suit as that first turned up, the Jack cannot be scored, as the dealer has declined to have that suit for the trump. When the same suit is turned up a second time, the card is laid aside; three more cards are given to each player, another trump is turned, and so on until a different suit comes up for the trump. If the pack is exhausted before another suit turns up, the cards must be _=bunched=_, and the same dealer deals again.
Even with losing on every roll, the dice got around to me before I had lost the nine hundred I had set out to drop. I put four chips on the Don t Pass side of the line, shook left-handed because of my weak right arm, and got ready to come out. Sniffles seized me. Don t Billy Joe! she said suddenly. You ll lose! She pushed my chips across the line to the Pass side. That burned me up. Get your hands off my chips, I said, annoyed by bad gambling manners. Her face was all resignation and sadness. Well, not quite all. A lot of it was thin, red nose and buck teeth.
MORT. WHIST À TROIS; OR FRENCH DUMMY. _=MORT=_ means simply the dead hand; and is the equivalent of the English word Dummy; the partner being known as _=Vivant=_, or the living hand. In these words the English usually sound the _=t=_, as they do in such words as _=piquet=_, and _=valet=_. _=CARDS.=_ Mort is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, ranking as at whist for cutting and playing. Two packs are generally used. _=MARKERS=_ are necessary to count the game points only. Four circular counters for each side, preferably of different colours, are employed, or the ordinary whist markers may be used. At the end of each game, the score of the points won or lost by each player must be transferred to a score-sheet, kept for that purpose.
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2.] The second method of playing is best described by the Rev. Walter Gregor, from the Nairn game, which is known as The Gates of Babylon. Mr. Gregor writes as follows:-- This game may be played either by boys or girls. Two of the players join hands, and stand face to face, with their hands in front as if forming a gate. Each of these has a secret name. The other players form themselves into a line by clasping each other round the waist from behind. They go up to the two that form the gate, and the leader asks the first question, as in version No. 2.
| | | | Nottinghamshire. | | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.|Draw a bucket of |See saw, a bucket of | -- | | |water. |water. | | | 2.| -- | -- | -- | | 3.| -- | -- | -- | | 4.| -- | -- | -- | | 5.|To wash my lady s |To wash my lady s | -- | | |garter. |garter.
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If you are the pone, and Dummy has not the King, play Ace and return the Queen. _=FOURTH HAND.=_ There is only one difference from the usual methods in playing fourth hand, and that is in indicating sequences by winning with the best and returning the lowest to show the intermediate cards. For instance: Fourth player, holding K Q J x, wins with King and returns the Jack. Or with A K Q, wins with Ace and returns the Queen. The reason for this is that the declarer gains nothing by the information, for he knows from the first what cards are out against him; but the information may be valuable to your partner, the second hand. If it is not the intention to return the suit at once, the lowest of the sequence should be played. _=PLAYING TO THE SCORE.=_ This is a most important element, and there is no surer indication of a careless or weak player than his inattention to the score. One cannot be too early impressed with the importance of saving the game before trying to win it; although great risks may be taken to win a game that cannot be lost that hand.
Immediately upon the completion of the play of a hand, the score should be claimed and marked. Any discussion of the play should be postponed until this has been attended to. The adversaries must detect and claim revokes before the cards are cut for the following deal. The laws of whist should be carefully studied. _=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ The object of all whist play is to take tricks, of which there are thirteen in each hand or deal. The first six tricks taken by one side are called a _=book=_, and do not count; but each trick above that number counts one point towards game. The seventh trick is called the _=odd=_; and two or more over the book are called _=two=_, _=three=_, etc., _=by cards=_. At the conclusion of each hand, the side that has won any tricks in excess of the book, scores them; the opponents counting nothing.
This latter point is important. An antagonist s gun may be out of action, and you may have a score of men coming up to it and within six inches of it, but it is not yet captured; and you may have brought up a dozen men all round the hostile gun, but if there is still one enemy just out of their reach and within six inches of the end of the trail of the gun, that gun is not captured: it is still in dispute and out of action, and you may not fire it or move it at the next move. But once a gun is fully captured, it follows all the rules of your own guns. VARIETIES OF THE BATTLE-GAME You may play various types of game. (1) One is the Fight to the Finish. You move in from any points you like on the back line and try to kill, capture, or drive over his back line the whole of the enemy s force. You play the game for points; you score 100 for the victory, and 10 for every gun you hold or are in a position to take, 1-1/2 for every cavalry-man, 1 for every infantry-man still alive and uncaptured, 1/2 for every man of yours prisoner in the hands of the enemy, and 1/2 for every prisoner you have taken. If the battle is still undecided when both forces are reduced below fifteen men, the battle is drawn and the 100 points for victory are divided. Note--This game can be fought with any sized force, but if it is fought with less than 50 a side, the minimum must be 10 a side. (2) The Blow at the Rear game is decided when at least three men of one force reach any point in the back line of their antagonist.
If a player asks for an ace while holding it himself, he of course plays without a partner, unknown to the others however, until he plays the ace asked for. _=Bidding.=_ The players bid against one another for the privilege of naming the trump suit, eldest hand having the first say. When no one will bid any higher, the player who has made the best offer names the game he wishes to play, with or without a partner. _=Games.=_ The rank of the various games, the amounts bid on them, and the payments made for them, are as follows:-- Simple in suit, 2; in colour, 4. Forcée or Solo in suit, 4; in colour, 8. Tout in Suit, 16; in colour, 32. _=Simple Game=_ is to play for five tricks with a partner holding a designated ace. If the trump is clubs, (in colour,) it is worth double, 4 counters.
Barclay has no fourth line to the verses. (_d_) This game is probably, unless we except Mulberry Bush, the most popular and the most widely played of any singing game. It might almost be called universal. This is shown by the fact that there are few counties where it is not known, and also that important variants, either in the words or in the method of playing, are rarely met with. In all the versions which have been sent there are only the following variations in the words, and these are principally in the refrain, or last line of each verse: On a cold and frosty morning ends by far the greater number of versions; On a fine summer s morning, So early in the morning, All on a summer s morning, Five o clock in the morning, On a cold and sunny morning, coming next in number. The Belfast version ends, May! May! May! and a Newbury and Marlborough fourth line is simply a repetition of the second, Nuts in May, nuts in May. In the first line of the verse the only important variant seems to be the Symondsbury Gathering nuts away and Gathering nuts to-day. Gathering nuts away also occurs in one version from Newbury (Berks), Nuts and May appearing in the larger number after the more usual Nuts in May. In only one version is a specific place mentioned for the gathering. This is in the Bocking version, where Galloway Hill is named, in reply to the unusual question, Where do you gather your nuts in May? A player is usually gathered for Nuts in May.
NOTE.--Some players in America are adopting the English rule, which allows the dealer to pass, without making any declaration. The usual expression is, “No bid.” Each player to the left may then pass in turn, and if no bid is made the deal passes to the left. The lowest declaration is one club, as spades have a constant value of nine and are always “royals.” The English rule is to score 50 for little slam and 100 for grand slam, and some American players have adopted that rule. [24] See Law 50. The same ruling applies to Law 54. [25] This includes a double or redouble out of turn. See Law 57.
Gainford Miss Eddleston. South Shields Miss Blair. ESSEX-- Bocking _Folk-lore Record_, vol. iii. pt. 2. Colchester Miss G. M. Francis. GLOUCESTERSHIRE { Holloway s _Dictionary_, _Midland { Garner_.