She kneels down with him on the cushion, and he salutes her, and they then rise and dance round and round to the fiddler. The girls then go through the same thing, saying, young men, and then a young man, &c., until the whole company have gone through the same ceremony, which concludes with all dancing round three times, as at the commencement. The Norfolk and London versions are reduced to a simple Kiss in the Ring game, with the following verse:-- Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Yet the punishment you must bear If you touch the cushion there. --Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). (_c_) Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers to this game:-- The Court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing first you have the grave measures, then the Cervantoes and the Golliards, and this is kept up with ceremony. At length to Trenchmore and the _Cushion Dance_; and then all the company dance, lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. But in King Charles s time there has been nothing but Trenchmore and the Cushion Dance, &c. The Whishin Dance (an old-fashioned dance, in which a cushion is used to kneel upon), mentioned by Dickinson (_Cumberland Glossary_), is probably the same game or dance, whishin meaning cushion.
=_ If an adversary of a lone player leads out of turn, the lone player may abandon the hand, and score the points. _=29.=_ If the third hand plays before the second, the fourth hand may play before his partner, either of his own volition, or at the direction of the second hand, who may say: “Play, partner.” If the fourth hand plays before the second, the third hand may call upon the second hand to play his highest or lowest of the suit led, or to trump or not to trump the trick. _=30.=_ _=REVOKING.=_ A revoke is a renounce in error, not corrected in time; or non-compliance with a performable penalty. If a revoke is claimed and proved, the hand in which it occurs is immediately abandoned. The adversaries of the revoking player then have the option of adding two points to their own score, or deducting two points from his score. If both sides revoke, the deal is void.
_=The Plain-suit Echo.=_ This is another device for giving information as to number. When the original leader begins with a high card, the Third Hand should play his third-best if he holds four or more; and on the second round his second best, always retaining his fourth-best and any below it. The value of this echo is much disputed, and the adversaries can usually render it ineffective by holding up small cards; a practice very much in vogue with advanced players. _=Low’s Signal.=_ This is the latest system of indicating to the leader the number of cards in his suit held by the Third Hand. With four or more of the suit, the third-best is played to the lead of a high card, or when no attempt is made to win the trick. In retaining the suit, the second-best is led if three or more remain, and on the third round, or in a discard, the highest is played, always retaining the fourth-best and those below it. For instance: With the 8 7 5 2 of a suit which partner leads, the 5 is played to the first round. If the suit is returned, the 7 is played; and next time the 8.
As far as I could make out, she had vamoosed without trying to hustle another sucker. Her percentage of my winnings had certainly been a disappointment to her. At last I went down the ersatz wooden steps into the neon-gashed night and started across the nearly deserted main drag toward the motel where I had registered. A powerful turbine howled as a car pulled away from the curb, perhaps a hundred yards up the way. His lights came on and snapped up to bright. I had a perfect flash of PC--I _do_ have moments of it, no matter what the Lodge thinks. The car was going to take a dive into the fountain pool in front of my motel. But it sure didn t act like it. I froze in the middle of the road, hearing rubber scream as the driver floored the throttle and hurled the automobile right at me. He might as well have been on tracks.
You may lose if you like, but you cannot win; faro banks are not run that way. ROUGE ET NOIR, OR TRENTE-ET-QUARANTE. The banker and his assistant, called the croupier, sit opposite each other at the sides of a long table, on each end of which are two large diamonds, one red and the other black, separated by a square space and a triangle. Any number of persons can play against the bank, placing their bets on the colour they select, red or black. Six packs of fifty-two cards each are shuffled together and used as one, the dealer taking a convenient number in his hand for each deal. The players having made their bets, and cut the cards, the dealer turns one card face upward on the table in front of him, at the same time announcing the colour he deals for, which is always for _=black first=_. The dealer continues to turn up cards one by one, announcing their total pip value each time, until he reaches or passes 31. Court cards and Tens count 10 each, the ace and all others for their face value. Having reached or passed 31 for black, the _=red=_ is dealt for in the same manner, and whichever colour most closely approaches 31, wins. Suppose 35 was dealt for black, and 38 for red; black would win.
--Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, Games, cclxxxviii. (_b_) The Berrington version of this game is played as follows:--Two girls face each other, holding each other by both hands. Two others face each other, holding both hands across the other two. They see-saw backwards and forwards, singing the lines (fig. 1). One girl gets inside the enclosing hands (fig. 2), and they repeat till all four have popped under (fig. 3), when they jog up and down till they fall on the floor! (fig. 4). At Ellesmere only _two_ girls join hands, and as many pop under as they can encircle.
The dealer should bid no trumps when he has not length enough to bid hearts or royals, but has a hand as good as three aces, well protected in three suits. _=The Second Hand=_ should declare just as if he were the dealer when the dealer starts with one spade. He may even go no trump on a lighter hand. When the dealer bids a suit, second hand should over-call only when he can make his contract or wishes to indicate a lead in case third hand should go to no trumps. Second hand should never take the dealer out of a losing suit with a winning suit unless he has seven tricks in his own hand. If the dealer bids no trump, second hand should pass, unless he is prepared to over-call any further bid for three tricks. _=Third Hand=_ is not obliged to take the dealer out of a spade, and should not do so unless he is a trick or two stronger than he would have to be to declare as dealer. But the dealer must never be left in with a two or three spade bid. If third hand cannot do any better, he should declare a royal. When the dealer bids no trump, third hand should take him out with any weak five card suit and nothing else, simply to warn him that there are no winning cards in the hand.
The use of rushes in the Lanarkshire game might indicate the funeral garland (Aubrey s _Remaines_, pp. 109, 139). For clapping of hands to indicate bell-tolling or bell-ringing at times of death see Napier s _Folklore_, p. 66. Henderson (p. 63) says the passing bell was supposed in former times to serve two purposes: it called on all good Christians within hearing to pray for the departing spirit, and it scared away the evil spirits who were watching to seize it, or at least to scare and terrify it. On the whole evidence from the rhymes, therefore, I should be disposed to class this game as originally belonging to burial, and not love, rites. Green Gravel [Music] --Madeley, Shropshire (Miss Burne). [Music] --Earls Heaton (H. Hardy).
When the banker loses all he has, the bank is sold to the next highest bidder, or offered to the next player on the list. If the banker wishes at any time to retire, the person taking his place should begin with an amount equal to that then in the bank. _=Counters.=_ Each of the players should be provided with a certain number of counters, all of which must be sold and redeemed by the banker or his assistant. _=Cards.=_ Three packs of fifty-two cards each are shuffled together and used as one. The players shuffle as much as they please, the banker last, and the banker then presents them to any player he pleases to have them cut. The banker may burn one or two cards if he pleases; that is, turn them face upward on the bottom of the pack. _=Object of the Game.=_ The court cards and Tens count nothing, but all others, including the Ace, are reckoned at their face value.