We ll follow our mother to market, To buy herself a basket; When she comes home she ll break our bones, We ll follow our mother to market. --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.
=_ In this variety of the game, before the cards are dealt, the age puts up, for a blind, any amount he pleases within the limit. Those who are willing to bet a similar amount on the possibilities of their hands put up a similar amount. Those who decline are not given any cards. There are no straddles, raises, or antes. Immediately after the deal each player who is in the pool draws cards, the age first. There are then two ways to play: The hands are shown and the best wins; or, beginning with the age, each player may say if he will back his hand against the field; _i.e._, all the others in the pool. If he will, he must put up as much as their combined stakes. He cannot be raised; but if any one player or combination of players call him, and one of them can beat his hand, the field divide the pool.
For instance: The declarer holds Q J x x x of a suit; Dummy having A x x. By leading Q or J, Dummy is enabled to finesse, as if he held A Q J. The declarer holds K J x x x; Dummy having Q x x. The play is to force the Ace, as if the combination of K Q J x x were in one hand. Many opportunities arise for leading the Ace first from a short suit, in order to secure a ruff on the second or third round. _=Second Hand Play.=_ If any card is led by the adversaries which the fourth hand cannot win, the second hand should cover it if possible; for unless he does so, his weakness will be exposed, and the suit will be continued. This is especially true of cases in which the second hand holds single honours, such as Jack and others, or Queen and others. Even the King should be played second hand in such cases, unless it is so well guarded that the Ace must fall before the King can be forced out. If the fourth hand can win the card led, it is seldom necessary to cover second hand.
--Jamieson. Carry my Lady to London I. Give me a pin to stick in my thumb To carry my lady to London. Give me another to stick in my other To carry her a little bit farther. --Belfast (W. H. Patterson). II. London Bridge is broken, And what shall I do for a token? Give me a pin to stick in my thumb And carry my lady to London. --_Notes and Queries_, 4th series, xii.
At the beginning of any dice game, it is quite unnecessary to examine the dice to be used, because they are always fair. Crooked dice are _=rung in=_ during the game, and the player should make it a point to examine the dice frequently if he has any suspicions. First see that each die has all six figures upon it, for some dice are _=dispatchers=_, made with double numbers, so as to secure higher throws than the natural average. Double fives are great favourites with backgammon sharps. The next thing is to place the dice together in pairs, to be sure that they are exactly the same height each way. If dice are not square they can be made to roll over and over on the same faces. The faces should then be tested to see that they are not convex, even in the slightest degree. Shaped dice are usually flat on the ace and six faces, especially in crap shooting. Each die should be held between the thumb and forefinger at its longest diameter, to see if it has any tendency to swing on a pivot, for if it does it is loaded. Even if the dice are transparent, it is no guarantee that they are not loaded in the spots.
Supporting pieces should be placed where they are not easily attacked, because good players attack the supports first, so as to isolate the advance guard. Beginners are usually in too great a hurry to give check; the best players do not check until they are ready to follow it up with a mate, or a winning position, or can gain time in developing their pieces. _=END GAMES.=_ There are certain positions in which apparently equal games are not necessarily drawn, and there are others in which a player with a decided advantage cannot win, within the fifty moves which are allowed him, unless he knows exactly how to proceed. If a player is not well up in endings he may lose many a game which could be won if he only knew how to win it. The following games may be abandoned as _=drawn=_:-- King and Bishop against a King. King and Knight against a King. King and two Knights against a King. King and Queen against two Rooks. King and Queen against King and two Bishops.
4th. Holding the _=Lowest=_ trump. 5th. Winning a trick with the _=Jack=_ of trumps in it. 6th. Making the majority of the pips that count for what is called _=Game=_. _=Turning the Jack=_ is entirely a matter of chance, and should not occur more than once in thirteen deals. If a Jack is turned every few deals, you may be sure that unfair methods are being used. Nothing is more common among advantage players than turning up Jacks every few deals. _=Begging=_ is resorted to by a player who holds no trumps, or such indifferent ones that it is very unlikely they will be either High or Low.
The expression “open” is used because after one player has declared that he holds Jacks or better, all restrictions are removed, and the pool is then open to any player to come in and play for it, regardless of what he may hold. Each player in turn, beginning on the left of the opener, must declare whether or not he will _=stay=_. If he stays, he must put up an amount equal to that bet by the opener, and has the privilege of raising him if he sees fit. If he passes, he throws his cards face downward on the table in front of the player whose turn it will be to deal next. Should the opener be raised, and not care to see that raise, he must show his hand to the table before abandoning it, in order to demonstrate that he had openers. Some players show only the cards necessary to open, but the strict rules require the whole hand to be shown before the draw. When once the jack is opened, the betting before the draw proceeds exactly as in the ordinary pool. Any player on the right of the opener, who passed on the first round, may come in after the pot is opened. For instance: E deals. A and B pass, but hold their hands.
Their office was in a penthouse perched on the slanting roof shakes of the casino. It was big as a squash court, and as high and as square. Every wall was glass. It couldn t have been in greater contrast to the contrived hominess of the casino if they d thought about it for a year. Then, for the last twist, the furnishings were straight out of the old Southwest--Navajo rugs, heavy, Spanish oak desks, and a pair of matching couches or divans of whole steer leather stretched over oak frames. * * * * * Peno Rose came quickly toward me the moment Fowler Smythe showed me into the office, spurs jingling. Hey! There he is! The boy they had to rule off the track! How s a boy, Lefty? Long time no see. He had his hand stuck way out ahead of him. His sharp, dried-out features repelled me twice as much as they had ten years before. That hatchet face of his was gashed with what he thought was a smile.