And to-day we play over such landscapes in a cork-carpeted schoolroom, from which the proper occupants are no longer evicted but remain to take an increasingly responsible and less and less audible and distressing share in the operations. [Illustration: Showing the war game in the open air] [Illustration: The war game in the open air] We found it necessary to make certain general rules. Houses and sheds must be made of solid lumps of bricks, and not hollow so that soldiers can be put inside them, because otherwise muddled situations arise. And it was clearly necessary to provide for the replacement of disturbed objects by chalking out the outlines of boards and houses upon the floor or boards upon which they stood. And while we thus perfected the Country, we were also eliminating all sorts of tediums, disputable possibilities, and deadlocks from the game. We decided that every man should be as brave and skilful as every other man, and that when two men of opposite sides came into contact they would inevitably kill each other. This restored strategy to its predominance over chance. We then began to humanise that wild and fearful fowl, the gun. We decided that a gun could not be fired if there were not six--afterwards we reduced the number to four--men within six inches of it. And we ruled that a gun could not both fire and move in the same general move: it could either be fired or moved (or left alone).
If eight play the dealer must take no cards, or a sixty-card pack must be used. If there are more than seven candidates for play, two tables must be formed unless the majority decide against it. _=2. Cutting.=_ The players who shall form the table, and their positions at the beginning of the game may be decided by drawing from an outspread pack, or by throwing round a card to each candidate, face up. If there are eight or more candidates, the tables shall divide evenly if the number is even, those cutting the highest cards playing together. If the number is odd, the smaller table shall be formed by those cutting the highest cards. In cutting, the ace is low. Any player exposing more than one card must cut again. _=3.
For instance: The probability of turning a black trump at whist is 13/52 + 13/52 = 26/52; because there are two black suits of 13 cards each. The only other event which can happen is a red trump, the probability of which is also 26/52, and the sum of these two probabilities is therefore 26/52 + 26/52 = 52/52, or unity. Another fallacy in connection with the maturity of the chances is shown in betting against two successive events, both improbable, one of which has happened. The odds against drawing two aces in succession from a pack of 52 cards are 220 to 1; but after an ace has been drawn the odds against the second card being an ace also are only 16 to 1, although some persons would be mad enough to bet 1000 to 1 against it, on the principle that the first draw was a great piece of luck and the second ace was practically impossible. While the four aces were in the pack the probability of drawing one was 4/52. One ace having been drawn, 3 remain in 51 cards, so the probability of getting the second is 3/51, or 1/17. Before a card was drawn, the probability of getting two aces in succession was the product of these fractions; 1/13 × 1/17 = 1/221. On the same principle the odds against two players cutting cards that are a tie, such as two Fours, are not 220 to 1, unless it is specified that the first card shall be a Four. The first player having cut, the odds against the second cutting a card of equal value are only 16 to 1. _=Dice.
The underlined card wins the trick, and the card under it is the next one led. _=No. 1. Long Suits=_; | T| _=No. 3. Short Suits=_; ♡5 turned. | R| ♡Q turned. | I| --------------------------------+ C+-------------------------------- A Y B Z | K| A Y B Z +-------+-------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | _♣K_ | ♣5 | ♣7 | ♣3 | 1| Q♢ | K♢ | _A♢_ | 2♢ | | ♡10 | ♡J | _♡Q_ | ♡5 | 2| 2♠ | _A♠_ | J♠ | 5♠ | | _♣Q_ | ♣J | ♣2 | ♣10 | 3| 4♢ | 10♢ | 3♢ | _J♢_ | | ♡7 | ♡3 | _♡9_ | ♡8 | 4| ♡2 | ♡5 | ♡3 | ♡Q | | _J♠_ | 9♠ | 2♠ | 5♠ | 5| ♡6 | _♡A_ | ♡4 | ♡J | | ♣A | ♡4 | _♡6_ | 5♢ | 6| ♣8 | ♣2 | ♣3 | ♣K | | 4♠ | _♡K_ | A♠ | 6♠ | 7| _♡7_ | 8♢ | 5♢ | 7♢ | | J♢ | 7♢ | 2♢ | _K♢_ | 8| _♡K_ | 4♠ | 6♢ | ♡9 | | _♡2_ | 3♢ | 4♢ | A♢ | 9| _K♠_ | 7♠ | 6♠ | 8♠ | | _♣9_ | 6♢ | 3♠ | 8♢ |10| _Q♠_ | ♣4 | ♣5 | 10♠ | | _♣8_ | 9♢ | 7♠ | 8♠ |11| 9♠ | ♣Q | ♣6 | ♡10 | | _♣6_ | 10♢ | K♠ | 10♠ |12| _♡8_ | 9♢ | ♣7 | ♣J | | _♣4_ | Q♢ | _♡A_ | Q♠ |13| _3♠_ | ♣A | ♣10 | ♣9 | +-------+-------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+-------+-------+ --------------------------------+ +-------------------------------- _=No. 2. American Game=_; | T| _=No.
Follow my Gable. Follow my Leader. Fool, Fool, come to School. Foot and Over. Football. Forfeits. Fox. Fox and Goose (1). Fox and Geese (2). Fox in the Fold.
Patterson). In the Southampton version, after the carrying of Jenny by her head and feet to the grave, and the other children following and standing round, Jenny Jones rises up and pursues the children. She is called the Ghost. The children run away in affected terror, calling out, The Ghost! Whoever she catches becomes Jenny Jones in the next game. This incident is also played in the Barnes, Northants, Annaverna, co. Louth, Enborne and Liphook versions. (_c_) This game is played very generally throughout the country, and I have other versions collected from Earls Heaton (Mr. H. Hardy), Barnes (A. B.
The little wooden ball used in this game is in Yorkshire called the Nor, and the receptacle in which it is placed the Spell. Peacock (_Manley and Corringham Glossary_) gives knur, (1) a hard wooden ball, (2) the head. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says knur is a small round ball, less than a billiard ball. It is put into a cup fixed on a spring which, being touched, causes the ball to rise into the air, when it is struck by a trip-stick, a slender stick made broad and flat at one end. The knur is struck by the broad part. The game is played on Shrove Tuesday. Brogden (_Provincial Words of Lincolnshire_) gives it under Bandy. It is called Knur, Spell, and Kibble in S.-W. Lincolnshire.
|Get a dog to watch all| -- | -- | | |night. | | | |37.|If that dog should run| -- | -- | | |away. | | | |38.|Give that dog a bone | -- | -- | | |to pick. | | | |39.| -- | -- | -- | |40.| -- | -- | -- | |41.| -- | -- | -- | |42.| -- | -- | -- | |43.
=_ Before the cards are dealt, each player deposits one counter in the pool; there is no straddle. _=Dealing.=_ The cards are cut to the left, and dealt to the right, and two cards are given to each player, one at a time, face down. _=Method of Playing.=_ Each player in turn, beginning on the dealer’s right, examines his hand, and if satisfied with it he says: “Enough.” If not satisfied, he may discard one or both of his cards, and receive others from the top of the pack. In either case he places two white counters in the pool for his ante. All having decided to stand or to draw, the remainder of the pack, exclusive of the discards, is reshuffled and cut; each player is then given two more cards, one at a time, and face down. Each in turn examines his four cards, and if satisfied he says: “I play;” if not, he says: “I pass.” If all pass, the dealer has the choice of two things: He may gather the cards and deal again, each player putting another counter into the pool, or he may put up two white counters himself, and compel the players to retain the cards dealt them, the dealer keeping his also.
The one who is willing to put up the largest amount of money to be played for is usually selected as the banker. He is provided with a large bowlful of beans, counters, buttons, small coins, or some objects of which a large number of similar size and shape can be easily obtained. An oblong card is placed in the centre of the table, and the players stake their money upon its corners or upon its edges. These corners are supposed to be numbered in rotation from 1 to 4, the figure 1 being on the right of the banker. A bet placed on any of the corners takes in the number it is placed upon and the next higher also; so that a bet upon the corner 1 would be upon the numbers 1 and 2; upon 2 it would be upon 2 and 3; and upon 4 it would be upon 4 and 1. [Illustration: +---------------+X |3 2| | | |4 1| +---------------+ ] In the illustration the bet would be upon 2 and 3. If the bet is placed upon the edge of the card, it takes in the next higher number only. [Illustration: +---------------+ |3 2| | |X |4 1| +---------------+ ] In the illustration the bet is upon the number 2, and no other. After all the bets have been placed, the banker takes a large handful of the beans or counters from the bowl, and places them on the table, counting them off rapidly into fours. The number of odd counters remaining decides which number wins; if none remain, 4 wins.
If the dealer calls misère, the turn-up trump should be carefully noted. It is useless to persevere in suits in which the caller is evidently safe. If he plays a very low card to a trick in which there is already a high card, that suit should be stopped. _=Discarding.=_ An adversary should get rid of some one suit, if possible; for when that suit is afterwards led he will have free choice of his discards in the other suits. Short suits should be discarded in preference to high cards in long suits, unless the cards in the short suit are very low. Discards give great information to the adversaries if the rule is followed to discard the highest of a suit; because all cards higher than those discarded must be between the two other adversaries and the caller, and each adversary is thus furnished with a guide. It is useless to discard a suit of which the caller is void; and it is best to keep discarding from one suit until it is exhausted, or only the deuce remains. The trump signal is frequently used in discarding to indicate that the signaller wishes to get into the lead. _=Returning Suits.
If you have not the best, lead one of the second and third-best, if you hold both:-- [Illustration: 🃞 🃝 🃛 🃚 | 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂲 ] From the first of these, having led the King, if it wins, go on with the ten, whether you have any smaller cards or not. From the second, if the King wins, go on with the Jack, which denies the ten, but tells your partner you still have the Queen. No mistake is more common among beginners than leading a low card on the second round, on the assumption that the partner must have the Ace. If you have led from King and Queen only, you must go on with the fourth-best; because you have not both the second and third-best. This fourth-best is the card that was the fourth-best originally. Having led the King from this:-- [Illustration: 🃎 🃍 🃈 🃆 🃅 🃃 ] the card to follow the King is the six, if the King wins the first trick. _=The Fourth-best.=_ From any combination of cards, if you have not the best, or both the second and third-best, in your hand for the second round, lead your original fourth-best. From all the following, the proper lead on the second round would be the fourth-best, in each case the four of the suit: [Illustration: 🂡 🂭 🂧 🂤 🂢 | 🂾 🂽 🂸 🂴 🃁 🃋 🃉 🃄 🃃 | 🂮 🂭 🂧 🂤 🃑 🃙 🃘 🃔 🃓 | 🃎 🃋 🃊 🃄 ] _=Leading Trumps.=_ A trump lead is sometimes adopted when all the plain suits are bad ones to lead away from, such as A Q, or A J, or K J in each and no length.
Walking arm-in-arm is a sign in Dorsetshire that a couple are married. The mention of the roast beef and plum pudding for dinner has probably had its origin in the wedding dinner or breakfast, and the inviting of friends to assemble for the wedding dinner. The word Isabella may have been originally something quite different from the name of a girl. I am inclined to think the word was not the name of a person at all; possibly it was something addressed to a particular person in words the sense of which are now lost, and the nearest idea to it was this name. The same thing may also apply to the word farewell, and hence the incongruity of the first few lines in nearly all versions. Jack s Alive. A number of people sit in a row, or on chairs round a parlour. A lighted wooden spill or taper is handed to the first, who says-- Jack s alive, and likely to live; If he dies in your hand you ve a forfeit to give. The one in whose hand the light expires has to pay a forfeit. As the spill is getting burnt out the lines are said very quickly, as everybody is anxious not to have to pay the forfeit.