One child sits on a bank, and the others come up to her in a long line. The old woman says the first five lines. No question is asked by the lady, she simply takes one child. The old woman shakes hands with this child, and says good-bye to her. When all the children have been taken in by the one who personates the lady, the old woman says the other three lines, and so one by one gets all the children back again. The Berkshire version (Miss Thoyts) is said, not sung, and is played with two leaders, old woman and lover. As the lover chooses a child, that one is sent behind him, holding round his waist. Each child as she goes says, Good-bye, mother, good-bye, and pretends to cry. Finally they all cry, and the game ends in a tug of war. This tug is clearly out of place unless only half the children are selected by one side.
=_ With five or more trumps, the beginner should always begin by leading them, regardless of the rest of his hand. With three or less he should never lead them, unless he has very strong cards in _=all=_ the plain suits. With four trumps exactly, he should lead them if he has an established suit and a card of re-entry in another suit. A card of re-entry in plain suits is one which is pretty sure to win a trick, such as an Ace, or a guarded King. The following are examples of hands from which trumps should be led originally by a beginner;-- Hearts are trumps in every case. ♡ J 8 6 4 2; ♣ K 3 2; ♢ 10 9 2; ♠ 7 5. ♡ Q 10 2; ♣ A K 5; ♢ K Q 10 9; ♠ A Q 3. ♡ K J 8 3; ♣ A K Q 10 7 3; ♢ 3; ♠ A 7. The following are examples of hands from which trumps should not be led:-- ♡ A K Q; ♣ J 8 7 5 3; ♢ Q 4; ♠ K 4 2. ♡ Q J 10 2; ♣ 5 2; ♢ A K Q 2; ♠ 6 4 3.
After, or in the absence of any such announcement, and before leading for the next trick, he draws a card from the top of the stock, and places it in his hand, without showing or naming it. His adversary then draws the next card, so that each player restores the number of cards in his hand to twelve. This method of playing, announcing, and drawing from the talon is continued until the stock is exhausted. The A 10 K Q J of each suit have certain counting values, which will be described further on. All combinations announced and scored must be laid face upward on the table; but the cards still form part of the player’s hand, and may be led or played at any time, although they must not again be taken in hand until the stock is exhausted. _=Irregularities in Play.=_ If either player leads out of turn, and his adversary plays to the lead, whether intentionally or otherwise, the trick stands good. If the adversary calls attention to the error, the card may be taken back without penalty. If at any time it is discovered that a player has too many cards, his adversary may either claim a fresh deal, or may compel him to play without drawing from the talon until the number of his cards is reduced to twelve. The player with too many cards is not allowed to make or score any announcements until he has his right number of cards.
_=1.=_ The Standard board must be of light and dark squares, not less than fourteen inches nor more than fifteen inches across said squares. _=2.=_ The board shall be so placed that the bottom corner square, on the left hand, shall be black. _=3.=_ The Standard men, technically described as White and Black, must be light and dark (say white and red, or yellow and black), turned, and round, not less than one inch, nor more than 1⅛ inches in diameter. _=4.=_ The men shall be placed on the black squares. _=5.=_ The black men shall invariably be placed upon the real or supposed first twelve squares of the board; the white upon the last twelve squares.
Maughan. Metheringham Mr. C. C. Bell. MIDDLESEX Miss Collyer. Hanwell Mrs. G. L. Gomme.
A thimble won t hold my night-cap. Wash by the sea-side, mother. Suppose the clothes should blow away? Get a boat and go after them, mother. But suppose the boat should turn over? Then that would be an end of you, mother. --Bocking, Essex (_Folk-lore Record_, iii. 169). III. Mother, please buy me a milking-can, A milking-can, a milking-can! Mother, please buy me a milking-can, With a humpty-dumpty-daisy! [Then follow verses sung in the same manner, beginning--] Where s the money to come from, to come from? Sell my father s feather bed. Where s your father going to lie? Lie on the footman s bed. Where s the footman going to lie? Lie in the cowshed.
Libbety-lat. Limpy Coley. Little Dog, I call you. Lobber. Loggats. London. London Bridge. Long-duck. Long Tag. Long Tawl.
--Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy). Bung the Bucket [Music] --London (J. P. Emslie). [Illustration] A number of boys divide themselves into two sides. One side, the Buckets, stoop down, as for Leap-frog, arranging themselves one in front of the other. The hindmost supports himself against the one in front of him, and the front one supports himself against a wall (fig.). They thus make an even and solid row of their backs. The other side, the Bungs, leap on to the backs of the Buckets, the first one going as far up the row as possible, the second placing himself close behind the first, and so on.
If the number that fall when the stones are first thrown up won t allow of this, the player has to drop the required number (but no more) from his hand. In Magic the play is just the same as in One-ers, except that instead of only throwing up a single stone and catching it as the others are in turn picked up, the whole number, except those remaining to be picked up, are thrown and caught. In Four Squares, four of the stones are arranged in a square, each of them is then picked up, whilst the remaining stone is flung upwards and caught; the one picked up is then tossed up, and the one originally tossed up is put down in the place of the other, which is caught as it descends, and the process repeated all round the square. Trotting Donkeys is similarly played, except that the four stones are arranged in a line--not in a square--and I believe there is some other slight difference, but I forget what. Fly-catchers is played like One-ers, except that the stone thrown into the air while the others are being picked up, is not simply caught by being allowed to fall into the hand, but by an outward movement of the hand is _pounced on_, hawk-fashion, from above. Magic Fly-catchers is played in precisely the same way, except that as in simple Magic, not one stone, but all are thrown up and caught--that is, if there are four on the ground one only is thrown up for the first, two for the second, three for the third, and so on until they are all picked up. This is, of course, the most difficult part of all, and, in fact, only experts were expected to do it. Every failure means out, and then your opponent has his turn. The winner is the one who gets through first. Such is the game as I remember it, but I have an uneasy suspicion that I have missed something out.
FROG. This is a very popular game in Mexico, and seems to be an elementary form of Skat, which it resembles in many ways. Even the name may be a corruption of the simple game in Skat, which is called “frage.” The chief differences are that there are four cards added to the pack for frog, and that the players win or lose according to the number of points they get above or below 61, instead of computing the value of the game by matadores. _=Players.=_ Three, four, or five can play; but only three are active in each deal. If four play, the dealer takes no cards. If five play, he gives cards to the two on his left and one on his right. _=Cards.=_ There are thirty-six cards in the pack, which rank: A 10 K Q J 9 8 7 6.