Stacks of clean glasses vied for space with labeled bottles on the back-bar. One of the stick-men followed us into the room, taking his apron off as he closed the door behind him, shutting out the roaring clatter of the casino. Cross-roader! he hissed at me. I should have known what was coming, but I missed it. He slapped me hard across the face, saving his knuckles, but not doing my jaw a whole lot of good. I would have fallen clean over, but the bouncers were still tight on my elbows. Wait! I tried to say, but he cuffed me with the other hand, harder, if that were possible. This is the moment when you have to stop and think. A Blackout is quite effective--it s hard to hit what you can t see. And there s something mighty unnerving about being stricken suddenly blind.
You re the best, Wally Bupp, he said. He s too good a friend of mine to call me Lefty and remind me that I m a cripple. It was Maragon who did that. I hadn t noticed him, but somebody gave me the grip, and I looked around. He was back against the wall, short, gray and square. I gave his ear lobe a TK tug in return, harder, perhaps, than was necessary, and nodded for him to follow both of us to my office. We ll have to talk about it, Lefty, he said, as he closed the door against the smell of iodoform. No, we don t, I said. I don t care who is losing how much money at Peno Rose s Sky Hi Club. Right here in this hospital people are dying.
[Music] --London (A. B. Gomme). [Music] --Dorsetshire (Miss M. Kimber). [Music] --Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). I. Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, Here we dance lubin light, Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, On a Saturday night. Put all the right hands in, Take all the right hands out, Shake all the right hands together, And turn yourselves about. Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, Here we dance lubin light, Here we dance lubin, lubin, lubin, On a Saturday night.
For this reason it is obvious that each player should leave as few blots as possible, in order to save his men from being hit; and at the same time he should strive to cover as many points as possible, in order to prevent his adversary from moving round the board freely. It is still more important to cover points in the home table, so that when an adverse man is hit he will have fewer points upon which to enter. It is, of course, unnecessary to say that one can always enter or play on points covered by his own men. [Illustration: +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ | |⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|| | | | | | | | |⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|⛀|| | | | | | | | | | |⛀| |⛀|| | | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂ || | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | | | | || | | | | | | |⛂| | |⛂|⛂| || | | | | | | |⛂|⛀|⛂|⛂|⛂| || | | | | | | |⛂|⛀|⛂|⛂|⛂| || | | | | |⛀| +-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+ ] _=Throwing Off.=_ When either player has succeeded in getting all his men home, he removes them from the board two or four at a time, according to the throws of the dice, provided he has men on the points in his home table corresponding to the numbers thrown. If not, he must move his men up toward the ace point. Doublets may take off four men if there are so many on the point. If there are no men on a number thrown, and the number is so high that the man farthest from the ace point cannot be moved up, that man may be taken off. In the diagram in the margin, for instance, Black has all his men home, and is ready to throw them off. If he threw six-deuce, having no men on either point he would have to move up the deuce; but the farthest man from the ace point cannot be moved up six, so he can throw that man off.
After the first trick it will sometimes be advantageous for the player to get rid of any losing card he may have in plain suits. It is seldom right to continue the trumps if the bidder held only two originally, unless he has winning cards in two plain suits, in which case it may be better to lead even a losing trump to prevent a possibility of adverse trumps making separately. In playing against the bidder, leave no trick to your partners that you can win yourself, unless a small card is led, and you have the ace. In opening fresh suits do not lead guarded honours, but prefer aces or singletons. If the caller needs only one more trick, it is usually best to lead a trump. If you have three trumps, including the major tenace, pass the first trick if a small trump is led; or if you remain with the tenace after the first trick, be careful to avoid the lead. Discards should indicate weakness, unless you can show command of such a suit as A K, or K Q, by discarding the best of it. This will direct your partners to let that suit go, and keep the others. It is usually better to keep a guarded King than a single ace. The player on the right of the bidder should get into the lead if possible, especially if he holds one or two winning cards.
The lead is a great advantage, because trumps can be exhausted immediately, and the suits protected. If the caller has not the lead he must calculate in advance for trumping in, and if his plain suits are not quite established, he will require more trumps than would otherwise be necessary. The greatest danger to an abundance player who has not the original lead, is that his best suit will be led through him, and trumped, either on the first or second round. The caller is often trapped into unnecessarily high trumping when suits are led through him a second or third time. _=The Adversaries=_ have little chance to defeat an abundance unless they can over-trump the caller, or ruff his good cards before he can exhaust the trumps. It is best for the Right to lead his longest suit, and for the Left to lead his shortest. A guarded King suit should not be led under any circumstances; nor a short suit Ace high. If an adversary has a single trump of medium size, such as a J or 10, it is often good play to trump a partner’s winning cards, so as to be sure of preventing the caller from making a small trump. If an adversary has trumped or over-trumped, it is very important to lead that suit to him again as soon as possible. The rules for discarding that are given in connection with Whist should be carefully observed; especially in the matter of showing command of suits.
10. The game shall come to an end only at the conclusion of a round, and any player wishing to stop must give notice before the beginning of a round. CARDS. 11. There are thirty-two cards in the pack, the rank and value of which are as follows: Jack 2; ace 11; ten 10; king 4; queen 3; the nine, eight and seven having no counting value. 12. The suits shall always outrank one another in the same order; clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds. The four jacks, or Wenzels, which are always the four best trumps, shall outrank one another in the same order. 13. In Nullo, the cards rank: A K Q J 10 9 8 7, and the suits and jacks are all of equal rank.
The player who possesses the original turn-up, does not expose any more of his cards until a better trump is shown. As soon as a better trump appears it is offered for sale, and after it is sold or refused, the cards are turned up again until a better trump appears, or all the cards have been exposed. The holder of the best trump at the end takes the pool. OLD MAID. Strange to say, this oft-quoted and continually derided game is not mentioned in any work on cards, a singular omission which we hasten to supply. Any number of young ladies may play, and a pack of fifty-one cards is used, the Queen of hearts having been deleted. Any player can deal the cards, which are distributed one at a time until the pack is exhausted; if every player has not the same number it does not matter. Beginning with the eldest hand, each player sorts her cards into pairs of the same denomination; such as two Fives, two Jacks, etc., and all pairs so formed are laid upon the table face down, without showing them to the other players. All the cards laid out in this manner are left in front of the player, in order to discover errors, if any.
This is called _=Misère=_, or Nullo. 4th. To win 9 of the 13 tricks against the three other players combined; the single player to name the trump suit. This is called _=Abundance=_. 5th. To win 9 of the 13 tricks against the three other players combined, with the trump suit that is turned up. This is called _=Abundance in Trumps=_. 6th. To take no tricks, there being no trump suit, and the three other players being opposed; the single player’s cards being exposed face up on the table after the first trick is complete. This is called Misère sur table, or _=A Spread=_.
Where s the wood? Fire burnt it. Where s the fire? Moo-cow drank it. Where s the moo-cow? Butcher killed it. Where s the butcher? Eating nuts behind the door, and you may have the nutshells. --London (Miss Dendy, from a maid-servant). II. Please, mother, may I go a-maying? Why, daughter, why? Because it is my sister s birthday. Make three pretty curtseys and walk away. Where is your may? I met puss, and puss met me, and puss took all my may away. Where is puss? Run up the wood.
When the Guard wants a respite, he calls out-- Ane, twa, three, my Craw s no free. (_b_) Jamieson defines Badger-reeshil as a severe blow; borrowed, it is supposed, from the hunting of the badger, or from the old game of Beating the Badger. Then but he ran wi hasty breishell, And laid on Hab a badger-reishill. --_MS. Poem._ Mr. Emslie says he knows it under the name of Baste the Bear in London, and Patterson (_Antrim and Down Glossary_) mentions a game similarly named. It is played at Marlborough under the name of Tom Tuff. --H. S.
Each deal is a game in itself. _=Drawing for Partners.=_ If there is an equal number of ladies and gentlemen, and the number is less than fifty-two, a sufficient number of red and black cards should be sorted out, and the ladies asked to draw from the red, the men from the black; those getting the same denominations being partners. For instance: 16 couples present themselves for play. The thirteen Hearts and the A 2 3 of Diamonds should be put into one hat for the ladies; the thirteen Clubs, and A 2 3 of Spades being put into another for the men. Those drawing the same denomination of Hearts and Clubs, or of Spades and Diamonds are partners. Before play begins, the number of hands which it is proposed to play should be announced, or a time set for adjournment. _=Driving.=_ There is no rank attached to the tables, but they should be arranged in such a manner that players may know which table to go to next. The partners seat themselves wherever they please, and at the tap of the bell at the head of the table the deal is cut for, and play begins.
If this is not done at once the captured one is at liberty to return to her own side. In some versions (Shropshire and London) the player who is selected for Nuts is always captured by the one sent to fetch her. Some Barnes children also say that this is the proper way to play. When boys and girls play the boys are always sent to fetch away the girls. In Sheffield (a version collected by Mr. S. O. Addy) a boy is chosen to fetch the girl away; and in the Earls Heaton version the line runs, We ll have a girl for nuts in May. (_e_) There is some analogy in the game to marriage by capture, and to the marriage customs practised at May Day festivals and gatherings. For the evidence for marriage by capture in the game there is no element of love or courtship, though there is the obtaining possession of a member of an opposing party.
If the second player follows suit in any trick, the higher card wins. Trumps win plain suits. If identical cards are played to the same trick, such as two club Jacks, the leader wins. The winner of the trick takes in the cards, turning them face down, but before he leads for the next trick he has the privilege of announcing and scoring any one of certain combinations that he may hold in his hand. 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.
The game Stag is often referred to as Stag Warning, but occasionally they are listed as thought they were separate games. Volume I. Page 51: reference to Wind Up Jack: this game is not mentioned separately, but under Wind Up the Bush Faggot. Page 120: reference to Wind up the Watch, which is not listed as a separate game, but as a local name for Wind up the Bush Faggot. Page 137: reference to Crosspurposes: according to the description and Vol. II, this could be Cross-questions. Page 300: reference to How many miles to Barley Bridge?, which is not listed as a separate game; the phrase occurs in some of the versions of How many miles to Babylon? Page 318, section (c): The author refers to the Belfast version, but describes the Isle of Man version. This has not been changed. Page 328: reference to the game Spanish Fly, which does not occur in either volume (nor does the phrase). Page 402: reference to Ghost in the Garden and Ghost in the Copper.
=_ Something will interfere with his good intentions. Queen. Your best girl. _=R.=_ She is jealous. Jack. A probable marriage. _=R.=_ It may have to be postponed. Ten.
Belfast Mr. W. H. Patterson. Holywood Miss C. N. Patterson. DUBLIN-- Dublin Mrs. Lincoln. LOUTH-- Annaverna, Ravendale Miss R.
After the Cavalry Mêlée] [Illustration: Fig. 6a--Battle of Hook s Farm. Prisoners being led to the rear.] Now for a while you listen to General H. G. W., of the Blue Army. You hear tales of victory. The photographs of the battlefields are by a woman war-correspondent, A. C.
_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The cards dealt, the players take up and examine their hands. The careful poker player always “spreads” his cards before taking them up, to be sure that he has neither more nor less than five, and he lifts them in such a way that the palm and fingers of his right hand conceal the face of the first card, while the thumb of the left hand separates the others just sufficiently to allow him to read the index or “squeezer” marks on the edges. [Illustration: Spreading. Squeezing.] The object of this examination is to ascertain the value of the hand dealt to him, and to see whether or not it is worth while trying to improve it by discarding certain cards and drawing others in their place. The player should not only be thoroughly familiar with the relative value of the various combinations which may be held at Poker, but should have some idea of the chances for and against better combinations being held by other players, and should also know the odds against improving any given combination by drawing to it. The value of this technical knowledge will be obvious when it is remembered that a player may have a hand dealt to him which he knows is comparatively worthless as it is, and the chances for improving which are only one in twelve, but which he must bet on at odds of one in three, or abandon it. Such a proceeding would evidently be a losing game, for if the experiment were tried twelve times the player would win once only, and would lose eleven times. This would be paying eleven dollars to win three; yet poker players are continually doing this.
If this is not a trump, the next player on his left turns up his top card, and so on until a trump is turned that is better than the one already exposed. The player who possesses the original turn-up, does not expose any more of his cards until a better trump is shown. As soon as a better trump appears it is offered for sale, and after it is sold or refused, the cards are turned up again until a better trump appears, or all the cards have been exposed. The holder of the best trump at the end takes the pool. OLD MAID. Strange to say, this oft-quoted and continually derided game is not mentioned in any work on cards, a singular omission which we hasten to supply. Any number of young ladies may play, and a pack of fifty-one cards is used, the Queen of hearts having been deleted. Any player can deal the cards, which are distributed one at a time until the pack is exhausted; if every player has not the same number it does not matter. Beginning with the eldest hand, each player sorts her cards into pairs of the same denomination; such as two Fives, two Jacks, etc., and all pairs so formed are laid upon the table face down, without showing them to the other players.
_=Announcing Sixty-six.=_ If neither of the players has claimed to have reached 66 until after the last trick is played, both turn over their cards and count their points. If only one has reached 66, he counts one or two points, according to his adversary’s count. If neither has reached 66, which is possible if no marriages have been declared; or if both have 66 or more, and neither has claimed it, neither side scores, but the winner on the next deal adds one to whatever he may make. For instance: A and B are adversaries, and the last trick is played without either announcing that he is sixty-six. On counting, it is found that A has 48 points and a marriage, 68 altogether, while B has 72 points and the last trick, 82 altogether. Neither counts anything. On the next deal let us suppose that A makes 66 before B gets out of schneider, which will give A two points. To these he adds one for the tie on the last deal, and scores three altogether. _=Closing.