--_Useful Transactions in Philosophy_, p. 44. This rhyme is repeated when it is decided to begin any game, as a general call to the players. The above writer says it occurs in a very ancient MS., but does not give any reference to it. Halliwell quotes the four first lines, the first line reading Boys and girls, instead of Boys, boys, from a curious ballad written about the year 1720, formerly in the possession of Mr. Crofton Croker (_Nursery Rhymes_). Chambers also gives this rhyme (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 152). Branks A game formerly common at fairs, called also Hit my Legs and miss my Pegs.
=_ Little Slam is made by taking twelve of the thirteen tricks; it counts 20 points. Grand Slam is made by taking the thirteen tricks, and it counts 40. Either score must be exclusive of revoke penalties. _=PENALTIES.=_ If the declarer succeeds in making his contract, he scores below the line for tricks and above the line for honours according to the table of values already given, and he scores for as many tricks as he wins, regardless of the smaller number he may have bid. But if the declarer fails to make good on his contract he scores nothing but honours as actually held, while his adversaries score 50 points penalty in the honour column for every trick by which the declaration falls short, no matter what the declaration was, but they never score anything toward game, no matter how many tricks they win, because they are not the declarers. They may, however, score slams. If we suppose the winning declaration to be three hearts, and the declarer makes the odd trick only, holding simple honours, he scores 16 above the line, while the other side scores 100 points above the line for defeating the contract by two tricks, worth 50 each. If the dealer is left in with one spade, he cannot lose more than 100 points, even if he is doubled, provided neither he nor his partner redouble. If the adversaries set the contract for one trick, the declarer loses 50 only, and even if he is set for six tricks, he can lose only the 100.
If any player abandons his hand, the cards in it may be claimed as exposed, and called by the adversaries. _=The Revoke.=_ A revoke is a renounce in error, not corrected in time, or non-compliance with a performable penalty. It is a revoke if a player has one of the suit led, and neither follows suit nor trumps. A person prohibited from playing an exposed trump is not liable to any penalty if it causes him to revoke. A revoke is established when the trick in which it occurs has been turned and quitted; or when either the revoking player or his partner, whether in his right turn or otherwise, has led or played to the following trick. If a revoke is claimed and proved, the revoking side cannot score any points that deal; but they may play the hand out to prevent the adversaries from making points. If an adversary of the bidder revokes, the bidder’s side scores whatever points it makes that deal, regardless of the number bid. A player may ask his partner whether or not he has a card of the suit in which he renounces and does not trump, and the player may correct his error if the question is asked before the trick is turned and quitted. But if he answers in the negative, there is no remedy.
_=Trick 2.=_ _=Y=_ gets rid of another winning card; _=B=_ keeping a small card to avoid the lead. _=Trick 3.=_ _=A=_ returns the Club, reading _=B=_ for the Q or no more. _=B=_ still avoids the lead, and _=Z=_ is marked as not having the trump Ten, or he would have saved it. _=Trick 4.=_ _=Z=_ plays to win what cards he can. _=Trick 5.=_ _=B=_ throws ♢A to avoid the lead, knowing _=Y=_ has the trump Ten; for _=A=_ would have made it on the second round of Spades. _=A=_ also marks it with _=Y=_, as _=B=_ does not save it.
The following dialogue begins with the inner circle asking the first question, which is replied to by the outer circle. What time does the King come home? One o clock in the afternoon. What has he in his hand? A bunch of ivy. The rhyme is repeated for every hour up to six, the outer circle running round the inner as many times as the number named. The children then change places and repeat.--Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy). Bung the Bucket [Music] --London (J. P. Emslie). [Illustration] A number of boys divide themselves into two sides.
Her strapless gown didn t fit her, nor anybody within twenty pounds of her weight. She was all shoulder blades and collarbones. I suppose that a decent walk would have given her _some_ charm--most of these hustlers have a regular Swiss Movement. But this thing had a gait that tied in with the slack way her skirt hung across her pelvic bones and hollered White Trash! at you. I wasn t much flattered that she had tried to pick me up. People have a pretty accurate way of measuring their social station. And she thought she was what I d go for. Well, I guess I don t look like so much, either. I d missed my share of meals when they might have put some height on me. My long, freckled face ends in a chin as sharp and pointed as her nose.
As it would be impossible for any person to remember all the jeux de règle for three tricks at Napoleon, each must learn from experience the trick-taking value of certain hands. Trump strength is, of course, the great factor, and the bidder should count on finding at least two trumps in one hand against him. Nap should never be bid on a hand which is not pretty sure of winning two rounds of trumps, with all other cards but one winners. One trick may always be risked in a nap hand, such as A Q of trumps, or a King, or even a Queen or Jack in a plain suit; the odds against the adversaries having a better card being slightly increased by the odds against their knowing enough to keep it for the last trick. If the bid is for three tricks only, tenaces, or guarded minor honours in plain suits should be preserved. 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 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.=_ 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.
A different set of indicator cards is required for every different number of tables in the game. They are the invention of the late E.C. Howell of Washington, D.C., and have been arranged for any number of pairs from four to thirty-four. _=INDIVIDUALS.=_ When four play memory duplicate, one of the four, usually S, retains his seat and keeps the score, the others changing places right and left alternately, each playing with S as a partner for 8 hands. These changes successively bring about the three following positions:-- c | b | a a b | a c | c b S | S | S | | Hands:--1 to 4 | 5 to 8 | 9 to 12 For the overplay, the trays are reversed, the hands originally dealt N & S being placed E & W; but the players continue to change right and left alternately. This brings the same partners together, but on different sides of the table.
The boy who is to be made a Knight of the Order of the Whistle, when led up between the two rows of players, has a cloak put round his shoulders and a cap with a feather in it on his head. The whistle is then fastened on to the cloak. This is described by the Rev. J. G. Wood (_Modern Playmate_, p. 189). Newell (_Games_, p. 122) gives this with a jesting formula of initiation into knighthood. He says it was not a game of children, but belonged to an older age.
=_ At the beginning of the game the cards should be counted and thoroughly shuffled, and shuffled at least three times before each deal thereafter. The dealer presents the pack to the pone to be cut, and at least five cards must be left in each packet. The cards are dealt from left to right in rotation, and the deal passes to the left in regular order. Only three persons at the table receive cards, no matter how many are in the game. If there are four players, the dealer gives himself no cards. If there are five or six players, the first two on the dealer’s left and the pone receive cards. The other persons at the table are said to be “im Skat,” because they are laid aside for that deal. The cards may be distributed in several ways, but whichever manner the first dealer selects must be continued during the game, both by the original dealer, and by the others at the table. Ten cards are given to each player, and two are dealt face downward in the centre of the table for the Skat. No trump is turned.
Isabella [Music] --Ogbourne, Wilts (H. S. May). [Music] --Earls Heaton (H. Hardy). [Music] --London (A. B. Gomme). I. Isabella, Isabella, Isabella, Farewell! Last night when we parted I left you broken-hearted, And on a green mountain, There stands a young man.
Newell (_Games_, p. 218) gives some versions of Witch which show a connection between that game and this. See Keeling the Pot, Witch. Mount the Tin One child throws a tin (any kind of tin will do) to some distance, and then walks towards it without looking round. The other children, in the meantime, hide somewhere near. The child who threw the tin has to guard it, and at the same time try to find those who are hiding. If he sees one he must call the name, and run to strike the tin with his foot. He does this until each one has been discovered. As they are seen they must stand out. The one who was first found has to guard the tin next time.
_=3rd Trick.=_ B sees from the fall of the clubs that Y has no more, and that A is safe in them and will lead them again; so he holds up ♢ K to keep A out of the lead. _=7th Trick.=_ As A’s hand can now be counted to contain either the 7 4 3 of clubs and four dangerous hearts, or the 4 3 of clubs and five hearts, B’s game is clearly to lead diamonds, in order to load Y and Z. His only dangerous card, the ♡ J, will go on the next round of spades, which must be led again in the next two or three tricks. _=No. 3.=_ Howell’s Settling. | T | _=No. 4.
The others have to follow him as they can. This steeplechase continues till the followers are all tired out.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor). This is a very general game among schoolboys, but in Hereford it was a town custom occurring once in seven years on 11th October (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 75). Fool, Fool, come to School This game is played under the name of Foolie, Foolie at Duthil, Strathspey. The players are placed in a row, either standing or sitting. Two are chosen, the one as Namer and the other as Foolie.
If the player who knocks is mistaken, and cannot count out, he loses, no matter what his adversary may have. If neither knocks, and at the end of the hand both players are found to have points enough to put them out, neither wins the game, which must be continued for 100 points more; that is, as 500 points is the usual game, it must be made 600 in such a case. Should both reach 600 without knocking, it must be continued to 700. If neither knocks, and only one has enough points to go out he wins the game on its merits. As the name implies, 500 points is game. PENCHANT. Penchant is a complicated form of Cinq-cents and Bézique, played with a single pack of thirty-two cards, which rank as at Piquet; A K Q J 10 9 8 7, the ace being highest both in cutting and in play. _=Cutting.=_ The higher cut has the choice of seats, and the lower cut deals the first hand. _=Dealing.
King and Queen against King and Knight. King and Queen against King and Pawn. King and two Rooks against King and Rook. King and two Bishops against a King. King Bishop and Knight against a King. In order to master all these endings, the student should take up Staunton’s Handbook, or the Lehrbuch des Schachspiels, in which they are given very fully. For the beginner only one or two of the most common and important are necessary. K and Q, or K and R, against K. All that is necessary is to drive the King to the edge of the board, which may be done by holding him below a certain parallel with the Q or R, and then getting your own King in front of him; a check will then drive him one line further back, and when he arrives at the edge of the board, and can no longer go back, he is mated. K and Q against K and R.
The rank of the suits is permanent, as in Boston de Fontainbleau, but the order is, hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades; hearts being highest. In France, the suits rank in this order in Boston de Fontainbleau, but in America diamonds outrank hearts. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ Each player in turn has an opportunity to announce that he is willing to undertake to win a certain number of tricks, if allowed the privilege of naming the trump suit; or to lose a certain number, there being no trump suit. If he proposes to play alone, he may select any suit for trumps; but if he takes a partner the trump suit must be belle or petite. The announcements outrank each other in certain order, and the player making the highest must be allowed to play. If he succeeds in his undertaking, he wins the pool, and is also paid a certain number of counters by each of his adversaries. If he fails, he must double the pool, and pay each of his adversaries. The table of payments will be given later. _=ANNOUNCEMENTS.
| +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ _=LOSING GAME.=_ In this variety of Draughts, the object is to give away all your men before your adversary can give away his, or to block yourself so that you cannot move. The secret of success in Losing Game is to get your men on such squares that they cannot be made to jump to the king row. These squares will be the row next you on your own side of the board, and every second row from that, horizontally. Get your men on those squares as soon as possible, and do not be in too great a hurry to capture your adversary’s men. _=POLISH DRAUGHTS.=_ Although intended for a special board of 100 squares this game can be played on a common checker board. It differs from ordinary draughts in two particulars: Although the men can move only forward, they can take backward, and Kings can go any distance at one move. If in taking a piece, a man arrives at the king row, that does not end the move if he can capture another piece by jumping backward out of the king row again. As this brings him away from the king row before the move is complete, he will not be a king until he can get to the king row at the end of a move.
At trick 6, A avoids changing suits. If the long spade suit is opened, and Z returns the diamond 10, A-B will make four tricks less on this hand. _=No. 3.=_ This example of the _=Short-suit Game=_ is from Val Starnes’ Short-Suit Whist. This is sometimes called the Gambit opening. The leader, having no reason to lead trumps, even with five, and not having three honours in his long suit, prefers the gambit opening of the singly guarded queen. Y holds what is called a potential or imperfect fourchette, and covers, in order to make A-B play two honours to get one trick. B also makes a gambit opening by returning a supporting spade. Three tricks are gained by the two leads of the supporting cards, and five would have been made but for Y’s covering on the first trick.
Emslie describes the London version somewhat differently. After all the boys had jumped over the first boy s back, a cry of Foot it was raised, and the boy who had given the back placed one of his feet at a right angle to the other, and in this way measured a foot s length from the starting-place. All the boys then overed his back from the original line, the last one crying Foot it, and then the measuring ceremony was again gone through, and the game commenced again, and continued in the same manner until one of the boys failed to over the back, when he became Back. [Illustration] [Illustration: 1st position] [Illustration: 2nd position] [Illustration: 3rd position] Football The modern game of Football is too well known to need description here, and, like Cricket, it has become no longer a children s game. As to its origin, there are many ball games, such as Camping, which have been suggested as the original form of Football. Every school almost had some peculiarity in the method of playing, and Eton, Winchester, Uppingham, and Rugby are well-known examples. It is not a little interesting to note, now that Football has settled down into a national game organised by county committees, that one of the forms of play officially recognised is the old Rugby game, the other form, known as the Association, being arrived at by agreement of those interested in the game. To illustrate the ancient origin of the game, and its serious import as a local contest rather than a sport, some examples may be given. It is still (1877) keenly contested at Workington on Easter Tuesday on the banks of, and not unfrequently in, the river Derwent (Dickinson s _Cumberland Glossary_). At Derby there was a football contest between the parishes of All Saints and St.
The proposals and acceptances do not touch the pool. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ If a proposal is accepted, and no one over-calls it, the proposer and acceptor are partners; but make no change in their positions at the table. The eldest hand, sitting to the left of the dealer, begins by leading any card he pleases, and the play proceeds exactly as at Whist, the tricks being so stacked that they may be readily counted at any time. If a single player has called solo, misère, or abundance, the eldest hand still has the original lead, and there is no change in the positions of the players. The position of the lead is often a serious consideration with a player calling a solo or a misère. In all calls except misères and slams, the hands must be played out, in order to give each side an opportunity to make all the over-tricks they can. The moment a misère player takes a trick, or a slam player loses one, the hands are thrown up, and the stakes paid. When a spread is called, the trump is taken up, and the eldest hand leads. As soon as all have played to the first trick, the caller spreads his remaining twelve cards face upward on the table, so that each of his adversaries may see them; but they have no control of the order in which they shall be played.