He sat down in his chair, laid his head back in the headrest and pulled the helmet down over his forehead. As he waited for the pin-set to warm up, he remembered the girl in the outer corridor. She had looked at it, then looked at him scornfully. Meow. That was all she had said. Yet it had cut him like a knife. What did she think he was--a fool, a loafer, a uniformed nonentity? Didn t she know that for every half hour of pinlighting, he got a minimum of two months recuperation in the hospital? By now the set was warm. He felt the squares of space around him, sensed himself at the middle of an immense grid, a cubic grid, full of nothing. Out in that nothingness, he could sense the hollow aching horror of space itself and could feel the terrible anxiety which his mind encountered whenever it met the faintest trace of inert dust. As he relaxed, the comforting solidity of the Sun, the clock-work of the familiar planets and the Moon rang in on him.
Troops without any enemy within twenty feet could be returned to their boxes for facility in moving. Playing on such a scale would admit also of the introduction of the problem of provisions and supplies. Little toy Army Service waggons can be bought, and it could be ruled that troops must have one such waggon for every fifty men within at least six moves. Moreover, ammunition carts may be got, and it may be ruled that one must be within two moves of a gun before the latter can be fired. All these are complications of the War Game, and so far I have not been able to get together sufficient experienced players to play on this larger, more elaborate scale. It is only after the smaller simpler war game here described has been played a number of times, and its little dodges mastered completely, that such more warlike devices become practicable. But obviously with a team of players and an extensive country, one could have a general controlling the whole campaign, divisional commanders, batteries of guns, specialised brigades, and a quite military movement of the whole affair. I have (as several illustrations show) tried Little Wars in the open air. The toy soldiers stand quite well on closely mown grass, but the long-range gun-fire becomes a little uncertain if there is any breeze. It gives a greater freedom of movement and allows the players to lie down more comfortably when firing, to increase, and even double, the moves of the indoor game.
Up wi her on the bane dyke, She ll be rotten or I ll be ripe: She s made for some ither, and no me, Yet I thank ye for your courtesy. Then I ll gie ye Nell o sweet Sprinkell, Owre Galloway she bears the bell. I ll set her up in my bed-head, And feed her wi milk and bread; She s for nae ither, but jist for me, Sae I thank ye for your courtesy. --Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. II. I maun ride hame, I maun gang hame, And bide nae langer here; The road is lang, the mirk soon on, And howlets mak me fear. Light doon and bide wi us a night, We ll choose ye a bonnie lass; Ye ll get your wull and pick o them a , And the time it soon wull pass. Which ane will ye choose, If I with you will bide? The fairest and rarest In a the kintra side. A girl s name was then mentioned. If the lad was pleased with the choice made, he replied-- I ll set her up on a bonnie pear-tree, It s tall and straight, and sae is she; I d keep wauken a night her love to be.
--Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_; _Notes and Queries_, xii. 344. Bunch of Ivy Played by children in pairs (one kneeling and one standing) in a ring. The inner child of each pair kneels. 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).
Ghost at the Well One of the party is chosen for Ghost (if dressed in white so much the better); she hides in a corner; the other children are a mother and daughters. The eldest daughter says:-- Mother, mother, please give me a piece of bread and butter. M. Let me (or leave me ) look at your hands, child. Why, they are very dirty. E. D. I will go to the well and wash them. She goes to the corner, the Ghost peeps up, and she rushes back, crying out-- Mother! mother! I have seen a Ghost. M.
The matron gives him a rebuff as before, and he again retires discomfited, and again enters, singing an offer of twa pecks o gowd, which, however, is also refused. At his next entry he offers three pecks o gowd, at which the good wife brightens up and sings-- Come ben beside Janet jo, Janet jo, Janet jo, Ye re welcome to Janet jo, Janet, my jo. The suitor then advances gaily to his sweetheart, and the affair ends in a scramble for kisses.--_Popular Rhymes_, pp. 141, 142. On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that this game-drama and the game of Janet Jo have no connection beyond the name of the heroine and the wooing incident; so that the borrowing, if borrowing there be, might have been by Scotland, who improved the commonplace Jenny Jones into the pretty sweetness of her Scottish namesake. The Scottish version of the game leaves out the question of the colours for mourning, but, on the other hand, it contains the very important incident of the restoration of the dead. Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 141) suggests that this incident was introduced for the purpose of beginning the game again, but this seems extremely doubtful, in consideration of the Liphook variant, in which Miss Fowler says, It is no uncommon thing for Jenny Jones to be swung into life again; and the still more significant Southampton version, where Jenny Jones appears in the character of the Ghost, and scatters and pursues the surrounding mourners. This detail is also used by the Northants and Barnes children, the version of whose game is very like the Southampton one.
Rimbault has, in his _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 34, reconstructed a copy of the original rhyme from the versions given by Halliwell and the _Mirror_, and gives the tune to which it was sung, which is reprinted here. The tune from Kent is the one generally used in London versions. The tune of a country dance called London Bridge is given in Playford s _Dancing Master_, 1728 edition. [4] Another informant gives the refrain, Grand says the little Dee. [5] I have identified this with a version played at Westminster and another taught to my children by a Hanwell girl.--A. B. G. Long-duck A number of children take hold of each other s hands and form a half-circle.
The fact that she asks a girl to tell her her sweetheart s name, and then announces the name of the girl s choice for approval or disapproval by the ring in both versions, points to the time when consent by relations and friends on both sides was necessary before the marriage could be agreed upon--the inquiry regarding the qualifications of the proposed wife, the recital of her housewifely abilities, and the giving of the ring by the boy to the girl are also betrothal customs. It is to be noted that it was a popular belief in ancient times that to wed with a rush-ring was a legal marriage, without the intervention of a priest or the ceremonies of marriage. Poore, Bishop of Salisbury (circa 1217), prohibited the use of them-- With gaudy girlonds or fresh flowers dight About her necke, or rings of rushes plight. --Spenser s _Queen_. And Shakespeare alludes to the custom in the lines-- As fit as ten groats for the hand of an attorney, as Tib s rush for Tom s forefinger. --_All s Well that Ends Well._ The rejoicing and bestowal of the blessing by the ring of friends give an almost complete picture of early Scotch marriage custom. A version of this game, which appeared in the _Weekly Scotsman_ of October 16, 1893, by Edgar L. Wakeman, is interesting, as it confirms the above idea, and adds one or two details which may be important, _i.e.
[Illustration: No. 8. +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | . | | . | | .
The one so captured takes his (or her) stand behind the one chosen. The same process is gone through till all the players are taken captive, and have stationed themselves behind the one or the other of the two forming the gate. The last one of the line goes through three times. The first time the word breakfast is pronounced; the second time dinner; and the third time supper. The player then chooses a side. The two sides have then a tug of war. The game ends at this point with girls. With boys the conquered have to run the gauntlet. The victors range themselves in two lines, each boy with his cap or handkerchief tightly plaited in his hand, and pelt with all their might the vanquished as they run between the lines. The boys of Nairn call this running of the gauntlet, through fire an watter.
is broken down. |L. B. is broken down. | | 6.| -- | -- | -- | | 7.| -- | -- | -- | | 8.| -- | -- | -- | | 9.|My fair lady. | -- |My fair lady.
=_ Although it is usual for each player to be provided with two dice, some players insist on the same pair being used by each player alternately; the claim being that luck will then run more evenly. At the beginning of the game each player makes a cast, either with one die or with two, as may be agreed, and the higher throw has the first play. In some clubs the player making the higher throw is allowed the option of playing the first cast, or of throwing again; but the general practice is to insist that the first cast is simply for the privilege of playing first, and that the dice must be cast again for the first move. After each throw the dice must fall within the borders of the table on the caster’s right, and each die must rest fairly and squarely on one of its faces. If it is _=cocked=_ against a man, the edge of the board, or the other die, or if it jumps over the edge of the table in which it is thrown, both dice must be taken up and cast again. The caster must announce his throw as soon as made. _=The Moves.=_ As the men on each side are moved round the board in opposite directions to reach their respective homes, they are of course obliged to meet and pass a number of the adversary’s men, and they must pick their way among them by going to points which are unoccupied by the enemy; for if there are two or more of the enemy in possession of any point, that point is said to be _=covered=_, and must be jumped over. If only one adverse man occupies a point, it is called a _=blot=_, and the man may be captured, as will presently be explained. The numbers that appear on the upper faces of the two dice, when they are thrown, are the number of points that each of any two men, or that any one man may be moved at a time.
Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers, are played in the same way, except that the stones not caught on the back of the hand have to be arranged in twos, threes, and fours respectively by the hand on which the caught stones are lying meanwhile, and then each lot has to be picked up altogether. 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.
I. Have you seen the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man, Have you seen the muffin man that lives in Drury Lane O? Yes, I ve seen the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man; Yes, I ve seen the muffin man who lives in Drury Lane O. --Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy). II. O, have you seen the muffin man, The muffin man, the muffin man; O, have you seen the muffin man Who lives in Drury Lane O? --N. W. Lincolnshire (Rev. ---- Roberts).
Each honour is worth ten times as much as a trick. If the bid was three in clubs, the tricks would be worth 30 each and the honours 300 each. The side that has the majority of Aces and of honours scores for all they hold; not for the majority or difference. Suppose the bidder’s side has three honours in clubs and three Aces; the other side must have only two honours and one Ace; therefore the bidder scores for six honours, at 300 each. If the Aces and honours in trumps are so divided that each side has a majority of one or the other, they offset. Suppose the bidder to hold four Aces and two honours. The adversaries must have the majority of trump honours. Then the number of their trump honours, which is three, is deducted from the number of the bidder’s Aces, four, leaving the bidder’s side only one honour to the good. Three honours on one side and three Aces on the other would be a tie, and no honours to score. If the Aces are a tie, the side that wins the most tricks scores them.
=_ The player to the left of the dealer begins by leading any one of his exposed cards, and the others must follow suit if they can; either with one of their exposed cards, or with their down cards. A player having none of the suit led may either discard or trump. The highest card played of the suit led wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits. The side winning the trick takes it in and arranges it just as at Whist. Before leading for the next trick all cards which have been uncovered are turned face up. If any person has played his down card he will have no card to turn up, none having been uncovered. The cards cannot under any circumstances be shifted from their original positions. If a player has five cards face up, covering five cards face down, he cannot shift one of the exposed cards to the empty sixth place, and uncover another card. All covering cards must be got rid of in the course of play. _=PENALTIES=_ for revokes, cards led out of turn, etc.
Even if the dice are transparent, it is no guarantee that they are not loaded in the spots. Loaded ivory dice soon get discoloured, and the presence of any darkness in the corners is usually a sign of the presence of mercury. It is a mistake to suppose that loaded dice will always throw high or low; all they will do is to beat averages. Finally, the dice should be tested with a magnet, as they are sometimes made to work in connection with a battery concealed under the table. _=DICE BOXES.=_ Although the dice may be perfectly fair, the box may be “crooked.” A fair box may be of leather, perfectly smooth inside, or it may be of bone, ivory or wood, with the interior “screwed” or grooved. If the upper edge of the inside presents a sloping flat surface, slightly roughened with sand paper, it will be just as well to refuse to allow such a box to be used, as your adversary _is_ probably an expert at _=securing=_, which is a method of holding one of the dice securely against this upper edge while the others are shaken and rattled about in the usual manner. A person who is securing dice can be detected by the manner in which he holds the box, keeping his fingers, instead of his palm, over the mouth. When he turns the box face downward on the table, he will still have his fingers under it, and will withdraw them in regular order, the second and third fingers being first separated.
--Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford). See Wolf. Giddy Giddy, giddy, gander, Who stands yonder? Little Bessy Baker, Pick her up and shake her; Give her a bit of bread and cheese, And throw her over the water. --Warwickshire. _(b)_ A girl being blindfolded, her companions join hands and form a ring round her. At the word Yonder the blindfolded girl points in any direction she pleases, and at line three names one of the girls. If the one pointed at and the one named be the same, she is the next to be blinded; but, curiously enough, if they be not the same, the one named is the one. Meanwhile, at line four, she is not picked up, but is shaken by the shoulders by the still blindfolded girl; and at line five she is given by the same bread and cheese, _i.e.
See Tig. Capie-Hole A hole is made in the ground, and a certain line drawn, called a Strand, behind which the players must take their stations. The object is at this distance to throw the bowl into the hole. He who does this most frequently wins. It is now more generally called The Hole, but the old designation is not quite extinct. It is otherwise played in Angus. Three holes are made at equal distances. He who can first strike his bowl into each of these holes thrice in succession wins the game (Jamieson). It is alluded to in _The Life of a Scotch Rogue_, 1722, p. 7.
To return the best card of his partner’s suit if he has it. This is imperative before opening any other suit but trumps. 3rd. To lead his own suit, if he can do anything with it. It is considered better play for the Third Hand to return the original leader’s suit than to open a long weak suit of his own such as one headed by a single honour. 4th. To return his partner’s suit even with a losing card, in preference to changing. When the original lead is a trump, it should be returned in every case, either immediately, or as soon as the player can obtain the lead. The same reasons for changing suits as those given for the original leader will apply to the Third Hand. _=RULES FOR RETURNING PARTNER’S SUITS.
In America, the last two items are usually reduced, and are given as follows:-- | | ♣♠ | ♡ | ♢ | | Slam, thirteen tricks | | 250 | 300 | 350 | | Spread slam | | 350 | 400 | 450 | | ----------------------+--------+-----+-----+-----+---------+ Why a player should be paid more for spreads than for eleven or twelve tricks while the trick bid outranks the spreads, is difficult to understand; but we have no authority to change the tables. Misère Partout wins nothing but the pool. If partners play, it is usual for the losers to pay the adversaries on their right; or, if partners sit together, to pay the adversary sitting next. _=THE POOL.=_ Besides the white counters won and lost by the players individually, the successful player takes the pool. Successful partners divide it equally, regardless of the number of tricks bid or taken by each. If the partners fail, they must contribute to the pool an amount equal to that which they pay to one adversary. For instance: A calls seven diamonds, and asks for a partner. Y accepts him, and the pair win only nine tricks. Each pays 135 counters to the adversary sitting next him, and then they make up 135 more between them for the pool.
You didn t ask for this kind of fight, did you? For answer, she licked his hand, purred, tickled his cheek with her long fluffy tail, turned around and faced him, golden eyes shining. For a moment, they stared at each other, man squatting, cat standing erect on her hind legs, front claws digging into his knee. Human eyes and cat eyes looked across an immensity which no words could meet, but which affection spanned in a single glance. Time to get in, he said. She walked docilely into her spheroid carrier. She climbed in. He saw to it that her miniature pin-set rested firmly and comfortably against the base of her brain. He made sure that her claws were padded so that she could not tear herself in the excitement of battle. Softly he said to her, Ready? For answer, she preened her back as much as her harness would permit and purred softly within the confines of the frame that held her. He slapped down the lid and watched the sealant ooze around the seam.
I had a little cat, it shan t scratch you, Shan t scratch you, nor you, nor you. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it. And one of you have picked it up and put it in your pocket. It wasn t you, it wasn t you, nor you, nor you, but it was _you_. --London (A. B. Gomme). XIV. I have a little dog and it lives in my pocket. It shan t bite you, &c.
H. Kinahan (_Folk-lore Journal_, { vol. ii.) WATERFORD-- Lismore Miss Keane. WALES. _Byegones._ Folk-lore Society Publications. CARMARTHENSHIRE-- Beddgelert Mrs. Williams. LIST OF GAMES ACCROSHAY.
On the other hand, two Pedroes, with Jack and Low, are not worth bidding more than five on; because it is very unlikely that you will save more than one of the Pedroes, if that. The very fact that you bid five diminishes your chances, for you betray the fact that your only hope is to save a well-guarded Pedro. Long experience with players who bid their hands correctly will give a player a very good idea of what the bidder has in his hand. To the partner this is a great point, for it enables him to judge when to give up points himself, and when to play for his partner to throw them to him. The number of cards asked for by each player should be very carefully noted; for it will frequently happen that the entire trump suit can be located by this means. It is useless to keep anything but trumps, for tricks, as such, have no value, and every card you draw increases your chances of getting another trump. The most important point in the game is to _=cinch=_ every trick in which an adversary plays after you; that is, to play some trump higher than a Pedro, if the Pedroes have not been played, and you do not hold them yourself. Examples of cinching will be found in the Illustrative Hands. If your partner leads a certain winning trump, such as the ace, or the King if the ace is gone, give him the best counting card you have; but if you have two, one of them being Low, give up the lower card first; you may catch something with the Jack or Ten. If your partner leads any trump higher than the Five, play your smallest trump unless second hand covers, in which case you must cinch the trick, to prevent the fourth hand from giving up a Pedro on his partner’s trick.
86. If a player correct his mistake in time to save a revoke, any player or players who have followed him may withdraw his or their cards and substitute others, and the cards so withdrawn are not exposed. If the player in fault be one of the declarer’s adversaries, the card played in error is exposed, and the declarer may call it whenever he pleases, or he may require the offender to play his highest or lowest card of the suit to the trick, but this penalty cannot be exacted from the declarer. 87. At the end of the play the claimants of a revoke may search all the tricks. If the cards have been mixed, the claim may be urged and proved if possible; but no proof is necessary and the claim is established if, after it is made, the accused player or his partner mix the cards before they have been sufficiently examined by the adversaries. 88. A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards have been cut for the following deal. 89. Should both sides revoke, the only score permitted is for honours.
In some places it is the custom to remove the Eight of diamonds, as at Commit, to form an extra and known stop. The player first getting rid of his cards takes the pool on Game, and the holder of Pope takes that pool if he can get rid of the card in the course of play, if not, he must double the pool, just as with the honours in trumps. NEWMARKET, OR STOPS. This game, which is sometimes called Boodle, is Pope Joan without the pope. The four cards forming the layout are the ♡A, ♣K, ♢Q, ♠J; but there is no ♢7. The dealer names any number of counters that he is willing to stake, which must be at least four, and each player at the table must stake a similar amount. The counters are placed on the layout to suit the players, either all upon one card, or distributed among the four. The cards are dealt as at Pope Joan, and the same number must be left in the talon. Instead of the player being at liberty to begin a sequence with any card he pleases, he must begin with the lowest card in his hand of the suit which he selects. He is not restricted as to suit, but must play all he has in sequence, and then name the card that he fails on.