| T | _=No. 4.=_ Auction Hearts. Z dealt, and A leads for | R | A, the successful first trick. | I | bidder, names Hearts. --------------------------------+ C +-------------------------------- A Y B Z | K | A Y B Z --------+-------+-------+-------+---+-------+-------+-------+-------- 10♢ | J♢ | 9♢ | _K♢_ | 1| ♡5 | ♡8 | ♡6 | _♡J_ 7♢ | 6♢ | 8♢ | _Q♢_ | 2| Q♢ | 4♢ | 8♢ | _A♢_ ♣4 | ♣9 | ♣J | _♣A_ | 3| J♢ | _K♢_ | 7♢ | 10♢ ♣2 | ♣8 | ♣5 | _♣K_ | 4| _A♠_ | 7♠ | 6♠ | 10♠ J♠ | 8♠ | K♠ | _A♠_ | 5| ♡7 | _♡A_ | ♡4 | ♡10 5♠ | 7♠ | _Q♠_ | 10♠ | 6| _K♠_ | 3♠ | 5♠ | 9♠ 4♠ | _6♠_ | 3♠ | 2♠ | 7| ♡Q | _♡K_ | ♡3 | ♣9 ♡5 | ♡3 | _♡8_ | ♡4 | 8| ♡9 | ♣J | ♣10 | _♣Q_ _♡A_ | ♡J | ♡7 | 5♢ | 9| _Q♠_ | ♣6 | 4♠ | 8♠ ♡9 | ♡2 | _♡K_ | ♣Q | 10| _J♠_ | ♣5 | ♣A | 2♠ A♢ | _♡10_ | ♡6 | 9♠ | 11| 6♢ | ♣4 | 5♢ | _9♢_ 4♢ | ♣3 | ♡Q | _♣10_ | 12| 2♢ | ♣3 | _♣K_ | ♣8 2♢ | _♣7_ | 3♢ | ♣6 | 13| ♡2 | ♣2 | _3♢_ | ♣7 --------+-------+-------+-------+---+-------+-------+-------+-------- A 3 Y 2 B 7 Z 1 A 0 Y 7 B 1 Z 5 Z wins 9; Y 5; A 1; B loses 15. A wins the pool. _=No. 3.=_ A begins with the intermediate cards of his safe suit.
A person who is shown a new game cannot remember all its details, some of which may not have been explained to him even. If he tries to teach it to others while his knowledge is in this imperfect state, he will naturally invent rules of his own to cover the points he has forgotten, or has never learnt, usually borrowing ideas from games with which he is more familiar. The pupils of such a teacher pass on to others the game thus imperfectly learnt, and in a short time we have a number of corruptions creeping in, and the astonishing part of it is the insistence with which some persons will maintain that they alone have the right idea of the rules, just because so-and-so showed them the game, or because they and their immediate friends have “always played it that way.” This does not alter the fact that the fundamental principles of every game are known and can be readily found if one knows where to look for them. The author is in possession of several hundred works in various languages--English, French, German and Italian--on nothing but indoor games, comprising probably everything ever printed on the subject that is worth preserving. By tracing the history of a game and its development through the various books in which it is described, the game will always be found to belong to some distinct family, which has certain well-defined traits which must be preserved, no matter how much they may be altered in minor details. All games follow certain general principles, and the surest mark of error in the local rules of any game is inconsistency. Pinochle is a striking example of this. In many places the players will not allow the same cards to be counted twice in the trump sequence, so as to meld 190; but they will count them twice in four kings and queens. They insist on the rule of at least one fresh card from the hand for each additional meld in one case, but totally disregard it in another, as when they meld 240 for the round trip, instead of only 220.
The dropping out of this custom would cause the game to change from a representation of both wooing and burial to one of burial only. As burial only the mother-and-line action is sufficient, but the presence of a wooing incident in the earlier form of the game is plainly revealed by the verse which sings, Fare ye well, ladies, or, as it has become in the English variant, Very well, ladies. The difference in the wording of the versions is slight, and does not need formal analysis. Domestic occupation is shown throughout, washing and its attendants, drying, folding, starching and ironing being by far the most numerous, brewing, and baking only occurring in one. Illness, dying, and death are the usual forms for the later verses, but illness and dying are lost in several versions. The choosing of colours is in some versions not for the mourners but for the dead maiden, and in these cases (six) white is the colour chosen, for white s what the dead wear. This question of colours for the dead is a very important one. The dressing of the dead body of a maiden in white by her girl companions, and the carrying of the body by them to the grave, are known village customs, the whole village being invited to the funeral. The rising of the dead lover, and the belief that excessive mourning over a loved one disturbs his or her rest in the grave, thus causing the dead to rise and speak, are shown in old ballads; the belief that spirits of the dead haunt churchyards and places of their former abode may also be adduced in illustration of the ghost incident. (_d_) The methods of playing, and the incidents revealed by the verses sung, show that this is perhaps the most realistic of all the singing games, the daily occupation, the illness, death, and burial being portrayed, first, in the words of the rhymes, and secondly, by the accompanying action.
With six in suit, you may lead the King from K Q, without either Jack or 10; but with less than six in suit never lead the King from K Q unless you have the 10 or the J also. _=THIRD HAND PLAY.=_ The leader’s partner must do his best to inform his partner as to the distribution of his suit. The method of doing this is entirely different when there is a trump from that which is adopted when there is no trump. In the first case, all your partner wants to know is, who is going to trump his suit if he goes on with it. In the second case, what he wants to know is his chance for getting his suit cleared or established. _=With a Trump.=_ When third hand makes no attempt to win the trick, either because his partner’s or Dummy’s card is better than any he need play, he plays the higher of two cards only, the lowest of three or more. This is called playing _=down and out=_. Suppose third hand holds 7 and 2 only, and the lead is a King.
Build it up with wood and clay, Dance o er my lady lee, Build it up with wood and clay, With a gay lady. Wood and clay will wash away, Dance o er my lady lee, Wood and clay will wash away, With a gay lady. Build it up with stone so strong, Dance o er my lady lee, Huzza! twill last for ages long, With a gay lady. --[London][5] (Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, clii.). III. London Bridge is broaken down, Is broaken down, is broaken down, London Bridge is broaken down, My fair lady. Build it up with bricks and mortar, Bricks and mortar, bricks and mortar, Build it up with bricks and mortar, My fair lady. Bricks and mortar will not stay, Will not stay, will not stay, Bricks and mortar will not stay, My fair lady. Build it up with penny loaves, Penny loaves, penny loaves, Build it up with penny loaves, My fair lady.