[107] "Do you like best to stay at father's or grandma's?" "There's the
most berries at grandma's--I'll rather be there."
_Georgia Boy._
[108] Sphaeromachia.
[109] Made, according to Johnson, with the leaves of newly sprung herbs.
[110] The identical name in Austria, "Kinder."
[111] They are descendants of emigrants from the Upper Rhine, and speak
a dialect resembling that of the Palatinate, but mixed with English
words.
[112] The like method in Austria, where the general idea of the game,
and many particulars, are the same. There are, however, only two
bases. The same way, even to the ability to throw the bat with two
fingers, which is the test of a doubtful hold, is used in Switzerland
to determine choice of sides in the game answering to No. 139. These
coincidences seem to point to a remote antiquity of usage.
[113] "Fen burnings!" "Roundings!" "Dubs!" "Knuckle down tight where
you lay!" "Burnings" signifies breathing on a marble, and thereby
getting certain advantages. The lads whom we quote never used the word
marbles, but _mibs_. "Let's play mibs."
[114] "Cherry-pits are in now; buttons won't be in for a
fortnight."--_New York boy._
[115] Communicated by the late Mr. George Nichols, of Cambridge,
Mass., formerly of Salem. The common name, _Jack-stones_, seems to be
a corruption for _Chuck-stones_, small stones which can be chucked
or thrown. "Chuckie-stanes," in Scotland, means small pebbles.
"Checkstones, small pebbles with which children play."--_Dialect of
Craven._
[116] O-tédama (pronounce as in Italian) is, we learn, compounded of
_O_, the, _te_, hand, and _tama_, balls. It is played with song, which
consists in chanting the titles of the several movements; thus, in the
first figure, (1) O Hito, (2) O Fu, (3) O Mi, (4) O Yo, (5) O Itzu,
(6) O Mu. The second figure, in which begins _Tonkiri_ ("tattoo"),
is called Zakara (a meaningless word); and the chant is, (1) O Hito
Zakara, (2) O Fu Zakara, (3) O Mi Zakara, etc. These numbers are
children's numeration, of which there are two sorts; the present series
continues, (7) Nana, (8) Ya, (9) Kono, (10) To. We have varying forms
from a friend in Hartford, Conn., where the song has been borrowed from
Japanese students. Probably provincial usages in Japan differ. We give
the above terms (not the game, which is current in the United States),
as written by a Japanese gentleman. It is noteworthy that this childish
system has no connection with the regular table.