[G] Not all of them are sung to games.
[H] There is an improper version of this, and of several others.
[I] “has I was goning to strrber far sing butter u cup and dassies I
bet a mide take a there forder In the ises were belw but I gend a hir
she gose on to strrber far rif rif tola len lile rif rif tale led lile.”
[J] Sadlers’ Wells.
Then the smaller girls and boys have a number of games together:
MOTHERS AND FATHERS, for instance, and TEACHERS, and SCHOOLS, and
SOLDIERS, and NURSES, and HOSPITALS, and CARTS AND HORSES, and SHOPS,
and CONVICTS AND WARDERS, and RAILWAY STATIONS, and games of that
kind; and OLD DADDY WITCHES (also called POLLY WITCH or GRANNY WITCH)
and SLEIGHS and I BOUGHT A DONKEY and I BOUGHT A PENNY DOLL and FIRE
ENGINES and FROGS and WAR and CAT AND MOUSE and CAT AND DOG and HERE WE
GO ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH and A.B.C.D.F.G.--WHAT HAVE I LEFT OUT?--
“one silly kid says E., and then all the others says you’re _it_!”
namely “he” (E.)--
and JACK HORNER and OLD AUNT SALLY and TIP-TOP IS A SWEETS STORE and
TOM TIDDLER. You know TOM TIDDLER, of course:
“I’m on old Tom Tiddler’s ground,
Picking up gold and silver--”?
There is also another game of this kind where they sort themselves into
two parties called ORANGES AND LEMONS to the song of
Oranges and Lemons
Bells of Saint Clement’s--
Everybody knows that! In fact, children are not particular what they
play at--
“I Can Play at Whipping top also i Play Hoopla. And i Play at Darts.
And have a game at horses. And i Play at hide and seek and i play
with Cherry stones. And i Play at skiping rope and Jumping over the
rope. And i like a game of Boxing and i like a game of foot Ball and
i like a game of Cricket. And i like a game of rounders and i Play a
Game of Blow Cards and i play Pigy Backs and i play at Going up on
your hands against the wall. i Play at racing. i Play Drawfs i Play
with my hoop and Stick i Play at Soldiers....”
And other children’s sports are MARY, MARY and WEEK DAYS (a ball-game
played by eight of them) and another one called SHEEP, SHEEP COME HOME,
where one line of children represents the sheep, and another line the
wolves; and behind the wolves stands the sheeps’ mother--many of these
games are “mother-games”--who calls the sheep; but as they run to her
they are caught by the wolves. It goes like this:
“Sheep Sheep come home,
Afraid. What off. The Wolfs.
Wolfs gone to Devenshire
Wont be home for seven year
Sheep Sheep come home--”
and DAN, DAN THREAD YOU NEEDLE and WILL YOU GIVE US BREAD AND WINE and
GRANDMOTHER, GRANDMOTHER GRAY,
May I go out to play?
I won’t go near the water
To drive the ducks away--
and
MOTHER MAY I GO OUT?
No, it’s raining.
No, it ain’t.
Oh, all right then.
Mother, I can’t get over the water.
Well, swim.
Can’t.
Ride on a duck’s back--
Quack! Quack!
Where have you been?
To Grandma’s.
What did she give you?
Slice of bread as big as my head,
Lump of cheese as big as my knees,
Glass of wine as big as my eyne,
And a rusty farthing to go home with.
Where’s my share?
Up in the air.
How shall I get it?
Stand on a broken chair.
Supposing I fall?
Serve you right,
For getting drunk on a Saturday night
(the mother runs after the children and the first one caught takes her
place)--
and TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR (ring-game) and MATCH and RING-A-RING
O’ ROSES and CHERRY-OGS (or CHERRY-BOBS) and CHERRY-PIES.
That reminds me that the last two must not be mixed up with CHERRY-BOB
ARCH, a gambling game for bigger lads, quite simple but rather risky,
played with cherry-stones and the lid of an old wooden box in which
spaces and numbers have been marked out. You throw and--well, you must
ask some of the boys higher up the street....
Now small children don’t invent games (it’s the older ones who do that)
and so they carry on a good few which used to be played long ago and
which the others don’t care for any more. That accounts for the queer
sports you see among the kids. One of them is KING OF THE BARBARY,
where one party captures a “castle” made of the other children holding
their hands together. Another is GREEN MAN RISE-O, a very old game; it
goes like this:--
“A boy has to get don and put some gass over him and run out and call
out geren man rays and he got to fine [find] you--”