A History of Nursery Rhymes Part 5

Another favourite Scotch game is--

"A' the birds of the air, and the days of the week."

Girls' pleasures are by no means so diversified as those of boys. It would be considered a trifle too effeminate were the little men to amuse themselves with their sisters' game of Chucks--an enchanting amus.e.m.e.nt, played with a large-sized marble and four octagonal pieces of chalk.

Beds, another girlish game, is also played on the pavement--a piece of broken pot, china or earthenware, being kicked from one of the beds or divisions marked out on the flags to another, the girls hopping on one leg while doing so. It is a pastime better known as Hop Scotch, and is played in every village and town of the British Isles, varying slightly in detail. The rhymes used by street children to decide who is to begin the game are numerous.

The Scotch version of a well-known one is given below--

"Zickety, d.i.c.kety, dock, the mouse ran up the nock, The nock struck one, down the mouse ran, Zickety, d.i.c.kety, dock."

"Anery, twaery, tickery, seven, Aliby, crackeby, ten or eleven; Pin pan, muskidan, Tweedlum, twodlum, twenty-one."

Amongst the notable men in the world's history who have depicted children's games, St. Luke the Evangelist tells in a pleasant pa.s.sage of how Jesus likened the men of His day to children sitting in the market-place and calling to their playmates--

"We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; We have mourned unto you, and ye have not wept."

A vivid picture, ill.u.s.trating puerile peevishness.

In the thousands of years that street plays have been enacted by the youngsters, no poet's, philosopher's, nor teacher's words have been more to the point. Every child wants to take the most prominent part in a game, but all cannot be chief mourners, else there will be no sympathising weepers.

"Who'll be chief mourner? I, said the dove, I'll mourn for my love."

To-day things are better arranged, a counting-out rhyme settles the question of appointment to the coveted post. Like the

"Zickety, d.i.c.kety, dock, the mouse ran up the clock"

of the north-country children.

"Whoever I touch must be he"

ends and begins the counting-out verse of the Southern youngsters, which runs as follows--

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, All good children go to heaven.

My mother says the last one I touch must be he."

Of the numerous variations of this rhyme the one at present in demand by London children is--

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, All good children go to heaven.

A penny on the water, twopence on the sea, Threepence on the railway, and out goes she."

Another and more generally known rhyme of--

"1, 2, 3, 4, Mary at the cottage door Eating cherries off a plate, 5, 6, 7, 8,"

is also used for the same purpose.

But are there no peevish children to-day? None sulking in nursery or playground over games just as the little Israelites did 1900 years ago in the market-place at Nain?

Remember the lesson of old--

"We have piped, and ye have not danced; We have mourned to you, and ye have not wept."

MARRIAGE GAMES.

In India and j.a.pan marriage ceremonies bear a feature of youthful play.

Amongst the Moslems in the former country--where the doll is forbidden--the day previous to a real wedding the young friends of the bridegroom are summoned to join in a wedding game. On the eve of the day they all meet and surround the bridegroom-elect, then they make for the house of the bride's parents. On arrival at the gates the bride's relatives shut the doors and mount guard.

"Who are you," exclaims the bridegroom, "to dare obstruct the king's cavalcade? Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye not out to meet him?" The answer comes from within the abode. "It is a ruse--so many thieves roam about, more than probable you and your band are of them."

In England in 1557 the boys of London town sang a rhyme at their mock wedding feasts of--

"If ever I marry I'll marry a maid, To marry a widow I'm sore afraid, For maids are simple and never will grudge, But widows full oft as they say know too much."

This song was entered at the Stationers' Hall, 1557 A.D.

LONDON STREET GAMES.

A WEDDING.

After the preliminary rhyme of--

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, All good children go to heaven.

A penny on the water, twopence on the sea, Threepence on the railway, and out goes she,"

has been said, the lot falls on one of the girls to be the bride. A ring is formed and a merry dance begins, all the children singing this invitation--

"Choose one, choose two, choose the nearest one to you."

The girl bride then selects a groom from the rest of the other children.

He steps into the centre of the ring, joins hands and kisses her, after which, collecting a posy from each of the others, he decorates her with flowers and green leaves. A fresh ring is now formed--figuratively the wedding ring; the whole of the children caper round singing--

"Rosy apple, lemon and pear, Bunch of roses she shall wear, Gold and silver by her side, I know who shall be my bride."

"Choose one, choose two, choose the nearest one to you."

"Take her by her lily-white hand, Lead her across the water, Give her kisses one, two, three, Mrs. ---- daughter."

THE KING OF THE BARBARINES.

In this street game an entire regal court is appointed, the children taking the characters of king, queen, princes, and courtiers. When these preliminaries are settled two children join hands and whisper something--supposed to be a great state secret--to each other. This at once causes a rivalry amongst certain of the mock courtiers, and the dissatisfaction spreads, culminating in an open rebellion. The children take sides. Things now look serious; the prime minister tells the king he fears rebellion, and for safety his little majesty, attired in royal robes, and wearing a paper crown, retires to his palace--one of those places "built without walls." The soldiers, the king's bodyguard, are summoned, and orders are given to them to suppress the insurrection and capture the little rebels. As each one is taken prisoner the soldiers ask--

"Will you surrender? Oh, will you surrender To the King of the Barbarines?"

During the struggle reinforcements come up from the rebel camp and try to beat off the king's soldiers, exclaiming--