The record-union., 1893-10-14

cOuraSlng choerlngS, is the result.
A jolly little game is Hunting the
Slipper" After 'huntero is chosen, the
boys and girls sit or rather quat in a
round ring with crooked knees, so that
skirts and kits will cover them. The
hunter" from the outside brings slip
per to any child in the ring. demanding,
when Will We ha' it din (done)?"
Any day may be mentioned by the recip
lent, at which the hunter" expresses
satisfaction, and with cheery a.
right!' turns away. The fun begins when
the hunter returns and demands the slip
per, but is met with "Oh, / passed in on!'
until 1t is really discovered, which is
never until the hunter has met with
many engaging adventures, when the one
IN whose possession the slipper is found
in turn becomes the long discounted
hunter"
The Mulberry Bush" affords infinite
variety of change in its action and appll-
cation. Boys and girls may "go round
by it," but it is usually pastime for girls.
Joining hands they sing:
Here we go round by the mulberry bush,
Mulberry bush, mulberry bush;
Here we go round by the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we comb our hair
On a cold and frosty morning.
brushing the hair, brushing the teeth,
walking to school, sitting at school, and
countless other duties, pleasures and
shirkings of childhood being initiated in
action as Mulberry Bush' is sung.
There are myriad girls names, nearly
all OF which, curiOusly enough, as in
other English-speaking countries, seem
to derive their greatest interest and fasci-
nation to little Scotch lassies from their
nearness to the mock heroics in the court
ing, love and marriage affairs of their
elders. The commoneSt of these are
Rise, Sally Walker" in which Sally
''rises' and follows her guidman," is
welded, has lovely children, first girl
and then boy,' in which all of her we'd
ded joys and sorrows are delineated, with
marching and singing; ''In and Out the
Window" in which, in and out of rings,
with the interminable singing and march
ing, a lassie evidently departs, and her
lover is shriekingly enjoined to follow
her up to London; MY Name is Queen
Mary"
My age is sixteen,
Ny fathers farmer
On yOnGer green
He's plenty of money
To Dire me sac Draw;
There's nae bonnie laddie
Can take me ava
but there is bonnie laddie who gives her
'Ha, ha, and takes 'her awa;' Break
fast Time," where breakfast times
coming on" as well as dinner, supper,
bed, church, school, play and ali other
possible times, In which 1t is exact and
proper time ITO catch a bonnie laSsie."
Beds" in which ''mither'' is sought to
buy ''milking-scales'' for her daughter.
The mother, aghast, inquiries where the
money is to come from. The fathers
feather bed shall be sold. The successive
queries and answers then put the father
in the girls bed, the girls in the boys
bed, the boys in the pigsty, the pig in the
washtub, with the final dramatic shift
OF having the family washing ''done by
the river ride;' and that most popular
and universal of all Scottish girls pas
times, The Gala Ship" or "Merrima
Tansa"
This 'Merrima Tansa" perhaps "Mer-
ry MaJansa") is played by all the girls
present joining hands in circle, upon
which they march round and round sing
ing:
Three times round goes the gala, gala ship,
And three times round goes she;
Three times round goes the gala gala ship,
And sinks TO the bottom of the sea!
They repeat this thrice; curtesying low.
The first to courtesy is placed in the CEN
ter of the circle, when the others sing:
Choose your maidens one by one,
One by one, one by one;
Choose you maidens one by one
And down goes all curtesy) Mer-
rima Tansa!
She chooses her maidens. They take
her to a distance, when she is secretly
told the name OF her lover. The re-
mainder of the girls initiate sweeping and
sing several StanZaS to the effect that they
will "sweep the house till the bride comes
home" when the bride is now placed
within the circle, and from score to
hundred stanZas, with marching and
nf lI1al
bride accomplishes or undergoes are
sung. Each one closes with Down goes
Merrima TanSap' and the head-ducking:
and this wonderful music-drama of child
hood is not concluded until the christen-
ing of the brides frst-born, with,
d Next Sunday morn to church she must gaze,
A babe on her knee, the best OF "a
And down goes Merrima Tansa!
The lads of Scotland graduate at an
early age from the rough and tumble
games of the alley, the street and the
In cricket the goal is called the s'hale"
Ii the boys cannot afford wickets, their
Jackets anWer instead. Even with coun-
Try boys the association rules are in
higher repute than the more famous rules
OF Rugby. But the boys are well-equipped
before the latter dignity arrives. In mar
bles, or "bools," they are universally
skillful players. If the marbles be given
up at the end of each game, then it is
called funny" if not, "wunny." In
the latter, if all players marbles are
lost he is termed ''rookit." Both games
may be played ''knuckley" or 'aimey,D
In ''knuckley" the knuckle is used for
shooting the 'bool," in ''aimey'' it is
thrown from the hand. The more recent
games are played by ''stotting' the
"boo" against the ground and wall and
catching it, enabling the ''stotter'' to get
nearer the row of marbles If his "boor'
fails to lay between the mark and the
wall he may be 'killed" by the next
"stotter."
The wild harum-scarum games of the
school-yard and common are principally
King" Horny" "Wheet," French
Tig," ''Too," "Cross-Tig" and ''Base'' or
"Cavie" pronounced cavy). In the game
of king" one lad is "chapped oof' to
chase and touch or "tig" another upon
the head. The latter joining hands with
him another is added TO their numser.
and so on until all are captured; the last
one taken beginning the game anew.
Horny and "Wheet" are similar to
king" In Horny" the first boy clasps
his hands when running to ''tig," and
may "tig' on any part of the body. In
"W heet" the boys taken do not join
hands, but run singly; and generally
sides are chosen, the attempt being to
pass each other with the fewest possible
being taken; for those so captured must
then join the respective opposing sides.
In French Tig" the first boy runs
after all the others until boy is "tigged."
The one taken must hold one hand on
the exact part of the body which has
been touched until ne succeeds in ''tig-
ging' another. The chief point in this
game is to always "tig' on portion of