The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-07

Around the corner OF the block
met . Spanish bull.
He said MOOT !
And 1 said Shoot
shoe I Shoor
Moo Moo I Moot
II asked her where she got the song. but she
didn't know more than that some little girls
were singing 1t. There, you see. is another
children's song that has grown n little further.
II the Spanish keep on fighting us. both those
germ songs may blossom into something per-
manent. through a hundred child authors
touching them up and the best OF a great num-
Der OF forms surviving.
That is the history of the song about Lon
don Bridge that is sung all over the world to-
day ny neutrality-suspicious. children. In the tenth
century the Danes attacked London, and put
ting the cables of their warships around the
piers that supported the bridge across the
down. The English children sung about i,
ing also survives in imitation of the sea kings.
Two children playing London Bridge grrssp
children then grasp them 10y the waist, some
behind one some behind the other, 2nI PM
are pulling against each other let go two heaps
Of children roll on the ground.
am the King Of the castle !, Come down
pulling dow the King. comes from the RevoIu-
ton against Charles [, and apotheTo of the same
GOiN sun pay u ~ A-lAhl hiiNi. "a 10y
vogue in America. dates from the same period.
boy stands on some elevation and says. King,
What service will YOU do me asks the King.
The best md worst and all can, RESPONDS
Royalists. In C~romwell's time. the Parson has
lost his t Md Ghil6Ts SHP pI 0 Was ff1 1gT,n ~ their ring
"T6e g court set the ii fashion Of love games in
the time Of Charles IL. and the children PLAYED
4 l SCSe @y , lSYe , w ise7 an A Rssllr 9% a p I%sty w9Gs5s
| produced new games in the time OF James IL.
and and the children iSs pd Elay stio \ an" Wb SS@ W f s25mfffh ft
came TO the throne. there was a great scramble
for offices. spiritual and temporal, and the
nous game Puss in the corner which we still
"!salie Walker and Water, water Wild
flower are probably descended from the old
Maypole games that C%roInwslPs soldiers, sup
iomld ali over the world among EnRlish-spcak-
ing children. In remote parts OF England the
America. In Devonshire the children sing:
"salie Walker. Sanie Walker. sprinkle water in the
Turn 70 The ssst' and turn % ,he Tss,,
I'm Morpeth. England. according TO a writer
in the Ge'ttlendas Magazine. they sing:
"sslio Walker, salhe Walker,
Come springtime and love;
She's lamenting. she's limonting.
Come choose 70 the enst!. Come choose to the west!
Come choose TO the one that you like bestl
"Sallie makes her choice and the couple kiss.
after which the children sing:
Here's a couple got married together.
Father and mother, they must agree;
IprSy this couple they kiss together.
The version found here is evidently much
more modern because II is much smoother and
more developed: II goes like this:
Little SAllie Waters,
sitting in the sand.
signing and cryinE
Rise, sAllie, rise; wipe your eyes out with your frock;
| HOur ypunu man ia coming. he'll De hero At IL
THE version OF Water. water. wild flower
which American children sing Is much more
modern than that found in rural parts Of Eng
land. where it had it's origin. II is quite pol
ished. The children here sing;
Water. water. Wild flower,
We are ali young ladies
And we are sure 20 die.
She is Tie fairest flower.
Fel Fe Fie Tor shame.
Turn your back
And tell your beau's namol
The girl designated turns her back. and.
facing outward from the ring. clasps the hands
Of those on each side OF her. Then the circle
dances round as before, chanting:
- is q nice young man,
Down comes she ali dressed in silk,
rose in her bosom as white rs milk.
She pulled o. her glove a. and d s shaved w Gf q hing r5E;
"The language used in See the Robbers
Passing BY 2 is such as EnGlish-speakinR chill
dren have not been using for many centuries,
and the robbers offence. Stole my CLOAK and
stole my gold has an archaic sound.
AN Around the Mulberry Bush and Miss
Jennie Jones' are songs Of "A different sort,
dealing with industries, washing and ironing
sweeping. &c. They are probably at least two
centuries old, for We find them sung by English
speaking children all over the world. OF some
OF the songs that the children sing the books
on children's games and writers on childrens
songs know nothing, and there is plenty of evl.
densf Nat the books and writer's got them from
Now, then. where did. the child rem gel
them ! hold that the children made them up
and have passed them along for hundreds Of
years without the help Of older people. The
Maypoie games were contributory, but there Is
a child tradition and a child literature that ha.
hourished independently. A proof OF that IL
the songs our American children are making
up at the present time-those about the Spanish
war, for instance. Here s one. that Is evidently
new and American. hut much further devel
oped than those about Spain:
" Ten O'Clock il striking, mother may l go outf
All the girls arr waiting for 20 take me out,
Hand me down my bonnet, hand mo DOWN IN" shawl
Hand me down my calico dress. and take mo 20 tn
calico ball.
First he gave me candy: second he gave me cake;
Third he gave me nifty cents to kiss l. hind the stairs
: / don't want your candy, l don't want your cake,
IdOnt want your nifty cents TO kiss behind the stairs,
, You see that song is still in the rough. Tn
IL will probably take them twenty years or 81
, to get II. into anything like as good shape a
: SAlile Walker Is in.
"Children sing these songs between the age
, OF 3 and II years. Then they forget them. |
> is not the girls and boys OF IL who teach thei
: aud boys between and II years who presery
child literature aud pass II along"
Waited a Week to Report a Robbery.