A full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The cards rank from the ace down to the deuce, as at Whist. If there are four players, six cards are dealt to each, one at a time; if five play, five cards to each, and if six play, four cards to each. The last card that falls to the dealer is turned up for the trump, and the remainder of the pack is placed in the centre of the table as a stock to draw from. The eldest hand leads for the first trick, and the others must follow suit if they can. The highest card played, if of the suit led, wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits. The winner of each trick draws the top card from the talon, and leads again. When any player’s cards are exhausted he withdraws from the game, and the others continue. The player who remains to the end, having a card when his adversary has none, wins the pool. If two players remain with a card each, the winner of the trick draws from the stock, and the card so drawn wins the game, his adversary having none.
Strutt (_Sports_, p. 394) describes this game, and gives an illustration which is here reproduced from the original MSS. in the Bodleian. This game may have originated from a custom at funerals of practising spells for the safe and speedy passage of the departing spirit to its destination, or from divination mysteries to foretell who would be the next among the mourners to follow the dead body to the grave. The spirit of prophecy was believed to exist in a dying person. See Handy Croopen. How many Miles to Babylon I. King and Queen of Cantelon, How many miles to Babylon? Eight and eight and other eight. Will I get there by candle-light? If your horse be good and your spurs be bright. How mony men have ye? Mae nae ye daur come and see.
| | 7.|Come and play with us.| | 8.| -- | | 9.| -- | | 10.| -- | | 11.| -- | | 12.| -- | | 13.|We will give you pots | | |and pans. | | 14.
Success depended on catching the ball dexterously when dealt, and conveying it away through all the opposition of the adverse party, or, if that was impossible, to throw it into the hands of a partner, who, in his turn, was to exert his utmost efforts to convey it to his own goal, which was often three or four miles distant from that of his adversaries. T. Durfey s _Collin s Walk through London_, 1690, p. 192, says: Hurling is an ancient sport us d to this day in the countys of Cornwall and Devon, when once a year the hardy young fellows of each county meet; and a cork ball thinly plated with silver being thrown up between em, they run, bustle, and fight for it, to the witty dislocating of many a shrew d neck, or for the sport of telling how bravely their arms or legs came to be broke, when they got home. It is fully described by Carew in his _Survey of Cornwall_, 1602, p. 73. It is also a very ancient Irish game, and Mr. Kinahan says: Many places are called after it: such as, Killahurla, the hurlers church; Gortnahurla, the field of the hurlers; Greenanahurla, the sunny place of the hurlers; this, however, is now generally corrupted into hurling-green. The hurling-green where the famous match was played by the people of Wexford against those of Cather (now divided into the counties of Carlow and Wicklow), and where the former got the name of yellow bellies, from the colour of the scarfs they wore round their waist, is a sunny flat on the western side of North Wicklow Gap, on the road from Gorey to Trinnahely. There are also many other different names that record the game.
The moment a Misère player takes a trick, or a Slam player loses one, the hands are abandoned, and the stakes paid. The usual value attached to the counters in America is 25 cents for the red, and 5 cents for the white. In England the proportion is sixpence and a penny. _=POOL SOLO.=_ When players wish to enhance the gambling attractions of the game, a pool is introduced. For this purpose a receptacle is placed upon the table, in which each player puts a red counter at the beginning of the game. Any person playing alone against the three others, wins this pool if he is successful; if he fails, he must double the amount it contains, besides paying each of his adversaries in the regular way. In some places it is the custom for each player to contribute a red counter when he deals. The proposals and acceptances do not touch the pool. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.
You may follow her in crape, crape, You may follow her in crape, That will do. --Deptford (Miss E. Chase). XVI. I ve come to see Georgina, Georgina, Georgina, I ve come to see Georgina, how s she to-day? She s upstairs washing, washing, washing, She s upstairs washing, and can t get away. O very well, ladies, ladies, ladies, We ll come another day. We ve come to see Georgina, Georgina, Georgina, We ve come to see Georgina, how s she to-day? She s upstairs ironing, ironing, ironing, She s upstairs ironing, and can t get away. [Then the two verses are repeated-- O very well, ladies. We ve come to see Georgina. Then follows--] She was coming downstairs with a basin of water, and she fell down and broke her toe, and she s dead.
The cards are dealt from left to right in rotation, and the deal passes to the left in regular order. Only three persons at the table receive cards, no matter how many are in the game. If there are four players, the dealer gives himself no cards. If there are five or six players, the first two on the dealer’s left and the pone receive cards. The other persons at the table are said to be “im Skat,” because they are laid aside for that deal. The cards may be distributed in several ways, but whichever manner the first dealer selects must be continued during the game, both by the original dealer, and by the others at the table. Ten cards are given to each player, and two are dealt face downward in the centre of the table for the Skat. No trump is turned. The cards must be dealt, three cards to each player, then two to the Skat; then four to each player again, and finally three. _=Irregularities in the Deal.
If he leads a King or Queen without claiming any count, it is evident that he has not a marriage. If he has simply forgotten to claim it, he cannot amend the error after his adversary has played to the trick, and the score is lost. To avoid disputes, careful players leave one of the marriage cards face up among their cards, as a reminder that a marriage was claimed in that suit, either by the player with the card turned, or by his adversary. _=Counting.=_ A player is not allowed to make any record of his progress toward sixty-six, but must keep his count mentally. It is highly important to keep both your own and your adversary’s count, in order that you may always know how many each of you wants to reach 66. A player is not allowed to go back over his tricks to refresh his memory, and if he looks at any trick but the last one turned and quitted, he loses the privilege of “closing.” All _=irregularities=_ in playing and drawing are governed by the same rules as in Binocle. _=The Last Six Tricks.=_ After the stock is exhausted, marriages may still be led or shown, and scored; but the second player in each trick must follow suit if he can, although he is not obliged to win the trick unless he chooses to do so.
My last glimpse had been of a skinny arm reaching up to pluck some more free _hors d oeuvres_ from a tray as she fled. I should have saved myself the trouble. They had a bouncer on each of my elbows before I had moved five feet. They carried more than dragged me into a private dining room behind the bar. It went along with the ersatz rustic _decor_ of the rest of the Sky Hi Club. There was sawdust on the genuine wood floor, big brass spittoons and a life-sized oil-color of a reclining nude, done with meaty attention to detail, behind a small mahogany topped bar. Stacks of clean glasses vied for space with labeled bottles on the back-bar. One of the stick-men followed us into the room, taking his apron off as he closed the door behind him, shutting out the roaring clatter of the casino. Cross-roader! he hissed at me. I should have known what was coming, but I missed it.