It is seldom right to order up a bower, because the dealer will rarely turn down such a card. There are exceptional cases in which the eldest hand may order up with little or nothing. One of the most common is when the adversaries of the dealer are at the _=bridge=_; that is, when their score is 4, and the dealer’s side has only 1 or 2 marked. It is obvious that if the dealer or his partner plays alone, he will win the game; but if the trump is ordered up the most he can score is 2 points for a euchre, and the player who orders up will then have a chance to go out on his own deal. For this reason it has come to be regarded as imperative for the eldest hand to order up at the bridge, unless he holds the right bower, or the left bower guarded, or the ace twice guarded, any one of which combinations is certain to win a trick against a lone hand if the eldest hand does not lead trumps himself. Another case is when the score is 4 to 4, and the eldest hand has average trump strength, good side cards, but nothing in the next suit. It is better to order it up, and risk the game on such a hand than to take the chance of the dealer’s turning it down. _=The Pone=_, who is the partner of the eldest hand, orders up at the bridge on exactly opposite principles. The fact that the eldest hand did not order up shows that the dealer cannot make a lone hand. This should indicate to the pone that his partner has a certain trick in trumps, and if the pone holds any good trumps himself, he can often guess what his partner’s trumps are.
They were the other two pinlighters. The human complement of the Fighting Room was now complete. Father Moontree was a red-faced man of forty-five who had lived the peaceful life of a farmer until he reached his fortieth year. Only then, belatedly, did the authorities find he was telepathic and agree to let him late in life enter upon the career of pinlighter. He did well at it, but he was fantastically old for this kind of business. Father Moontree looked at the glum Woodley and the musing Underhill. How re the youngsters today? Ready for a good fight? Father always wants a fight, giggled the little girl named West. She was such a little little girl. Her giggle was high and childish. She looked like the last person in the world one would expect to find in the rough, sharp dueling of pinlighting.
Second Party: Work away. This the children proceed to do, some by pretending to sew, some to wash, some to dig, some to knit, without any instruments to do it with. If the opposite side guess what they are doing, they change sides. This game, Miss Summers believes, is very old, and has been played by several generations in the village of Hazelbury Bryan.--Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 230). See Trades. Dump A boys amusement in Yorkshire, in vogue about half a century ago, but now believed to be nearly obsolete. It is played in this manner. The lads crowd round and place their fists endways, the one on the other, till they form a high pile of hands.
With any combination weaker than J 10 x, it is useless to attempt to win the trick Second Hand, and only makes it difficult for the partner to place the cards correctly. _=The Fourchette.=_ When the Second Hand has cards immediately above and below the one led, he should cover. The beginner may have some difficulty in recognising the fact that he holds fourchette if the suit has been round once or twice, and the intermediate cards have been played. Such cards as a Queen and a Seven may be fourchette over a Nine, if Jack, Ten and Eight have been played. _=Second Hand Having None=_ of the suit led, on either first or second round, must decide whether or not to trump it. If the card led is the best of the suit, he should certainly do so; but if it is not, and there is any uncertainty as to who will win the trick, it is usual for the Second Hand to pass when he has four trumps. With five trumps, there should be some good reason for keeping the trumps together, as a player with so many can usually afford to trump. If he does not trump, his play comes under the rules for discarding. _=FOURTH-HAND PLAY.
For instance: It is A’s sell. A and B each have two to go. B bids three, which A refuses, pitching the trump himself. A makes only two points, B scoring one, and a third player D, another. B and D score one each, but A scores nothing for the two points he made, and must take three white counters from the pool, which will make him five to go. Had the bid which A refused been two only, he would have won the game, as he made two points. In many clubs it is the custom for a player who is set back to add a red counter to the pool. _=Irregularities in Play.=_ If any adversary of the player who pitches the trump leads or plays out of turn, he may be called upon by the bidder to play his highest or lowest of the suit led; or to trump or not to trump the trick. If any player but the pitcher has followed the erroneous lead, the cards must be taken back; but if the pitcher has followed, the error cannot be rectified.
He should never take the dealer out of a spade that both second and third hand have passed unless he can go game. If the dealer bids a losing suit, second and third hands passing, leave him in unless you can go game and are not afraid of a shift. If the dealer bids a winning suit, second and third hands passing, make any sound declaration. If the dealer starts with no trumps, show any suit that might save the game if led at once by your partner. _=Subsequent Bids.=_ Any suit bid on the second round but not on the first, shows length without the tops. When a winning suit is taken out by the partner, a losing suit bid on the second round shows tops in it. Any suit rebid on the second round, without waiting for the partner’s assistance, shows six or seven sure tricks in hand. Never bid a hand twice, unless its strength is greater than indicated by the first bid. Having bid a club on ace king alone, that is the end of it.
Proctor thought that refusing to go in on less than triplets would prove a certainty; but in the same paragraph he acknowledges that the adversaries would soon learn the peculiarity, and avoid betting against the player. Triplets before the draw occur about once in every 45 hands. If five were playing, a person following Proctor’s advice would have to blind 9 times, and ante in at least 12 jack pots in every 45 hands, to say nothing of fattening. This means an outlay of at least 75 counters. When the triplets come, will he get back 75 counters on them? He will probably win the blind, and one or two antes; but the moment he makes his own ante good, every player who cannot beat triplets, knowing his system, will lay down his hand. An extensive observation of the methods of the best players has led the author to the conclusion that the great secret of success in Poker, apart from natural aptitude for the game, and being a good actor, is to _=avoid calling=_. If you think you have the best hand, raise. If you think you have not the best, lay it down. Although you may sometimes lay down a better hand than the one that takes the pool, the system will prove of immense advantage to you in two ways: In the first place, you will find it a great educator of the judgment; and in the second place, it will take almost any opponent’s nerve. Once an adversary has learned your method, it is not a question of his betting a red chip on his hand; but of his willingness to stand a raise of two blues, which he will regard as inevitable if you come in against him at all.
I mean, if in God s sight you re still married to Billy Joe? Would be, she conceded from the black, now right next to me. But He told me that the man I should seek _would be_ Billy Joe--hit s a miracle worked for me. Her voice lowered. A miracle that come to pass tonight, my darlin Billy. A shiver ran its fingers up my spine. She meant every word of it. I _was_ her darlin Billy. * * * * * I wasn t in any mood to get married, and least of all to a seeress. Precognition is the least understood of the Psi powers, and the most erratic. But of all people, I could least afford to sneer at the power of Psi.
| Shropshire. | +----+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.|Dissy, dissy, green |Dossy, dossy, green | -- | | |grass. |grass. | | | 2.| -- | -- |Walking up the green | | | | |grass. | | 3.|Dissy, dissy, duss. |Dossy, dossy, doss. |A dust, a dust, a | | | | |dust.
=_ The great point in this game, after having obtained the advantage of several good throws in the opening, is to get home as rapidly as possible without unnecessarily exposing your men by leaving blots. Do not take up your adversary’s men if you can help it, because by so doing you place obstacles in your own path, and assist him by allowing him to stay behind, which is just his game. Get past all his men if possible, especially if he has moved his two men out of your home table. _=The Backward Game.=_ Exactly the opposite tactics are of course the best for the player who is behind. He should keep two or three men in his adversary’s home table, preferably on the ace and deuce points, in the hope of catching some of the enemy, and setting them back. The result of these tactics, if successful, will be to offset the advantage of the adversary’s high throws early in the game, because every man captured not only has to start his journey over again, but is liable to be picked up a second or third time. As it is to the advantage of the forward player to avoid picking up men, the one who is behind can leave blots with great freedom, and may even spread his men so that some of them must be taken up. This intense back game is peculiarly American, for in the English game such tactics would usually result in a gammon, and often in a backgammon, and the player dare not risk so much just to save a hit. In the back game it is very important to spread the men freely, so that they may act as _=catchers=_.
29. Each player has a right to shuffle, once only, except as provided by Rule 32, prior to a deal, after a false cut [_see_ Law 34], or when a new deal [_see_ Law 37] has occurred. 30. The dealer’s partner must collect the cards for the ensuing deal, and has the first right to shuffle that pack. 31. Each player after shuffling must place the cards properly collected, and face downwards, to the left of the player about to deal. 32. The dealer has always the right to shuffle last; but should a card or cards be seen during his shuffling, or whilst giving the pack to be cut, he may be compelled to reshuffle. THE DEAL. 33.
The _Whitby Glossary_ also gives this as Spell and Knor, and says it is known in the South as Dab and Stick. The author adds, May not tribbit, or trevit, be a corruption of three feet, the required length of the stick for pliable adaptation? Robinson (_Mid-Yorkshire Glossary_), under Spell and Nur, says: A game played with a wooden ball and a stick fitted at the striking end with a club-shaped piece of wood. The spell made to receive and spring the ball for the blow at a touch, is a simple contrivance of wood an inch or so in breadth and a few inches long. . . . The players, who usually go in and out by turns each time, after a preliminary series of tippings of the spell with the stick in one hand, and catches of the ball with the other, in the process of calculating the momentum necessary for reach of hand, are also allowed two trial rises in a striking attitude, and distance is reckoned by scores of yards. The long pliable stick, with a loose club end, used in the game, is called the tribit or trivit stick. . .
What are the odds against one of these dice being an ace? A person unfamiliar with the science of probabilities would say that as two numbers must come up, and there are only six numbers altogether, the probability is 2/6, or exactly 2 to 1 against an ace being thrown. But this is not correct, as will be immediately apparent if we write out all the 36 possible throws with two dice; for we shall find that only 11 of the 36 contain an ace, and 25 do not. The proper way to calculate this is to take the chances against the ace on each die separately, and then to multiply them together. There are five other numbers that might come up, and the fraction of their probability is ⅚ × ⅚ = 25/36, or 25 to 11 in their favour. Take the case of three dice: As three numbers out of six must come up, it might be supposed that it was an even thing that one would be an ace. But the possible throws with three dice are 6 × 6 × 6 = 216; and those that do not contain an ace are 5 × 5 × 5 = 125; so that the odds against getting an ace in one throw with three dice, or three throws with one die, are 125/216, or 125 to 91 against it. To find the probability of getting a given total on the faces of two or three dice we must find the number of ways that the desired number can come. In the 36 possible throws with two dice there are 6 which will show a total of seven pips. The probability of throwing seven is therefore 6/36, or 5 to 1 against it. A complete list of the combinations with two dice were given in connection with Craps.
_=Passing.=_ If he cannot use the card drawn, or does not wish to, he draws it from its position on the top of the stock and places it between himself and the dealer, still face up. The dealer then decides whether or not he wants it, and if he does not he “passes” it by turning it face down, and pushing it to his right. Cards once passed in this manner cannot again be seen by either player. The player who passes the card turns up the next one on the stock. If he does not want it, he places it on the table between himself and his adversary, and if his adversary does not want it either, he turns it down and passes it to the pile of deadwood, turning up the top card of the stock again. In this manner it will be seen that each player has to decide on two cards in succession; the one drawn but not used by his adversary, and the one he draws himself. This is continued until the stock is exhausted, which ends the game. _=Discarding.=_ If a player uses any card drawn from the stock in this manner, it is obvious that he has too many cards, and in order to reduce his hand and show-downs to ten cards, he must discard something, unless he can show down everything remaining in his hand, in which case he would have eleven cards down, and win the game.
Addy, and Miss Fowler, who very generously placed collections at my disposal, which had been prepared before they knew of my project; also Miss Burne, Miss L. E. Broadwood, and others, for kindly obtaining variants and tunes I should not otherwise have received. To the many versions now printed for the first time I have added either a complete transcript of, where necessary, or a reference to, where that was sufficient, printed versions of games to be found in the well-known collections of Halliwell and Chambers, the publications of the Folk-lore and Dialect Societies, Jamieson s, Nares , and Halliwell s Dictionaries, and other printed sources of information. When quoting from a printed authority, I have as far as possible given the exact words, and have always given the reference. I had hoped to have covered in my collection the whole field of games as played by children in the United Kingdom, but it will be seen that many counties in each country are still unrepresented; and I shall be greatly indebted for any games from other places, which would help to make this collection more complete. The tunes of the games have been taken down, as sung by the children, either by myself or correspondents (except where otherwise stated), and are unaltered. The games consist of two main divisions, which may be called descriptive, and singing or choral. The descriptive games are arranged so as to give the most perfect type, and, where they occur, variable types in succession, followed, where possible, by any suggestions I have to make as to the possible origin of the game. The singing games are arranged so as to give, first, the tunes; secondly, the different versions of the game-rhymes; thirdly, the method of playing; fourthly, an analysis of the game-rhymes on a plan arranged by my husband, and which is an entirely novel feature in discussing the history of games; fifthly, a discussion of the results of the analysis of the rhymes so far as the different versions allow; and sixthly, an attempt to deduce from the evidence thus collected suggestions as to the probable origin of the game, together with such references to early authorities and other facts bearing upon the subject as help to elucidate the views expressed.
_=High Cards Third Hand.=_ When the third hand tries to win his partner’s lead, he does so as cheaply as possible. That is, holding both King and Queen, he plays the Queen, not the King. If his cards are not in sequence, he should always play the best he has. With Ace and Queen, for instance, he must play the Ace if the King is not in the Dummy. To play the Queen would be to throw it away if the declarer has the King. If the leader has the King, third hand gets out of his way by giving up the Ace. _=FOSTER’S ELEVEN RULE.=_ In trying to win tricks as cheaply as possible, third hand may often be guided by the Eleven Rule, which can be applied to any lead of a small card. By deducting from eleven the number of pips on any low card led by his partner, the pone may ascertain to a certainty how many cards there are _=higher than the one led=_, which are not in the leader’s hand.
As a matter of fact the whole play was a bluff; for B not only had nothing, but had nothing to draw to originally. Another variety of the bluff, which is the author’s own invention, will often prove successful with strangers, but it can seldom be repeated in the same company. Suppose six play in a jack pot. A passes, and B opens it by quietly putting up his counters. C and D pass, and E, pretending not to know that B has opened it, announces that he will open it for the limit, although he has not a pair in his hand. He is of course immediately informed that it has been opened, upon which he unhesitatingly raises it for the limit. Whatever the others do, E stands pat, and looks cheerful. The author has never known this bluff to be called. Holding a strong hand, a player may often coax another to raise him, by offering to divide the pool. The successful bluffer should never show his hand.
When three play, seven to each. When four play, six to each. The cards are dealt one at a time until all are helped and the next card is turned face up on the table as a starter for the discard pile. The stock is left beside this card, face down. _=OBJECT OF THE GAME.=_ The aim of the players is to get rid of the cards dealt them and those they draw from the stock by laying face upward on the table any combinations of three of a kind, or three in sequence and suit. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The player to the left of the dealer begins by taking into his hand the card that is face up, if it suits him, or the top card of the stock. If he takes the top of the stock, he puts it into his hand without showing it. He may then lay out any combination of three cards that he holds, but he is not obliged to do so.
Your stockings are too dirty. I ll take them off. Your feet are dirty. I ll cut them off. The blood will run over the threshold. I ll wrap them up in a blanket. The blood will run through. This enrages the Mother, and she pushes her way into the supposed house, and looks about, and calls her children. She goes to one and says-- This tastes like my Monday. The Witch tells her it s a barrel of pork.
When two packs are used, the dealer’s partner shuffles one while the other is dealt, and the deal passes in regular rotation to the left until the rubber is finished. _=IRREGULARITIES IN THE DEAL.=_ If any card is found faced in the pack, or if the pack is incorrect or imperfect, the dealer must deal again. If any card is found faced in the pack, or is exposed in any manner; or if more than thirteen cards are dealt to any player, or if the last card does not come in its regular order to the dealer, or if the pack has not been cut, there must be a new deal. Attention must be called to a deal out of turn, or with the wrong cards, before the last card is dealt, or the deal stands. There are no misdeals in auction. That is to say, whatever happens the same dealer deals again. Minor irregularities will be found provided for in the laws. The cards being dealt, each player sorts his hand to see that he has the correct number, thirteen; and the player or players keeping the score should announce it at the beginning of each hand. _=STAKES.
Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, cclxxxii.) gives a slight variant. It is also given by Mr. Addy in his _Sheffield Glossary_, the words being the same except the last two lines, which run-- But shows his face with a comely grace, And leaves his staff at the very next place. Buk-hid This seems to be an old name for some game, probably Blindman s Buff, Sw. Blind-bock, q. bock and hufwud head (having the head resembling a goat). The sense, however, would agree better with Bo-peep or Hide and Seek. --Jamieson. Bull in the Park One child places himself in the centre of a circle of others.
No! We won t take your pots and pans, We won t take your brass, We won t take your anything For a pretty lass. Stepping up the green grass, Thus, and thus, and thus; Will you let one of your fair maids Come and play with us? We will give you gold and silver, We will give you pearl, We will give you anything For a pretty girl. Yes! Come, my dearest [Mary], Come and play with us, You shall have a young man Born for your sake. And the bells shall ring And the cats shall sing, And we ll all clap hands together. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. X. Up and down the green grass, This, and that, and thus; Come all you fair maids And walk along with us. Some will give you silver, Some will give you gold, Some will give you anything For a pretty lass. Don t you think [_boy s name_] Is a handsome young man? Don t you think Miss [_child who has been choosing_] Is as handsome as he? Then off with the glove And on with the ring; You shall be married When you can agree. Take hold of my little finger, Maycanameecan, Pray tell me the name Of your young man.
Bad A rude kind of Cricket, played with a bat and a ball, usually with wall toppings for wickets. Bad seems to be the pronunciation or variation of Bat. Halliwell says it was a rude game, formerly common in Yorkshire, and probably resembling the game of Cat. There is such a game played now, but it is called Pig. --Easther s _Almondbury Glossary_. Baddin The game of Hockey in Cheshire.--Holland s _Glossary_. Badger the Bear A rough game, sometimes seen in the country. The boy who personates the Bear performs his part on his hands and knees, and is prevented from getting away by a string. It is the part of another boy, his Keeper, to defend him from the attacks of the others.
B. Gomme). (_b_) In Ross and Stead s _Holderness Glossary_ this game is described under the name of Shinnup. Robinson (_Mid Yorkshire Glossary_) gives it under Shinnops, a youth s game with a ball and stick, heavy at the striking end, the player man[oe]uvring to get as many strokes as possible and to drive the ball distances. Shinnoping is also used for the game in operation. Jowling, or Jowls, is given in Robinson s _Whitby Glossary_, as a game played much the same as Hockey. Baddin is the name given to it in Holland s _Cheshire Glossary_. Another name is Doddart (Brockett, _North Country Words_). (_c_) An old custom in vogue in bygone days was Rotherham Fair, or what was called Whipping Toms, which took place in the Newarkes every Shrove Tuesday. So soon as the pancake bell rang men and boys assembled with sticks having a knob or hook at the end.
_=CARDS.=_ Chinese Whist is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing. _=MARKERS.=_ Ordinary whist markers are used for scoring the points. _=PLAYERS.=_ Two, three or four persons can play Chinese Whist. When three play, the spade deuce is thrown out of the pack. Partners and deal are cut for from an outspread pack, as at Whist. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ When four play, the partners sit opposite each other.
Just some nights. Since I broke my vow, I ve lost most of my prophecy. My real gift is healing. Lost _all_ of that, she concluded, not bitterly. God is punishing me. Gravel crunched as she came slowly across the roof toward me. The fag end of her cigarette made a spinning arc in the night as she snapped it over the side of the roof. Now there was no way to see her at all. Perception is nice in the dark. I tracked her automatically.