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London street games

Chapter 4: FOOTNOTES:
By Norman Douglas
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Children & Young Adult ReadingHistory - BritishSociology

About This Book

A lively catalogue records the rules, variations, and playful terminology of children's street games in London, ranging from ball games to top-spinning contests and cap or boot diversions. The narrator explains how scarce equipment and confined urban spaces shape inventive rules and improvised toys, and lists numerous specific games with concise instructions and local names. Short anecdotal observations and occasional remarks about origins and players' habits punctuate the descriptive entries, producing an informal, encyclopedic portrait of urban play and its social context.

Up you go feathery toy,
Up in the air so lightly—
Children gaze after you,
Watching your movements brightly.
Tap, tap, battledores,
Up once more you spring,
Just like little dicky-birds,
Sporting on the wing.

or (this is the real thing)

Shuttlecock, shuttlecock, if you don’t spin,
I’ll break your bones and bury your skin.

or

Appletree, peartree, plumtree pie,
How many children before I die?
One, two, three etc.

or

Three little children sitting on the sand,
All, all a-lonely (repeat both lines)
Down in the green wood shady—
There came an old woman, said Come on with me,
All, all a-lonely (repeat both lines)
Down in the green wood shady—
She stuck her pen-knife through their heart,
All, all a-lonely (repeat both lines)
Down in the green wood shady.

or

Goodbye (May), while you’re away,
Send a letter, love,
Say you’re better, love,
Don’t forget your dear old (Nell)

(Call another girl in)

or

I know a girl, sly and deceitful,
Every little tittle tat she goes and tells her people.
Long nose, ugly face, ought to be put under a glass case,
If you want to know her name,
Her name is (Evie Allen).
O (Evie Allen), get away from me,
I don’t want to speak to you,
Nor you to speak to me.
Once we were playmates,
But now we can’t agree—
O (Evie Allen), get away from me.

or (ring game)

Choose the one you love the best,
Choose the merriest of the lot.
Now you’re married I wish you joy—
First a girl and then a boy.
Seven years old and ...
Play and cuddle and kiss together—
Kiss her once, kiss her twice,
Kiss her three times over.

or

There stands a lady on a mountain,
Who she is I do not know,
All she wants is gold and silver,
All she wants is a nice young man.
Madam will you walk it, Madam will you talk it,
Madam will you marry me? No!
Not if I buy you a silver spoon
To feed your baby every afternoon?
Madam will you walk it etc. No!
Not if I buy you a nice silk hat
With seven yards of ribbon hanging down the back?
Madam will you walk it etc. No!
Not if I buy you the keys of Heaven
To let yourself in at half-past seven?
Madam will you walk it etc. Yes!
Go to church, love (repeat)
Go to church, love,—Farewell.
Put your ring on (repeat)
Put your ring on,—Farewell.
What for breakfast, love (repeat)
What for breakfast, love,—Farewell.
Boiled eggs and bread and butter (repeat twice)
On the mountain,—Farewell.
What’s for dinner, love (repeat)
What’s for dinner love,—Farewell.
Roast beef and plum pudding (repeat twice)
On the mountain,—Farewell.
What’s for tea, love (repeat)
What’s for tea, love,—Farewell.
Bread and butter, water-cress (repeat twice)
On the mountain,—Farewell.
What for supper, love (repeat)
What for supper, love,—Farewell.
Squashed flies and blackbeetles,
Squashed flies and blackbeetles,
Squashed flies and blackbeetles,
On the mountain,—Farewell.

or

Now I’m off to the butcher’s shop,
There I stay no longer.
If I do, mother will say,
Naughty girl to disobey,
And play with the boys down yonder.
Come in my (Ellen) dear,
While I go out.

And if you like these chants, here are the beginnings of a few more:—

Oxford boys are very nice boys,
Cambridge boys are better—

and

Handy-Pandy, sugar-de-candy,
French almond rock—

and

Hoky Poky, penny a lump,
The more you eat, the more you jump—

and

There was an old lady of Botany Bay:
What have you got to sell today—

and (an old one)

All in together—all sorts of (or frosty) weather—
When the wind blows we all go together—

and (a very old one)

Here we come gathering nuts in May (they now call it: and May)
On a cold and frosty morning—

and (quite a new one)

Soldier, Soldier, you may be
Just come home from Germany—

and

A house to let, enquire within,
And please to call my Nellie in—

and

Hot boiled beans and melted butter:
Ladies and gentlemen, come to supper—

and

Gladys, Gladys, come out tonight,
The moon is shining bright—

and

O tonight is Saturday night,
Tomorrow will be Sunday—

and (a very old one)

Sally, Sally Water—sprinkle in the pan:
Fie, Sally—cry, Sally—for a young man—

and that’s really interesting, because the children don’t understand the meaning of this song any more, and so they have invented a new one to take its place, like this:

Little Sally Sanders, sitting on the sand,
Weeping and crying for a young man,
Rise Sally, rise so sweet—

I forget the rest; but you can see how they have twisted it about to make sense—

and

You naughty flea,
You bit my knee—

and

Come in my garden,
And give me your hand—

and

Slow skip, what you like,
A dolly or a pepper—

and (a very naughty one)

Mabel, Mabel,
Lay the table—

and

Mother made a seedy cake,
Gave us all the belly ache—

and

I know a doctor, he knows me,
What do you think he brought for tea—

and

Red, white and blue:
I don’t speak to you—

and

O dear me, mother caught a flea,
Put it in the tea-pot and made a cup of tea—

and

This house to let, no rent to pay,
Knock at the door and run away—

and

Dolly dear, Dolly dear,
Your sweetheart is dead—

and

Evie, Ivy, over,
The kettle is boiling over—

and

Up in the North, a long way off,
The donkey’s got the whooping-cough—

and

Turn your back, you saucy cat,
And say no more to me—

and

Send a letter, send a letter,
Be content in the weather—

and

Crossing the waters one by one,
Crossing the waters two by two—

and

Four little chickens all in white,
Saw some bread and began a fight—

and (skipping and shuttlecock)

Old mother Mason—broke a basin:
What did it cost her? One penny, tuppence, etc.

and

Stockings red and garters blue,
Shoes laced up with silver—

and

Penny on the water, tuppence on the sea,
Threepence on the railway—out goes she—

and

Down by the river where the green grass grows,
There little Sally was washing her clothes—

and

Here comes a little bird through the window,
Here comes a little bird through the door—

and

Willie, Willie, I am waiting, I can’t wait no longer for you,
Three times the whistle blows, are you coming yes or no?—

and (skipping)

Little Mary Anne who lives up stairs,
With high legged boots and a feather in her hat—
That’s the way she meets her chap—

and

Take a little bird and hop in the corner,
Take a little bird and hop away—

and

Ma she said that this won’t do,
To play with the boys at half-past two—

and

On the carpet she shall kneel,
Stand up-right upon your heel—

and

Ching Chang Chinaman had a penny doll—
Washed it, scrubbed it, called it pretty poll.

If you really like these songs, I can tell you the names of one or two more, such as I CAN DO THE TANGO and I’LL TELL MOTHER, MARY ANNE, and MOTHER, MOTHER, FETCH ME HOME and FATHER GIVE (that means gave) ME A HA’PENNY and POLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON and JUMBO HAD A BABY and LEAVE THE ROPE and COME ON, AMY and SOME ONE’S UNDER THE BED and PLEASE WILL YOU LEND THE KEY and CINDARELLA-UMBERELLA and THE HOUSE IS EMPTY AND NOBODY IN and HABERDASHER ISHER ASHER OM POM TOSH and R. WHITE’S GINGER-BEER GOES OFF POP and MADEMOISELLE WENT TO THE WELL (which is interesting because they have forgotten what “mademoiselle” means and now call it ADAM AND ELL) and MY SON JOHN WENT TO BED WITH HIS STOCKINGS ON and MY MOTHER SAID THAT I WAS BORN and POOR JENNIE IS A-WEEPING and LONDON BRIDGE IS BROKEN DOWN (two well-known old ones) and WILLIE HAD A LETTER FOR TO GO ON BOARD A SHIP and OATS AND BEANS AND BARLEY GROW and NOW WE’RE ON THE BATTLEFIELD and MY FATHER HAD AN OLD SHOE and I WENT DOWN PICCADILLY.

You can get as many of these songs out of the girls as you like, if you care to come round and ask for them; you’ll find the girls far less shy about their games than the boys are. And you’ll also notice that they’re just as good at inventing sports—the boys show up best in the duty-games, and the girls in their songs. But there’s this difference. You’ll not find much talk in these songs about sunshine and flowers and things like that—except in the older ones which I think were used by girls and boys together, and perhaps even by grown-ups. The girls don’t discover poetic things like “Swimming in Blue Water” or “Dead Man’s Dark Scenery”; they’re matter-of-fact; they sing about clothes and food and money. That’s what makes Aunt Eliza say that women have more common sense than men....

FOOTNOTES:

[G] Not all of them are sung to games.

[H] There is an improper version of this, and of several others.

[I] “has I was goning to strrber far sing butter u cup and dassies I bet a mide take a there forder In the ises were belw but I gend a hir she gose on to strrber far rif rif tola len lile rif rif tale led lile.”

[J] Sadlers’ Wells.