page 23); _There Was a Rat_ (page 14), and others, belong to this
category.

_b. Three Blind Mice_ (page 12) is an old-fashioned _Round_. Many a band
of little folks has been divided into groups and has sung the
nonsensical rhymes until every boy and girl broke down in laughter. Do
you poor modern people know how it was done? The school was divided into
a half-dozen sections. The first section began to sing and when its
members reached the end of the first line, the second section began; the
third section began when the second reached the end of the first line,
and so on till all sections were singing. When any section reached the
word "As--" they began again at the beginning. The first line was
chanted in a low, slow monotone, the others were sung as rapidly as
possible to a rattling little tune on a high pitch. Imagine the noise,
confusion and laughter. Many a dull afternoon in school has been broken
up by it, and countless children have returned to their little tasks
with new enthusiasm. The old things are not always to be scorned.

_c. Old King Cole_ (page 52) is a jolly rhyme, and the illustration is
one of the finest in the books. Everybody should study it.

VII. Two, at least, of the rhymes are of the "counting out" kind. Often
children want to determine who is to be "It" in a game of tag, who is to
be blinded in a game of hide-and-seek, or who takes the disagreeable
part in some other play. They are lined up and one begins to "count out"
by repeating a senseless jingle, touching a playmate at each word. The
one on whom the last word falls is "out," safe from the unpleasant task.
One at a time they are counted out till only the "It" remains.

_Wire, brier_ and _One-ery, Two-ery_ (page 51) are examples. The artist
has shown a group being counted out, in her very lifelike picture on
pages 50 and 51.

VIII. There are some errors in grammar in the rhymes, many words you
cannot find in a dictionary, and some of the rhymes may seem a little
coarse and vulgar; but they have lived so long in their present form
that it seems almost a pity to change them. Encourage the older children
to find the errors and to criticise and correct as much as they wish.
Probably they will not like the rhymes in their new form and correct
dress any better than we would.

IX. There is really a practical value, too, in a knowledge of the
nursery rhymes. Allusions to them are found in all literature and many a
sentence is unintelligible t