ken down,
And I must let my lady down.

Each child is thus carried in turn.

* * * * *

"A B C" is a spirited game, admirably adapted for indoor practice on a
wet day, which is played by children seated round a table, or at the
fireside. One sings a solo--a verse of some nursery rhyme. For instance:--

Hey, diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

The chorus of voices takes up the tune, and the solo is repeated; after
which the alphabet is sung through, and the last letter, Z, is sustained
and repeated again and again, to bother the next child, whose turn it
now is to sing the next solo. The new solo must be a nursery rhyme not
hitherto sung by any of the company. If unable to supply a fresh rhyme
within a fixed limit, the player stands out of the game and pays a
forfeit. Less brain-taxing entertainments often engage adult wits.

* * * * *

"~My Theerie and my Thorie~," with a political significance, is a game
widely played. In one place it is known as "Cam a teerie arrie ma
torry;" in another, "Come a theory, oary mathorie;" in yet another,
"Come a theerie, Come a thorie;" or it may be, as in Perthshire, "My
theerie and my thorie." And even as the refrain varies, so do the
rhymes. But the action is generally the same. The players divide into
two sides of about equal number, in lines facing each other. Moving
forwards and backwards the sides sing verse about of the following
rhyme:--

_Question._--Have you any bread and wine,
Bread and wine, bread and wine;
Have you any bread and wine,
My theerie and my thorie?

_Answer._--Yes, we have some bread and wine,
Bread and wine, bread and wine,
Yes, we have some bread and wine,
My theerie and my thorie.

_Question._--We shall have one glass of it, etc.

_Answer._--One glass of it you shall not get, etc.

_Question._--We are all King George's men, etc.

_Answer._--What care we for King George's men, etc.

_Question._--How many miles to Glasgow Lee? etc.

_Answer._--Sixty, seventy, eighty-three, etc.

_Question._--Will I be there gin candle-licht? etc.

_Answer._--Just if your feet be clean and slicht, etc.

_Question._--Open yo