cks her hands about the first
one's waist, and so on till all have in turn been made captive and
have joined one or the other side. The two lines, whose leaders still
face each other with hands joined, are now ready for the struggle
that ends in the downfall of London Bridge. The following stanzas are
sung, at the conclusion of which the pulling begins that usually
results in a general downfall and tumbling over one another:

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,
So fare you well, my lady love.

What will it take to build it up,
Build it up, build it up?
What will it take to build it up?
So fare you well, my lady love.

Lime and water will build it up,
Build it up, build it up.
Lime and water will build it up,
So fare you well, my lady love.

Blackman is a catching and clutching game, and furnishes the
opportunity for hugging long enough for saying, "One, two, three,
pretty good blackman for me;" and it often happens that this is not
said as rapidly as it could be,--especially if it be the favored one
who is caught. Of course there is much promiscuous catching, and the
game is satisfying other instincts than that of love, for instance
the instinct of pursuing and catching; but it is quite noticeable
that the boys have their favorite girls and catch them first, often
showing jealousy if the girls are caught by any one else. The girls
are often aggressive in selecting boys to catch in the event that
they themselves are caught first. Prison-Base and Handkerchief are
pursuing and touching games, and furnish opportunity for indirect
love confessions. Skip-to-My-Lou involves the choice of "My Lou"
together with skipping with her, which is done while holding her hand
or with arm about her waist as in round dancing. Green Grows the
Willow Tree, involves holding hands, hugging and kissing. It is a
ring game, with the one who does the choosing placed in the middle of
the ring. The following is the song that furnishes the suggestions
for the acting that accompanies it:

Green grows the willow tree,
Green grows the willow tree.
Come my love where have you been?
Come and sit at the side of me.
O, how she blushes so!
Kiss her sweet and let her go,
But don't you let her mother know.

Tag and I Spy are other games that furnish opportunities for love to
discriminate in favor of its chosen ones. In fact there is scarce