Lark Rise to Candleford (22 page)

Here come three tinkers, three by three,

To court your daughter, fair ladye,

Oh, can we have a lodging here, here, here?

Oh, can we have a lodging here?

Upon which the fair lady (pronounced 'far-la-dee') admonished
her sleeping daughter:

Sleep, sleep, my daughter. Do not wake.

Here come three tinkers you can't take.

Then, severely, to the tinkers:

You cannot have a lodging here, here, here.

You cannot have a lodging here.

And the tinkers returned to the line, and three others came
forward, calling themselves tailors, soldiers, sailors, gardeners, bricklayers,
or policemen, according to fancy, the rhymes being sung for each three, until
it was time for the climax, and, putting fresh spirit into their tones, the
conquering candidates came forward, singing:

Here come three princes, three by three,

To court your daughter, fair ladye,

Oh, can we have a lodging here, here, here?

Oh, can we have a lodging here?

At the mere mention of the rank of the princes the scene
changed. The fair lady became all becks and nods and smiles, and, lifting up
her supposedly sleeping daughter, sang:

Oh, wake, my daughter, wake, wake, wake.

Here come three princes you can take.

And, turning to the princes:

Oh, you can have a lodging here, here, here.

Oh, you can have a lodging here.

Then, finally, leading forward and presenting her daughter,
she said:

Here is my daughter, safe and sound,

And in her pocket five thousand pound,

And on her finger a gay gold ring,

And I'm sure she's fit to walk with a king.

For 'Isabella' a ring was formed with one of the players
standing alone in the centre. Then circling slowly, the girls sang:

Isabella, Isabella, Isabella, farewell.

Last night when we parted

I left you broken-hearted,

And on the green gravel there stands a young man.

Isabella, Isabella, Isabella, farewell.

Take your choice, love,

take your choice, love,

Take your choice, love. Farewell.

The girl in the middle of the ring then chose another who
took up her position inside with her, while the singers continued:

Put the banns up,put the banns up,

Put the banns up. Farewell.

Come to church, love, come to church, love. Farewell.

Put the ring on, put the ring on,

Put the ring on. Farewell.

Come to supper, love, come to supper, love,

Come to supper, love. Farewell.

Now to bed, love, now to bed, love,

Now to bed, love. Farewell.

With other instructions, all of which were carried out in
dumb show by the couple in the middle of the ring. Having got the pair wedded
and bedded, the spirit of the piece changed. The stately game became a romp. Jumping
up and down, still with joined hands, round the two in the middle, the girls
shouted:

Now they're married we wish them joy,

First a girl and then a boy,

Sixpence married sevenpence's daughter,

Kiss the couple over and over.

In that game the Isabella of the sad farewell to whom the
sweet plaintive tune of the rhyme originally belonged had somehow got mixed up in
a country courtship and wedding.

A pretty, graceful game to watch was 'Thread the Tailor's
Needle'. For this two girls joined both hands and elevated them to form an arch
or bridge, and the other players, in single file and holding on to each other's
skirts, passed under, singing:

Thread the tailor's needle,

Thread the tailor's needle.

The tailor's blind and he can't see,

So thread the tailor's needle.

As the end of the file passed under the arch the last two
girls detached themselves, took up their stand by the original two and joined
their hands and elevated them, thus widening the arch, and this was repeated until
the arch became a tunnel. As the file passing under grew shorter, the tune was
quickened, until, towards the end, the game became a merry whirl.

A grim little game often played by the younger children was
called 'Daddy'. For this a ring was formed, one of the players remaining outside
it, and the outside player stalked stealthily round the silent and motionless
ring and chose another girl by striking her on the shoulder. The chosen one
burst from the ring and rushed round it, closely pursued by the first player,
the others chanting meanwhile:

Round a ring to catch a king,

Round a ring to catch a king,

Round a ring to catch a king——

and, as the pursuer caught up with the pursued and struck her
neck with the edge of her hand:

Down falls Daddy!

At the stroke on the neck the second player fell flat on the
turf, beheaded, and the game continued until all were stretched on the turf.

Round
what
ring, to catch
what
king? And who was
Daddy? Was the game founded on some tale dished up for the commonalty of the
end of one who 'nothing common did or mean'? The players did not know or care,
and we can only guess.

'Honeypots' was another small children's game. For this the
children squatted down with their hands clasped tightly under their buttocks
and two taller girls approached them, singing:

Honeypots, honeypots, all in a row!

Who will buy my honeypots, O?

One on each side of a squatting child, they 'tried' it by
swinging by the arms, the child's hands still being clasped under its buttocks.
If the hands gave way, the honeypot was cast away as broken; if they held, it
was adjudged a good pot.

A homely game was 'The Old Woman from Cumberland'. For this a
row of girls stood hand in hand with a bigger one in the middle to represent the
old woman from Cumberland. Another bigger girl stood alone a few paces in
front. She was known as the 'mistress'. Then the row of girls tripped forward,
singing:

Here comes an old woman from Cumberland

With all her children in her hand.

And please do you want a servant to-day?

'What can they do?' demanded the mistress as they drew up
before her. Then the old woman of Cumberland detached herself and walked down
the row, placing a hand on the heads of one after another of her children as she
said:

This can brew, and this can bake,

This can make a wedding cake,

This can wear a gay gold ring,

This can sit in the barn and sing,

This can go to bed with a king,

And this one can do everything.

'Oh! I will have that one', said the mistress, pointing to
the one who could do everything, who then went over to her. The proceedings
were repeated until half the girls had gone over, when the two sides had a tug-of-war.

'The Old Woman from Cumberland' was a brisk, business-like
game; but most of the rhymes of the others were long-drawn-out and sad, and saddest
of all was 'Poor Mary is A-weeping', which went:

Poor Mary is a-weeping, a-weeping, a-weeping,

Poor Mary is a-weeping on a bright summer's day.

And what's poor Mary a-weeping for, a-weeping for, aweeping for?

Oh, what's poor Mary a-weeping for on a bright summer's day?

She's weeping for her own true love on a bright summer's own true
love.

She's weeping for her own true love on a bright summer's day.

Then let her choose another love, another love, another love.

Then let her choose another love on a bright summer's day.

'Waly, Waly, Wallflower' ran 'Poor Mary' close in gentle
melancholy; but the original verse in this seems to have broken down after the
fourth line. The Lark Rise version ran:

Waly, waly, wallflower, growing up so high.

We're all maidens, we must all die,

Excepting So-and-So [naming one of the players]

And she's the youngest maid.

Then, the tune changing to a livelier air:

She can hop and she can skip,

She can play the candlestick,

Fie! Fie! Fie!

Turn your face to the wall again.

All clasping hands and jumping up and down:

All the boys in this town

Lead a happy life,

Excepting So-and-So [naming some hamlet boy, not necessarily present]

And he wants a wife.

A wife he shall have and a-courting he shall go,

Along with So-and-So; because he loves her so.

He kissed her, he cuddled her, he sat her on his knee,

And he said 'My dearest So-and-So, how happy we shall be.'

First he bought the frying-pan and then he bought the cradle

And then he bought the knives and forks and set them on the
table.

So-and-So made a pudding, she made it very sweet,

She daren't stick the knife in till So-and-So came home at night.

Taste, So-and-So, taste, and do not be afraid,

Next Monday morning the wedding day shall be,

And the cat shall sing and the bells shall ring

And we'll all clap hands together.

Evidently in the course of the centuries 'Waly, Waly,
Wallflower' had become mixed with something else. The youngest maid of the
first verse would never have played the candlestick or been courted by such a
lover. Her destiny was very different. But what?

'Green Gravel' was another ring game. The words were:

Green gravel, green gravel, the grass is so green,

The fairest young damsel that ever was seen,

Sweet So-and-So, sweet So-and-So,

your true love is dead,

I send you a letter, so turn round your head.

And as each name was mentioned the bearer turned outwards
from the middle of the ring and, still holding hands with the others, went on revolving.
When all had turned, the girls jigged up and down, shouting:

Bunch o' rags! Bunch o' rags! Bunch o' rags!

until all fell down.

Then there was 'Sally, Sally Waters'; who 'sprinkled in the
pan'; and 'Queen Anne, Queen Anne', who 'sat in the sun'. The local version of
the first verse of the latter ran:

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, she sat in the sun,

She had a pair of ringlets on.

She shook them off, she shook them on,

She shook them into Scotland.

Which seems to suggest that the Queen Anne intended was Anne
of Denmark, consort of our James the First, and not the last of our Stuart
monarchs, as sometimes supposed. When the founders of the new royal house first
arrived in England, there would certainly be gossip about them, and Queen Anne
would most probably be supposed to favour Scotland, Scots, and things Scottish.

The brisk and rather disagreeable little game known as 'Queen
Caroline' must have been of comparatively recent date. For this two lines of
girls stood facing each other, while one other one ran the gauntlet. As she dashed
between the lines the girls on both sides 'buffeted' her with hands, pinafores
and handkerchiefs, singing:

Queen, Queen Caroline,

Dipped her head in turpentine.

Why did she look so fine?

Because she wore a crinoline.

An echo of the coronation scene of George IV?

Contemporary with that was 'The Sheepfold', which began:

Who's that going round my sheepfold?

Oh, it's only your poor neighbour Dick.

Do not steal my sheep while I am fast asleep.

But that was not a favourite and no one seemed to know the
whole of it. Then there were 'How Many Miles to Banbury Town?', 'Blind Man's
Buff', and many other games. The children could play for hours without repeating
a game.

As well as the country games, a few others, probably as old,
but better known, were played by the hamlet children. Marbles, peg-tops, and skipping-ropes
appeared in their season, and when there happened to be a ball available a game
called 'Tip-it' was played. There was not always a ball to be had; for the smallest
rubber one cost a penny, and pennies were scarce. Even marbles, at twenty a
penny, were seldom bought, although there were a good many in circulation, for
the hamlet boys were champion marble players and thought nothing of walking
five or six miles on a Saturday to play with the boys of other villages and
replenish their own store with their winnings. Some of them owned as trophies
the scarce and valued glass marbles, called 'alleys'. These were of clear glass
enclosing bright, wavy, multicoloured threads, and they looked very handsome
among the dingy-coloured clay ones. The girls skipped with any odd length of
rope, usually a piece of their mothers' old clothes-lines.

A simple form of hopscotch was played, for which three lines,
or steps, enclosed in an oblong were scratched in the dust. The elaborate hopscotch
diagrams, resembling an astrological horoscope, still to be seen chalked on the
roads in the West Country were unknown there.

'Dibs' was a girls' game, played with five small, smooth
pebbles, which had to be kept in the air at the same time and caught on the
back of the hand. Laura, who was clumsy with her hands, never mastered this
game; nor could she play marbles or spin tops or catch balls, or play hopscotch.
She was by common consent 'a duffer'. Skipping and running were her only
accomplishments.

Sometimes in the summer the 'pin-a-sight' was all the rage,
and no girl would feel herself properly equipped unless she had one secreted
about her. To make a 'pin-a-sight' two small sheets of glass, a piece of brown paper,
and plenty of flowers were required. Then the petals were stripped from the flowers
and arranged on one of the sheets of glass with the other sheet placed over it
to form a kind of floral sandwich, and the whole was enveloped in brown paper;
in which a little square window was cut, with a flap left hanging to act as a
drop-scene. Within the opening then appeared a multi-coloured medley of flower
petals, and that was the 'pin-a-sight'. No design was aimed at; the object
being to show as many and as brightly coloured petals as possible; but Laura, when
alone, loved to arrange her petals as little pictures, building up a geranium
or a rose, or even a little house, against a background of green leaves.