Now, here's one of your own choosing. Be in a hurry, no time for losing. Join your right hands, and this broomstick step over; This game was played, just how I do not know, as a kind of mockmarriage ceremony; but it served primarily, as the lines make clear, to excuse kissing. 13. ROXIE ANN. You fooled me once, You fooled me twice, You fooled me all the while. Chorus. You've been a long time fooling, fooling, This may possibly be of Negro origin. It was sung by settlers from 14. GOING DOWN TO ROUSIE'S. I'm going down to Rousie's, to Rousie's, to Rousie's, Chorus. Because he keeps good beer, because he keeps good beer, Never mind the old folks, the old folks, the old folks. The last clause was sometimes sung, "They won't care." 15. OLD VIRGINNY NEVER TIRE. Here goes Sambo through the window, All go hug them round the shoulders, As this old game was played in Vermilion County, the players joined hands and danced in a ring, singing. One of the girls left the line, went across the circle, and started to return to her place. One of the boys did the same and then tried to catch the girl. If he caught her before she reached her place, he was given permission by the third stanza to embrace her. 16. FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN. Fire on the mountain, run, boys, run! Cat's in the cream-jar, run, girls, run! One proof that "jim along" was thought of as an imperative verb is that "get along" sometimes took its place. 17. SKIP TO MY LOU. Of the many verses of "Skip to my Lou," Mr. and Mrs. Knight remembered, beside the chorus, only these: Pretty as a peach, and prettier too, 18. KING WILLIAM WAS KING JAMES'S SON. King William was King James's son, It was a royal race he run. Upon his breast he wore a star To point the way to the ocean far. Go choose to the east, go choose to the west, Go choose to the one that you love best. If he's not here to take your part, Go choose the next one to your heart. Down on this carpet you must kneel Now you are married, you must be good, We now pronounce you man and wife, Now you are married, you must agree, And feed your wife on sugar and tea, etc. This was not exclusively a children's game in Vermilion County. It will be noticed that the last two admonitory stanzas one sung to girls, one to boys - are analogous to those given by Newell (No. 21) as parts of the old song, "Oats, Pease, Beans, and Barley grows;" but Mr. and Mrs. Knight remember them as always sung with "King William was King James's son." It is clear, however, from their version of the former song, that the two pieces had suffered some confusion in this community. 19. OATS, PEASE, BEANS, AND BARLEY GROWS. Oats and beans and barley grow, Oats and beans and barley grow; You nor I nor no one knows How oats and beans and barley grow. Thus the farmer sows the seed; Thus he stands and takes his ease. He stamps his foot and claps his hand You're waiting for a partner, So open the ring and choose her in, Down on the carpet you must kneel, 20. THE WILD-GOOSE CHASE. At first two steps we do advance, And back again retire. It's first your right, and then your left, To accomplish your desire. We'll cast off all earthly care, And meet again in bliss. Come go with me, my dearest dear, We'll have a wild-goose chase. In this game the players stood in two rows, partners opposite one another. At the last line one of the boys chased his partner entirely around both lines; and if he caught her before she reached her former station, he might kiss her. 21. WE'RE MARCHING ROUND A PRETTY GIRL. We're marching round a pretty girl, A pretty girl, a pretty girl, As merry as we can be. One and one are two, Two and one are three. We're marching round a pretty girl, As merry as we can be. The oak grows tall, The pine grows slim, So rise you up, my pretty girl, And choose your partner in. A girl stood within a revolving circle of players, and chose, at the indicated signal, a partner from the line, who joined her within the circle. The game was continued until the entire line had been chosen and were huddled in a group at the centre. If a boy instead of a girl were addressed, he was called, instead of "pretty girl," "cabbagehead," "punkin-head," or some such term. The words "red bird" might be used for either sex. 22. IN THIS RING COMES A LADY FAIR. In this ring comes a lady fair, Oh, dear me! what a choice you made! Don't you keep her waiting so. The players marched in a circle round a girl, who chose a partner from them at the end of the first stanza. The concluding line was sometimes, Don't you tell her mother-O! 23. I WONDER WHERE MARIA'S GONE. I wonder where Maria's gone, I wonder where Maria's gone, I wonder where Maria's gone, VOL. 32.-NO. 126.-33. There are touches of local color in the fact that settlers from the North sang "sandy floor;" and those from the South, "puncheon floor." 25. Put your right foot in, Then your right foot out. Give your right foot a shake, shake, shake, And turn your body about. All the players stood in a circle and went through the motions directed by the words, following with other stanzas in which the same process was demanded of the left foot, right hand, left hand, head, etc. Although clearly the same game as Newell's "Right Elbow In" (No. 68), this form was played by adults in Illinois. The particular community in which these songs flourished may be indicated as lying roughly within a line drawn through the following villages: Ogden, Fithian, Muncie, Bronson, Brothers, Collison, Jamesburg, Henning, Potomac, Armstrong, Gerald, Royal. It was a community made up of settlers from almost every Eastern State. Hardly any one represented less than three or four generations of native-born ancestors. No railroad crossed this particular region until 1900, although it was almost entirely bounded by railway-lines. Communication with the outer world was not extensive, and the local customs were strongly marked. Yet almost of their own inertia such songs as I have here recorded had died out by 1890, and it would probably be difficult to find them surviving now, except in the memory of the older citizens of the place. This little area has, however, still a set of local customs, which ought to be investigated in detail by a student thoroughly acquainted with American folk-lore. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. |