COUNTING-OUT; CHOOSING SIDES

COUNTING-OUT; CHOOSING SIDES AND TURNS; "WHO'S IT?"

Counting-out rhymes and other methods of choosing players for
games form one of the most interesting topics in the whole
study of children's games. Such rhymes and methods are found in
use all over the world and are prehistoric, having descended
like the great mass of children's games from the serious
practices of adults in the childhood of the race. Classic
literature has innumerable references to such customs, as where
in the _Iliad_ the heroes cast lots in the cap of Atrides
Agamemnon to know who shall go forth to battle with Hector, or
choose by similar means their places in the funeral games for
Patroclus. Many instances of the use of these practices are
recorded in Scripture, including the famous one of the casting
of lots for the seamless garment. Much collecting and
investigating have been done as to these methods, several
collections of counting-out rhymes, covering hundreds of
examples, having been made in the interests of folklore, the
history of magic, etc. Such rhymes are found in Asia, Africa,
Europe, and America, not to mention the Sandwich Islands and
other places presenting primitive conditions. The largest
collection and most thorough study published in America was
that made by Mr. H. Carrington Bolton of the Smithsonian
Institute. These rhymes unquestionably originated in old
superstitions and rites, including incantations of the old
magicians and practices of divination by lot. The doggerel of
counting-out rhymes is often traceable to old Latin formulas
used for these purposes, a fact that shows the absurdity and
artificiality of purposely manufactured rhymes.

In the majority of games it is necessary to assign various players to
their parts in some manner that shall be strictly impartial. Thus, one
player may have to be chosen to be "It"--that is, to take the
prominent, arduous, or often disadvantageous or disagreeable part; for
example, the part of "Black Tom" in the game of that name, the "blind
man" in blindfold games, etc. In many other games the players have to
determine who shall have the first turn, or the order of rotation in
which all shall play, as who shall be the first back in leapfrog, etc.
In still other games, such as Prisoners' Base, Black and White, and
ma