known, however, is the fact that some of them--the rhymes, I
mean--that very common one in particular, beginning--"One-ery, two-ery,
tickery, seven," and its fellow in like respect, with the opening
line--"Eeny, meeny, manny, mo"--have, in almost identical form, been in
active use by the wee folks for hundreds of years, as they are still, in
nearly every country of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. That the
pastime has been common among the children of civilized and
semi-civilized races alike is certainly of curious interest, and yet
investigation has proved this to be the case. Not only so, but the form
of use is nearly always identical. A leader, as a rule self-appointed,
having engaged the attention of the boys and girls about to join in a
proposed game, arranges them either in a row or in a circle around him.
He then repeats the rhyme, fast or slow, as he is capable or disposed,
pointing with the hand or forefinger to each child in succession, not
forgetting himself, and allotting to each one word of the mysterious
formula. It may be, for example:--

Eeny, meeny, manny, mo,
Catch a nigger by the toe;
When he hollers, let him go,
Eeny, meeny, manny, mo.

Having completed the verse, the child on whom the last word falls is
said to be "out," and steps aside. At each repetition one in like manner
steps aside, and the one who survives the ordeal until all the rest have
been "chapped" or "titted" out is declared "it" or "takkie," and the
game proceeds forthwith. Sometimes the formula employed in certain parts
of Scotland, as I recollect, was for each boy to insert his finger into
the leader's cap, around which all the company stood. The master of the
ceremonies then with his finger allotted a word to each "finger in the
pie." It might be:--

Eenity, feenity, fickety, feg,
El, del, domen, egg,
Irky, birky, story, rock,
Ann, Dan, Toosh, Jock.

With the pronouncement of the word "Jock," the M.C.'s finger came down
with a whack which made the one "chapped out" be withdrawn in a "hunder
hurries." In some parts of America a peculiar method obtains. The
alphabet is repeated by the leader, who assigns one letter to each child
in the group, and when a letter falls to a child which is the same as
the initial of his last name, that child falls out, and this is
continued, observing the same plan, until only one child remains, who is
"it." There are other forms, too, but none strikingly dissimilar. Where
the l