se the vanquished, calling, "Rotten
eggs! rotten eggs!" and the game is ended; to be followed perhaps by

* * * * *

"~Through the Needle-e'e, Boys~," played also to some extent in the form
of "London Bridge," and much resembling "Barley Break," a pastime of
highborn lords and ladies in the time of Sir Philip Sydney, who
describes it in his _Arcadia_. The boys first choose sides. The two
chosen leaders join both hands, and raising them high enough to let the
others pass through below, they sing:--

Brother [John], if ye'll be mine,
I'll gie you a glass o' wine:
A glass o' wine is good and fine,
Through the needle-e'e, boys.

Letting their arms fall, they enclose a boy, and ask him to which side
he will belong, and he is disposed according to his own decision. The
parties being at length formed, are separated by a real or imaginary
line, and place at some distance behind them, in a heap, their jackets,
caps, etc. They stand opposite to each other, the object being to make a
successful incursion over the line into the enemy's country, and bring
off part or whole of the heap of clothes. It requires address and
swiftness of foot to do so without being taken prisoner by the foe. The
winning of the game is decided by which party first loses all its men or
all its property. At Hawick, where this legendary mimicry of old Border
warfare peculiarly flourishes, the boys are accustomed to use the
following lines of defiance:--

King Covenanter, come out if ye daur venture!
Set your feet on Scots ground, English, if ye daur!

* * * * *

"~King Henry~" somewhat resembles "I dree I droppit it;" only, instead
of standing, the girls forming the ring sit, or rather crouch in a sort
of working-tailor attitude. One girl, occupying the centre, is "it." A
second girl is on the outside. Immediately the ring begins singing the
rhyme:--

King Henry, King Henry,
Run, boys, run;
You, with the red coat,
Follow with the drum,

The one on the outside is pursued by the girl from the centre. The rhyme
may be repeated as often as the ring decides; but the object of the one
who is "it" is to overtake and "tig" the other before the singing
ceases. Otherwise she remains unrelieved, and must try, and try, until
she succeeds in getting out, and putting another in her place; and so
on.

* * * * *

"~The Blue Bird~," played by