Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/63

 Rh.

One of the party is chosen for ghost (if dressed in white so much the better); she hides in a corner; the other children are a mother and daughters. The eldest daughter says:

"Mother, mother, please give me a piece of bread and butter."

M. Let me (or "leave me") look at your hands, child. Why, they are very dirty.

 E. D. I will go to the well and wash them.

She goes to the corner, the ghost peeps up, and she rushes back, crying out—

"Mother! mother! I have seen a ghost."

M. Nonsense, child I it was only your father's nightshirt I have washed and hung out to dry. Go again.

The child goes, and the same thing happens. She returns, saying—

"Yes! mother! I have seen a ghost."

M. Nonsense, child! we will take a candle, and all go together to search for it. The mother picks up a twig for a candle, and they set off. When they come near to the ghost, she appears from her hiding-place, mother and children rush away in different directions, the ghost chases them until she has caught one, who in her turn becomes ghost.

I thought this game was a thing of the past, but I came on some children playing it in the streets of Penzance in 1883. It may be played by any number, and, as in the two former games, one is chosen for mother. This is the dialogue:

C. Mother, mother, may I (or we) go out to play?

M. No, child! no, child! not for the day.

C. Why, mother? why, mother? I won't stay long.

M. Make three pretty courtesies, and away begone.

C. One for mammy, one for daddy, one for Uncle John.

The child, as she mentions the names, spreads out the skirts of her dress and courtesies, after which she retires to a little distance, and then returns.