"We have piped, and ye have not danced; We have mourned to you, and ye have not wept." MARRIAGE GAMES. In India and Japan marriage ceremonies bear a feature of youthful play. Amongst the Moslems in the former country--where the doll is forbidden--the day previous to a real wedding the young friends of the bridegroom are summoned to join in a wedding game. On the eve of the day they all meet and surround the bridegroom-elect, then they make for the house of the bride's parents. On arrival at the gates the bride's relatives shut the doors and mount guard. "Who are you," exclaims the bridegroom, "to dare obstruct the king's cavalcade? Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye not out to meet him?" The answer comes from within the abode. "It is a ruse--so many thieves roam about, more than probable you and your band are of them." * * * * * In England in 1557 the boys of London town sang a rhyme at their mock wedding feasts of-- "If ever I marry I'll marry a maid, To marry a widow I'm sore afraid, For maids are simple and never will grudge, But widows full oft as they say know too much." This song was entered at the Stationers' Hall, 1557 A.D. LONDON STREET GAMES. A WEDDING. After the preliminary rhyme of-- "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, All good children go to heaven. A penny on the water, twopence on the sea, Threepence on the railway, and out goes she," has been said, the lot falls on one of the girls to be the bride. A ring is formed and a merry dance begins, all the children singing this invitation-- "Choose one, choose two, choose the nearest one to you." The girl bride then selects a groom from the rest of the other children. He steps into the centre of the ring, joins hands and kisses her, after which, collecting a posy from each of the others, he decorates her with flowers and green leaves. A fresh ring is now formed--figuratively the wedding ring; the whole of the children caper round singing-- "Rosy apple, lemon and pear, Bunch of roses she shall wear, Gold and silver by her side, I know who shall be my bride." "Choose one, choose two, choose the nearest one to you." "Take her by her lily-white hand, Lead her across the water, Give her kisses one, two, three, Mrs. ---- daughter." THE KING OF THE BARBARINES.