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 very small children, is rather pretty. The rhyme is:-- Here comes a [blue] bird through the window, Here comes a [blue] bird through the door; Here comes a [blue] bird through the window, Hey, diddle, hi dum, day. Take a little dance and a hop in the corner, Take a little dance and a hop in the floor; Take a little dance and a hop in the corner, Hey, diddle, hi dum, day. The players dance round in a ring. One previously, by the process of a chapping-out rhyme, being made "it," goes first outside, then into the centre. Her business now is to decide who shall succeed her; and according as the colour-word in the rhyme--red, blue, green, or yellow, etc.--corresponds with the dress of all the individual players in the successive singing, the ones spotted successively take their place in the centre, and the process goes on, of course, until all have shared alike in the game. * * * * * "~When I was a Young Thing~," of simple though pretty action, has had a wide vogue. Its rhyme goes:--