"~Here Comes a Poor Sailor from Botany Bay~." This is played as a preliminary game to decide who shall join, and which side they will take, in a coming tug-of-war. The chief delight derived is in putting and answering questions. Two principals, standing as rival chiefs, and acting together as catechists, begin the play; and all are warned before replying:-- You must say neither "Yes," "No," nor "Nay," "Black," "White," nor "Grey." Then, as each child approaches, the formula proceeds:-- Here comes a poor sailor from Botany Bay; Pray, what are you going to give him to-day? A pair of boots [may be the answer]. What colour are they? Brown. Have you anything else to give him? I think so. What colour is it? Red. What is it made of? Cloth. And what colour? Blue. Have you anything else to give him? I don't think so. Would you like a sweet? Yes. Now he is trapped. He has given one of the fatal replies; and the child who answered "Yes" goes to a den. After all have gone through a similar form, the youngsters are divided into two classes--those who avoided answering in the prohibited terms, and the little culprits in the den, or prison, who had failed in the examination. The tug-of-war now begins, the one class being pitted against the other. No rope is used; but arms are entwined round waists, or skirts, or coat-tails are taken hold of; and the victors crow over the vanquished. * * * * * "~Janet Jo~," widely played, has for _dramatis personae_, a Father, a Mother, Janet, and a Lover. Janet lies stretched at full length behind the scenes. The father and mother stand revealed to receive the visits of the lover, who approaches singing, to an air somewhat like "The Merry Masons":-- I'm come to court Janet jo, Janet jo, Janet jo; I'm come to court Janet jo-- How is she the day? Parents reply together:-- She's up the stair washin', Washin', washin'; She's up the stair washin'-- Ye canna see her the day. The lover retires, and again, and yet again, advances with the same announcement of his object and purpose, to which he receives similar evasive answers from Janet's parents, who successively represent her as up the stair "bleaching," "drying," and "ironing clothes." At last they reply:-- Janet jo's dead and gane, Dead and gane, dead and gane; Janet jo's dead and gane-- Ye'll see her face nae mae! She is then carried off to be buried, the lover and the rest weeping. Sometimes she revives (to their great joy), and sometimes not, _ad libitum_--that is, as Janet herself chooses. A south-country version (Dr. Chambers tells) differs a little, and represents Janet as "at the Well," instead of upstairs, and afterwards "at the Mill," and so on. A Glasgow edition gives the whole in good west-country prose, and the lover begins: "I'm come to court your dochter, Kate Mackleister!"