The associations with mating and marriage are preserved also in a traditional game that is still played throughout the greater part of England, which is generally known as _Sally Waters_. The verses recited in playing it render it probable that the Cushion Dance is a later development of the game known as _Sally Waters_. In playing _Sally Waters_ the players stand in a ring, a boy and a girl alternately choose a partner and seal the bond by joining hands, or by kneeling, or by a kiss. The verses recited in playing the game were first recorded by Halliwell (1849, p. 133). Forty-nine further variations, used in different parts of the kingdom in playing the game, have been printed by Mrs. Gomme, who classed this among marriage games, (1894, II, 461). In the book of Playford the Cushion Dance is called also _Joan Saunderson_, and those who are pressed into the dance are designated as Joan Saunderson and John Saunderson, or as Jane Sanders and John Sanders. In playing the game of _Sally Waters_ similar names are used. Thus the children in Penzance stand in a ring and sing the following verse:-- Little Sally Sander sitting in the Sander, Weeping and crying for her young man. (1894, No. 26.) In playing the game in Liverpool they begin:-- Little Polly Sanders sits on the sand, etc. (_Ibid._, No. 42.) The verses used in Yorkshire begin:-- Little Alice Sander sat upon a cinder, etc. (_Ibid._, No. 31.) These names Sally Sander, Polly Sanders, etc., must be derived from the same source as Saunderson and Sanders of the Cushion Dance. A host of other rhymes current in the nursery deal with the same theme, and are formed on the same model. There is one step only from _little Sally Sander_ of Penzance, _little Polly Sanders_ of Liverpool, and _little Alice Sander who sat upon a cinder_, to the following rhymes which are included in different nursery collections. All these rhymes describe a person sitting and waiting, and most of them dwell on the idea of a seat or a cushion, while the allusion to matters matrimonial, being unsuitable to children, is altogether dropped. Little Polly Flinders sat among the cinders, Warming her pretty toes; Her mother came and caught her, and scolded her little daughter, For spoiling her nice new clothes. (1846, p. 212.) Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey, There came a great spider and sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away.[31] Little Mary Ester sat upon a tester Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider and sat down beside her, And frightened Mary Ester away. (1842, p. 61.) [31] _Songs for the Nursery_, published by Darton & Co., 1812. The verses included in this collection were altered with a view to rendering them more suitable for children. Tuffet and tester are words for a footstool.