In our own country, among the Pennsylvania Germans, or, to use their own agreeable idiom, "De Pennsylfaunisch Deitsch," this game enjoys the distinction of being almost the only child's game which is accompanied by words, and is played as follows: A boy who is digging in the earth is accosted by a second, who carries a handful of sticks, the longest of which represents the needle: "Woy, woy, was grawbst?" "Meine Moder hat erne silberne Nodel verloren." "Is sie des?" "Ne." "Is sie des?" "Ne." "Is sie des?" "Yaw."[98] The stooping child now rises and pursues the rest. A similar dialogue is used for a game of chase in New York: "Old mother, what are you looking for?" "A needle." "What do you want a needle for?" "To sew my bag with." "What do you want your bag for?" "To keep my steel in." "What do you want your steel for?" "To sharpen my knife to cut off your head." In the same spirit, the Venetian game has: "Sister, what are you looking for?" "A knife to kill you with." Whereupon she pursues the questioners. In this version we find also the inquiry about the hour, the putting of the pot on the fire, the searching for the knife, and final scattering. The Finns on the Baltic coast, too, have the game in the form of a long song, beginning, Close together! see the hawk yon! Close together! see his talons? Which exactly corresponds to the Scotch, Keep in, keep in, wherever ye be-- The greedy gled is seeking ye! No. 103. _Tag._ In this game a child, usually selected by "counting out," pursues his comrades till he has caught one who must replace him. There is generally some asylum of refuge, where the pursued are safe. The original form of this game seems to have been "Iron Tag," or "Tag on Iron," once universal in the United States, and still here and there played. In Germany and Italy, also, this is the usual form of the sport. In this game the pursued party is safe whenever touching iron in any shape, as the ring of a post, horse-shoe, etc.[99] A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, February, 1738, speaking of this amusement, says that "the lad saves himself by the touching of cold iron," and that "in later times this play has been altered amongst children of quality, by touching of gold instead of iron." In like manner, owing to the occasional scarcity of iron objects, _wood-tag_ and _stone-tag_ have been varieties of the sport in America.