childhood rhymes

[Beverly Flanigan]

We learned our 4-and-20 rhyme from our mother, so it must date to the early
20th c. at least.  I never thought of it as a girly game, but maybe it
was.  And one correction to my ageing memory:  I didn't bounce the ball
continuously; rather, I'd bounce a little rubber ball four times and catch
it on the fifth (shoe, door, sticks, etc.)--until the 21, 22 two-line set,
when I couldn't stop bouncing until the end (half-past TWO), after 10
bounces.  The pressure really built in the last quatrain, when about 20
bounces had to be sustained before my fist could grab the ball in
triumph.  Novices would stop at 19, 20--which is maybe why most people only
know the rhyme to that point!

I don't know the jumping over versions you mention.  And I never played
hopscotch, but jacks?  My brothers taught me that!

At 04:22 PM 7/31/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>On Jul 31, 2004, at 11:32 AM, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: childhood rhymes
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>I only know the 4-and-20 rhyme as the ending of "One, two, buckle my
>>shoe,"
>>which we chanted while trying to bounce a ball non-stop without
>>grasping it
>>or losing it (I can still do it!).  Let's see if I can remember it:
>>
>>One, two, buckle my shoe
>>Three, four, shut the door
>>Five, six, pick up sticks
>>Seven, eight, lay them straight
>>Nine, ten, a big fat hen
>>Eleven, twelve, dig and delve [incomprehensible to us kids, of course]
>>Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting
>>Fifteen, sixteen, maids a-kissing
>>Seventeen, eighteen, maids a-waiting
>>Nineteen, twenty, the larder is empty
>>Twenty-one, twenty-two, my old shoe,
>>dressed in blue, died last night at half-past two
>>Twenty-three, twenty-four, last night at half-past four
>>twenty-four burglars came up to my door;
>>I opened the door and let them in;
>>I knocked them down with a rolling pin!
>
>*Very* interesting! I know "One, Two" only as literature. All the
>published versions that I've had read to me or have read for myself
>have ended at 20.
>
>Speaking of girls' games, is anyone else familiar with "One, Two,
>Three, O'Leary" and/or "Heel, Toe, Stomp, and Over"? These are the same
>game. "One, Two" is the white version and "Heel, Toe" is the black
>version. Back in the '40's in Saint Louis, this game was played by
>pre-adolescent girls. While playing the game, the girls chanted the
>words sing-song style, with both whites and blacks using the same tune.
>The game itself involved bouncing a ball, usually a tennis ball, in
>time with each syllable of the chant while, at the same time,
>performing the foot-and-leg actions described in the black version. At
>"O'Leary/and Over," the girl swung the leg of her choice over the ball
>as it rebounded from the sidewalk, repeating ad infinitum. Girls
>usually used this as a time-killer when they had nothing else to do. As
>a consequence, I can't remember ever seeing a girl play this who was
>other than expert at it, able to mix and match hands, feet, and legs at
>will. The chants had words beyond those supplied. Unfortunately, I was
>a pre-adolescent boy at the time and the game was as girly as hopscotch
>or jacks. So I paid no heed to the words beyond the opening line. "Oh.
>A girl." Mind goes blank, turns to thoughts of more boyly pursuits.
>
>-Wilson Gray
>
>>
>>
>>At 11:47 PM 7/30/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>>
>>>>Wilson,
>>>>
>>>>When the game was over did you call ally ally outs in free like we
>>>>did
>>>>in
>>>>southern Illinois?
>>>>
>>>>Page Stephens
>>>
>>>Strange as it may seem, this is not a part of
>>>hide-and-seek/hide-and-go-seek [I myself say "hide-and-seek," but I've
>>>heard "hide-and-go-seek" from so many different people in so many
>>>different places and read it in so many different kinds of
>>>publications
>>>that I can't consider the "go" version to be "wrong," though, of
>>>course, I'd like to;-)] as I know it. The game simply continued till
>>>the last person out was caught or got home free. Some time in the
>>>distant past - in the '60's, perhaps? - I read an article about the
>>>derivation of "olly olly ox in free" from "all the, all the outs in
>>>free." That was the first that I had ever heard of it.
>>>
>>>Now, I'm going to return your serve. Did "it" chant a sing-song rhyme
>>>or merely count up to a certain number? The only place that I've lived
>>>where the chant is used is in East Texas. However, I have irrefutable
>>>evidence that it is used elsewhere in the South, almost certainly in
>>>Memphis, TN, though I can't verify this.
>>>
>>>The chant is:
>>>
>>>Last night, night before
>>>Twenty-four robbers at my door
>>>I opened the door
>>>I let them in
>>>I hit them in the head with a rolling pin
>>>All hid?
>>>
>>>The evidence is:
>>>
>>>In 1961, a band calling itself The Mar-Keys, like the Bar-Kays a
>>>spin-off from the much-better-known band, Booker T and the M.G.'s, was
>>>formed in Memphis, TN. Their first and only hit was an instrumental
>>>entitled "Last Night." If you turned this record over, like, to the
>>>flip side, there you found another instrumental, entitled, "Night
>>>Before"! Coincidence? I think not.
>>>
>>>-Wilson Gray