The Traditional Children's Games of England Scotland
& Ireland In Dictionary Form - Volume 1

With Tunes(sheet music), Singing-rhymes(lyrics), Methods Of Playing with diagrams and illustrations.

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	x                                        PREFACE Although none of the versions of the games now collected together are in their original form, but are more or less frag­mentary, it cannot, I think, fail to be noticed how extremely interesting these games are, not only from the point of view of the means of amusement (and under this head there can be no question of their interest), but as a means of obtain­ing an insight into many of the customs and beliefs of our ancestors. Children do not invent, but they imitate or mimic very largely, and in many of these games we have, there is little doubt, unconscious folk-dramas of events and customs which were at one time being enacted as a part of the serious concerns of life before the eyes of children many generations ago. As to the many points of interest under this and other heads there is no occasion to dwell at length here, because the second volume will contain an appendix giving a complete analysis of the incidents mentioned in the games, and an attempt to tell the story of their origin and development, together with a comparison with the games of children of foreign countries. The intense pleasure which the collection of these games has given me has been considerably enhanced by the many expressions of the same kind of pleasure from correspondents who have helped me, it not being an infrequent case for me to be thanked for reviving some of the keenest pleasures expe­rienced by the collector since childhood; and I cannot help thinking that, if these traditional games have the power of thus imparting pleasure after the lapse of many years, they must contain the power of giving an equal pleasure to those who may now learn them for the first time. ALICE BERTHA GOMME. Barnes Common, S.W., Jan. 1894.