| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
WEAVE THE DIAPER—WEIGH THE BUTTER 361 |
||
|
wards singing the first four lines. She then takes one out of the row, and they swing round and round while they all sing the other four lines.
Weave the Diaper
Weave the diaper tick-a-tick tick,
Weave the diaper tick;
Come this way, come that,
As close as a mat,
Athwart and across, up and down, round about,
And forwards and backwards and inside and out;
Weave the diaper thick-a-thick thick,
Weave the diaper thick.
—Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes, p. 65.
(b) This game should be accompanied by a kind of pantomimic dance, in which the motions of the body and arms express the process of weaving, the motion of the shuttle, &c.
(c) Mr. Newell (Games and Songs of American Children, p. 80) mentions a dance called " Virginia Reel," which he says is an imitation of weaving. The first movement represents the shooting of the shuttle from side to side and the passage of the woof over and under the threads of the warp; the last movements indicate the tightening of the threads and bringing together of the cloth. He also says that an acquaintance told him that in New York the men and girls stand in rows by sevens, an arrangement which may imitate the different colours of strands. Mr. Newell does not say whether any words are sung during the dancing of the reel. Halliwell gives another rhyme (p. 121), which may have belonged to this weaving game. It is extremely probable that in these fragments described by him wye have remains of one of the old trade dances and songs.
Weigh the Butter
Two children stand back to back, with their arms locked. One stoops as low as he can, supporting the other on his back, and says, " Weigh the butter;': he rises, and the second stoops in his turn with " Weigh the cheese." The first repeats with |
||