No. 153 Colors
A.—A row of children, on the doorsteps of a house, or against a chamber wall. Opposite each other stand two girls, representing, one the good, the other the bad, angel. Every child selects a color. The mother stands at the foot of the steps. The “Good Angel” knocks at the door (i.e., the side of the flight of house-steps), and is answered by the mother:
“Who’s knocking at the door?”
“The Angel with the Golden Star.”
“What do you want?”
“Blue” (or any color).
The “Good Angel” names a color. If this color is represented among the children, the angel takes the child, but if the application is unsuccessful, must retire, whereon the “Bad Angel,” or the “Angel with the Pitchfork,” comes forward in like manner. When all the children are divided, a “tug of war” ensues, as in “London Bridge.”
This form of the game is probably a recent translation from the German, by New York children.135
B.—In the convent-school of Savannah, Ga., as we learn from a former pupil, birds instead of colors represented the children, and the formula was, “Barn, barn,136 who comes here?” It was replied, “Good angel,” or “Bad angel.” The angels then “fought and tried to get the child.”
C.—In Philadelphia there is a game in which the children, having received birds’ names, are pursued by the mother, and, if captured, are put into the slop-bowl; otherwise, into the sugar-bowl.
Similarly, in a Swiss game, we have the mother and a bird-catcher. The latter endeavors to guess the titles of the children, who are called after birds or colors. When the name of a child is guessed, she takes flight, and if she can escape, returns to the mother; if caught, she belongs to the pursuer, and the game ends with a “tug of war.”
Corresponding is the French game of “Animals.” The devil and a purchaser are first chosen. The seller names the animals, and shuts them up in an enclosure. The devil, who has not heard the naming, comes up137 and guesses the title of the beast. If he guesses right, the seller says “Go!” while the animal makes a circuit to return to his den. The devil must first buy (with so many taps on the palm of the hand of the dealer) the beast, before he can pursue. If he catches the latter, he marks him with three blows on the head and tail, and the animal becomes the devil’s dog. The game finishes when all the animals have been so captured.
The conflict which ends this game is curious. In Switzerland, the angel who obtains a child carries it in his arms within his limit, and the devil similarly. After all the children are divided, a struggle begins, the devils defending themselves with claws, the angels with wings. In Austria the boundary between Heaven and Hell is marked out by a piece of wood, called “Fire.” Each child grasps the waist of his predecessor with both arms, the leaders join hands over the “Fire,” and the contest lasts until all are pulled to one side or the other.
These battles between opposing supernatural forces rest on a basis older than Christianity. The “Game of the Shell” is thus described by Pollux: “The shell-game; where the boys draw a line on the ground and choose sides, one side selecting the outside of a shell, the other the inside. One who stands on the line having thrown up the shell, whichever face comes uppermost, those who belong to that give chase, and the other party turn and fly. Any fugitive who gets caught is called the ass. He who pitches the shell says, ‘Night, day;’ for the outside is smeared with pitch, and signifies night; whence this boys’ game is also called the ‘turning of the shell.’”
The word ass here means that the boy caught had to carry home his pursuer on his back.
Plato alludes to this game in the “Republic,” saying of the efforts of the soul to pass from the realm of darkness to that of light, “it does not depend on the turn of a shell.”
We thus see the successive mental conceptions of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern time reflected in the changes of children’s sports.