No. 16 Uncle John
A ring of dancers who circle and sing—
Uncle John is very sick, what shall we send him?
A piece of pie, a piece of cake, a piece of apple-dumpling.59
What shall we send it in? In a piece of paper.
Paper is not fine60 enough; in a golden saucer.
Who shall we send it by? By the governor’s61 daughter.
Take her by the lily-white hand, and lead her over the water.
After the words “governor’s daughter” all the dancers fall down, and the last down stands apart, selects her confidential friend, and imparts with great mystery the initials of some boy in whom she takes an interest. She then returns, and takes her place in the ring with face reversed, while the friend announces the initials, and the dancers sing, using the letters given—
A. B., so they say,
Goes a-courting night and day,
Sword and pistol by his side,
And —— —— to be his bride;
Takes her by the lily-white hand,
And leads her o’er the water—
Here’s a kiss, and there’s a kiss
For Mr. ——’s daughter.
If the person representing “Uncle John” be a boy, his full name comes first in this rhyme, and the initials of the girl are used.
The choice of the confidante is said to require as much deliberation as the selection of an ambassador of state.
Hartford, Conn.
This is one of the most familiar of all children’s rounds in our country. It is, we see, a love-history; and, thrice vulgarized as it is, bears traces of ancient origin, and may perhaps be the last echo of the mediæval song in which an imprisoned knight is saved from approaching death by the daughter of the king, or soldan, who keeps him in confinement.62