Did you play "jump rope" when you were a kid? I was thinking about that today. We had recess twice a day at school, a 15 minute break in the morning and in the afternoon. There was also a longer noon hour, but most of us walked home, had lunch, and then walked back to school. There were several games we played on our macadam playground. No soft wood chips for us! When we fell we got up with bloody knees and elbows. Scabs were almost universal.
Jump rope was a popular recess pastime. We had several chants to accompany our jumping. I was remembering one that went this way: (using the name of the next girl in line while the current girl was still jumping): Vote, vote, vote for Margy. Margy's waiting at the door. Margy is a lady and she has a hundred babies, and we don't need Linda anymore!" Linda jumps out of the jump rope and Margy jumps in. The chant is repeated with the name of the next girl in line. And they were always, only girls. I think the boys played mostly marbles. If I had music score paper I could write down the tune.
Another sing-song chant went like this: "Down in the valley where the green grass grows, there sat Judy as sweet as a rose. Along came Dale and kissed her on the cheek. How many kisses did she get that week?" Then the girls holding the ends of the rope whipped it around at double speed while Judy tried to jump successfully as often as possible, with the other girls counting, 1...2...3.... And that, supposedly, was how many kisses Dale gave Judy that week. (At that point in our lives, not one of us was being kissed!)
I often think of these old time things. Also of songs that I learned as a child, such as "Barney Google, with the goo-goo-googlely eyes! Barney Google had a wife three times his size. She sued Barney for divorce. Now he's living with his horse. Barney Google, with the goo-goo-googlely eyes!" What fun nonsense! We would put our faces right up against each other, close our eyes, and say, One, two, three, google eyes! And open our eyes, staring crosseyed into our partner.
There was a nice little gang of kids who lived within a few block radius that hung out together. We played softball on a dead end street. We rode our bikes to Franklin Park, a mile away to go swimming in the summer--free, in a city pool with life guards. We played hide and seek and "ghostie" a twilight game played around the outside of a house, preferably with shrubs and other places to hide. We liked to scare each other. We also played "eenie, einie over" in which we were on either side of a house, preferably the back extension which was just one story high. One group threw a ball over the house and the group on the other side had to catch the ball, run around the house (the mystery was which was to run, which way those who were "it" would come from) and try to catch the kids on the other team.
There was a kind of naughty song we liked to sing: Oh, I wish I was a little bar of soap, Oh, I wish I was a little bar of soap! I'd go slippery, slippery, shiney, over everybody's heinie, Oh I wish I was a little bar of soap! Actually, I think the verb form was: I wish I were.... The subjunctive was still then a recognized and respected verb mood along with indicative and iussive.
My sister (two years younger) and I were fortunate to have as friends two sisters who matched our ages. We did so much together! I remember all sorts of card games, monopoly, Chinese checkers, Parchesi, passing many summer afternoons and evenings with the four of us.
Well, those were the "golden summer days of youth" all right! Nice memories to have, now that we are the "old folks."
Jump rope was a popular recess pastime. We had several chants to accompany our jumping. I was remembering one that went this way: (using the name of the next girl in line while the current girl was still jumping): Vote, vote, vote for Margy. Margy's waiting at the door. Margy is a lady and she has a hundred babies, and we don't need Linda anymore!" Linda jumps out of the jump rope and Margy jumps in. The chant is repeated with the name of the next girl in line. And they were always, only girls. I think the boys played mostly marbles. If I had music score paper I could write down the tune.
Another sing-song chant went like this: "Down in the valley where the green grass grows, there sat Judy as sweet as a rose. Along came Dale and kissed her on the cheek. How many kisses did she get that week?" Then the girls holding the ends of the rope whipped it around at double speed while Judy tried to jump successfully as often as possible, with the other girls counting, 1...2...3.... And that, supposedly, was how many kisses Dale gave Judy that week. (At that point in our lives, not one of us was being kissed!)
I often think of these old time things. Also of songs that I learned as a child, such as "Barney Google, with the goo-goo-googlely eyes! Barney Google had a wife three times his size. She sued Barney for divorce. Now he's living with his horse. Barney Google, with the goo-goo-googlely eyes!" What fun nonsense! We would put our faces right up against each other, close our eyes, and say, One, two, three, google eyes! And open our eyes, staring crosseyed into our partner.
There was a nice little gang of kids who lived within a few block radius that hung out together. We played softball on a dead end street. We rode our bikes to Franklin Park, a mile away to go swimming in the summer--free, in a city pool with life guards. We played hide and seek and "ghostie" a twilight game played around the outside of a house, preferably with shrubs and other places to hide. We liked to scare each other. We also played "eenie, einie over" in which we were on either side of a house, preferably the back extension which was just one story high. One group threw a ball over the house and the group on the other side had to catch the ball, run around the house (the mystery was which was to run, which way those who were "it" would come from) and try to catch the kids on the other team.
There was a kind of naughty song we liked to sing: Oh, I wish I was a little bar of soap, Oh, I wish I was a little bar of soap! I'd go slippery, slippery, shiney, over everybody's heinie, Oh I wish I was a little bar of soap! Actually, I think the verb form was: I wish I were.... The subjunctive was still then a recognized and respected verb mood along with indicative and iussive.
My sister (two years younger) and I were fortunate to have as friends two sisters who matched our ages. We did so much together! I remember all sorts of card games, monopoly, Chinese checkers, Parchesi, passing many summer afternoons and evenings with the four of us.
Well, those were the "golden summer days of youth" all right! Nice memories to have, now that we are the "old folks."
No comments:
Post a Comment