In the third plan ([fig. 3]) the game is:—Put pebble in No. 1. Pick up. Hop, having one foot in No. 2 and the other in No. 3. Step into No. 4. Hop, having one foot in No. 5 and the other in No. 6. Jump round. Go back as you came. Then with stone on shoe, walk through the figure, kick it up and catch at the close. Place stone on eyelid; walk through the same figure, dropping it off into hand at close. This is called “jumping.”
In the fourth plan ([fig. 4]) the game is:—Throw stone into No. 1. Pick it up. Hop from No. 1 to No. 8, not touching lines. So successively into Nos. 2, 3, 4, &c. Walk into No. 1 with stone on foot, and out at No. 8. Kick it up and catch it. The same with stone on thumb. Toss it up and catch. Again with stone on your back. Straighten up, let it slide into your hand.
In Stead’s Holderness Glossary, this is described as a boys’ or girls’ game, in which the pavement is chalked with numbered crossed lines, and a pebble or piece of crockery is propelled onward by the foot, the performer hopping on one leg, the number reached on the chalk-line being scored to him or her. At Whitby it is called “[Pally-ully],” and played with rounded pieces of pot the size of a penny. Divisions are chalked on the pavement, and the “pally-ullies” are impelled within the lines by a hop on one leg, and a side shuffle with the same foot (Whitby Glossary). It is sometimes called “[Tray-Trip].” Atkinson describes the figure as oblong, with many angular compartments (Cleveland Glossary). Jamieson defines “[Beds]” as “Hop-scotch,” a game denominated from the form, sometimes by strangers called squares. In Aberdeen the spaces marked out are sometimes circular.
Mrs. Lincoln sends a diagram of the game from Dublin ([fig. 6]). Addy (Sheffield Glossary) under the name of “[Hop-score]” says it is a game in which certain squares are drawn or scored on the ground. The piece of stone which is pushed with the foot is called the “scotch.” Elworthy (West Somerset Words) says a piece of tile is kicked over lines and into squares marked on the ground. It is called “[Hickety-Hackety],” also “Huckety.” Cope (Hampshire Glossary) says it is played in Hants. Moor (Suffolk Words and Phrases) describes this game under the name of “[Scotch-hob],” by hopping and kicking a bit of tile from bed to bed of a diagram which he gives ([fig. 5], here printed). Brockett (North Country Words) calls it “[Beds].” Barnes (Dorset Glossary) only says “hopping over a parallelogram of scotches or chalk-lines on the ground.” F. H. Low, in Strand Magazine, ii. 516, says the divisions are respectively named onesie, twosie, threesie, foursie, and puddings. It is called “Hop-bed” at Stixwold in Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock), “[Hop-score]” in Yorkshire (Halliwell, l.c.), and “Hitchibed” in Cleveland, Yorks. (Glossary of Cleveland Words). Strutt describes it (Sports, p. 383); and Wood’s Modern Playmate, p. 32, gives a diagram similar to one seen on a London pavement by A. B. Gomme (see [fig. 7]). Mr. Emslie has sent me [figs. 9 and 10], also from London streets. Newell (Games, p. 188) speaks of it as a well-known game in America.
Mr. Elworthy (West Somerset Words) says, “Several of these (diagrams marked on the ground) are still to be seen, scratched on the ancient pavement of the Roman Forum.” Mr. J. W. Crombie says, “The game of ‘Hop-scotch’ was one of considerable antiquity, having been known in England for more than two centuries, and it was played all over Europe under different names. Signor Pitré’s solar explanation of its origin appeared improbable to him, for not only was the evidence in its favour extremely weak, but it would require the original number of divisions in the figure to have been twelve instead of seven, which was the number indicated by a considerable body of evidence. It would seem more probable that the game at one time represented the progress of the soul from earth to heaven through various intermediate states, the name given to the last court being most frequently paradise or an equivalent, such as crown or glory, while the names of the other courts corresponded with the eschatological ideas prevalent in the early days of Christianity.” Some such game existed before Christianity, and Mr. Crombie considered that it had been derived from several ancient games. Possibly the strange myths of the labyrinths might have had something to do with “Hop-scotch,” and a variety of the game played in England, under the name of “Round Hop-scotch,” was almost identical with a game described by Pliny as being played by the boys of his day. Mr. Crombie also said he “believed that the early Christians adopted the general idea of the ancient game, but they not only converted it into an allegory of heaven, with Christian beliefs and Christian names; they Christianised the figure also; they abandoned the heathen labyrinth and replaced it by the form of the Basilicon, the early Christian church, dividing it into seven parts, as they believed heaven to be divided, and placing paradise, the inner sanctum of heaven, in the position of the altar, the inner sanctum of their earthly church.”
See “[Hap the Beds].”[Addendum]
Hop, Step, and Jump
See “[Half-Hammer].”
Hornie
A game among children in which one of the company runs after the rest having his hands clasped and his thumbs pushed out before him in resemblance of horns. The first person whom he touches with his thumbs becomes his property, joins hands with him, and aids in attempting to catch the rest: and so on until they are all made captives. Those who are at liberty still cry out, “Hornie, Hornie.”—Lothian (Jamieson).