These lines are chanted by players that stand thus. One places his back against a wall, tree, &c., grasping another, whose back is toward him, round the waist; the second grasps a third, and so on. The player called Jack walks apart until the conclusion of the lines. Then he goes to the others and pokes at or pats them, saying, “I don’t think you’re done yet,” and walks away again. The chant is repeated, and when he is satisfied that the bread is “done” he endeavours to pull the foremost from the grasp of the others, &c.—Warwickshire (Northall’s Folk Rhymes, p. 390).
See “[Mother Mop].”
Jack upon the Mopstick
See “[Bung the Bucket].”
Jackysteauns
A game among school-girls, played with small pebbles, and sometimes with plum or cherry stones (Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary). “A children’s game, played with five white pebbles called Jackstones,” says Mr. Patterson (Antrim and Down Glossary). The game is called “Jack.”
See “[Fivestones],” “[Hucklebones].”
Jauping Paste-eggs
A youthful amusement in Newcastle and the neighbourhood at Easter. One boy, holding an egg in his hand, challenges another to give blow for blow. One of the eggs is sure to be fractured in the conflict, and its shattered remains become the spoil of the conqueror.
See “[Conkers].”