This rhyme furnishes a curious example of the continual admixture and degradation incident to children's songs. The essential feature is found in the third stanza, which condenses into three lines a history formerly much more elaborated; thus at the beginning of the century the verse went:—
He knocks at the door and picks up a pin,
And asks if Miss is in.
"She neither is in, she neither is out,
She's in the garret a-walking about."
Down she comes, as white as milk,
A rose in her bosom as soft as silk.
She takes off her gloves and shows me a ring:
To-morrow, to-morrow, the wedding begins.
The verse bears marks of antiquity. Instead of the words "picks up a pin," originally must have stood "pulls at the pin," according to ancient ballad phraseology. The idea of the story is not clear, but obviously refers to the reappearance of a long-lost lover; recognition is effected in the usual manner by means of a ring. The "garret" here takes the place of the "high-loft" in Scandinavian antiquity; the upper story, in every considerable house, contained the apartments of the family. According to what appears to have been an ancient practice, the ballad was preceded by a game-rhyme. The song, "Little Sally Waters," was used in this way in order to determine the heroine; the words, "Water, water, wildflowers," show a confusion resulting from this combination. In England, we find the line running, "Willy, willy, wallflower;" a Philadelphia variant has "Lily, lily, white flower." The fourth and fifth stanzas, again, belong to a separate game; it was an ancient piece of satire that the illnesses of young women were best treated by the prescription of a lover. Finally, the last lines belong to an old Halloween rhyme:—
And if my love be clad in gray,
His love for me is far away;
But if my love be clad in blue,
His love for me is very true.
(See "Games and Songs of American Children," Nos. 12, 13, 35, 36.)
W. W. Newell.
A Dance-Rhyme of Children in Brooklyn, N. Y.—A circle having been formed, the children move slowly, singing as follows:—
Mamma bought me a pincushion, pincushion, pincushion,
Mamma bought me a pincushion,
One, two, three.
At the words, "One, two, three," the children break the circle; each claps hands and turns once round. (This movement appears to make the charm of the game.) The song then proceeds, with repetition, as in the first stanza:—
