They then quickly take hands again, and dance round, singing as before:
“Here we go round the mulberry bush,” &c.
They next make pretend they are brushing their clothes as they sing:
“This is the way we brush our clothes—
Brush our clothes—brush our clothes;
This is the way we brush our clothes,
Of a cold and frosty morning.”
A similar pantomime is gone through to represent brushing their boots, combing their hair, or any other act that may happen to strike their childish fancy, each verse ending with the refrain :
“Here we go round the mulberry bush,” &c.
The two last verses are generally those describing their going to and their coming from school, the former being signified by covering their faces with their hands, and the latter by unbounded skipping and jumping, testifying to the exuberance of their joy, during which the ring is broken up, and, as often as it is thought desirable, the game recommenced.
This game, of course, is by no means peculiar to Dorset.
Another version, which has the appearance of a fragment merely, is as follows:
“All round the mulberry bush,
Maidens all together,
Give a kiss and take a kiss,
And curtsey all together.” (Symondsbury.)
(vi.)—Kiss-in-the-ring.
In order to play this universally popular game a ring is formed, and one of the players (usually a girl), carrying a handkerchief, commences to walk slowly round the outside of the ring, repeating these words:
“I sent a letter to my love,
And on the way I dropped it;
And one of you has picked it up
And put it in your pocket.”
