"Jeannie jo 's washing clothes, washing clothes, washing clothes, Jeannie jo's washing clothes, and ye can't see her to-day.' "Oh, but I'm sorry, I 'm sorry, Oh, but I'm sorry I can't see her to-day.' "Farewell, ladies, O ladies, O ladies, Farewell, ladies, and gentlemen too."" Then the same verses are repeated for "Starching clothes," Smoothing clothes," and "Dead," including the two final couplets. The verses then proceed with: "What shall we dress her in, dress her in, dress her in? What shall we dress her in? Shall it be black?' 66 6 666 66 6 Black for the sweeps, the sweeps, the sweeps, What shall we dress her in, dress her in, dress her in? "Blue for the sailors, sailors, sailors, Blue for the sailors, and that shall not do.' What shall we dress her in, dress her in, dress her in? "Red for the soldiers, soldiers, soldiers, "What shall we dress her in, What shall we dress her in? dress her in, dress her in? "Orange for the Orange-men, Orange-men, Orange-men, Orange for the Orange-men, and that shall not do.' "What shall we dress her in, What shall we dress her in? dress her in, dress her in? White for the corpse, the corpse, the corpse, White for the corpse, and that will just do.'" They then make a funeral procession, the two biggest making a seat with their hands for " Jenny" and carrying her, followed by the rest in pairs, singing: "We have lost a soldier, soldier, soldier, We have lost a soldier, and the Queen has lost a man. We will bury him in the bed of glory, glory, glory, We will bury him in the bed of glory, and we'll never see him any more." These three examples from England, Scotland, and Ireland must suffice; it would have been easy to print a large number of versions. There are two chief ways in which the game is played, but most of them follow the procedure narrated above, usually with minor variations. The" mother" usually holds out her skirts with both hands so as to hide Jenny" more completely. When "Jenny" is dead she is sometimes covered up. The resuscitation of “ Jenny" is widely spread. At Liphook, in Hampshire, she is swung to life again" by two of the players. In the Southampton version she is called "The Ghost"; the children run away in affected terror, calling out, "The Ghost!"' The second form of playing the game occurs in Shropshire. The players are divided into two sides of about equal numbers, each side advancing and retiring in line when singing their parts. Jenny" in some cases walks with the girls in her line until the funeral, when she is carried to the grave, and in others she stands alone behind the line. The differences in the words of the various versions are comparatively slight. The domestic occupations of washing, drying, folding, starching, and ironing occur more or less in all the variants, except in the most degraded forms; brewing and baking are recorded only in one case. The sequence of "ill,' very ill," "dying," and "dead" may also be abbreviated. 66 The choosing of colours is an important element alike for the living and the dead. In some versions the mourners ask what colour they are to wear when they attend the funeral; red, blue, white, and black are nearly always mentioned, but interesting additions may be made. One version asks" Pink?" with the reply: "Pink is for the babies, babies, babies, Pink is for the babies, and that won't do." In Irish versions we have local colour added. In the North, in reply to the question, “ Shall it be orange?" the mourners are told: "Orange for the Orange-men," &c. One version adds: 66 Shall we come in green?" "Green is for the good people, good people, good people, Green is for the good people. You can't come in that." Calling the fairies "good people," or good people," or "wee-folk," or similar names, is a common practice in Ireland, since these little people individually or collectively do not like to be called by their own name. Of this there are many instances in fairy-lore, but this is by no means confined to fairy-folk. On my first landing on Inishmaan, the central of the three Aran Islands in Galway Bay, I saw a group of two men and two women sitting on the beach. They allowed me to take their photographs,' but when I asked the women to tell me their names so that I might post prints to them, they re 1 Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. (3), ii., pl. xxiii., fig. 7. fused. The women never received their photographs, for to this day I do not know who they were. About an hour afterwards I was measuring some of the men of the island, and I asked a young man who was standing by to let me measure him, and I asked him his name. He would not tell it, but a bystander told it to me. This circumstance reminded me that four years before I had asked a precisely similar question of a Papuan in one of the islands of Torres Straits, who had exhibited the same disinclination to tell his name; further illustrations of this superstition could be multiplied indefinitely. It is interesting to note that the folk credit the same repugnance to being called by their own names to other living things; for example, a fisherman told me that in Aberdeen the salmon is called "the red fish," and in Sunderland the pig is known by fisherfolk as "the queer fellow," it bringing bad luck for them to be called by their proper designations, since in the case of the salmon the fish would not allow themselves to be caught. The meaning of it is simple. It is a very wide-spread belief among primitive peoples-indeed it is universal-that one can gain power over a person by possessing some of his hair, nail-parings, spittle, or whatever it may be. The same property extends to his belongings, and especially to a knowledge of his name; how unlikely would such a person be to voluntarily give his name to a stranger. To come back to "Jenny jo," the final answer to the mourners is that they must come in black, but when the question is asked as to what the dead maiden must be dressed in, the reply is invariably white, in consonance with the custom of very ancient days. The dressing of the dead body of a maiden in white by her girl companions, and the carrying of the body by them to the grave, are common village customs, the whole village being invited to the funeral. As Newell says:' 66 Such imitations of burial ceremonies are not merely imaginative. It was once the custom for the girls of a village to take an active part in the interment of one of their number. In a Flemish town, a generation since, when a young girl died, her body was carried to the church, thence to the cemetery by her former companions. The religious ceremony over, and the coffin deposited in the earth, all the young girls, holding in one hand the mortuary cloth, returned to the church, chanting the Maiden's Dance with a spirit and rhythm scarcely conceivable by one who has not heard it. The pall which they carried to the church was of sky-blue silk, having in the middle a great cross of white silk, on which were set three crowns of silver." The following is a rendering of the Maiden's Dance: The common English name of the game is Jenny Jones," but it is sometimes called "Jenny jo," as it is also in Scotland and North-east Ireland; the latter may safely be regarded as the original form. Mrs. Gomme says: "The corruption of this into Jenny Jones' is exactly what might be expected from modern English ignorance of the pretty 1 Games and Songs of American Children, 1884. p. 65. Bernoni, Cant. Pop. Venez., xi., 2, "Rosetina." |