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SKIPPinG CHAHTS FRDm the TWEHTIES and THIRTIES SOME THOUGHTS FROM THE DISTAFF SIDE Skipping was the sport which heralded the advent of spring. All that was needed was a long length of rope which could be purchased at the local hardware store, or filched from the basement or garage. Ownership of the rope precluded the person ever having to be a "turner". (This will ring a bell with the boys - owning the bat or ball never did any harm in baseball.) All the verses to which the girls skipped so energetically had their own particular cadence, called out in a sing-songy manner by all the participants. The basic objective of skipping was to jump over the rope as it was swung around, and if other actions were required, they were indicated by the words of the chant. Do the following sound familiar: We are the Girl Guides dressed in blue. These are the things that we must do -Salute to the King and bow to the Queen And turn our back on the Kaiser Jack. Two little dickie birds sitting on the wall. One named Peter, the other named Paul; Fly away Peter, fly away Paul, Come back Peter, come back Paul.* This ditty required two skippers. On hearing "Fly away Peter", one had to depart, and on the next turn of the rope with"Fly away Paul", so did the second skipper. With the next two turns of the rope, each skipper in turn came back. If either skipper fouled the rope going or coming, there was a penalty - the offender had to take over as turner. Not last night but the night before 24 robbers came knocking at my door, I went downstairs to let them in And they hit me over the head with a rolling pin; I went upstairs to get my gun And you should have seen those robbers run! How many miles did they run? One, two, .... (here the skipper skipped and the turners counted, until a missed turn of the rope or exhaustion ended the turn. But the skipper was not considered "out" if she had gotten through the whole verse. In any of the chants, the addition at the end of "Salt, vinegar, mustard. Pepper" was the signal that the turners were going to spin the rope as fast as they were capable of doing. One last chant, designed for mob skipping and an invariable dispute as to who actually tripped on the rop^: All in together, girls. This fine weather, girls. Put your coats and jackets on. Tell your mother you won't be long Skip around the corner - 19 - 20 -The rope must be empty! (mass exodus) ANDY, ANDY, I OVER This game does not really belong with a section on girls' games, as it was, and perhaps is, played by both boys and girls. No doubt the name changed with locale - it is remembered as "Auntie, Auntie, I Over". All you needed to play it was a ball and a house or building with a piched roof. The players divided into two teams, one on each side of the house. One player threw the ball over the house, shouting as he or she did so, "Andy, Andy, I Over!" If the ball was caught on the fly, the team ran around the house, and the player with the ball could catch an opposing player by tagging him with the ball. No one else could tag - every team member could pretend to have the bal1. By some rules, the tagged player had to play for the other side, and the game ended when the sides became too mismatched No doubt there were many variations of rules and scoring. There was no doubt some slight risk to the windows, but not much as the ball had to be thrown well up if it was to clear the roof. On the other side, the ball either cleared the house, or bounced off the roof - and indeed, the strategy was to mix the shots so that the opposing team could not set itself for one type or the other.