Wexford Wanderings
by Hugh E. Conway
School Games
In 1857, the children in the Wexford area began attending classes at the Lamb School in Lafayette County, with the first teacher being Ann Dishart. The Lamb School was located half a mile south of what would later become the Wexford School. Anne Dishart was also the first instructor at the Wexford School. Other early teachers for the children of Wexford included Anne Ryan and James Lyons.
All work and no play can make Dick and Jane restless and may lead to troublesome students. There were no cell phones, computers, televisions, video games or even radios in the early rural school house. The students would have to come up with fun activities and a number of inventive games to play during recess and lunch time. When the weather was good, there were a number of outside games involving running that the students enjoyed playing, such as: Drop the Handkerchief, Hide and Go Seek, Tag, Kick the Can, Johnny May We Cross Your River, Red Rover, and “New York, Boston, or New Orleans”.
Drop the Handkerchief was a game where one player runs behind the other students who are in a circle. The player selects one student and drops the handkerchief behind them. That boy or girl must then pick up the handkerchief and run around the circle and catch or tag the person who dropped the handkerchief before he or she reaches the vacant place in the circle. The winner is the boy or girl who tags or catches the runner, or the runner who gets back to the vacant place in the circle before being tagged. The loser then takes the handkerchief and starts over by moving around the circle of students.
In Hide and Go Seek, the students hide in the area near the schoolhouse while the seeker, or sometimes when there are many students two seekers, close their eyes and count to 20 or a set number. The counting allows time for the other students to find a hiding place. When the number was reached, the players who are “IT” open their eyes and shout, “Ready or not, here I/we come.” The chaser “IT” student/s attempt to find all of the concealed students. The game ends when all of the students are found. The last student found is then the chaser in the next game of Hide and Go Seek.
Tag is a game where one student is “IT” and tries to touch another student, who then becomes “IT”. Often, the way to choose the first person is by using a counting series such as “eeny, meeny, miny, moe; you’re “IT;” let’s go.” There are different versions, such as each person tagged becomes “IT” and the last student not tagged starts the next game. Another version has only one person at a time “IT” and the game continues until the end of recess or until the children get tired and want to play another game.
Kick the Can is a derivation of Hide and Go Seek and Tag but in this case the person/persons “IT” have to touch (tag) a student sending them to a holding area (jail). There is a can in the middle of an open area in full view of the jail. The rest of the free players try to kick the can before being tagged. If tagged, they went to jail, but if they can kick the can before being tagged, then all students in the jail are set free and must be tagged again. This was a fast-paced game of attack and conquer and often there are two people “IT”, one to tag and one to guard the can.
In Johnny May We Cross Your River, there are two safe zones; one safe zone with Johnny and the other where all of the other students start. Students yell, “Johnny may we cross your river” and Johnny replies with “Only if you have a (this is where the player Johnny could pick whatever he wished; for example, blue pants or red hair or brown shoes). Anyone meeting the stated requirements can run across to safety. Other students who did not meet the requirement, try to bluff or sneak across. Otherwise, they have to wait until the next requirement is stated. Johnny tries to catch players who try to sneak across without meeting the stated requirement. When Johnny successfully catches a student who does not meet the set requirement, the two would change places and the captured student would then become Johnny. If all of the students made it to Johnny’s side of the river, another student would be given the role of Johnny and the game would continue going the opposite direction.
The Red Rover game consisted of two teams lined up opposite of each other by approximately 30 feet. Each team forms a chain by interlocking hands. The first team calls a player from the other team over by saying, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send (one player’s name) over.” The called student runs to the opposite team and tries to break the chain by running through the line and breaking the linked hands. If the person fails to break the chain, this player then becomes a member of the team that called Red Rover. If the person successfully breaks the chain of hands, one of the two persons whose linked hands were broken are captured and brought back to the other side. Teams take turns calling out Red Rover and challenging a player at a time from the opposing team. Each team tries to maintain the integrity of the interlocked chain of hands and the goal is to end up with the most players on your side. The game ends when all players end up on one side or recess ends. Red Rover is not a game for the fainthearted, as students run full tilt into a line trying to break apart two hands. Students often had to be reminded that this is just a game and not to hold hands too tightly causing injury to the players.
New York, Boston, or New Orleans is another game where two sides are chosen with each side having a home base. The two home bases were spaced far enough apart to allow a reasonable running distance. To start the game, one side leaves its home base and approaches to a halfway point in front of the opposing team. Previously, the approaching team would agree upon an activity, concept, animal or bird and start a dialog such as:
Approaching team: “Here we come.”
Opponent: “Where you from?”
Approaching team: (They would pick and state) “New York or Boston or New Orleans.”
Opponent: “What’s your trade?”
Approaching team: Would pick something to act out (such as baseball, lemonade, etc.)
Opponent: “Show us some, if you’re not afraid.”
The approaching team would act out the agreed upon thing, such as an “elephant,” making swinging movement and motions like an elephant. The players on the opposite team tried to guess the charade. As soon as someone called out correctly “Elephant”, the actors were chased back toward their own home base. Anyone tagged before they reached the home base switched sides. The opponents now became the approaching team. The game continued until everyone was on one side.
