The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com.  Note: This recording is available upon request. This recording begins at 0:44 with Tom Branch singing several childrens rhymes typically sung while jumping rope, including Im A Little Dutch Girl, I Went Downtown, and K-I-S-S-I-N-G. At 6:06, he lists the elementary schools he attended. Then at 8:20, Maria Branch describes additional jump rope games and rhymes including Cinderella Dressed in Yellow and H-E-L-P. At 13:30, she remembers playing Red Rover, participating in sports, and her extracurriculars at The Childrens School in Midtown. At 17:01, she returns to reciting rhymes including the counting-out game, Tinker, Tailor, and the hand-clapping game, Categories. The audio becomes indecipherable at 24:18, but based on the transcript, at this point Mrs. X remembers marching to the Washington Post March and being part of the first Spring Street School class in 1919. At 28:58, she remembers how to play the ball game OLeary and the Wire, Briar, Limber-Lock childrens rhyme. Next at 34:02, children from the Spring Street School describe their favorite games which include, Hop-Scotch, football, Cinderella Dressed in Yellow, basketball, and a jump rope game from Andy Griffith.  The First Presbyterian School Church Afterschool Program was an after school program attended by Spring Street Elementary School students. Spring Street Elementary School was the first integrated elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2014, the school closed and became part of the Center for Puppetry Arts.  (~ Co\\l:'c.J'\,:,,, c\ Lh, I ctr-<\', Qt-, 11ne;; r,,c l< 1/t)( Geo<");"'- Fo\klDr'e~ Pfb)e.cJ ~J o ve-n\ h<tr ;/. 0 1 \ C\ 11..{ c,:,\\e.J-<-J  --JLJ.io_ )\j, f)O.)<)tg_ 1, Tom Branch IV 9 years old 4th grade INFORMERS attended Spring St. School from kindergarten to 3rd now attends the Children's School has always lived in Ansley Park 2, Maria Branch 11 years old sixth grade attended Spring St. School from kindergarten to .St h now attends the Children's School has always lived in Ansley Park 3. Mrs. X born in 1913 attended Spring St. School from first to seventh ( 1919-192.5 ) lived on Lombardy Way during grammar school and has lived in various locations in Ansley Park and Brookwood Hills since then 4. Marie Dolger, 8 years, )rd grade at Spring 5, Dimitri Walker, 8 years, )rd grade at Spring 6. Bruce Weiskirber, 8 years, )rd grade at Spring 7, Kim Weiskirber, 10 years, 4th grade at Spring 8, Kathryn Knapp, 10 years, 4th grade at Spring 9, Anonymous, 9 years, 4th grade at Spring 10, Elisabeth Dolger, 11. years, .5th grade at Spring 11, Wanda Jones, 11 years, .5th grade at Spring 12, Jeffrey Colby, 7 years, 2nd grade at Spring St. 13, Carlos Fry, 7 years, 2nd grade at Spring St, SETTING I, I talked with Tom and Maria in their home one evening before dinner. We sat in their well decorated but informal library. They live 1n a redecorated old Ansley Park house. I found it easy to talk with them since I have known them both since they were toddlers. They used to live next door to my parents. While WP talked, Tom squirmed around a lot and acted a bit uneasy with the recorder. Later, Maria came in. We closed the doors and Tom kept making noise outside until he finally stuck his head in the room and started talking again. IL I talked with Mrs. X at her home in Ansley Park, It 1.s an old house being held together at hhe seams by numerous replasteri.ng, repaperi.ng, and remodeling jobs. We talked in her kitchen which is comfortable but almost too sterile bright. Mrs. X is a close relative so our rapport is good except perhaps for the strain of of being too close. I was.with David Wright when we recorded. His voice can be heard in the background. Mrs. X does not like to be recorded, because, she says, the sound of her voice embarrasses her. I kind of sneaked up on her by turning on the recorder before I told her it was on. Later, she produced some pictures of her tenth(?) birthday party showing several girls playing "O-leery" ball on the sidewalk on Lombary Way. She said that one of her in-laws of the same genAration played the same game as a child in Baltlmore. III.The First Presbyterian Church offers an afternoon program for neighborhood. children who go to Spring St. I have helped with the tutoring program in the past but did not know any of the children there now before talking with them. On the day of this recording, the children were divided up in rooms according to grade level for the purpose of tu,toring. Some of them. were very interested in the recorder aind wanted to show off, Only a couple of others were very timid and did not want to say anything. After this trial collection, I am convinced. of the importance of a prior or developing relationship with the informers. I received much more useful information from those whom I had known before. TRANSCRIPT 1.. , -6 Background 7-8 Two, four, six, eight Meet me at the garden gate If I'm late, do not wait Two, four, six, eight 9-11 I'm a little sailor girl dressed in blue, These are the orders that I must do: Salute to the general, bow to the captain And turn m-:v: baok ,~,EJ.11Bubmarine." 1.2-17 - Is that a "submarine", you said? Yl!ah OK, Is that one that the girls do? YES! The girls do it and you learned it from the girls, Is that right? Um-huh 18-il I went downtown, I met Miss Brown, She gave me a nickle, I bought a pickle. The pickle was sbU~.  I bought a flower, The flower was sweet, And that's where I can't remember, Is there something after that, after buying a flower? Yeah. And then .. ,well I can't remember it, Does it have an end to it? Can you remember the end? The end? Yeah. OK. What's the end of it? OK. The pin was thin, Wait, I bought a ... ummmm, Something, And then, well after that, the part that Then at the very end, it goes ... Teddybear, Teddybear, show your shoe, Teddybear, Teddybear,.,.umm ... something I can't remember. And then it goes ... Teddy bear, Teddybear, now skidoo, And then it goes on, I can't remember. Is that something you just say for fun? Or do you do it, like, when you're playing a game? Well,,,while you're jumping rope. Do you jump rope much? NOOOO! Wellll,.,l have before once. Well, don't you like it? Yeah,,,1t1 s fun, Well,you gotta be a good jumper to do it good, d.on't you. Yeah, I know,I know .. What two names should I say? Oh, just make up a name, You can do it about some of your friends if you want. Cause, see I wouldn't know who they are, OK. Or just make up one if you want to. OK,now. Are you ready? Chris and DeeDee, sitting in a tree, K-I-s-s-I-N-G. First comes marriage, then comes bride, Then comes Chris and the baby carriage. Is that Chris "in" a baby carriage? Yep. She s not carry1.ng one, she s in one.. Is that right? Let's see .. ,ummm ... They get a new baby, Oh, I see. So that s Chris and the baby carriage. Uh-huh, You kn ow any others that you say about friends like that? Let-Me-Think. Ok, now Tom is gonna tell us about the school that he goes to now, He used to go to Spring Street School from ... Did you start in kindergarten? At Spring Street? YEP! You went from kindergarten through third grade. Is that right? YEP. And now you go to  Where do you go? Children's School, OK, And where is that? It's across the street from Piedmont Park and a. few houses down from .. umm,.,Grady .. Grady High School. And now you're at the fourth grade at the Children's School. YEP. OK, Do.,, uh ... do the children that go to the Children's School live around here or do they come from all over the city? Oh, lots of places. Well some live near here and some don't. One Qf:them lives right down there, One lives up that hill a littte bit, But one of 'em, he's one of my best friends, but he lives on Monroe Dr. Well, that's pretty close to the school isn't it? Um-huh, ~~ Now we're talking to Maria Branch who is .. ,how old? Uh, .. 11. Takes you a while to think,huh, Maria's eleven years old and in what grade,,,sixth grade at the Children's School, And she's gonna tell us about some jump rope rhymes she remembers and other things, Alright, like there's go to school", First rule, which I forgot. one that's called "Register, register, you register and then you say the golden Then like you run through for kindergarten, There two people on the end of the jump-rope turning it and each person goes through and does this? Yeah. And then for first grade you jump once and get out, Then for second grade you jump in twiceand get out and so on up until you can't do it any more. And you're running around in circles as you do it, And then there's one you do with the jump-rope except you're not turning it as you do it. But first it's on the ground and you get a long line of people. Ther are two people holding the rope. And it's down on the ground and everybody just steps over it, Then it raises up a little bit and then you jump over it. And you keep jumping over it more and more and more until it gets so high that you can't jump.  Do you call the. t anything? I don't know the name of it, I don't think there is any name for it. Then theresthis other game at school that's not with jump-rope. You all sit: on the ground on stairs but first you get where there isn't any stairs on the bottom step. Then like the teacher she.,, this is called school ... and the teacher will have a rook and she'll put it in one hand behind her back and the person's supposed to guess which rock it's in and then if she gets it, you go on up the step, When you get to the top of the stairs, you're the teacher. So the first one to get to the top of the stairs is the teacher, Then another game,,, there's alot of games we play. Do you remember.' .. do you ever play chinese jump-rope? Oh yeah, that's hard, Well, how do you play it? Do you play it with string or elastic or something? Well ther' s 'this elastic circle type thing. A person gets like here and here with their feet inside the thing. Then one person will.,. how does that go. You take the rope by this leg (right) and put it here(jumping irom left to right so that the lines are crossed and both legs'are inside the crossed part)and then you jump out and you keep doing it faster and faster until you get all tangled up.   I remember doing that one but I didn't remember how to do it, Let's see, Are there any other things you can remember about. like .Jumping rope or any rhymes like say if you I re counting out like "one potato.two potato"or something like that? There I s this! orie jump-rope rhyme called Cinderella, 'dressed in yellow ... Do you know the rest of it? Yeah. Cinderella, dressed in yellow Went upsta1rs to,kiss a fellow. Made a mistake and kissed a snake. How many doctors did it take? And then you ~o :t:Etlal fast--1,2,3,4-,5,6,-- as far as you can go. Oh . ther' s a really hard one called HELP, And the first one for His high waters and that's real high ,jumping rope. And then E, I think E is regular. Then L, I forgot also. Then Pis peppers which goes really, really fast, And then after you've done that, you scream out "HELP" cause you can't do it any more after doing peppers. ,:,1{ When you' ni tired? ' Yeah, What do you call that? HELP That s ,Just regular jumping, you don't say anythinglike a rhyme? No. I don't remember saying anything. . ii One game everybody used to play .. , I forgot the name of 1t. But it's where a whole bunch of people get in line. There will be two lines and they'd hold hands. And they'd send somebody over and if they couldn't break theline .. Like "Red Rover"? Yeah, that'sit. Everybody plays kickball and football. Do you play batball any more? Sometimes.' Did you play that at Spring St.? Yeah ,played that at Spring St. Do you play it at the Children's School? Um, I don't remember.doln' that, What we do at the Children's School ls we go over to the park for lunch everyday. It's really fun. Artd so people are swinging and jogging. We jog around the lake sometimes. It's a mile. And it's fun cause everybody is, staring at you, and goes, "Gosh,long way isn't it?" . ' ,1,1, Like we go to the museum a lot and to the library a lot, And where else do we, go? Do you get to wea.rwhatever you want to? Yeah. I normally wear'what I'm wearing now, (jeans, sneakers, sweater and army ,Jacket) An d the teachers are really neat, we get to call them'by first names. And we all get to chew gum, which is fun cause.,. With braces!? I ' I don't do it. :r used to. But then Daddy said, " Don't do it any more,. or 'else. 11 I    And another thin@! is what we did at Spring St. We had music lessona, And I took viola .    But now I'm horse-back riding.    ' . Can you rtelliember 1'an-y_ more rhymes?  \'18 Like if you're counting out. Oh, TheresIB ubblegum pot a to, two potato". everybody says it all ,, in a dish, I can't remember. And "One Oh, one thing .. what is tt ... Gosh the time, I forgot it, Oh, yeah, ..  i')i 1\i/.1 Eeny, meeny, miney, moe Catcha fellow by the toe If he hollers, let him go EEny, meeny, miney, moe My mother said to pick the very best one and you are not it, And then you can either say, you are not it or you are it,. Oh, a game,,,it's a game sorta but sorta not. Like you might say II a dead skunk in the middle of the road. I one the dead skunk in the middle of the road , 11 The next person goes, 11 I two it," Then you say" I three it." And so on and so on until the even person says"I eight it". Which is very gross. Then it quits after the person "ate"it, \",,1 Tom was telling me one about " I went downtown and saw Ms, Brown ... I went downtown and met Miss Brown She gave me a nickle. I bought a pickle, The pickle was sour. I bought a flower. The flower was red, I bought some thread. The thread was thin. I bought a pin . The pin was sharp. I bought a harp, And on that harp I played: Teddybear, Teddybear, turn around, Teddybear, Teddybear, touch the ground, Teddybear, Teddybear, show your shoe. Teddybear, Teddybear, now skiddoo, You do it while you're jumping rope, Then there's this ball bouncing one, I forgot it,,,Oh, yeah,,, umm, .. 1t goes something like ... Meet me at the gate If I'm late, do not wait We got that off the "Noise an d Quiet" record     Oh I know one jump-rope tune Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, Doctor, lawyer, indian chief, Which of these will be my husband? And then you say those over again and whichever you land on, .. You keep saying that over and over until you land on one. And Whichever it is, that's what you're gonna marry. And. o. Down in the field where the green grass grows, Sits-,--- as pretty as a rose. Then you say this boy's name.,, How many kisses does she get? And then you count off I didn't even make it to where you count. I didn't want to, Say that one all at once .. Down in the field where the green grass grows. Sits Mary, pretty as a rose. Along came John and kissed her on the hand. How many kisses did she get? And you count on and see how many she got, There's one that they used to do but I forgot, And there are a lot of handclapping things where you clap you hands. Therewas one that they used to do a whole bunch but I forgot it  There's this game called categories, and you go ... (Pat thighs with both hands, clap both hands, then snap right fingers, then the left fingers to a four-count rhythm.)' Cata- gories (Pat* clap - snap - snap) Thinking - of ( Pat - clap snap snap f Names of (Pat clap snap snap ) And then you go "cars" and naming a whole bunch of cars. But you gotta do it when you're snapping or else it doesn't work, And if you don't do it whila you're snapping, you get out, And you keep going til there's only one person left, Do you go in a circle? Yeah. What kind of things do you do for categories? Oh, you can do anything, Like names of people, cars, names of girls, names of boys, names of dogs, anything you want, plants, whatever ..     and it would play the Washington Post March (dum-de-dum) and we were supposed to march in to that ... The principal had a bell about so big around, She would take the clapper to the bell and keep time with it .    Would you like to give yo' ur background .. You were born and raised in Atlanta.. You were born in 1913, And you were in the first class of Spring St. School in 1919, When you were in your Spring St. School days, did you live in this area of town? On Lombardy way .. ... within a coupla blocks of the school,,,  Eeny, meeny, dixie, deeny Hit 'im a lick and John McQueeny Times, Times, American Times Eighteen hundred and ninety-nine What would you say that one for? I think it was counting out .    It was a game that girls played with a ball about the size of a softball but one that would bounce. And each girl would have a ball or else they would take turns passing. the ball around. And what they would do would sing this little song or rhyme, And as they did it there were certain motions that they would do with each,,,uh.,,each time the ball bounced and you said "O-leery", they made a circle with the forearm so that the hand would go completely around the ball, and not miss a bounce . So if I had a ball,. you could here the ball bounce. But it went sorta like this ... (At this point the tape runs out. The verse goes as follows: 1,2,3 0-leery 4,5,6 0-leery 7,8,9 0-leP-ry 10 0-leery postman **This begins the other side of the tape. I;)" i The next time one did the 0-leery thing, he would do his hand in the opposite direction, And then the next time with his left hand. And then in the opposite direction. And then would bounce it and would have to kick his leg over the ball as it bounced, And then kick the other leg over the ball, And then it was fun to try to think up other things that you could do with the ball. And when you had done all that you started all over again, ... This goes back another generation around the turn of the century,, ora little earlier, And when counting out, they would say: Briar, briar, limber-lock Three geese in a flock One flew east and one flew west And one flew over the cuckoo's nest : L) OK, we're now talking to some children from Spring St, School, And here is, . Marie Dolger. How old are you? 8yrs. old And what grade are you l.n? Jrd grade  ' What I s your favorl. te game to play at school? Hop scotch,  Tell me your name. Dimitri Walker How old are you? 8 And what grade are you in? Jrd What's your favorite. game to play? Teddybear How do you do tryat? You say,,, Teddybear, Teddybear touch the sky Teddybear, Teddybear show your glass eye  Teddybear, Teddybear take off your wl.g Teddybear, Teddybear dance like a jig., Do you do that when you're jumpl.ng rope? I dooo,  (% Do you know any,others like that? Hold on - Leggo You have a big o'l' cloth, .. and like ther 1 11 be a person, .. and if he say "hold on" you're supposed to leggo, And if he say "leggo" , you hold on. So who wins? Whoever doesn't !Dake a mistake , .. cause the leader says it very fast .. ,whoever doesn't make a mistake supposed to be the leader .    What's your name? Bruce Weiskirber, How old are you? 8 What grade are you in? Jrd What's your favorite game? Football  ; 1, What's your name? Kim Weiskirber How old are you? 10 What grade are y6u in? 4th ( She reads this), . Some days I go with Daddy for a walk, ,Just us two men together. And we talk about the funny thing we see. I talk to Daddy and he talks to me. ' Way down the river where the big ships lie, we stride along top;~ther, Dad and I, He has a waterproof and delt-1.ike mine that's why :i;: like it better.with him. Did you learn tha't i.n school? Wellyeah, Did your teacher ask you to write it down? No she didn I t af>)l: us to write it down, I learned it from somebody else .    She's gonna say a jump-rope rhyme What's your name? Kathryn Knapp How old. are you? 10 What grade are 1(01-/-; .in? 4th  Cinderella dressed in yellow Went upstairs to kiss a fellow Made a mistake and klssed a snake How many doctorl!F)IHd' l t take And ,Just count i,2,3, and lllte that until somebody misses  Anonymous How old are youJ .. 9 What grade are you in? 4th I want to tell you a jump-rope rhyme I learned on Andy Gri.ffith. It's about this drunk guy told it to him, He wasn't drunk but he's the town drunk, And this is what he said, he said: Barney and Andy, Letme in Or I.'11 go out , And get some gip, ... Have you ever said that when you' re ,Jumping rope? I ,Just learned it yesterday. ltI' The Golden arm  'rhe Red Ribbon . . . What's your name? Elisabeth Delger, that's where it is ... How old are you? I'm 11. What grade are you in at Spring St.? 5th At recess, what's your favorite game? Basketball    ,o1 Wanda Jones. I'm 11 years old ... What grade are you in? 5th    ,I\ Rhymes through school, What's that. Jump-rope. You wanna tell me how to do that one? See the first time you only jump nary" a time, Then when you get another turn you .Jump one time, then you jump two times, then you jump three times and all the way up .. If you miss, you have to go all the way back to the kindergarten. Do you say anything while youre jumping like that?  --~>"i Ice cream, Ice cream, latrine and toilet Tell me the name of yoursweetheart. A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q, . If you stop on say g, you have to say Gregory, Gregory do you love her? Yes, no, maybe so  Then when you get through that one you say Wanda, Wanda do you love him? Yes, no, maybe so ... Then you.go'tta say what kind of car you gonna have. Likea Buick or a Chevrolet or something like that. And what kind of house     i/7::, What's your name? Jeffrey Colby How old are you? 7 What grade are you in? 2nd, What's your favorite game to play? Most of the time I play kickball, Do you play jump-rope? Wellllll,, .... sometimes,,,I don't really play jump-rope a lot .    Do you play tag? Unhuh, If you want to figure out who's gonna be it in tag, how do you do it? We say 1,2,3 and whoever's the last person to say Not it, then they're it. What khld of tag do you play? Well, freeze tag, informers: 1&2 location: 7&195-I usage: ball bounce origin: record , . 1; 91 - from the girls l; 48-I for teasing 2&8; 124-I & 110-II ,Jumprope 2; 179-I for counting 2;182-I counting out 1&2;18&185-I jumprope 1; 206-I ,jumprope A COLLECTION OF CHILDREN'S RHYMES Two, four, six, eight Meet me at the garden gate If I'm late do not wait Two, four, six, eight I'm a little sailor girl dressed in blue These1'are the orders that I must do Salute to the general, bow to the captain And turn my back to a "submarine" (some marine?) and ___ , sitting in a tree K-I-S''-S-I-N-G First comes marriage, then comes bride Then comes ___ and the baby carriage Cinderella, dressed in yellow Went upstairs to kiss a fellow Mad<" a mistake and kissed a snake How many doctors did it take? 1,2,),4,5,6,7,8,9 .. . Bubblegum in a Dish .. . Qne potato, two potato., . Eeny, 'meeny, miney, moe Catch'a fellow by the toe If he hollers, let him go Eeny, meeny, miney, moe My mother said to pick The very best one And you are are not lt I went downtown and met Miss Brown. She gave me a nickle. I bought a pickle, The pickle was sour. I bought a flower. 1he flbwer was red. I bought some thread. The thread was thin, I bought a pin, The pin was sharp, I bought a harp, And on that harp I played: Teddybear, Teddybear, turn around. TeddybEiar, Teddybear, -touch the grou>1d. Teddybear, Teddybear, show your shoe. Teddybear, . Teddybear, now skiddoo. Rich mli'::t\, poor man, beggar man, thief, Doc tor, lawyer, Indian chief, Which ot these will be my husband? 1; 2251 ,jumprope 3;3.571 counting out 3; 377-1 ball bounce 3; 21-11 counting out 5; 51-11 ,Jumprope 9; 120-11 ,Jumprope? from TV 11; 233-II jumprope Down in the field where the green grass grows, Sits ___ , as pretty as a rose, Along came ___ and kissed her on the hand, How many kisses did she get? 1,2,3,4,.5,6,7,8,9 ... Eeny, meeny, dixie, deeny Hit 'im a lick and John McQueeny Times, Times, American Times Eighteen hundred and ninety-nine 1, 2, 3 0-leery 4,5,6 0-leery 7,8,9 0-lel!?ry 10 0-leery postman Briar, briar, limber-lock Three geese in a flock One flew east and one flew west And ohe flew over the cuckoo's nest Teddybear, Teddybear, touch the sky TeddybAar, Teddybear, show your glass eye Teddybear, Teddybear, take off your wig Teddybear, Teddybear, dance like a (jig?} Barney an.d Andy Let me in Or I'll go out And gAt some gin Ice cream, ice cream, (latrine and toilet?) rell me the name of your sweetheart A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,l,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T, .. G ___ , G ___ , do you love her? Yes, no,m,,.ybe so -------- do you love him? Yes, no, maybe so  A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access.  Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.  As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.