Friday, July 8, 2011

Girls, Girls, Come Out to Play



The words on this postcard invite girls to come out to play in the moonshine:
Girls, girls, come out to play
The moon doth shine as bright as day.
Come with a whoop or come with a call,
Come with a good will, or come not at all.
This is based on an old nursery rhyme that is actually about both girls and boys coming out to play:
Girls and boys, are come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Leave your supper, and leave your sleep,
And come with your playfellows into the street.
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A halfpenny roll will serve us all.
You find milk, and I'll find flour,
And we'll have a pudding in half an hour
According to the article in Wikipedia, this verse may date back to the time when children were expected to work during the daylight hours, and play was reserved for late in the evening. At least part of the verse is known to have been published in the 1700s.

7 comments:

  1. i think they're planning to cause some mischief!

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  2. Moon-lit nights are special nights for kids! Of course, that is with the approval of our parents. What a great card. I love the expression on the little girl with a hat on the right. She is probably not too happy over something - or has a stomach ache! LOL.
    Have a great weekend, Postcardy!

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  3. Beautiful card for the theme -- the kids looks so innocent but excitement to play so obvious in some of the faces.

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  4. I can clearly remember my grandmother singing that song to me! And the line about the halfpenny roll was often repeated on its own.

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