And then they inspect the penny peep-show--at least Tom does--while old
Benjy stands outside and gossips and walks up the steps, and enters the
mysterious doors of the pink-eyed lady and the Irish giant, who do not
by any means come up to their pictures; and the boa will not swallow his
rabbit, but there the rabbit is waiting to be swallowed; and what can
you expect for tuppence? We are easily pleased in the Vale. Now there
is a rush of the crowd, and a tinkling bell is heard, and shouts of
laughter; and Master Tom mounts on Benjy's shoulders, and beholds a
jingling match in all its glory. The games are begun, and this is the
opening of them. It is a quaint game, immensely amusing to look at;
and as I don't know whether it is used in your counties, I had better
describe it. A large roped ring is made, into which are introduced
a dozen or so of big boys and young men who mean to play; these are
carefully blinded and turned loose into the ring, and then a man is
introduced not blindfolded; with a bell hung round his neck, and his two
hands tied behind him. Of course every time he moves the bell must ring,
as he has no hand to hold it; and so the dozen blindfolded men have to
catch him. This they cannot always manage if he is a lively fellow, but
half of them always rush into the arms of the other half, or drive their
heads together, or tumble over; and then the crowd laughs vehemently,
and invents nicknames for them on the spur of the moment; and they, if
they be choleric, tear off the handkerchiefs which blind them, and not
unfrequently pitch into one another, each thinking that the other must
have run against him on purpose. It is great fun to look at a jingling
match certainly, and Tom shouts and jumps on old Benjy's shoulders at
the sight, until the old man feels weary, and shifts him to the strong
young shoulders of the groom, who has just got down to the fun.

And now, while they are climbing the pole in another part of the field,
and muzzling in a flour-tub in another, the old farmer whose house, as