mumble-the-peg

In school-days and in town he acknowledged the sway of those mysterious and irresistible forces which produce tops at one season, and marbles at another, and kites at another, and bind all boyish hearts to play mumble-the-peg at the due time more certainly than the stars are bound to their orbits.

Little Rivers; a book of essays in profitable idleness Henry Van Dyke 1892

"To play mumble-the-peg with some boys: Haile Tabb's boys."

The Burial of the Guns Thomas Nelson Page 1887

There were shade-trees all along the street, that you could climb if you wanted to, or that you could lie down under when you had run yourself out of breath, or play mumble-the-peg.

Boy Life Stories and Readings Selected From The Works of William Dean Howells William Dean Howells 1878

If you wanted to play mumble-the-peg, or anything, while your kite was up, you tied it to a stake in the ground, or gave it to some other fellow to hold; there were always lots of fellows eager to hold it.

Boy Life Stories and Readings Selected From The Works of William Dean Howells William Dean Howells 1878

The summer outdoor games were mumble-the-peg, high-spy, snap - the-whip, a rather dangerous performance, in which a long row of boys, with the biggest boy at one end, and tapering down to the smallest at the other end, would run over a field or open space until suddenly the big boy would stop, turn half around, and stand still and hold fast with all his might.

Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 George Frisbie Hoar 1865

Boys were crouched on the earth playing mumble-the-peg.

Margaret 1851

_mumble-the-peg_, because, as he said, you could sit down to play it.

Queer Stories for Boys and Girls Edward Eggleston 1869