Oranges and Lemons

Game Playing in 1912

This 1912 illustration emphasizes the rhyme as children’s game, showing children playing the game in the foreground. Church steeples (which appear to be the ones mentioned in the rhyme) are seen in the background, and the border includes round orange shapes which could be oranges. Children viewing this illustration can easily see how the game is played and take it to their own playgrounds. The dainty, proper-looking clothing of the girls playing the game, and the happy expressions on their faces, undermine the violence at the end of the rhyme.