<P> Before the last line, the children stop suddenly, then exclaim it together, "suiting the action to the word with unfailing hilarity and complete satisfaction". </P> <P> In his Games and Songs of American Children (1883), William Wells Newell reports several variants, one of which he provides with a melody and dates to New Bedford, Massachusetts around 1790: </P> <P> Ring a ring a Rosie, A bottle full of posie, All the girls in our town Ring for little Josie . </P> <P> Newell writes that' (a) t the end of the words the children suddenly stoop, and the last to get down undergoes some penalty, or has to take the place of the child in the centre, who represents the "rosie" (rose - tree; French, rosier).' </P>

Where did the song ring around the rosies come from