From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
This is the season for ring games at school. There is a pretty one called “Valley.” All the girls form a ring with one girl at the center. Then they walk around her singing. Then she chooses someone to stand with her and it goes on and on until all the girls get used up. I wasn’t chosen until the very end and I guess it was because there was no one left.
The game Hilda refers to was likely “Round the Valley,” which I found in the Primary Education Journal, Volume 18 1910: Mary A. Stillman Games for the School Yard. The game has been played with several different names and lyrics. When I was Hilda’s age, I learned it as Go In and Out the Window. Like her, I remember the discomfort of being chosen last or near last.