The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-02-19

Pharisee, however, who could have seen
harm in the booming ice, or sinful pos
sibilities in the glowing cheeks and
bright eyes of the boys and girls who
lived in the purple island of long ago,
and who skated until the lights began
to twinkle out from the scattered homes
where the famous old time suppers
were being prepared for the young rev.
oilers.
1t is not to be wondered at that wise
people see harm in q room full of
sophisticated young men and women.
who race around upon little wooden
wheels, and devote their attention
wholly to the art of Irritation. OF
course, swimming and skating come BY
nature, and may with difficulty be clas-
sified as games. They simply put one
in tune for games. They were sort
of preparatory ceremony which ushercd
in the real business of boyhood. It is
difficult to understand how the boy of
to-day amuses himself when he is not
at dancing school or in attendance on
his young lady friends. What horror
would it not occasion in the breast of
the boy of 1886, for instance. to be in
vited to play pony. sometimes called
''strong back?"
In this barbarous game two sides
were chosen. one of whom were
down." that is, about half a dozen
boys bad to make back as if for leap
frog. close together and in line. When
all were down the other side had to
jump on the pony, one by one. the pur-
pose being to break the pony down by
accommodating more boys on top
than the boys underneath could bear
up against. This had to.be done with
Judgment, for unless all of the ups
could get on. and unless none of the UNI
der ones broke while the leader counted
twenty-five. the positions were reversed
and the others had a shy at the former
climbers. 1t was rough game in
which skinned shins and barked noses
generally occurred.
Then there was prisoners base" in
the good old times which should be
played in the woods with the bases a
good half mile apart so that surprises
could be possible. 1t was play which
included tremendous amount of rum
ming. and some mathematics, and there
were tops. marbles and kites. 1t always
will be mystery. the hidden law which
teaches the young male of the human
species when marble time ends and top
time begins. You may 90 along the
streets for days and DAYS and see moth
ing but marbles on every piece of
smooth clay near the sidewalks. and
then suddenly all the marbles disappear
in night and you see nothing but tops
all over town. Do thew hold a cOnven-
ton and pass resolutions. or how do
they manage it? We used to have a
feeling that the sun of marbles had set.
1t generally occurred when We had lost
all of our ''chinics. ''commans." 'al-
leys." 'potterics. ''flints' and 'taws'
and we would begin gambling for tops
with the same zeal and singlehearted-
ness. After all. it was only the accu-
mulative instinct strongly at work in
boyhOOd that gave an interes: to these
plays. 1t was always easy to break up
any such pastimc by proposal to play
''nigger baby" which is probably UNI
known to the boys of this generation.
A number of holes would be dug out in
the clay. one for each boy in long
row. Tnen the two at the end would
roll ball along the line which usually
dropped into some of the holes. The
proprietor of the hole had to grab the
ball and hit somebody with it, and if he
niger baby was put in his
hole-a small piece of stick or stone.
Three of these made it requisite for the
loser to stand up against tree and let
each of the other players have three
socks at him with the ball Thus
the happy hours were whiled away with
a good deal of roughness. with many
appeals to the high arbitrament of arms,
but with much jollity and joyousne>s.
SO that there never could be any boy
hood as full of all that made youth liv-
able as ours.-St Louis Republican.