Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-10-14
THE GAME OF MARBLES.
An Old UncIe's Experience With u
Young Nephew.
IEyening Post.

Evening Post)
l played this summer my first game OF
marbles i'm forty years, or thereabouts.
A 14-year-old nephew from the city had
come on one of his rare visits TO my her
mitage, and it behooved me TO put my
best foot foremost in the matter OF
school-boy jokes and games. AT dinner
on the day of his arrival | had attempted
an allusion to that boary and tlme-honor-
ed Jest as to "hujus hume OF mock,
which had never failed of an appreclatlve
reception from the young Latinlsts OF my
time. But | had the modification TO find
that the universal introduction into the
schools of the last decades of the conu-
mental pronunciation had blunted its
point and my poor joke was met with
that dubious look Of questioning-of silent
demand for explanation-that is so fatai
to even the best of wit My "Ohe Jam
salts at dessert was still less successful.
Even my more seriously meant Latinlty
was disapproved Of. and had 1t point
ed out that to render "Omnia Gallia' as
"All GauP' is a hideous and inelegant
provincialism, unworthy of the dullest
tyro in the lowest class, the only true
and acceptable translation in this year
OF grace being "Gaul as a whole Inc
discussion turning at intervals upon other
branches OF schoolroom lore / found, with
a growing sense of discontinue, that In
every direction the old methods had
changed giving place TO new" and that
i'm the drift L. with my obsolete scholar
ship. had been left stranded high and dry,
cut off from the recedng deeps behind
me. and unable TO attain To the shadows
ahead.
With this sentiment upon me Of failure
and of fossilization, but determined, II
possible. to retrieve I'm some measure my
lost position, / proposed one morning du-
ring my nephew's visit game of mar
bles. We had, indeed. but one TOR
agate" between us, a Clipped and de-
faced globe OF porcelain. that, saunter-
ing one day, some years ago, round about
the long-abandoned school-house of my
own school days, | had kicked out of the
clay. In which It had been imbedded two
score years or more. and, half mocking-
ly, half sentimentally. had brought home
and foolishly treasured away. Under no
circumstances, possibly, could a game of
marbles in which the "ring-men' were
represented by pebbles of varying shapes
and sizes-the one tor" being inter-
changeable between the players-have
been a satisfactory or scientific one. But
| pass that over, my object being to
show how the universal deterioration of
things has invaded even the realms of
pastime.
My drawing of the ring was, In the
first place, criticised and derided. My
nephews drawing was, / candidly ac-
knowledge, infinitely superior both In
accuracy and boldness OF outline. 1t was
a perfect circle, thing of geometry and
OF beauty. We had not been taught the
necessity, when / was young, Of having
the radii from centre to circumference
of a marble ring OF equal length all
around. When, however, at last the ring
had been made and the pebbles doing
duty as "ring-men" had been placed in
position, and a base of operations estab-
lished, Come to tor" / exclaimed. Nov.
my young nephew had never heard OF tor
and again ] experienced that dampening
OF enthusiasm which naturally accompa-
nies the necessity Of explanation. / could,
indeed, give neither the etymology of
the word, nor it's derivation, nor even It's
authorized crthography. But to the
best of my ability / did explain 1t, and
l required his "toeing the mark" a re-
gulation of which he also seemed to be
in ignorance.
The preliminaries adjusted, / gained (as
/ supposed) a recognized advantage, by
calling out, Barley me first CO." The
young man stared. do you mean," he
inquired. in the calm tone Of seeker
after information mo doubt as one would
address himself to a mummy for curious
data as to the Pharaohs)-'do you mean
that you claim first shoot?" This APP
pearing to me a needlessly harassing
question, / replied to it only by taking
my "go." / shot (as is, indeed, the only
lust and creditable way TO do) with my
toes touching the mark, with my elbow
steadied on my hip, and l observed the
ancient and undisputed rule OF shooting
high from tor" My agate described
beautiful parabola, and fell into orthodox
position within a foot of the ring.
1t was now my nephew's turn. lie
stood loosely, with both feet halfway
over the mark" and he poked--positiye-
ly poked, "Vaunt ye pokanceT 1
shouted. but was baffied by the serene
assurance that no penalty attaches to
pokance under the modern code, and that
my phraseology was obsolete and bar
barous, The chill of sequestration had
been gathering closely about my heart,
and the feeling passed into bitterness, as,
In defiance of all established rules and OF
playground ethics, the young fellows
out OF the ring each new victory giving
him a new right an to sequence OF go.
'It was" as the old warrior declared OF
another brilliant game" magnificent, but
II was not-marbles" And the fellow
played for Keeps! There was no play
ing for keeps forty years ago.
In the fifties, out-of-school amusements
were more limited in variety than is the
case to-day. We had no grand gymnasi-
ums, with all the wonderful combinations
OF pulleys and springs and rubber betting.
We knew nothing OF systematized athle-
tics. We rode no bicycles. kodaks
were as yet undreamt OF. For rainy
days we had drsught-boards and building
blocks. and for the greatly preferred out
of-door amusements We had. In the win
ter. snow forts and SNOWFALL battles. For
the rest OF the year there was the De
fence OF the Bridge" by Horatius Coolies.
realistically rendered. after Macauiay.
And there was always marbles.
Especially was this true OF those rural
schools In one OF which I received my