The record-union., 1898-01-25
PLAYING MARBLES.
LAMENTABLE DECADENCE OF
THE GAME AS PLAYED.
An Old Uncle's Experience With n
Young and Modern
Nephew.

:
hooved me to put my best foot fore
most in the matter of schoolboy jokes
and games. At dinner on the day Of
his arrival 1 had attempted an allu-
sion to that hoary and time -honored
jest as to a "hujus hume of hook,
which had never failed of an appreci-
ative reception from the young Latin
lists of my time. But I had the nlorti-
fication to find that the universal in
PRODUCTION into the schools of the last
decades of the continental pronuncia-
| ton had blunted its point, and my poor
joke was met with that dubious look
of questioning-of silent demand for ex-
planation-that is so fatal to even the
best of wit. My "Ohe jam salts at
dessert was still less successful Even
my more seriously meant Latinity was
! disapproved Of, and | had it pointed
out that to render "Omnia Gallia" as
''All Gaul' is 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" The
discussion turning at intervals upon
other branches of schoolroom lore.
found, with a growing sense of dis
comfiture, that in every direction the
old methods had changed, giving place
to new," and that in the drift I, with
my obsolete scholarship, had been left
stranded high and dry, cut off from
the receding deeps behind me, and un-
able to attain to the shadows ahead.
Wlth this sentiment upon me of fail
uTe and of fossilization, but determined
II possible, to retrieve in some measure
my lost position, [ proposed one morn
ing during my nephew's visit a game
OF marbles. We had, indeed but one
Tor agate between us, a. Clipped and
defaced globe of porcelain, that, saunt-
erang one day, some years ago, round
about the ong-abandoned schoolhouse
of my own school days, I had kicked
out or the clay, in which it had been
embedded two-score years or more. and
half mockingly, half sentimentalIy. had
brought home and foolshly treasured
away. Under no circumstances. possi-
| bly,, could a game of marbles in which
the "ring-men' We're represented by
pebbles of varying shapes and sizes
the one tor" being interchangeable be-
tween the players-have been a salts
factory or scientific one. But | pass
~>>N -, 4iis OoJCNl DtdllS 10 SHOW now
the universal deterioration of things
mas INVADED even the realms of pastime
MY drawing of the ring was, in the
hrst place, criticised and derided. My
nepheW's drawing was, / candidly ac-
knowledge, Infinitely superior both in
accuracy and boldness of outline. 1t
was a perfect circle, thing of ge-
ometry and Of beauty. We had not
peen taught the necessity, when I was
young, of having the radii from center
10 circumference Of marble ring of
equal length all around When. how
ever, at last, the ring had been made.
ana the pebbles doing duty as ring
men mad been placed in position. and
pase of operations established. Come
to tor, | exclaimed. Now nv young
nephew had never heard of tor and
again L experienced that dampening
OF enthusiasm which naturally accom-
panles the necessity of explanation.
could, indeed, give neither the etymol
ogy OF the word, nor it's derivation nor
even its authorized orthographv Rut.
to the best of my ability L did exnla1n
1t, and l required his "toeing the marx -
a regulation of which he also seemed
to be in ignorance.
Ihese preliminaries adjusted. I gained
Gas [ supposed recognized ADVANTAGE
by calling out, Barley me first on, ,,
Ihe young man stared "Do vou
mean, he inquired, in the calm tone of
seeker after information mo doubt as
one would address himself to rn,,rn-
my for curious data as to the Pharaohs)
90 you mean that you claim first
shoot! This appearing to me a need
lessly harassing question, [ replied 10
ii only by taking my "go." I shot IDS
Is, indeed, the only just and creditabie
way to do) with my toes touching the
mark, with my elbow steadied on NV
nip and / observed the ancient and
undlsputed rule Of Shooting high from
tor" My agate described a beautiful
parabola, and fell into orthodox posi-
ton within foot of the ring.
1t was now my nephews turn. He
STOOD loosely, with both feet halfway
over the mark" and he poked-pos
ltively poked! "Vaunt We pokance," T
shouted, but was baffled by the serene
assurance that no penalty attaches TO
pokance under the modern code and
that my phraseology was obsolete and
parbarous! The chill Of sequestration
had been gathering closely about nv
heart, and the feeling passed into Bit
ternesS, as, in defiance of all estab-
nShed rules and of play ground ethics
the young fellows conquering tor swept
pebble after pebble out of the ring.
each new victory giving him a new
right as to sequence of go" ut was
as the old warrior declared of another
brilliant game. magnificent but If was
not-marbles." And the fellow nlaved
for Keeps" There was no PLAYING
for keeps forty years ago.
In the fifties. out-of-school an1usa-
ments were more limited in variety
than IS the case to-day We had no
grand gymnasiums, with all the won
derful combinations Of pulleys and
springs and rubber betting. We knew
nothing of systematized athletics. we
rode no bicycles. Kodaks were as vet
undreamt of. For rainy days we had
draught- boards and building-blocks.
and for the greatly preferred out-of-
door amusements we had. in the winter.
snow forts and SNOWFALL battles. For
the rest OF the year there was the De
fence of the Bridge by Horatius CO.
cles, realistically rendered after Ma
caulay. And there was always mar
bIes.
Especially was this true of those ru-
raj schools in one Of which l received
my training in marble-playing and 9TH
er matters. The public school was
not so universal then as 1t has more
lately become. and even where it was