The sun., 1900-12-23
Marbles sixty Years AGO.

To THE EDITOR or THE SCS-Slr! Ny marble
playing goes back to the early 'i0s. and 70 Phia
dc!ph!a In those days-is.O 10 i6a5-our smmu-
milton was rated and termed as follows
Frs, -"po,asAes' the Gghtesi and ch.spes, Of
all. They wers made q potash. glazed and sold
ten or twelve for penny. Next cane the commons
or 'rlckcrs. as called them. made Of clay. Ne1i
higher in value was the white alley made Of Ai!ca
and often beautifully strcaSed with red and pink
v.ins-tvo Of these costing one cent. They werc
favortss as "rneus or Shooters the I'c erSs being
only object marbles ~ be shot at. Then came the
-chnee- = larger marble, made OF cLna or poTce-
lain, and crossed b. gcomethcal lines OF varying
widths and cu.or3 and preferred By hoys their shoot
ers. above tie white alley AFTER the "chlnee- the
agate. came ana the "cornelsn.' both beautiful
stones and hi shly pri1ed Next was tie glass agate
or elaboIaiey colofed glass marbles still. believe
IN vogue. Last IN order was the Tom toler,, tho
boss Of the bag for Size ana made Of al the materials
named The Tom roici' was always the he,vy
ordnance in the marble armJry. Its once was i'm
Piled In is name IT wss Used for rolling on trolling
rather than Tor shooting. as was TOO large TO be
projected from the III NIB and ioreengr
The ting was the king game Of marbles. A
chalk c!lcle was drawn more often scratched in
the ground with sharp stick. The greater the skill
OF the pagertae bigger the circle lhave often played
In ring twelve nitcen feet IN diameter, In the
centre Of this circle was small concentrc N Which
each player deposited hts stake Of one, two or three
-n,cliegs- OF more valuable marbles s agreed upon.
The outer circle was the initial shooting l'ne of each
rlay.f II his shot struck "u'cser- and knocked
It outside tie BIG ring II hit. as h. proceeded
from the resting point O. his man 70 aim at any
marble in the rng the object always being 80 knock
a "nicker. clear outside. when II Was bsggtd game.
Failure 10 do this was miss and tho next player
took bis turn.
The posturcs In playing wers the nistng. dong
shot, delivered standing; the ttooping' or sitting
shot and the "knuckle down. skin bone shot IN
witch ths player was obliged 10 keep his inuolles
N the ground a player could command the posture
O, his opponent BY quickly calling out 1,nuckls down.
and he could defend himself b. crying zen knuokles-
N was zen his,s. Zen knucNles- Ten this or that.
zen. any posture or mode Of playing likely TO give
or save an advantage. not called out In time this
challenge wa. worthless The word Ttn" was prob
ably corruption OF "fcnd. 70 ward OF or prevent
Ihays written only Of the rng game Pots. was
another iavor,e, but not An easily or quickly put
up a. IL requires series Of six eigh, holes 10 be
dug. Tn. rsre was 10 troll the big Tom into The
holes serlatlm The player who failed 10 land his
Tom troler. IN the holes in their right sequence LEFT
that generalsso outside defencelcss, the objective
prey Of his opponent who striking captured him and
the owner had 70 psy several pawns OF n'ckers' as
a ransom.
u,ppy hcursl In those hslcyon days -dwelt.
nearer the marble halls Of the singers dream than
knew. Az olpfsH fouNGsTHR.
NEW YoRR. Dec 90
To THE EDITOR oP THE svS-st: In Fridays
Sun the cut Of what your correspondent "Old Times"
calls a -Rolcy Foley" used to be known as "Rake-
here in Boston l played marbles sixty years ago
on Park street wall 10 marble time early spring)
in this city often. 4 white marble WAS called an
.allle' and was valued AZ sir Of the common clay m
coiored marble. Ihs red uppet was also in use
som. boys had a tiplet that lifted on over the head
rs well as the neck. q comfortable thing in cold
weather BOSTON OLD TIMER