The sun., 1900-12-14
Marbles; Boys and Girls-MarbIe lea rts

10 THE EDITOR or lHE SCN-oU. HOW Nhe
the good old times Here We have the old
boys out at recess. boring threelol In the
sidewalk with their heels and making a
smaller one. called "purgatory- close TO the
old board fence They get out their snap
pers" and proceed to have a quiet little game
Of marbles, when out rushes their sister,,
who immediat ely mikes in and even seeks
to demoralize the innocent kids by suggest
ing that we play "for keeps" Still, we love
sister, even II she does poke along her snap
per with her foot when we are not looking
and, like rs not. was the boy who gave her
the bottle OF peppermint-scented water to
wash her slate with,
I said "mibs" and not "migs.- don't know
where got my informa,ion. but my impres-
sion has been ons ihl' wa,
"mibbles." As we CamhridgepOrt boys
Casually called -porters,, did not care to
we. as a rule never got beyond the mibble
stage in marble nomenclsture Maybe the
pnnters Hhe .aiHd 6TyS Of ,h The point or East
II 50. that was sufficient reason fo- n Porter"
TO call it ANYTHING but "mggles. even dough
nut as long as ne did not RSi agree With the
Another marble that recall and which none
Of the contributors TO- marble lore has men
Several Of my girl friends were good marble
players. and | distinctly remember one girl
who, played so much that she acquired a
me, BAY STATE.
rs wAvERLEY PLACE Dec. H.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-Si,: boston
Yankee" wants know II boys still bob" In marbles
They do here but 1t has always been called "poon-
ing" a contraction Of harpooning. Probably the
term originated among the boys OF New Bedford
our neighbor. where whaling was a business. We
used to up" agatcs at distance In feet de-
pendent on their value. and the feet literal ones
ii. 81, l..l - h.n, ~.
and setting the other heel against It's toe. and 20 on
The setter-up had 70 "give three" or four
a. the bargain might be- that Is return every third
or fourth marble 10 be thrown again Usually yr
"po1rcr" would throw an agate or other big marble
or n lucky one. which was returned and r COMMA"
thrown II he hit with the ace, there usually
a dispute as 10 who owned II. Large agat,s from
70 three inches IN diameter were commonly sG up
our names were "C1mm,s, stone not clay, marbles
twelve for cent painters. eight for cent,
ng ,"nE or po, asy o bas,G S.W wb
motled glazc brown. green or blue; "chiny alleys"
line Of b c in he glaze ca.sies or sgs,es Of glass
with twisted c1oIed bands within; mossirs, Of glass
real agates except two or three owned BY boy from
Besides "pooning" and ring games we eambled
numhgI.' wnnlns the num6er Of marhles marked
tight NJ and rarely entered. while the ,sros
generously wide. PooNER
FALL RIVER. Mass. Dec. II.
To THR EDITOR OF THE SuN-Sr: when I
was a lad In the sixties, In Point st. Charles, a
suburb OF Montreal OF course, also played marbles
The common brown We called marbles" the very
small brown Ones "peewees," the glass marbles we
called glass allies" The allies proper OF white
substance. striped. a. understood IT, with the com-
hlned oolors of the allied armies OF the Crimean War
whence their name.
We had the term "knuckle down" which meant
keep your hand on the ground. Also mo inchinr"
meaning connne yourself strictly to the starting
&c and "dubs, uths and everything along the linz"
The starring line cllled the 'tav and. n am not
mistaken, get back 10 the taw." and Hlso applied
that word to the marble or ally We shot with. We
played n game called plump shots" In which you
had 10 hit your opponents marble. or those In the
wn,ss po drsbng rra and .sys,, "a hsi o,h
terms which some Of your spondents say were in
vogue with them were not current with us We, |
now IN which have seen no reference: namely, |
a. tho close ~ le marble season we would play al
breaking marbles." This We would do by sinking |
marble In the sun clay to he found in that locally
until only small portion Of It showed above the |
ground. Your opponent would stand the marble
and mpe one Of his marbles upon yours. when one |
al this game that rarely missed hitting |
remember possessing the champion" one season |
game ! opinc, was on par with that Of "top-mash
ing" wonder n the marble seasJn could have been
sadly chappcf knurklcs Of the PLAYER w.M.
Nrw York. Dec T.:
TO THE EDITOR or THE UN-SH: have been |
greatly interested In the marble lore" discussion
running through THE Sun. still have In my
Possession OF the big glass agates" that used
In games over thlrty-nve years ago.
Can any other SUN reader duplicate this xpertences
WEST PoINT. n. ", Dec. IL, c. N. MILLER.