The Jersey City news., 1904-11-07
SEASON FOR TOPS
Saaall Boys All Over the
Country Are Busy Spin
ming and WHIPPING
SISTERS TAKE A HAND
Hdstory OF a Pastime Whose
Origin Is Lost in the Haze
Of Antiquity.

hand, and in and about Newark the
: small boy and frequently his sister may
be seen on the sidewalks and asphalted
streets engaged in the time-honered pas
time. Just awhy this. is the top season
here is oneoof those9 questions not to be
answered ofsehd, say the Newark ''sun-
day Nev&N
The sssson for top 5 III 1f(snning is regulat-
edsby the spinners themselves, and the
boys in this part of the world usually
take up the pastime in the early autumn;
iniSreat Britain it is springtime sport,
and in other parts of Europe and the
Orient it is not inaniged in until the frost,
is on the ground. From time immemor-
ial, showever, the American boy has spun
tops the Indian summer spell.
Top spinning is one Of the modern pas
times, whose origin is lost in the haze of
antiquity The lad is spinning his tops
now and at the same time learning the
elements of history win probably BE sur
prised to learn that top spinning was a
: sport with the boys of antiquity. The his
tory the boy is studying may not mention
thar fact but that's the way with school
histories; sthey often leave out the things
that would most appeal to a boys mag
iration. just how far back in the re-
mote ages the top was used in boyish
pastine is mSser of sps,-ilation. There
is proof that the Boys Of ancient Rome
and Greece played with tops five hun
dFaa years before the Christian era. DR..
Sehliemann, who unearthed so many
things from the buried classic cities. also
brought to light terra Gotta tops, from
what bad once been the ancient City of
Rroy.
There is a sameness. or at least
traceable resemblance, in all of the top
family, whether they are of the ancient
hand-csrvsssstock or ofsmodern machine
manfnAkture. The boy of today has no
= greater variety of tops than had the boy
of old. The modern boy has his peg top
andsthe whipping top, and for practical
uses that is about all. OF course there
are<several varieties of mechanical tops,
the humming top, the gyrostat and few
others, but they are merely regarded as
toNs for the very small children and
girls and do not play any part in the out
door pastime of top spinning. Thegyros-
tat-that is the top that rotates within
a eymbal ring-is the invention of Lord
: Kelvin. The fact may notibe generally
known outside of scientific circles. 1t
is. however. frue that Lord Kel-
YIN, who visited this country Fass
year, invented this toy. When he was
simply Sir William Thompson he devoted
great deal of time and study TO top
spinning. Iris may soupd stlange to
soHe boys, but they will understand IL
when it is explained that top spinning is
t8 basis of of many scientific pheno1n-
enaA It was while he was engaged in
these experiments that the eminent Brit
siSh scisnrtist evolved thsAgy'rosuat. and in
struissnt Of great yaN iA.scientiae de-
tersinaticns.
ps sryostas in its simplest form is
''SAS's st j. 'sp, by st.snstAss sl.v.-ps... but
ny the strength and by the cIeverness of
! GSR
IssEasaa, Siam. New.zcaland and ather
soam Pacific ,islastas tops are more or
less%eomnon among the natives. tfsy
aaesksGally made of conch shells. In the
frozen North the 40skinos use double
cones and wind them around with string
jase1ike peg tops. The Ojibway Indians
ma9es. g. tops Of nuts and acorns.
Bop spinning is popular form of
amusement with the boys of the Orient,
anaS&sayelers in Japan, China and Corea
izse1leir descriptions Of national pastinnes
usually include top sp8aing among them.
TheXahave great variety Of tops in all
three countries, and Hae Of the Japanesey
gtopss the uchi tsuke-goma, or striking
tosissaim0st = ss,,,t tide ifsnticai il form and make
wf!s The top .used by The American boys
ier. r.saistship. top Many Of the Oriental
NtlsEeties are made of conchsshells; some
slsycafved fE;pm stone but most OF then,
as in other parts of the world, are msle
ef wood, The peg top is comparatively
r. -anong the osientals, but the whip
ping top, under various names and the
fols that is spun BY dexterous twirling Of
thu fingers, are the common forms.
Sssne time ago Prof. John Perry, in
course Of q lecture delivered at Leeds.
Elssland on the subject Of tops, declared
fhsA II more attentipn were PAID to the
iisi4s'sen exaaninstion Of she behavior of