Evening star., 1945-03-18
| lust Between
Yourselves
BY PhiHb Fl. Lope

AouF IeceuI cOlumn on spinning
tops gave me lot Of pleasure, be-
cause that was one of my favorite
pastimes as boy" writes Joseph
r. Marmor of Frederick, Md: st,
too, have wondered why boys don t
spin tops any more. I guess they
just don't know what fun they are
missing. BUT what about some OF
the other childhood pastimes that
have been abandoned-catty. for
instance, and jacks? I am sure you
remember when every boy played
catty and all the girls played jacks. ("
Yes, I remember. But doubt that
very many Washingtonians will, be-
cause I'm under the impression that
catty was a game peculiar to Bal
timore. At least, I've never heard
of 1t being played in any other city.
1t may be, Of course, that Frederick
liked it, too, but my guess is-and
I'm almost willing to bet on it-that
Mr.. Marmor spent at least a part Of
his boyhood in Baltimore. As for
jacks-apparently, it was played by
girls everywhere, as I've heard wom-
en- from several different sections
of the country mention it as one Of
their childhood diversions.
I haven't seen anybody PLAYING
catty or jacks for 20 years or more,
so the games must have gone out
of fashion about the same time as
spinning tops. It's a shame, too,
because they were very good games,
indeed.
One Of the nice things about jacks,
or jackstones, was that it could be
played indoors as well as out-any-
where, In fact, just so there was a
hard, smooth surface on which to
bounce the rubber ball. A set con-
sisted Of the ball and five or six
metal jacks, shaped like an X with
a bar through the center. And II
you didn't have any jacks, pebbles
would do almost as well.
The trick was to bounce the ball
pick up a jack and then catch the
ball before it hit the table. floor
sidewalk or whatever you were play
ing on. If you managed one Jack
then you tried two, then three, and
so on, until you missed. 1t sounds
very simple-and the girls managed
to make it appear so. too-but ]
never saw a boy who was really
good at it. And as for me-I gave
1t up as sissy stuff" after losing
seven straight games to the girl next
door.
But there was nothing Sissy
about catty. In fact, one of it.
advantages was that the girls never
tried to butt in on it, because they
thought it too unladylike. In those
days, girls who went in for anything
more strenuous than jumping rop,
Or playing jacks, hide-and- seek
hopscotch or mothers were likel,
to be regarded as tomboys. Ant
tomboys weren't too popular with
either girls or boys.
To play catty, all you needed wa
an old broom handle and lots O
room. The catty was cut from on,
end OF the broomstick-a piece 6 O
inches long, sharpened at botl
ends, The remainder of the stick
sharpened at one end. served as !.
sort Of bat. Each player had hi
own catty and stick.
1t was about as simple a gam,
as you'l ever play. You laid you
catty on the ground, tapped eithel
end with the point of your stick
and when it few into the air, battet
it as hard as you could. The player
hitting his catty farthest in thres
licks was the winner.
It's impossible to tell why some
games lose their popularity while
others are carried on by one genera.
ton after another. Like the spin.
ming of tops, the playing of catty
and jacks seems to have disap-
peared as completely as if the games
had been abolished by law.
In the case of catty, come to thini
Of it, maybe something Of the sort
happened. 1 seem to remember thai
all the kids in my neighborhooe
threw away their catties and stick.
the day the plate-glass window OF
Himmelfarb's Bakery was broken.