Healthful Sports for Boys

lse. Each season has its own particular games for the young folks, and they take to them without any suggestion from outsiders, just as young ducks

n the Fourth of July, while the sleigh-bells made music through the streets. In the following October, which is the spring month in Victoria,

RB

iquity of the game we are very sure. Egyptian boys played marbles before the days of Moses, and marbles are among the treasures found buried in the ruins of Pompeii, which you will remember was destroyed by an eruption o

of which every lover of the game knows. The more common marbles are made in Saxony, of a fine kind of white limestone, which is practically a variety of the building material known as "marble," and from which the name is derived. Broken into small

na marbles are made from pottery-clay, and after being joined are baked, and sometimes they are painted. The small gray, brown or black marbles, usually called "commies

ARBLES AND

n different parts of the United States, they are in the main so much ali

r is the marble u

is a line drawn for a st

marbles to

s," means that you get all the m

is shouted by an opponent before the play, and

hat your taw does not touch the earth till i

sting the knuckles on t

tance above the ground. It is not permi

osition to avoid an obstruction

ide to the other in a straight line when

th the heel of the shoe. This is seldom allowed; "Fen buryings" being th

l of all obstructions betwe

s shooting fo

o far. Good players often do this so as to secur

under the knuckles when playing to keep them from

s pockets and e

es," "crystals," "chinas," "alleys," "potteries,

f the game are the boys, the

on the point of the index finger, and project it with a firmer grip of the thumb. This method is more difficult to acquire, but it pays as does everything that requires pract

GOOD

must never be one of the latter. Just here let me say that the boy who loses his temper, or who has not the manhood to accept defeat in the right spirit, doe

A

nces about the ring. The order of the play having been decided on, by shooting or rolling towards the taw line, the nearness to which decides the question, number one shoots for the ring, and if he knocks out a marble, he shoots again from where his taw rests, and so keeps on until he has missed. Number two knuckl

the last player are killed. In the second game, the first man killed is the last to shoot, and so they take turns in the order of their defeat This game is the mor

LOW

portant business on hand; the first boy shoots in the direction both are traveling;

UC

knuckles down at the taw line, four or five feet away, and shoots-he must not roll-at the marble held by the other. Every time the "Knucks" marbl

LONG

each other. Draw a circle down the center of the long ring, and on this place the marbles. If there are only two

e than two in the game, number one is put out. Number two has another shot, from the place where his taw rests, at the ducks in the ring, and he keeps on till he misses. So the game is kept up till all the ducks are knocked from the r

BULL

is usually decided on by knuckling down and rolling for the opposite side of the ring. The first player "lofts" at the ducks. He must drive the marble outside the ring for a win. If his own taw goes outside, the successful player can come back to

Dubs" before the others cry "Fen dubs." If a player is caught "hunching," that is, pushing his fist beyond the line while shooting

omes. A dead man, when his turn comes, and there are enough ducks remaining to warrant the risk, may re-enter the game by placing in the ring twice as many marbles as were

-IN-

st hole, and using his hand as a pair of dinders, by a twist of the wrist he marks with his longest finger a curved line on the ground. This is called "taking a span." From the span line he shoots at the second hole, and if successful continues on to the third. If this is

oots-if it is near-at the first taw, and if he hits, he can place his taw in the second hole, and s

another, he scores one point, and the hit loses one. By the time all have become King Ducks the game

IN-A

in any direction, but as a king, he can take one foot measure-his own foot -and a span from the first hole; two feet and a span from the second hole, and three feet and a span from the third hole. This gives him a great advantage, and if there is no r

ARE

ut four feet is the best. The taw line must be from twenty to thirty feet away. Before a player can

uckle down but to toss for a good position near the ring. The second player, for obvious reasons, must keep away as far as possible from the first, so he shoots through the ring with force, hoping to ge

game goes on, each player guarding his own taw and trying to kill his rivals. Knoc