MARBLE 



3645 



MARBLES 



feated the army of the Persian king Darius. 

 Miltiades, the Athenian general, had under his 

 command about 10,000 men, while the Persians 

 numbered almost 100,000, according to the an- 

 cient traditions ; at the close of the sharp struggle 

 6,400 Persians lay dead on the field, while the 

 Greeks had lost but 192. These were buried on 

 the plain, under a mound which, may still be 

 seen. When the Persians had fled in terror to 

 their ships, Miltiades chose his swiftest runner, 

 Pheidippides, and dispatched him to carry the 

 news to Athens. Stumbling, panting after his 

 long run he entered the city, gasped out "Re- 

 joice, we conquer!" and fell dead. See FIFTEEN 

 DECISIVE BATTLES. 



Centuries later the poet Byron, who had a 

 strong passion for Greek liberty, wrote in his 

 Don Juan: 



The mountains look on Marathon 



And Marathon looks on the sea ; 



And musing there an hour alone 



I dreamed that Greece might still ^be free. 



MARBLE, mahr'b'l. The ancient Greeks 

 became very skilful in carving stone for orna- 

 menting their buildings, and in making statues 

 of the gods and of their heroes. So well was 

 this work done that specimens of old Greek 

 sculpture and architecture are held to-day as 

 models of perfection. They used for this pur- 

 pose a beautiful white stone, which we know 

 as marble. Marble is limestone which has been 

 purified and crystallized by heat (metamor- 

 phism). The crystals are so small that we can- 

 not see them without a magnifying glass, but 

 so numerous that they give the stone its beau- 

 tiful appearance when it is polished. 



Pure marble is perfectly white; but much of 

 it has been colored by the presence of other 

 minerals, so it is found in almost all colors 

 from white to black. This variation in color 

 is an advantage, since it adapts marble to a 

 great variety of uses. Pure marbles are those 

 that are of one color throughout; variegated 

 marbles are mottled that is, they have two or 

 more colors. Some marbles are composed al- 

 most entirely of the shells or skeletons of mi- 

 nute animals, and they are known as fossilifer- 

 ous marbles, or marbles composed largely of 

 fossils. Statuary marble is pure white, of fine 

 grain and even texture. 



Marble is a stone of medium hardness and is 

 easily worked. It takes a high polish, and when 

 protected from the weather is durable. It is 

 highly prized for ornamental work, for finishing 

 interiors of hotels and other large buildings 

 and for stairways. Formerly it was extensively 



used for headstones, but it has been largely re- 

 placed by granite, which is more durable. 



The greater part of the marble used in the 

 world is quarried in the United States. The 

 most extensive quarries are in Rutland County, 

 Vermont; others of importance are found in 

 Georgia and Tennessee. It is also quarried to 

 some extent in Colorado, Arizona, California 

 and Alaska. The celebrated Carrara marble 

 comes from Carrara, Italy. Parian marble, so 

 highly prized by the Greeks, was obtained on 

 the Island of Paros, in the Mediterranean Sea. 

 Marbles of a variety of colors are found in 

 Belgium, and a marble of brilliant red color 

 is found on the French side of the Pyrenees 

 Mountains. 



Some of the quarries at Rutland, Vermont, 

 are nearly 500 feet deep. All the work of quar- 

 rying and shaping the stone is done by machin- 

 ery, and the greatest care is taken to prevent 

 waste. In Italian quarries the old methods of 

 hand labor and blasting, with their attendant 

 waste, are still employed. - 



Consult Merrill's Stones for Building and Deco- 

 ration; Renwick's Marble and Marble Working. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Building Stone Geology 



Carrara Marble Metamorphism 



Fossil Sculpture 



MARBLES, little, many-hued, spherical balls 

 of marble, agate, glass, baked clay and other 

 materials, which have been playthings of chil- 

 dren for many years. In America, the first day 

 that brings the feel of spring and growing things 

 brings also from the toy boxes those engross- 

 ing playthings of the schoolboy the smooth 

 and shining marbles. For a few weeks, wher- 

 ever one may look, will be seen a ring of ab- 

 sorbed boys shooting marbles in the game of 

 little ring, big ring, lagging or tossing. Then 

 suddenly the marbles disappear completely for 

 a year, to give way to the more exciting sports 

 of summer. 



Marbles range from one-third of an inch to 

 two inches in diameter, and vary in price, ac- 

 cording to size and material, from one cent for 

 a dozen to as much as fifty cents for a single 

 specimen. Bull's-eye and striped marbles are 

 molded in clay, then baked, painted and glazed. 

 Most of the ordinary marbles made in America 

 come from an Ohio pottery, the natural onyx 

 marbles being made in quantities at Akron. 

 Nearly all agate marbles are made at Oberstein, 

 Germany. Most of the common marbles used 

 are manufactured in Saxony, and are made 

 from limestone. 



