316 



RECREATION 



and he proceeded from the resting-point of 

 his 'man' to aim at any marble in the ring, the 

 object being always to knock a 'nicker' clear 

 outside, when it was bagged as game. Fail- 

 ure to do this was a 'miss,' and the next 

 player took his turn. 



"The postures in playing were the 'histing' 

 (long i) shot, delivered standing; the 'stoop- 

 ing' or sitting shot, and the 'knuckle down' 

 or 'skin bone' shot, in which the player was 

 obliged to keep his knuckles to the ground. 

 A player could command the -posture of his 

 opponent by quickly calling out 'knuckle 

 down !' and he could defend himself by cry- 

 ing 'fen knuckles !' It was 'fen hists/ 'fen 

 knuckles,' 'fen' this or that, 'fen' any posture 

 or mode of playing likely to give or save an 

 advantage. If not called out in time this 

 challenge was worthless. The word 'fen' is 

 a corruption of 'fend,' to ward off or prevent, 

 and this is an abbreviation of defend. 



"I have written only of the ring game. 

 'Pots' was another favorite, but not so easily 

 or quickly put up, as it requires a series of 

 six or eight holes to be dug by the players 

 twisting their heels in the ground until a hole 



was thus bored. The game was to troll 

 the big 'Tom' into the holes. The player 

 who failed to land his 'Tom troller' in the 

 holes in their right order left that marble 

 outside, defenceless, the objective prey of his 

 opponent who, striking, captured him, and the 

 owner had to pay several pawns or 'nickers' 

 as a ransom." 



But we of Recreation have not lived so 

 long and did not know the potashes in our 

 day ; we only had the clay ones, which we 

 called commies or combos, which meant com- 

 mon marbles. The "alley" we had was of 

 two kinds, blue alley and blood alley. Our 

 blood alley was the same as the Philadelphia 

 boy called a "white alley," and the blue one 

 differed only in the color of its wavey streaks. 

 We always called the shooter our "taw," and 

 the marbles we shot at were called "ducks." 

 Then we had "plasters" of unglazed china, 

 and "chinas" of glazed china, "crystals" of 

 glass, agates of the stone by that name, and 

 "potteries" of mottled glazed earthenware. 

 Now the wise old Century Dictionary calls 

 all marbles "alleys," and the boys call them 

 alll "megs." 



By C. R. Clarke. 



AN ACHING SHAKE. 



BY G. D. KRATZ. 



There was a young girl on the lake, 

 Who shook till she shook off a shake. 



She shook and she shook, 



'Till she busted a hook, 

 But she found she had shook on an ake. 



