Part three of a series
“Commies” were not communists, but there were those who “lost their marbles.” The idiom “lose your marbles,” thought to have originated in the United States in the late 1800s, referred to someone behaving in such a silly or strange manner that they might have become insane. But some boys of that era literally lost some or all their marbles in competition with their companions. In the game of marbles, it was part of “playing for keeps” and might have been the origin of the idiom that has long outlived the popularity of the game.
Marbles was a pioneer-days pastime, enjoyed not only by boys but also by men, according to Houston County historian William J. Langen, who wrote, ”on warm spring days, the older men would be playing it along the streets.”
Langen, born in Houston County in 1869, wrote about playing marbles as a pioneer boy about the time “lose your marbles” first appeared in print in 1876 in Mark Twain’s novel, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” On the schoolyard, playing marbles was “a sure sign of spring,” remembered Langen. The season began “as soon as the ground had thawed enough so we could scratch a circle into it.” That circle would be 12 to 14 inches in diameter, and four steps away, a mark was made by a shoe heel to be the starting point. Each player placed a marble into the ring, and took turns attempting to shoot or knock each other’s marbles out of the circle. “Playing for keeps” meant the shooter kept competitors’ marbles that he knocked out of the circle. If a player lost repeatedly, he was said accurately to have “lost his marbles.”
Langen said most competition was “for keeps, and some marble bags were empty while others bulged at the end of the season. A great deal depended on practice and on the kind of shooter (marble) used.” There were four kinds of marbles: commies, crockeries, glassies and agates.
Agates were rare, and Langen owned only one, a gift, during all his marble-playing days. The “glassies” were the next most-prized, especially during swapping deals. However, they were the least useful, since they would chip or break after repeated usage. Crockeries were mass-produced marbles made of fired clay.
“Commies” were so called because they were common. Langen was told they were made of pebbles, fairly round pebbles that were placed in barrel that was placed in a stream. “The pebbles were churned in the same manner as butter was. After time, they became round from wear. Occasionally, we would find one that wasn’t perfectly round.
“Swapping marbles was almost as important as the game itself,” according to Langen who likened it to the stock or bond market. In the 2020s, it might compare to trades among professional football or baseball teams. A lot of commies were needed to swap for a glassie or a crockery. “There was a great deal of arguing and dickering until a deal was completed. At the end of the season, the marble bag would show your skill, or lack of it, both as a player and as a business executive.”
“I recall when I was in the second year at school (there were no grades at that time),” wrote Langen, “the older boys all had marbles, so the smaller boys had to be content to watch. One morning, a resourceful little fellow brough a bag of acorns to school. In no time at all, the small boys were playing marbles.”
Writing as an 80-year-old senior citizen in 1949, noted “commies” were a thing of the past, and playing for keeps was no longer the rule. But small boys still had a marble season, which lasted from very early spring until the swimming season, “as of yore.”
In between marble seasons, boys ice skated near Hokah on a 30 acre lake, which at the slightest spell of cold weather, would provide fine skating ice. Boys would gather evenings, often for a game of “shinny.” A block of wood four or five inches in diameter was placed onto a fire until it was “burning well.” The players, “armed with clubs,” would try to hit the “flaming missile” across the goal line. As long as it was kept in motion, the wood would continue to burn. “The real fun began when the block became so badly charred that it broke apart. Then before we knew it, there were two games going.” Another game was Cross Tag; “the good skater, who could cut short circles, was never “it” very long.”
Other than skating games, there were many imaginative stunts, such as skating over obstacles or skating backward. Their version of figure skating involved skating very fast and then stopping and spinning. When it was windy, they would tie a stick to each side of a blanket to fashion a sail, which might transport them across the lake by wind power.
Boyhood toys were few in the late 1800s, but lads were resourceful enough to make their own. In springtime, every boy had a few good willow whistles. With sap rising in the trees, it was easy to loosen the bark. “A piece of a willow whip was cut to size and tapped all around with the knife handle until the bark could be gently pushed. The willow was then whittled into shape, and an opening cut into the bark. The bark was slipped back on again, and the noise began.”
Pop guns were made out of elder wood, about 10 to 12 inches long. Spit balls were the bullets. At school, the guns provided greatly-anticipated enjoyment during recess. During class time, the pop guns were kept in the boys’ desks. One day, young Langen was loading his for an upcoming recess when he “pulled a bit too hard” and it popped off and hit the ceiling, making a loud cracking sound. “The teacher saw the wet spot on the ceiling, and something happened rather fast, just then.” Sparing readers any ensuing details, “Yep, you guessed it.”
Source: Just For Old Times Sake; History of Early Days of Hokah, Minn. by W. J. Langen (1869-1960), proprietor of Log Cabin Museum. The book celebrated the Hokah centennial (1849-1949).
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