Robert,
Just a thought about the Civil War marble-playing...  As the war raged 
on, the years crept by and the troop base becaume younger and younger, 
with young men often lying about their age in order to be allowed to go 
and fight.  While young men participated during all the years of the 
war, they seemed to become quite young towards the end.(I saw a 
reference to that one and wished I'd saved it!)  It is possible that the 
marble playing is indicative of very young soldiers, (maybe interpret 
"little") not much more than boys, entertaining themselves during lull 
periods.  It could also be simply another way to relieve extreme boredom 
by men of all ages.  Also quieter and less wasteful of precious powder 
and shot than target practicing.

Lynita Langley-Ware


Robert Leavitt wrote:

> I've seen a reference (and naturally didn't make a note of where I 
> found it...) of soldiers during the Civil War playing marbles.  That 
> correlates well with "male" but not so well with "little." It could 
> also correlate with doing ANYTHING to relieve the boredom of days in 
> camp or on the march.
>
> RCL
>
> At 10/31/2005 01:56 PM, you wrote:
>
>> Interesting discussion. Now for some trouble. Would you agree that 
>> GENERALLY speaking:
>>
>>                 Marbles = little boys
>>                 "Jacks" =  little girls
>>
>> We have found both recently and have had a number of field 
>> discussions (older peoples' memories) on this question.
>>
>>                                                         R.L. Schuyler
>>
>> P.S. In the late 1940s and 1950s we had marbles and although I had 
>> some I never played the game. I do not remember
>> my friends "playing marbles" as an every day event. Also remember 
>> flipping bottle caps but this was also not that common. What I do 
>> remember doing was taking the cork liners out of all bottle caps - 
>> why ??? probably a mental aberration. It just had to be done.
>>
>> At 04:36 PM 10/31/2005, you wrote:
>>
>>> Tim
>>>
>>> No tiddlywinks in excavations but the plastic pastel blue and red 
>>> ones seem
>>> to form one of the major classes of items I see when I'm crawling 
>>> around
>>> below floors of extant houses.  They were the perfect function and 
>>> form for
>>> locating and sliding down any cracks in the house.
>>>
>>> While on obscure uses of crown bottle caps, is there a non-Australian
>>> version of the lagerphone?  This is a stick [broomhandle size] 
>>> covered with
>>> nailed on crown caps and bounced up and down for a particularly 
>>> gormless
>>> tinkling sound that is much loved by bush bands.  It is as 
>>> stereotypical as
>>> a hat with corks on it [is there no end to Australians' cleverness with
>>> bottle closures!].  Do lagerphones exist in other countries with other
>>> names?
>>>
>>> Denis
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Tim Thompson" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 8:15 AM
>>> Subject: Re: Crown Caps
>>>
>>>
>>> > Ron,
>>> >
>>> > seems to me Little Rascals films are the equivalent of Noel Hume
>>> > consulting Dutch genre paintings. Marbles were dying out in North 
>>> Florida
>>> > in the late fifties, and I don't remember flicking bottle caps, 
>>> but it
>>> > does  sound a bit like Tiddley Winks, the passion of prawns a 
>>> couple of
>>> > generations previously. Anybody ever found Tiddley Winks in an 
>>> excavation?
>>> >
>>> > Tim T.
>>> > reluctant gamester
>>> >
>>> >
>>
>>
>> Robert L. Schuyler
>> University of Pennsylvania Museum
>> 3260 South Street
>> Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324
>>
>> Tel: (215) 898-6965
>> Fax: (215) 898-0657
>> [log in to unmask]
>
>