Hey fellow histarchers:

I've worked on a number of 19th century sites where marbles were recovered,
and they've always been interpreted as evidence for the presence of
children, and therefore families, even on sites with a highly industrial
focus.  While reading an old novel this summer ("The Forge" by T.S.
Stribling, ca. 1931), I came across a passage detailing a game of marbles
played by a group of "underclass" adult men on the steps of the local
General Store.  The setting was Alabama in the very late antebellum period,
and this was the first time  I had ever seen a reference to marbles being
used by adults for gambling, even though it is a suspicion I have had for a
number of years.

The purpose of this posting is certainly not to refute the presence of
families on industrial sites, but to instead inquire if anybody else has
found similar references to the use of marbles by adults.

Dane Magoon
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