Music Welcome to snoozecast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep. Find us at snoozecast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. This episode is brought to you by Tiger Eyes. Tonight, we'll read excerpts from Healthful Sports for Boys written by AR Calhoun and published in 1882. video. Snooze cast first read this episode back in 2020. Also known as Alfred Rokefort, born in 1844, Calhoun was an American soldier, author, journalist, and critic. He served in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. Healthful sports for boys was a guide to engaging in physical activities that promoted health and well-being. One popular game covered in the book was Marbles. Calhoun likely saw the value in Marbles not just as a fun pastime, but also as a way to develop tanned eye coordination, strategic thinking, and social skills. Glass marbles ultimately came into being around the middle of the 1800s, not too long before this book was written. It is believed that they were first created by glass makers who shaped bits of leftover glass at the end of the day to take home for their children. For Calhoun, games like this wasn't just about exercise. His book emphasized the importance of sportsmanship, fair play, and the development of character. Our episode tonight offers a glimpse into the sporting world of a bygone era, reflecting the values and ideals of the time. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body into the softness of your bed. Now take a few deep breaths. How sides are chosen in games? When teams from different clubs or schools or places meet to try their skill in some game requiring skill and endurance, there is no occasion to choose sides for that has to be done in advance. But when boys of the same school or association meet for a game, it's necessary that the leaders should be decided on in advance. As also the means by which the respective sides must be chosen. When two boys are contesting, one may pick up a pebble and ask, which hand is it? If the guess is right, the boy making it is it. Drawing straws is another method for choosing sides, and it is often used as a game in itself. From a handful of grass, one of the boys selects as many pieces as there are to be players. One of the blades is cut off so that it will be much shorter than the other pieces. Straw holder arranges the straws so that the top ends protrude from his closed fist.

Either perfectly even or irregular in their height above the hand according to his fancy. It may happen that the first boy to choose a straw will select the short one. This in a measure spoils the fun. and to guard against it the lads are often made to stand up in a line, and each one in turn pulls a straw from the fist of straw holder. Each one is expected and required to put it behind his back immediately, and keep it there until all the boys in the line have straws behind their backs. Then, straw holder holding up the straw left in his own hand cries, who is short straw? At that, each boy produces his straw and compares it with the others. Another method is to place a button, pebble, or other small object that can be easily concealed in one hand, then with both fists closed. Place one above the other and ask, which is at Joe, higher low. If the empty hand is chosen, the boy goes free. So it goes, the last holder of the stone being it, for the one making the unlucky guess, has to hold the object. Odd or even is often the method by which the one having the first choice in choosing shall be selected. The method is as follows. And boy selects at random a handful of pebbles, marbles, or other small objects, and closing his hand asks as he holds it out, odd or even. If the other boy should say odd and on count the objects prove to be even in number, he has lost. And the other boy has first choice. Or if it is a counting out game, the one who guesses right goes free, and the last is it. A very old way is to toss up two coins. Sometimes boys carry such things, though never for long. Heads or tails, cries the tosser.

If the other guesses, he is free. Sometimes a stone or a chip, moistened on one side is used, and the boy who tosses it up shouts, what are dry? This is simply a variation of heads or tails, or odd or even.

Each section and each crowd of boys has its own way of choosing or counting out. And in this case, the best known is best. Marbles were made in terms of the games, different games, how to acquire skill. Each season has its own particular work for the farmer, and he does his work without direction from or consultation with his neighbors or anyone else. Each season has its own particular games for the young folks, and they take to them without any suggestion from outsiders. Just as young ducks take to water, without any instructions from the mother bird. The seasons in the South temperate zone are just the opposite to those in the north. Some years ago, I spent the months of July and August in New Zealand, and great was my surprise to find the boys down at Dunedin Snowballing on the 4th of July, while the sleigh bells made music through the streets. In the following October, which is the spring month in Victoria, Australia, I found the youngsters of Melbourne playing marbles just as the boys in New York had been doing when I left in the previous May. Marbles. We have reason to believe that the first marbles were fashioned from pebbles on the ocean shore or ground into roundness by the action of river currents. We do not know when or where Marbles originated, but of the antiquity of the game we are very sure. Egyptian boys played Marbles before the days of Moses, and Marbles are among the treasures found buried in the ruins of Pompeii, which you will remember was destroyed by an eruption of lava from Vesuvius in the first century of the Christian era. Today, marbles are played in every civilized land under the sun, and with slate differences, the method of shooting and the games are practically the same. Germans are the greatest toy and game makers in the world, and so we should not be surprised to learn that that great country not only produces the most marbles, but also the very best. From Germany, we get the finest Agots, the beauty and value of which every lover of the game knows. The more common marbles are made in Saxony of a fine kind of white limestone, which is practically a variety of the building material known as marble,

and from which the name is derived. Broken into small pieces and the irregular bits placed between two grooved grinders, the lower one being stone, and the upper wood. power is applied, and after much rotating the spheres are turned out, hundreds at a time, and these are afterwards sorted and polished. Glass marbles, some of which are imitation agates, are cast in molds that close so perfectly that the place where they join cannot be seen in the finished product. China marbles are made from pottery clay and after being joined are baked and sometimes they are painted. The small gray, brown, or black marbles, usually called commies, are little balls of clay, baked and glazed. These, being the cheapest, are the most numerous, and are usually the objects of attack, and so change owners the offenest. Names of marbles and play terms, while the names of marbles and the terms of the games may vary slightly in different parts of the United States. They are in the main so much alike that the following will be understood by all boys throughout the land. The tall or shooter is the marble used for shooting. The tall line or scratch is a line drawn from a starting point in the game. Ducks are marbles to be shot at. Dubs and abbreviation of doubles means that you get all the marbles knocked out with one shot. Fend dubs and abbreviation of defend doubles is shouted by an opponent before the play, and means that you must put back all but one marble. Lofting means shooting through the air so that your jaw does not touch the earth till it hits the object aimed at or a point near it. Nuckling down means resting the knuckles on the ground while shooting. Histing or hoisting is holding some distance above the ground. It is not permitted in bullring or in megana string. Roundsters means taking a new position to avoid an obstruction. It is not allowed in bullring. Sightings means moving your jaw from one side to the other in a straight line when about to shoot. It is barred in bullring. Burying is when the jaw, if in a good spot, is forced into the ground with the heel of the shoe. This is seldom allowed. Fen burying's being the accepted law of experts. Laying means placing the marbles in the ring. Dabsters are little squares of cloth or skin laid under the knuckles when playing to keep them from being cut by constant contact with the hard ground. Marble bag saves pockets and explains itself. According to quality, marbles are known as Agots, crystals, China's, Allies, Potteries, and Commies were the cheapest and least prized. The three great essentials of the game are the boys, the marbles, and suitable ground. The marble is shot from the hollow of the crooked index finger and projected by the thumb. Good shooting is often done in this way, but the most expert shots place the marble on the point of the index finger and project it with a firmer grip of the thumb. This method is more difficult to acquire, but it pays as does everything that requires practice and effort. A good player, as in billiards, can make his tall carom for position, or he can make it remain stationary while the marble struck shoots away in a straight line. Some good games. A boy can practice the above, and I would advise him to do so, but it takes at least two boys to make a game, just as it takes two to make a quarrel, and you must never be one of the latter. Just here, let me say that the boy who loses his temper, or who has not the manhood to accept defeat in the right spirit, does not make a desirable friend or playmate, for if he cannot conquer himself, he is unfet to contest in the sports of youth or in the business of mature years. Fat. Fat is one of the oldest and simplest marble games. It is played in this way. Make a ring, 18 inches, or two feet in diameter. 10 feet back, draw, or scratch a tall line to shoot from. If four boys are playing, each place is a marble as indicated, or if there are more players, the marbles are placed at equal distances about the ring. The order of the play having been decided on by shooting or rolling towards the tall line, the nearest to which decides the question. Number one shoots for the ring. And if he knocks out a marble, he shoots again from where his tall rests. And so keeps on until he has missed. Number two knuckles down at the tall line and shoots as did number one. If the first toss within range, you can shoot

at that and if he hits it, the number one must hand number two all of the ducks he has knocked from the ring. If number two can hit number one's tall again, the number one is killed and must retire from that game. When number two misses, the next in order shoots either at at the ring or at the tall line, and so the game proceeds till all the marbles are knocked out, or all but the last player are killed. In the second game, the first man killed is the last to shoot, and so they take turns in the order of their defeat. This game is the more fascinating for its uncertainty. For often, the last player knocks out the taul of one who so far has been getting all the ducks, and he gets credit for his score. Followings can hardly be called a game. It is played by two boys, usually when they have more important business on hand. The first boy shoots in the direction both are traveling. The second follows. And whenever one chances to be hit, it counts one for the shooter. Nucks. In this game, one boy called Nucks takes a small marble between his knuckles, then places the clinched hand on the ground. The other player knuckles down at the tall line, four or five feet away and shoots. He must not roll at the marble held by the other. Every time the knucks marble is hit, it counts one for the shooter. Each time he misses in the three shots, it counts an additional shot for knucks when it comes his turn. Kites were found, how made their practical uses closely related to airplanes a great sport. Spring winds favor kite flying. This is another worldwide sport and it was popular with young and old in China, the land of the kite at the time when the Egyptians were cutting stones for the pyramids. Everybody knows, or should know, what the great Ben Franklin did by means of a kite, though the kite through which he learned the nature of lightning was of a model that is not often seen at this time. This was the old bow kite, the kind that every beginner learns to make, in which needs no detailed description here. The hexagonal or coffin-shaped kite is more reliable than the old sort, and is quite is cheap and as easily made, kites of both these

kinds have been used to get a line from a stranded vessel to the shore, and engineers have used them. They did it when the first suspension bridge was built at Niagara to get a line across the chasm, which gradually grew into the great suspending cables. Kites have been used to draw light vehicles over smooth ground and they make good sport when made to draw sleds over the ice or as top lofticle sales for small boats. I have seen in New York a tandem team of ten kites used for advertising purposes. The star kite is easily made and is well worth doing. Get three sticks or sections of light string. Both of equal length. These are fastened in the center so that, with the ends of the sticks equal distances apart, they will form a six-pointed star. The covering should be of thin, close, cotton cloth, or better still, of light, strong paper, which must be pasted so as to present the side of greatest resistance to the wind else it will soon be blown off. The tail band is simply a loop, fastened to the sticks at the bottom so that it will hang below the kite and balance it when it ascends. The belly bands for support and steering in the latter case two lines are used must never be attached below the central cross piece. Boys often find fun in sending messengers up the strings to the kites. After the kite is up to a good height, round pieces of colored paper with a hole in the center and a slit by means of which they are slipped on the string are sent up. They travel with the speed of the wind till they reach the kite where they stop. If too heavy or too many, the messengers may get the kite out of balance. A messenger has been sent up 6,000 feet, or over one mile. That is the height to which American scientists have sent kites with thermometers and barometers attached, so as to record the elevation and the temperature. The hargrave or box kite is something new and to their two unheard of in the kite line. Regidity and strength without too much weight are the prime essentials of the hargrave. Tailless kites are fast superseding the old-time kind and they are quite as easy to make and are much easier to manage. Here are directions for making it. They can be made in different sizes and flyed tandem from 20 to hundreds of feet apart. The longitudinal stick should be of strong spruce,

60 inches in length, and about 3 eighths,

or 1 1 1 1-inch in width and thickness.

It can be of any size if these proportions are maintained.

The cross piece should be a similar stick and a V-que length. When in position, it is slightly bent, say 4% of its length. The frame should be of light spruce, the same size as the cross pieces. Care must be taken to have the angles right. When the frame is finished, cover loosely with

vanilla paper so that there will be some concavity on the face of the kite on each side below the cross-stack so that it will belly like a sail. Bind the edges within wire which stretches less than string. This kite will fly in a very light breeze. The string, particularly if you have a tandem, should be flexible and strong. In a stiff breeze and with more than one kite, it is well to have a reel as in a fishing rod for hauling in. The best way with tandem kites is not, as is usually done, to fasten one kite behind the other on the same string, but to hitch each kite by means of a separate string to the main cord. The tail kite will do for tandem, but as the tails are apt to get snarled, it is not so desirable as the tail is kind. The barrel kite. As the bird and the butterfly kites of the Chinese can be bought at a low price, I shall not attempt a description of them here, but the barrel kite, which is distinctly

American, cannot be ignored. This kite was tried some years ago by the US weather bureau officers in California. It is cylindrical in form, about four feet long, and two feet in diameter. The frame is made up of four light hoops,

braced together by four more thin strips of wood. The 12-inch space between the pair of hoops at either end is covered with a collar of paper and a string by which the kite is held and it is attached to a stick, which passes diagonally through the inside of the cylinder for a mend to end. When this kite catches the wind, it lifts quickly and gracefully. As it is easily made, I should like some of my young readers to try it. I have not seen a barrel kite in a tandem, but I can't see why it should not work. Between kites of untandom kind, flags of same size, and of any designs that may be thought of, may be strung with good effect. are as old and as worldwide in their use as marbles, tops and kites. These are the things that set the boy up in the world without making him too proud. The first stilts I ever used, I was brought up on a farm. I cut with my little hatchet. They were made from two beach saplings, with the section of a branch retained at the same height on each for foot rests, and the length sufficient to come under the arms and be easily grasped. These were rude makeshifts, but they did to start with. And on them, I learned to balance. Much better stilts can be made from sticks or board strips of sufficient length for grasping with the hands. And with foot rests nailed at any required height from the ground part. In the gout about stilt, you will notice that the stilt above the foot rest is strapped to the leg just below the knee, which leaves both hands free. Any boy with tools, timber, and leather for straps can make gait abouts, and the arm's stilt is still simpler. The natives of the Marraquaises Islands use very high stilts, and they become so expert in their use as to dance with them and to wear them in wrestling matches. The shepherds on the flat plains in the south of France use stilts to enable them to look over a wide stretch of country, and they become so expert in their use that they can travel twice as fast as the ordinary walker on foot. They carry a long pole for balancing purposes to take surroundings when waiting through bog or water. Spanish dillts differ from the catabouts and that they reach to the hips and are securely strapped about the thighs.

These can be made at home,

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