The genesis for this essay had to do with a remark made to me by Dr. Andrew Beamer following our most recent discussion. In essence, Dr. Beamer said that I had all of my marbles and seemed to have held onto them late in life. I am not quite certain that Dr. Beamer is right but over the years, I have found that doing what Dr. Beamer has told me has always turned out to be in my best interests. But let us assume that Dr. Beamer is correct as he has been in all instances to date. When Dr. Beamer made his remark to me I took it as a great compliment. But I also began to wonder how marbles ever became a symbol for retaining one’s intellect late in life.
This essay will try to untangle the matter of why we say that late in life one has retained his marbles. It will not be a definitive answer but the expression of retaining his marbles is simply a slang expression, not a definitive one.
As always, I go to great lengths to make certain that my readers are as well informed as they possibly can be. In this case, I had the help of Amazon. Much to my wife’s surprise and that of myself, when we sought out the story of marbles, it turned out that Amazon has a wide collection of them for sale. The bag I bought for producing this essay cost about seven dollars. Amazon has a wide variety of marbles and depending on how many you order, they can approach $100 or more. In the bag that Amazon sent us, there are marbles of different sizes, of which one of them is, I assume, a “shooter.” My wife and I do not recall the shooter as being of a different size. Our recollection is that the shooter, which was used to knock other marbles out of the ring, was of the same size as the rest of the marbles. In this case, it appears that the marble to be used as the shooter is of a larger size. But these marbles come from Mexico and perhaps different rules apply there.
In answer to the question of how one retains his own marbles, one explanation might be that, like the game of marbles, if one retains most or all of the marbles with which he entered the game, he is using his intellect. But that is sort of a lame explanation and we will try to go on, recognizing that the expression of “retaining his marbles” is merely a slang expression.
If my recollection is correct, I believe marbles were played by children under the age of ten. There is no prohibition against using marbles at a later date, but my recollection is that the game was played mostly by the under-ten group. From what I have observed, my wife has knowledge of marbles as well and she comes from a different geographical place. So it is not exclusively a male-dominated game nor does it appear in only one geographical place. It is almost universal.
To enjoy a game of marbles is a simple delight. It requires drawing a large circle (about eight feet) in the dust or ground. Participants in the game deposit a number of marbles in the middle of the circle. The idea is to use your shooter to knock out the opponents’ marbles. This is accomplished by holding the shooter marble in the right hand, assuming that the shooter is right-handed, in the crook of the right index finger. The shooter uses his thumb to propel the marble forward.
I can recollect occasions when the teachers would become very anxious because marbles could get loose on the floor and cause someone to slip. They would also be annoyed by the marbles rattling around in the pockets of the children.
So the game is very simple. First there is a large circle that is drawn. Then the participants in the game put some of their marbles that they do not care to keep in the middle and the shooters will take turns trying to knock the opponents’ marbles out of the ring. It is always required that the shooter have his knuckles down for executing the shooting operation. As I suggested earlier, at the conclusion of the game of marbles, the one who retained the most marbles would generally win the game. And from that I draw the conclusion about retaining his marbles.
Now, a word about the shooter marble. It usually seems to be the favorite marble of each of the participants in a game. Shooters are treasured above all else. It is only as a last resort that a marble player will surrender his shooter marble. But generally speaking, rather than give up his shooter, the participant will concede defeat. In the collection of marbles that I purchased from Amazon, there is one innovation in that the shooter is a good bit larger than the ordinary marble. I do not remember the shooter being of a different size than the ones that were being shot at. But this is a small point as it relates to the game of marbles. But here is a picture of the marbles in a net bag as well as one that shows the marble itself.
BAG OF MARBLES
THE MEXICAN SHOOTER
ARRAY OF REGULAR MARBLES
When Dr. Beamer made these remarks about retaining my marbles into old age, I was curious about why he used marbles as a measure of intellectual quality. But there you have it along with my description of how the game is played. If I made a mistake or two, I must credit the fact that it has been perhaps 80 years since I have played a game of marbles.
I am delighted that Amazon still offers marbles for sale. These marbles that I purchased, incidentally, came from Mexico, which might explain the fact that apparently the shooter is of a larger size than the rest of the marbles.
If you wish to go further into the history of marbles and you have a computer, go to the website http://mentalfloss.com/article/29486/brief-history-marbles-including-all-marble-slang That site will explain all about marbles and it will tell you that in 1884 there was a manufacturer in Ohio who turned out five carloads of marbles per day.
So you see that this one compliment paid to me by Dr. Beamer has led to an examination of retaining your marbles into an advanced age. I am indebted to Dr. Beamer for having made this remark.
E. E. CARR
September 26, 2013
Essay 769
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Kevin’s commentary:
Fancy fancy! Can’t remember the last time we had a photo essay. When I was reading this I thought I was going to be all clever and reason that since I have never played marbles, I have never owned any, and if I have never owned any then I still have 100% of all the marbles I’ve ever had. But then I remember that for some reason I had a ton of marbles in a red cup in my room that I guess I never played with? All I remember was that if you rubbed two of them together they made an awful sound that gave me the chills.
I used to keep that cup in my closet next to a blue cup full of broken glass and change, from when my change jar shattered in like 2005. I have no idea why I kept a cup full of broken class in my closet, but it certainly was not for lack of marbles. I guess in some horrible sort of way it was protecting them. I wonder what that says about me and my mental state if we back the metaphor out. I think I’d rather not do that.