THOSE MARBLES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 3132, 21 May 1878, Page 2

THOSE MARBLES.

TO THE KDITOR.

Sir, — A paragraph which appears in your local contemporary of the 17th inst baa thrown meiuto an t ecstaoy of mingled pleasure and hope. I am, and hare been, Bince the early age of four, or thereabouts, an ardent marble player, bat never did I dream until I read that looal to what brilliant results it might lead, and that skill in the game might obtaia for me sums of money, which appear to me, even with my extensive knowledge, to be simply fabulous. There are, as I know, various waysof living easily, and I have ever looked to the most satisfactory, as being ia the receipt of a pension from a grateful country for services rendered, or wounds received, but the preparatory qualification for these, is to my mind disagreeable. " Services," seem to me to signify a certain amount of hard work, which is a thing from which all the feelings of my nature recoil, and to be wounded is painful and unpleasant ; besides, I have an absurd predilection "for being wounded, if at all, somewhere in front, and being able to exhibit my honorable scars, and I am sufficiently aware of my own peculiarities to feel sure that if unfortunately placed iv a position where I incurred the risk of acoideufc of the kind, that I have such a trick of looking the other way, that the wounds would probably be behind. Other games rather than such rough ones suit me better, and my attention has been at times leut to many of them, Cards present the attraction of containing an infinite variety of combinations, and there iB one, the game of euchre, for which I claim the paloi. But then it is not always profitable. You may lose and have to pay up, or you may win (nominally), and have to excuse your opponent from paying you. No, sir 1 none of these games for me. Marbles is the game where skill ia really triumphant. But your contemporary may have a deep and hidden meaning iv the referenoe that he has made. We know as a matter of (fictitious) history, how terribly iv the hands of Sergeant Buzfuz, that thought* less order about " chops and tomato sauce " was brought to bear on the immortal Pick* wick, and how affecting was the reference made to cognate subject, the alley taws of the sou of the ill-used widow. Possibly, the thin edge of the wedge is only being inserted, and an attempt is to be made to intefere with the amusements, as well as the diet of the people, and " marbles" are to be included in the next Local Option Bill. Lollies, I have long held should be, and when I hold a seat in the Legislature, I'shall certainly introS^ca a clause, providing that the people of evejfcjF district in the colony hold in their hands the power of saying whether they will have sold in their midst, the means of sapping the health of every baby, (full grown or other* wise) in ib.9 midst of the whole population. But I care not to follow the example of others, and become iutemperate in urging my views. I would only warn your contem* porary when he makes references which can* not be misunderstood by many, to be Bura that his informant is speaking tbe truth, and not reproduce a story with which some motherless bairn has beeu crammed. Leave us alone, as my friends and myself have a perfect right to choose our own amusements, even though I am only,

Yours, &c,

A Marble-Player.