Fancy Kites
Ingenious boys now and then take a hmt from the Chinese, and so shape and paint their kites that they resemble different animate and inanimate objects. The "officer kite," which has the figure of a soldier painted on it, and the "hawk kite," which rudely represents a flying hawk, are common forms of fancy kites. A very funny effect may be produced by painting a kite like a sailor, and attaching moveable arms, instead of the ordinary tassel wings, to the shoulders. We present our readers with a few suggestive forms, which are quite novel. All fancy kites should be painted with the most glaring colours, and the figures on them drawn as coarsely as possible, as they are intended to be seen at a great distance.
In ancient times, when we were boys, and indulged in the luxury of marbles, they were very different from their present form. They were made of stone, nicely polished, and some of them, called "alleys," of the purest marble. Many of the stone marbles were beautifully variegated, and now and then a fancy pet was treasured under the name of "taw," which had somewhat the virtues of a talisman, for to "lose it or to give it" were "such perdition," as Othello says, as could never be exceeded. Of late years, marbles, like all other matters, have undergone considerable change. Foreign marbles have been introduced, prodigiously cheaper, it is true, than our old English marbles, but infinitely worse; and various kinds of "patent marbles" have had their day. Some of these go by the name of Dutchmen, others are called Frenchmen, and others again Chinamen, while it is not quite impossible to procure some right old English marbles, which, if they can be procured, are still the best. We would advise all marble players to procure these, if they can, as "marbles" is a royal game, and ought to be duly honoured.
How to Shoot your Marble.--The art of holding a marble to shoot it properly seems to be lost among our London boys, who are generally content to throw one marble at another, or if they shoot it to hold it in the turn of the fore-finger, forcing it out by the thumb, which is placed behind it. This, in our boyish days, was held to be a very illegitimate way of proceeding, derogatory to the true marble-player, and bore the dishonourable appellation of "fulking," and any one who made it his rule to hold a marble in such a manner was looked upon as a charlatan, or almost a cheat. The true way to hold your taw is to place it between the point of the forefinger and the first joint of the thumb, and to propel it from the nail of the thumb with strong muscular force; and so great was the skill attained by many boys, that they would sometimes strike a marble at five yards' distance, and frequently shoot one to six or seven.