XXXVII.EARLY
AMUSEMENTS.
In
the early days, before the completion of the railroads and telegraph lines,
when only the primitive stagecoach attracted the attention of the people
three times a week, and when merchants and business men generally had but a few
hours' work to do each day, games of all kinds suited to the different turns of
mind and the physical capacity of the individual were improvised, and many were
the amusing scenes and incidents that occurred in all the towns and villages in
the county.
When
Plymouth was a village of three or four hundred inhabitants, the complicated
and entertaining game of marbles was the one mostly indulged in. Ministers,
lawyers and doctors, merchants and others, all had their pockets full of
"white alleys," and it was not an uncommon occurrence
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 189
to
see these potent, grave and reverend seniors "knuckling down" final
performance indicated the end of the game.
The
mania for playing any game of chance is generally contagious, and, if it is not
too difficult to learn, it is only a question of time as to the whole
population becoming infected. Enthusiasts have been known to become so much
interested in the game of marbles that lamps and lanterns had to be provided
for the accommodation of the players in the street as the shades of evening
drew on.
"Town
Ball" was also a favorite amusement for those who delighted in violent
exercise of that kind. And there were many who became exceedingly expert
players. They could throw a ball as straight as a bullet and almost as swift,
and there were others who could catch them if they were thrown in catching
distance. And woe be to the runner who was found between the "by's"
when one of these balls was thrown at him! If he escaped being hit the surgeon
might have lost a job setting a broken limb. "Bull Pen" was another
favorite game much the same as town ball, and many remember even to this day
the hard knocks they received in trying to escape the tortures of that
classically named enclosure.
Pitching
horseshoes was also one of the favorite outdoor games, and he who could
oftenest "ring the peg" was considered the champion pitchist. This
was a great Sunday game, and there are some yet living who became experts by
practicing on the holy Sabbath day. They have probably for- gotten it by this
time and have turned their attention to higher and holier things as the day of
rest weekly rolls around, and these early indiscretions shall not be laid up
against them.
And
there were foot races in those days and they sometimes occurred in the middle'
of the street, and there were occasions when great preparations were made for
these feats of rapid pedestrianism. And to vary the monotony there was an
occasional horse race, and when these occurred there was generally betting and
drinking and an occasional knockdown to wind up with. And there were jumping
matches, too. Run and jump, stand and jump, hop, step and jump, and a jump
backward and forward. There were wheelbarrow races in which the contestants
were blindfolded, and bag races, and every other conceivable kind of races the
mind of man could think of. And there was "snipe hunting" with
greenies to hold the bag; mock trials, and debating societies, and country
dances, and social parties and the like, enough to make one's head swim to
relate them all.
And
as the years went on and society became more cultured, most of these amusements
were abandoned, and then came the more refined games of checkers and
backgammon, and euchre, and all sorts of games with cards, and chess, and the
like; and all kinds of puzzles and problems and curious contrivances to test
the ingenuity and capacity of those who delight to spend their time in working
out abstruse and difficult problems.
These
things take hold of the people like any other epidemic, and, having spent their
fury, the patient recovers much in the same way as do people who have had the
smallpox, whooping cough, measles, or any other disease that suddenly takes
hold and subsides when the fever "goes down!" Among the most
remarkable instances of this kind was what was known as the 13-15-14 craze.
Nothing like it was ever known before and probably never will be again. It
originated in Boston and within a few weeks spread
190 HISTORY
OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
Like
wildfire all over the United States and probably found its way across the sea.
The people of Marshall County had a very bad case of it. It was so simple and
looked so easy of solution that everyone who looked at it a minute made up his
mind that he could do it in a short time without much difficulty. The solution
of the puzzle consisted simply in getting the 15 on the place where the 14
stood, and the 14 where the 15 stood, by moving the blocks without taking them
from the board so that the numbers would all stand in regular order, the last
row reading 13-14-15. The little joker was simply fifteen square blocks made to
fit a box holding sixteen blocks, the last a blank, so that the blocks could be
moved to suit the fancy of the mover.
Large rewards were offered to anyone who would furnish the correct solution, and as it had the appearance of being so easy of accomplishment, almost everybody went at it – lawyers, doctors, merchants, clerks, laboring men, preachers, women and children, “old men and maidens and them that stooped for age,” all joined in the general panic, and so intense became the excitement that for a week or two business was almost suspended. In the course of a short time, however, it was ascertained that the thing “couldn’t be did,” and one by one the little boards and blocks were laid aside and the monomaniacs, who had almost gone crazy on the subject, resumed their regular occupations, and the excitement in the community generally disappeared as rapidly as it came.