THE MARBLES AND THEIR PROCEEDINGS.
"We are of what may be styled republican principles," said a large China
Marble, rolling out of the heap. "Of all the speakers who have already
come forward, the Kite, Doll, and yourself, for instance, are simple
individuals. The Tea-things are a large family, under the rule of their
mother, the Teapot; a kind of domestic despotism. The Noah's Ark might
represent a constitutional or limited monarchy, where the Ark is a sort
of governing or holding together of the rest of the members. And so they
have all very properly, as representatives, related their own peculiar
history. But _we_ Marbles are a republic, and therefore can't quite tell
all our story as one, because several kinds or classes of us wish to
tell their own separate tale."
"I daresay this is all very clever, and very true," replied the Ball,
suppressing a yawn; "but I don't quite understand all you have said.
However, let that pass; the only question before us is, how the
proceedings are to be arranged in this manner. I think, as President of
our party, I can hardly allow all of you to relate a distinct story,
because there are several other people who are waiting in their turn,
and it is due to them, as well as fair to the rest, not forgetting those
who have gone before, that we should not spend all our time in hearing
separately half a dozen members of your party."
"But we have no story to tell as a body," urged a Bright Glass Marble;
"if you won't hear us separately, we have no whole adventure to relate
worth mentioning."
The Ball, somewhat puzzled, consulted gravely with the rest; and after
whispering in one corner with the Kite, and in another with the Rocking
Horse--after having failed in obtaining any opinion from the Doll, who
was too languid to care much about the matter, and having skilfully
evaded the Humming Top, who had more to say on the subject than any one
cared to hear--he once more took his place, and gave his decision
thus:--
"After a consultation and council with several distinguished members of
our party, I am happy to tell you that we are willing to allow three of
you to relate your separate stories, on the distinct understanding that
they do not exceed, in their united length, the narrations that have
gone before."
On behalf of his companions, the China Marble who had first spoken,
willingly agreed to the terms, and called upon the Bright Glass Marble
to speak first. And so the small green glassy thing rolled smoothly
forward, looking like a little curled-up snake, and began to speak.
"I am not going to relate to you the usual pursuits and habits of a
common Marble! I am not made like them of mere earth or clay, but of
glass--bright shining glass--the result of a marvellous combination of
different things by the aid of chemical skill and knowledge. These
delicate threads that you can perceive winding gracefully and
symmetrically through me are of Venetian origin, and the mode of making
them--once a trade secret--was first discovered in that "city of an
hundred isles." I was not baked in a hot oven, as my humbler brethren
are, but melted and cleared again and again in a far fiercer heat, until
my nature became refined and purified, and my clear colour green as the
sea which glides like a glittering network through and round Venice.
"Nor was all this trouble taken with me only that I might become a mere
child's toy, like these dingy, earthen globes; no! I was designed to
become a member of a charming party, who lived in separate apartments,
on a large mahogany board, and our party was elegantly called for that
reason by the French name of _Solitaire_! Some of my family were
crimson, some blue, some striped like sea-shells, some flaked with gold,
but all beautiful. We lived for a long time appropriately enough in the
Crystal Palace, where we lay with hosts of other brilliant things, too
numerous to mention, on a long counter in the Bohemian Court. I may say,
without vanity, that we were the objects of admiration to thousands, and
many of our sparkling host were carried off like trophies, to adorn the
mansions of the great and noble.
"My destination was at first a fortunate one; but, alas, in common with
yourselves, I have also met with reverses in life; and on _me_, poor
little me, Fate seems to have poured out all her hardest punishment. We
were purchased at first by Lord Latimer for his little daughter Florine,
and for a while laid on inlaid tables and were only handled by fair and
jewelled fingers. I need not enter into the plan of the game of
Solitaire, which had just then come out fresh, and was universally
popular, for, as in many other cases what is _play_ to others is _work_
to us. I had nothing to complain of, however, for my fair young mistress
was very gentle and lady-like, and skilled in the game, so that we were
daintily used and carefully kept. Indeed while we breathed the perfumed
air of that luxurious boudoir, sweetened with the rarest exotic flowers,
and ornamented with every graceful trinket and toy that could please its
owner, our life passed like a fairy dream. But sweet and amiable as
Florine was, she too had her faults, and a love of change and novelty
was one of them. When she had possessed us a brief year, she grew weary
of us, and passed on to other amusements. Her whole thoughts were now
given to table croquet, and we lay idle and disused. At last one day we
were coolly given away to little Rosie Herbert, a small friend of hers,
who carried us exultingly off at once. Unluckily our new owner was a
mere raw school girl, and having no mother, and more of her own way than
was good for her, we were taken by her to school, and there we ran the
gauntlet of twenty or thirty school girls, and never knew ten minutes'
peace through the day, except at meal times. We now became acquainted
with rough treatment, for we were usually sent rolling on the floor into
all corners of the room half a dozen times a day, and many of my friends
were lost entirely by these means. What became of them eventually I do
not know, as we never met all together again, the vacant place in the
board being filled up by Rosie with _beans_, neighbours, I need hardly
say, not by any means acceptable to the poor remainder of us! What we
underwent at that dreadful school, or even a tithe of the mischievous
pranks we saw there, would take too long a time to describe; and the
only wonder is, that any of us escaped to tell the tale, for when our
novelty wore off, the value for us lessened also. One unscrupulous girl
made frequent use of us to torment her enemies by putting some of us in
their beds, others in their shoes, nay, even one girl narrowly escaped
choking by nearly swallowing _me_ in a cup of tea, into which I had been
slily slipped. One or two of us broke a few window panes, and we were
frequently sent rolling about the writing table, until at last Miss
Blunt desired Rosie to collect us all, and keep us in her play-box till
the holidays, on pain of entire confiscation.
"We then, or at least the few survivors of our once numerous band, hoped
we had now at last a little interval of peace, before we retired into
private life. On once more emerging from obscurity, and accompanying
Rosie home, we found that our chance was not much improved, for we were
continually being slily purloined to replenish her brother Robert's
marble bag. For a long time I had seen my companions gradually
disappearing one by one, and dreaded the time when I too must follow,
and at last the terrible moment arrived. I was carried off, and once
more became a haunter of a school, but this time it was one for boys,
and from my former experience, I was in utter despair at the fate before
me. Fortunately, however, in the first game of marbles in which Robert
indulged after I came into his possession, I was won by Frank Spenser.
He was just on the eve of leaving school, and consequently I had no very
unpleasant encounters to anticipate. With the rest of my companions I
was put aside and forgotten, and that is how I came to reside in the toy
cupboard!"
"Well," said one of the common marbles, coming forward, "_I_ can't lay
any claim to such a fine appearance, nor shall I be able to relate such
a distinguished history. My origin is humble enough, for I am made of
clay, in common with many other things of far more importance than
marbles. My first appearance in life was in a wicker basket with a lot
of others in the dingy window of old Spattleberry's shop, where we lived
in company with bottles of lollipops, ginger beer, jam tarts, string,
slate pencil, tops, knives, and parliament. I have lived in a public
school almost all my life, and I only wish I could get back there once
more. None of your grand scented drawing rooms and faddling girls for
me! I prefer boys for companions, and revel in a playground; why I don't
even object to a jacket pocket! I can't say I have exactly a partiality
for pockets in general, for my friends, the boys, _are_ rather apt to
put queer things in them, such as biscuit crumbs, beetles, fishing
worms, and a host of other odds and ends, not to mention an occasional
snake. But I've been very lucky, for I was a favourite alley, and have a
bright red ring round me, so that I was pretty generally kept in careful
quarters. Oh! how many jolly games I have had in the capital playground
of Dewberry Grammar School with my owner, Ben Baily, and his chum, Bill
Smith. The marbles I won for him, helped by his own good play, for he
_was_ a first-rate player, made quite a goodly store in his play-box.
Many a boy who had been so lucky, and who played so well, would have
sold them secretly to old Spattleberry, as indeed I have known some mean
boys do. But Ben was an honest, open-hearted fellow, born to be a
sailor, so I was not surprised to hear of him afterwards as a naval
cadet, going through a course of training in the "Dreadnought" frigate.
But at the time I knew him he was only a truthful, frank schoolboy, very
mischievous, and getting into lots of scrapes, but then they were never
wicked ones, or likely to do harm to anybody, and only arising from the
spirit of fun in him, that brimmed over sometimes.
"I soon discovered how his hoard of marbles gradually melted away, for I
saw him several times fill the empty bag of a little fellow who had lost
his all, and who found a generous friend in Ben. But though he was very
kind to the little ones, and liberal too in his way, nothing roused him
to a regular raging passion quicker than meanness or cheating. Now
little Sam Markham, who first bought me from old Spattleberry, was the
meanest little sneak that ever lived, and did not care what he did, so
long as he was not found out. Ben had an instinctive dislike of him, and
never played with him, so that there was a sort of unspoken feud between
them. Mean little Sam feared Ben's blunt, straightforward ways; and Ben
had a sort of big contempt for Sam's trickfulness and shifty ways, and
so they gave each other usually, what Ben would have called, a "wide
berth."
"But one day, Ben happened to perch himself on a very high bough of the
old elm tree that stood in a corner of the playground; for he was always
given to climbing, and that he knew from long experience was a secure
nook to rest in away from intrusion. Many a summer holiday did he spend
studying Robinson Crusoe, or Peter Simple, or something of that sort.
But on this day he happened to have got "Snarley-yow," which some chum
had lent him, and he was deaf and blind to almost everything. But a loud
squabble under the tree at last aroused him a little, and 'It's not
fair, Sam; I know you're cheating,' reached his ears; and shaking
himself like a waking dog, he peered down through the leaves and
branches to see what was the matter. There stood Sam, his eyes
twinkling, and his mouth grinning from ear to ear, as he pocketed a lot
of marbles, confiscated from "blundering Bill," as William Smith was
politely christened by the boys. Now Bill was a good deal younger than
that little sharper, Sam, and a novice to boot in the game, and so was
not near a match for him. Ben's honest blood boiled, and he only waited
a few minutes just to witness some most gross cheating, and to see poor
Bill turn away with his empty bag, when he slid down the old tree trunk
like a thunderbolt, coming down upon sly Sam, and sending all his
ill-gotten gains spinning to every corner of the playground. Sam had the
soundest thrashing he had ever experienced, and was mulcted besides of
all the marbles he had robbed Bill of; and though Ben was scarcely his
equal in size, and a year younger, he was far too formidable and
uncompromising an antagonist for Sam to contend openly with. So he
resigned his ill-gotten plunder, and slunk off rubbing his shoulders,
while Ben picked up "Snarley-yow," which he had pitched away in the
beginning of the fray, and somewhat too tired to re-climb his favourite
look-out, threw himself on a patch of grass hard by. From that hour the
friendship of little Bill Smith and Ben was sealed and cemented by
Bill's giving and Ben's taking me as an offering, each ignorant that I
had really originally belonged to Sam. The latter was too cowardly to
reclaim even his own, and therefore contented himself from that time by
lavishing every petty but secret malignity he could devise upon the two
friends. But Ben very speedily left Dewberry, and went to the Naval
School, and gave me with one or two more especial favourites to Frank
Spenser."
"I believe I am the next delegate," said a fine bright, speckled marble,
rolling forward; "and I consider it only candid to warn you that I am
not what I may appear to be. My outward looks would lead you to suppose
I was made of agate, or polished stone at least, but I have really been
the innocent cause of so much deception that I think it only right to
state at the beginning that I am only composed of some species of
chinaware, so highly glazed as to appear like a better material. We
found a very ready sale at the better class of toy shops and were very
popular among the young fry, who cared more for outward looks, and were
not so skilful in selecting really good articles as the bigger boys.
"I was purchased at the "Civet Cat," in Brompton, by little Augusta
Finekyn, as a present for her brother Fred on his approaching birthday,
and as I cost the large sum of fourpence, she had saved a month's pocket
money for the purpose. She intended to keep me as a profound secret
until the auspicious day; but her plan was really defeated by several
unlucky mishaps. First of all, she dropped me in the middle of a crowded
crossing, and was very nearly run over by an omnibus in her search for
me, and only rescued by the old crossing sweeper. The paper in which I
had been wrapped was so saturated with mud, that she was obliged to take
it off and wrap me in a corner of her pocket handkerchief. When she
arrived at home she took off her things, forgetting me in her hurry, and
ran down to dinner. During that meal, having occasion to want her
handkerchief she drew it out of her pocket and me with it, sending me
rolling among the dishes and plates, to her great dismay. However,
Freddy was good-natured, and did not wish to vex his little sister, and
so he pretended not to see me. Three days intervened before the
birthday, and incessantly during that time did luckless Augusta contrive
to drop me about in the oddest places, putting Fred's gravity and good
humour to the sorest test possible, and I think both were equally
relieved when the day arrived at last, and she was able to present it in
due form. Fred had plenty of marbles of a better kind and more suitable
for playing, but he did not vex his affectionate little sister by
telling her so. For a long time I was kept in his desk with a funny
jumble of other odds and ends not often wanted, but never exposed to
view, for poor Fred on first returning to school had innocently
exhibited me as an _agate_ marble, fully believing I really was so. But
a more knowing boy, the son of a working jeweller who was on the same
form with him, soon undeceived him, and from that time, with natural
disgust at having been "so green," as his schoolfellow said, Fred
carefully buried me in the recesses of his desk, and showed me no more.
"When he left school I went back among his other valuables, and was
buried for many years in his old play-box. But one day I was rummaged
out with a host of other antiquated things and laid on the table. A very
smart young lady in a gay muslin dress, plentifully be-dropped with
knots of ribbon, seemed to be "tidying up" as she called it; a process
that appeared to me to consist in routing out and clearing away all the
old hoards, and making the room as bare as an empty shop.
"'Oh dear,' she laughed, as I tumbled out with the rest of the boyish
treasures; 'here's that wretched old marble, which was _not_ agate after
all. The little horror! Here, Jane, give it to Cook; she wanted a marble
the other day to put into her tea-kettle, and this will be just the
thing for her.'
"And so I was consigned to Cook, and for many months continued to roll
and rattle about in the bottom of her horrid old black tea-kettle,
accumulating all the disagreeable "fur," as she called it, that is
generally found lining the inside of a kettle where the water in use is
very hard. My pretty streaks and spots soon disappeared beneath this
dreadful covering, and no one now--not even Fred Finekyn himself--(far
less the airyfied young lady, into whom my early admirer, Augusta, had
merged), would have recognised the gay and polished marble in the rough,
stony-looking lump that made such a dull clatter in the kettle.
"But all things come to an end, even long captivities, and so one happy
day saw me, still an inhabitant of the old kettle, sold at the sale,
which took place when the Finekyns went "abroad." After this I resided
for some time at a marine store-shop, and there my house and I parted
company, and I was sent once more into the world as a marble, for the
kettle was sold elsewhere, and I was dropped out during the examination
of the old woman purchaser. When I was picked up, the shopman soon
finding out that I was worth looking at, cleaned me, and restored me to
a faint likeness of my former show, and sold me for the reduced price of
twopence to an eager school boy. After a good many vicissitudes and
changes, I came into Frank Spenser's possession, and became, with the
rest, an inmate of the toy-cupboard."
The Ball, spying another little marble rolling forward as if to speak,
returned thanks to them for their three stories, and called on the
Rocking-Horse to be the next entertainer.
[Illustration]