of shooting and the games are practically the same.

Germans are the greatest toy and game-makers in the world, and so we
should not be surprised to learn that that great country not only
produces the most marbles, but also the very best. From Germany we get
the finest "agates," the beauty and value of which every lover of the
game knows. The more common marbles are made in Saxony, of a fine kind
of white limestone, which is practically a variety of the building
material known as "marble," and from which the name is derived. Broken
into small pieces, and the irregular bits placed between two grooved
grinders, the lower one being stone and the upper wood, power is
applied, and after much rotating the spheres are turned out, hundreds
at a time, and these are afterwards sorted and polished.

Glass marbles, some of which are imitation agates, are cast in moulds
that close so perfectly that the place where they join cannot be seen
in the finished product. China marbles are made from pottery-clay, and
after being joined are baked, and sometimes they are painted. The
small gray, brown or black marbles, usually called "commies," are
little balls of clay, baked and glazed. These, being the cheapest, are
the most numerous, and are usually the objects of attack, and so
change owners the oftenest.

NAMES OF MARBLES AND PLAY TERMS

While the names of marbles and the terms of the game may vary slightly
in different parts of the United States, they are in the main so much
alike that the following will be understood by all boys throughout the
land: