Does anyone remember ----

Does anyone remember playing the game Mumbly-peg
when they were in elementary school?  I'm sure I am dating
myself by bringing this up.

Today I wrote a brief story for my history and thought I
would share it even if this isn't the final draft.

" Mumbly-peg is usually a game boys play, but not at our 

school.   We girls enjoyed playing it as much as the boys

and often competed with them during recess.

Mumbly-peg is played with small pocket knives.  Two players 

stand opposite of each other with their feet and legs together.  

One person takes the point of his knife in his fingers and flips 

the knife so it turns over once in the air and lands in the ground 

near or a slight distance from the other person’s foot. The knife 

was flipped from different parts of the body such as the elbow, 

wrist, nose, chest, etc.   The point of the knife had to go into the 

ground firmly enough so that the knife would stand without 

falling over.  That person would then move one foot to the spot 

where the knife had landed, keeping his other foot firmly planted 

on the ground.  He would then bend down and pick up the knife, 

making sure no part of his body except the feet touched the

ground.  If you did touch the ground, you automatically lost 

the match. 

We would take turns doing this until one or the other could 

stretch no further without collapsing on the ground.   We often 

found ourselves in some interesting contortions, before either 

winning or conceding to our opponent. 

We had such fun playing this game until one day when my 

friend, Madelyn and I were playing the game during recess

and things took a turn for the worse.  I remember flipping 

the point of my pocket knife towards Madelyn whose feet

were stretched out almost into a split position.  Instead of the 

point going into the ground, the knife hit her near her eye.  

The cut started to bleed and we rushed her into the school 

nurse to be checked and to make sure her eye was ok.  I was 

really scared. 

I remember how upset and angry she was with me.  I had not 

done it on purpose.  It was an accident.  I felt very bad.  Her  

parents were called to come to the school to get her and take 

her to the doctor to make sure everything was alright and 

there was no damage to her eye.  I don’t recall if we were 

reprimanded or not.  But the fear I felt and the sadness of 

knowing I had hurt my friend and could have put her eye out,

was discipline enough for me.   I know that she still has a 

scar as a reminder of our game that day.

I believe we were in about the 4^th or 5^th grade when this 

took place.

I can’t believe we were allowed to bring knives, albeit small 

pocket knives, to school.  Today, you would be suspended for 

having a knife in your possession, your parents would be called

in, and who knows what other disciplinary procedures would 

take place." 

We live in such a different time now.  How innocent we were 

back then and how much simpler life was.