No. 144 Buttons
Buttons are in extensive use in the sports of German children, with whom they form a sort of coinage, each sort having a stipulated exchangeable value. Traces of similar usage exist in the United States.
A common New York game consists in throwing buttons. A line is drawn, and a hole made about twelve feet off. The players toss their buttons, and whoever comes nearest the hole has the first shot. He endeavors to drive the buttons of the rest into the hole, striking them with the extended thumb by a movement of the whole hand, which is kept flat and stiff. When he misses the next takes his turn, and so on. Whoever drives the adversary’s button into the hole wins it.
Another game, for two players, is called “Spans.” The buttons are cast against the wall, and if a player’s button falls within a span of the adversary’s, he may aim at it and win it by striking as before.