"white alleys"

[GSCole]

MOA-Cornell, with reference to a person's thoughts about playing a game
of marbles, "thinking how many good shots he could make if he only had a
'white alley' to start with."

In Scribners monthly, NY, 9#5, March 1875, in story: Home and Society,
p.632.

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fscmo%2Fscmo0009%2F&tif=00638.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABP7664-0009-108
======================

Less certain use of 'white alley' in the following account.

At MOA-Michigan, in journals, in an account of a group trying to travel
across some rough land, in rough weather, the foreman is shown to be a
driven person, forcing people to move on, even if they wished to stop.

The narrator, uncertain of how he should view the foreman, notes:  "So I
went on, dodging between two opinions, and trying to give Burkit a show
for his white alley, in my own mind, for the sake of his gentleness with
the consumptive...."

In the Overland monthly and Out West magazine, Nov. 1897, 30 iss. 139,
in the story Bully Burkit, by Francis Lynde, p. 444.

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/m/moajrnl/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=75&root=mm000082%2F1397over%2Fv0030%2Fi179&tif=04660444.tif&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hti.umich.edu%2Fcgi%2Fm%2Fmoajrnl%2Fmoajrnl-idx%3Fnotisid%3DAHJ1472-1397OVER-116

Similar use of 'white alley', in an account of a fight, "'Hol' on,'
called another; 'give him some show for his white alley."

They weren't preparing to play marbles.

In Overland monthly and Out West magazine, Feb 1894, 23 iss. 134, in the
story An Encounter with Chinese Smugglers, by J. C. Nattrass, p.214.

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/m/moajrnl/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=75&root=mm000080%2F1390over%2Fv0023%2Fi134&tif=02200214.tif&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hti.umich.edu%2Fcgi%2Fm%2Fmoajrnl%2Fmoajrnl-idx%3Fnotisid%3DAHJ1472-1390OVER-54

Other cites at the MOA-Michigan site, in both journals and books, appear
to be clearly related to the game of marbles.

George Cole
Shippensburg University