and verd antique may be obtained in various places in New York and Pennsylvania, and in any of the New England states. At Milford, Conn., a quarry of serpentine and verd antique was worked more than 50 years ago, which furnished slabs pronounced by good judges quite as fine as the European stone.—The methods of preparing marble for use differ from the working of granite. This hard rock, after being quarried, is split by small wedges driven into holes drilled in a line, and is then dressed by hammers or used in the rough. Marble, being a comparatively soft rock, is cut into slabs by a process of sawing with smooth iron saws fed with sharp sand and water. Several of these plates or saws are set in one frame, and in a large establishment 20 or more of the frames may be seen kept in steady operation by a steam engine. The progress of the saws cutting down through the great blocks of marble seems very slow, for the most part not exceeding an inch per hour. The thickness of the slabs is usually four or six inches. In this form the marble is used for facing the walls of buildings upon a back of brick, giving all the effect of a solid wall of marble at much reduced cost. In the most expensive structures only are the walls built of solid blocks of marble or freestone. Marble slabs for mantels and other interior work are sawed like those for building, and are then rubbed smooth upon a heavy revolving table of cast iron, called the rubbing bed, and afterward polished.—According to the census of 1870, there were 22 marble quarries in operation in the United States, employing a capital of $1,316,600. The total products amounted to $804,300. The most extensive quarries were in Maryland, where the products for the year were valued at $275,000; New York, $222,000; Vermont, $130,800; Pennsylvania, $101,000; and Massachusetts, $59,500. Marble valued at $3,709,518 was worked into monuments and tombstones, valued at $8,916,654. The value of marble and stone ami manufactory thereof, imported into the United States during the year ending June 30, 1873, was $1,099,280, of which $423,818 was from Italy.
MARBLE, Manton, an American journalist, born in Worcester, Mass., Nov. 16, 1835. He graduated at the university of Rochester in 1855, was soon after connected with the Boston “Journal,” and subsequently was editor of the Boston “Traveller.” In 1858 he went to New York and joined the staff of the “Evening Post.” In 1859 he made a trip to Red river and beyond, corresponding with the “Evening Post,” and contributing three papers descriptive of the journey to “Harper's Magazine.” He has been connected with “The World” newspaper from its establishment, June 16, 1860, and became its proprietor and editor in April, 1862, making it a free-trade and democratic journal.
MARBLEHEAD, a town and port of entry of Essex co., Massachusetts, at the terminus of a branch of the Eastern railroad, 12 m. N. E. of Boston; pop. in 1870, 7,703. It is built upon, a peninsula projecting into Massachusetts bay, about 4 m. in length and 2 in breadth, with an area of about 3,700 acres, and joins Salem on the west. The surface is elevated, and is exceedingly irregular and rocky. The harbor is deep and convenient, and is about 1½ m. long by ½ m. wide. The town has been noted from the first settlement of New England for the enterprise of its people in the fisheries. More recently the inhabitants have also engaged extensively in the manufacture of boots and shoes. For the year ending June 30, 1873, the number of vessels engaged in the cod and mackerel fisheries was 59, with an aggregate tonnage of 2,098; belonging to the port, 64 vessels, of 2,554 tons. There are two national banks, a savings bank, graded public schools, with a high school, a weekly newspaper, and eight churches.—Marblehead was originally a part of Salem, and was incorporated as a distinct town in 1649, at which time it contained 44 families. Many of the settlers were from the Channel islands; and their peculiarities of language are still to be noticed among the inhabitants, and formerly existed to such a degree as almost to constitute a separate dialect. At the commencement of the revolutionary war Marblehead was reckoned the second town in Massachusetts in population and wealth. It contributed a regiment of 1,000 men to the army, and at the end of the war there were 600 widows and 1,000 fatherless children in its population of less than 4,000. During the war of 1812 the frigate Constitution was chiefly manned by men from Marblehead, and the town also sent out a great number of privateers; and when peace was declared it was found that 500 of its citizens were held in England as prisoners of war. In the civil war it was the first town to send troops to Boston (April 16, 1861), and furnished altogether 1,440 men.
MARBLES, Playing, little balls of marble, baked clay, agate, or other stony substance, used as toys for children. Marbles are made in immense quantities in Saxony for exportation to the United States, and to India and China. They are also largely manufactured in the agate mills at Oberstein on the Nahe, in Germany, particularly for the American market. The material used in Saxony is a hard calcareous stone, which is first broken up into square blocks with a hammer. These are then thrown 100 to 150 together into a mill, which is constructed of a stationary flat slab of stone, with a number of concentric furrows upon its face. Over this a block of oak of the same diameter, partially resting upon the small stones, is kept revolving, while water flows upon the stone slab. In 15 minutes the marbles are worn completely round, and are fit for sale. An establishment with three mills will manufacture 60,000 marbles in a week. Agates are made into marbles at Oberstein by first chipping the pieces nearly round with a hammer, and then
