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Published - Nov 5th, 2009
By By Rev. W. Martin Dawson, Arthur United Church
A week ago our church decided to host a “crokinole party” at Caressant Care. It was great fun, but there were a number of people, who were not familiar with the game, so substitutes were offered, namely, euchre and cribbage.
That evening I helped out with the cribbage alternative, but it required a little “brushing up” on the rules of the game before we started. You see, I haven’t played it since my father-in-law passed away a number of years ago. I remember that he had built a cribbage board that was the size of a foot stool. Oftentimes, we would play a few games, and he would tell me how he had played the game during World War II in the Canadian Army. He could just look at a hand and instantly tell you how many points were in it. I never reached that plateau of expertise. So, last week I was back to counting “fifteen two”, ‘fifteen four”, and a pair are six.
Yes, for all of you who are unfamiliar with the game of cribbage, it’s all about numbers. The object is to get 121 points. You achieve this by scoring multiples of a total of fifteen in your hand, along with pairs and runs. Also, each round tries to reach 31 as a count, and if you can’t get it, you say “go”; thus your opponent gets a point. Easy right? Well, no it isn’t. It is an enjoyable game, but it does take time to catch onto all the intricacies.
With my recent interest piqued, I went on my computer to see if I could find any information about the game being played during World War II. There was a written account of a perfect hand of 29 points obtained during a patrol of an American naval vessel in the China Sea. However, my greatest find was a picture of two Canadian soldiers playing cribbage in Belgium in 1944. The cribbage board is clearly visible right behind a Bren Gun in the foreground and a light anti-aircraft gun in the background. The gunner on the right must be winning because he has a huge smile on his face, while his opponent looks puzzled over what card to play next. After viewing this picture, my mind was flooded with memories of the games with my father-in law numerous years ago.
You know, even the Bible has a book of “Numbers”. It is in the Old Testament, and it recounts the years spent in the desert by the Israelites before they entered the “Promised Land”. It opens with a census of all the available soldiers for the Israelite army. The number is 603,550.
The book concludes with another military census before Joshua’s campaigns. The final number is 601,730.
As you can see, the army was smaller at the end of forty years of desert life and campaigning. Just reading this book must have brought back many memories to later Hebrew generations. Likewise, this week we look towards our Remembrance Day. Again, it is a time of numbers.
Let us remember the number of Arthur area people who joined the military and safely returned. Let us also remember those who joined, yet failed to return. Let us not forget those presently serving, and the personnel we have lost in the latest conflict. I trust that a goodly number of folks will attend the ceremony at the cenotaph this year, just as a large number of people attended Arthur United Church’s Anniversary Service last Sunday, where Captain Debbie Hynes (Mullin) spoke of her experiences in Afghanistan.
The local Legion’s participation was greatly appreciated at the service too. The actual number of local veterans may be getting smaller, but now, every time I play cribbage, the number of my fond remembrances increases. Maybe we should all take up the game to improve our memory.
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