Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-01-22
THE GOOD OLD TINES.
n quad Tells Of the Boyhcod d
Twenty-Five Years Ago
Row Somes Were Furnished In
Those Lsys-"JOhnny Cake'-
and ''Apple Sass''-AMuse.
menss.Schoois.


Detroit Tree Press,
] wish dozen times week that | was .
boy o: to-day. but never cnce DO ! wish 20
be set back 20 the boyhooi Of twenty-five
Year ago. | presume there was consider
able difference between the boys living in
cities and those dwelling in towns OF living
OF farIns-l mean in the matter of dress ard
privileges. bu: it was lonesome enough 70 ts
& be- anywhere.
WHAT wa, home, Wei, the very rich lad
car e-s. cane-s4at chairs and q rnelodeon and
"keI h;rei GIRL but the commonly well
OF people hti rag carpets on tie lai-ior fooIs
and lie others went bare, Sp.int or fas-bot-
tori Chairs were thought god noUyh and the
dollar chrcInJs o; to-day would have 5eeh
considered tit for the parlor % :hs riches.
mar in tie village. Wall paper had scarcely
been heard of, and all furniture was Of til:
i.lainest description. All the beds Of those
dIss lad cords and a straw tick, AMI al
boys up 20 Il Or 10 years o: age slept in
trunile-beds II was seldom that common
family lighted more than one candle Of an
evening; this furnished the lish. for all. Ii
was something extra when two candles we.o
allowed. and the sight Of three or four burn
ing at once in one hJuse would have created
the greatest astonishrnen: outside.
What was our living! One meal ives almost
tie counterpart of another. In q village of
500 inhabitants perhaps three famil is could
afford wheat bread, but it was Jimmy cake"
with all the rest week in AMI week out.
Fresi, meats came at rare intervals, AMI salt
pors filed the gap The average meal was
johnny cake. salt pork. potatoes. apple ~SaSs.
a very crude sort OF pie, and weak tea or
l,r ~ Nlpl ba chi f~nf
10 WARM drinks. and though almost every
body kept q cow rhe milk was saved for pud-
ding While butter was not more than 6 cents
per pound. fhs children were expected to
eat gravy in place Of it; AID while eggs
might be had for 5 cents a dozen they were
looked upon as luxury Up TO the time
when a boy was Ia he bad no chair at the
table, but stood up to eat 1t was rare
thing for a young person 10 give party, OF
for young people TO DO found at lee ures or
exhibitions. The rule was to force them into
bed soon after dark. At the a - Of Is | had
never seen show of ary sort. nor hal any
thing Of IN, kind ever been in the village.
Had there Leen enc every week it would
have done US BOYS no good
How did we dress: Well, the Oldest son
had rather the best show Fathers WORKOUT
clothes were Ripe dye, over and made up
anew for him. The ~ : Of Us had to tax,
our chances when store order was traded
out. Ever mother so tailor and she cut
the clothes ACCORDING to her own ideas. The
pantaloons might lie too short, but never too
long Ii the coat happened to fit 1t was all
right; il not the boy hej TO wear it just the
same.
II was considered sin TO lie. boys wear
l.,,ts ny
fore from May 10 og.ober all boys went bare
foot even to church. \ pair Of cowhide
boots were good eaolga for anybclys boy,
and 6-shiliing cloth cap fitted sin cut for
headgear.
What arnuSenents did we have, In the
towns ami villages the boys had their games
for Saturday afternoon. bu: during The rest
OF tine weeks were expected TO put in their
spare time at the wood pile or in tho garden.
On a farm it was not more than tw;cc year
that boy got n half day of The iiea q
most a-en:s seemed II 10 tn prevent their
boys from having a god time. ii q isd
could no. be loaded dow. with enough work
to keep his spirits in chec's there were plenty
of women in the neigh'.or,IOoi 20 tell him TO
his face that they expse' i - live 20 sec him
hung for murder.
As to family government. tire ol1-ti:ne
father was supposed 10 be iufallibiH. He
could not take his sons life, tu. he coul come
very near 1t AMI escape even censure The
boys were not requested, but ordered, TO do
this ard that / can remember nlIny fathers
who made it a practice to keep ''Sads' in the
house. About once in so long they mad,
trip to the woods to cut biu.-becch AMI
hickory switches, and tle-e were laid by 20
season The boy who did not receive lick
ing" once a week felt that something dread
full 'sas about to happen in that community.
1t was considered the correct thing TO tan
his jacket on general principles. Many
parents reasoned that unless boy was
thrashed about once in SO often he would DO
pretty certain to go to the bad.
Our school advantages. In tho village,
We had but one school for all sizes and ages
and when boy had so far progressed that
he could read, write AMI cipher" he was
considered fairly educated. Ths school
masters knew but little more and seemed TO
take more pleasure in furnishing scholar
than in encouraging him over hard lesson.
What show was there for boy to get
start in lifel None nj all, compare TO the
chances of to-day. II he started out e. learn
a trade he was bound ike a slave, treatsl
little better than one, AMI paid aim ost moth
ing In .tead of human being, he wa' n
drudge. II he worked 10y tho day he must
do dollars worth of labor for shilling.
simply because he was hoy. When l look
back and remember how the boys OF that
age were t-e.tei-how little they had to en-
courage them-what few chances Offered
wonder that so NAV -u-~"t ont 50 wei.