Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-06
BOYS OF LONG AGO.
The Games They Played and the Great
Times They Had.

The Games They Played and the Great
Times They Had.
From rhc Cincinnati Tribune.
The boys of the early '30s enjoyed life.
so the old men of today declare. and there
are some venerable gentlemen who main
tain that in their barefoot days they had
vastly more fun than do the youths of the
present.
II can remember when I was a boy" said
an old gentleman the other day, who is not
FAR from the three-score-and-ten limit, land
do not believe that my grandsons are hav-
ing nearly good a time now as I had.
but they do not know what they missed.
and seem happy with the present methods
of amusement.
II was born on a farm in Indiana about
the time that the sos began. and l must
say that the time l spent on that farm was
the happiest of my life. and l have had
enough money for a long while to crafty
any reasonable desire for pleasure.
1--WE lived several miles from a small vii
lage. Our farm was large and productive.
We had netghbors. and all Of them, and
we, too, were well off as people went in
those days. Our house was built of logs,
and 1t had a tremendously big fireplace thar
took in four-foot wood with great ease, and
cracked for more There was room enough
to raise family of ten, and it seems to ne
that were pretty well raised.
an the summer we all went barefooted
from the time that the frost was tut Of the
ground until thin ice commenced in the fall
For the first few days the feet were tender
and there were blisters and stone bruises to
be doctored but it was not long until cur
feet became as tough as sole leather, and
We could go over any kind OF ground with
out hurting us.
one year. and that meant simply the time
of year that we could not go barefooted
We killed our own beef and saved the
hides and in the fall father would t3ke
tan
leather Then the shoemaker would come
and the leather would be brouSnt cut ana
the family brought together. The shoe
maker would lay the leather on the uoof
and measure our feet by marking the out
lines on the hide. Then he would depart,
and in due time the shoes or boots would
come They were strong and simply made,
had no fancy i0urishes. but they Were eli
made and as ~ lad never known better
there was no yearning for patent feathers
or tans tennis shoes.
81 do not believe that we ever had ST. in
cash the year round, but we lived mighty
we'll and were never in want of food or
crothing In the first place raised our
own cattle, hogs and sheep, and every fall
killed what we would need. We smok I'd
ham and beef made sausage and,in fact,We
had meat the year round. Our garden patch
gave US the best vegetables that could be
Imagined, and the poultry yard furnished
chickens and ducks and turkeys and geese
and all the eggs that we could eat.
Mother and The girls did the Homework
that homespun wore like iron. even if it
were not beautiful. They spun the wool
that We got from our sheep and knitted the
socks that wore in the winter, and they
were warm, too.
when We needed groceries and a few
things from the dry goods store, they We're
procured by the exchange of farm products,
and it was seldom that money was paid for
the neceSSaries of life, with the exception
of drugs, and We needed mighty few of
them. for our mother knew many of ma
lures remedies that grew in the woods and
fields.
1--WE certainly had lots of fun. did we
boys. Our guns were constant source of
delight and a boy who could not hit a
squirrel in the head with a rifle every time
was no m4rksman at all. 'Possums and
'coons were plenty. We used the 'possum
grease on the wagon axles and the fur went
Into caps. There was scarcely boy who
went to our school in the winter but wore
either possum or coon skin cap.
1--WE had our parties and our spelling
schools and big dinners and husking bees
ard county fairs and hog killings and
hOuseraisings and all the fun that any hu-
man being could ask for.