The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-06-10
"REMINISCENCES.

ioiiuibS n suudtc III WHICH tiic pOSo
used to play ball, stood an extra tree,
which they utilized as a place for
high jumping. We had Timber pole,
about two inches in diameter, and we
sprung it between the trees rs high as
we wanted il. The ground was
smooth and level, and each boy could
take as long a run as he wished, and
jump over the pole, the height being
regulated according to the boys agility.
They became very proficient, so that
after some practice the jumps they
made would have done no discredit to
college athlete. The writer has
known many a boy VINO could jump
over the pole when it was as high, or
higher, than his head, and the jump
was always fair, with no particle Of
''shenanigen." The writer's avoirdu-
pois had not developed then to
such an extent as it has since, conse-
quently, he did most of his jumping
some years, good many, he must ad-
NIT, ago. BY having the pole fixed in
this way between the trees, there was
no danger of boy hurting himself, if
he would strike the pole in going over.
On one occasion a boy, somewhat
larger and more ambitious than the
rest, thought he could improve on the
pole. So he put a pretty good sized
scantling up against the trees, prop
ping the ends with other pieces, but
he wofulIy miscalculated his jumping
abilities, for he struck the scantling
with one extremity on each side, and
made beautiful tumble in the mud,
and such a howl as he set up was
enough to scare anybody. After that
the old pole was plenty good enough
for him, and there was no end to the
'.jollying" the boys gave him. "Pride
goes before falli' is an old adage, and
this boy found it out before he expect
ed to. Then, Of course, we had the
hop, step and jump, and the running
and standing jump. Sometimes we
varied the thing by taking two hops,
instead Of hop and step, and ii is
not necessary to state that some of
the boys made a very fair average at
all of these. Sometimes We had
spring-board, with large boy on each |
end, but i'm that case we necessarily |
had to have soft spot to light upon,
for, after pretty good run, the spring
board gave boy an impetus almost |
like a catapult, sometimes turning him |
a complete summersault, and always |
giving him a wonderful heave up |
wards and forwards. FoOt-races were
a common and necessary adjunct of a
boys athletic training, and when we
were surfeited with other games we
always fell back on foot-racing. How
a boy could spin along when stripped
TO the buff and in his bare-feet! II may /
be only an old fogyish notion, but it
seems that boy can not run at all
now like the boys could fifty years ago.
y great deal of money would change
hands in those races, in the boys
er's son of them ever had ''fip" of
of his own once in six months, but
they ran the races just the same, and
as swiftly as though hundreds of dol
lars were at stake; level stretch of
ground would be selected, the dis
tance marked off, from start to finish,
and the runners catching hands would
run up to the starting point, and when
they came to him another boy shouted
"go," and away they would go, with
wonderful speed. The writer consid-
cred himself a pretty good runner in
those days, although he would prefer
to do ali his running now, down hill,
with "A competitor of seventy or eighty
years of age. He can never forget how
he had the conceit taken out of him,
just as easy" by another boy, about,
his age, who afterwards became a
prominent Methodist Episcopal
preacher, in the West. The writer
boasted somewhat of his prowess, hav-
ing ran away from most of the boys
with comparative ease. The other
boy was longer in the body and legs,
but he did not hrag on his speed, and
the writer depended on what he
thought was his superior quickness to
beat the other boy. We We're several
days getting ready for the race, and
all the boys championed one or the
other. We were to run on a certain
evening and the writer concluded the
other boy was "dead easy" We start
ed fairly, and were to run something
like one hundred and fifty yards. The
writer will never get over the humilia-
ton of that defeat. The other boy
fairly flew; be was not only quicker,
but he could jump farther, and, like
the boy who tied himself fact to a steer
that ran away with him, who said ~
had not been gone five minutes until
| saw just where | missed it, so the
writer had only ran a short distance
until he saw where he ''missed it."
He could not run even "a little Bit"
and he was beaten so badly that he
never ran a race since then, and a
great many things have taken place
since that time.
Marbles was great game, too,
among the boys, and men, also, forty
or fifty years ago. Every boy you
would meet would have his pockets |
full of marbles, "white alleys" strip
ed alleys" "glass alleys" and all the
rest. You could hear Ego to TALL" or
base, "fen go to TALL" "knuckle up"
'knuckle down hard" ''dubbs," ''fen
du1bs," rounds" ''fen rounds"
clearance" "fen clearance" ''picks
up" and "fen picks up" ''inchings"
'fen inchings, "and the other unintelli-
gible lingo, invented by, and known
only to the boy who played marbles,
fifty years ago, sometimes for fun, and
very many times for "keeps-" The
game usually played was played by
two or more boys, on some level place,
with four marbles, one on each cor
ner of a square, marked off, of consid-
erable dimensions, and one larger than
the rest i'm the middle. Every boy al
ways carried one particular marble,
that was to him, a veritable Mascot"
which he would not have parted with
for anything, and which he used for
shooter. The writer has one boy in