Audubon County journal., 1911-05-18

| d1sclaim it."
Just the same, what that sporting
edltor said doesn't alter the fact that
the Ansons came from England and so
| did the Rices. my mothers family. And
eventually our branch of the family
got as far west as central Iowa
In 1852 central Iowa was pretty
close to the frontier. What is now the
| thriving little city of Marshalltown
existed only in the Imagination of my
father who laid 1t off into town lots
and proceeded to boom it to the best
OF his ability. 1t was mighty slow
work for a long time, but finally the
crowd headed that way. I was right
at the head of the procession, being
the first white child born in the new
city, and in log cabin at that.
shall always regard that as one of the
biggest honors ever coming my way.
BY the time was big enough to sit
on bench in the little red school
house that was Marshalltown's only
seat Of learning in those early days
the fortunes of the Anson family were
at the high water mark. Father sold
on number of plots and business
sites and we moved out of our log
cabin into a fair-sized house in the
| new metropolis of Marshall county.
With the money that he got from the
! sale OF town lots father built plan
Ing mill and later hotel, the Anson
house, and for a time we prospered
for fair. Later, things took a turn for
f1a ,l,iJ- =
to be on the wrong side of prosperity.
But don't you believe for minute
that hard luck put the damper on the
| high spirits of the Arson family. Fa-
ther was not built that way. nor was
either OF his three sons, especially the
one he had dubbed Adrian Constan-
tine. | suppose it must have been due
| In part to the good health we en-
| joyed; but in my case the neighbors
| gave the credit to the gentleman of
| whom we speak only when we are
| little excited.
| certainly was an active specimen
of the rough and tumble variety of
| kid, and from the first day l found
myself at the little red schoolhouse
/
| did not appeal to me, and the longer
| | went the stronger my conviction that
l was not cut out for a scholar. l was
ready to admit that learning was a
| fine thing for some folks, but l didn't
include myself among the latter
bunch. and found the enforced con-
| finement about the most disagreeable
thing | was up against. For that rea-
son always appreciated the holidays,
and l added many to my calendar that
were not observed by anybody else.
| Did | ever play ball in those days?
Well, rather. If there was any species
Of ball game that l didn't play 1t was
because 1t was so new that 1t hadn't
| reached that part of Iowa. AS 1 look
back it seems to me that pretty nearly
everything got interested in had to
do with ball in some shape or other.
OF course, the game of baseball as 1t
is played nowadays hadn't been de-
| veloped, but there were several other
| games played with ball and bat, and
| with ball alone. that were good enough
| to occupy good deal of my attention.
One of these, called s'anty-over" In our
part of the country. considered
mighty good sport Any number OF
boys-we never asked the girls to join
us unless We couldn't raise a quorum
| among ourselves-could play 1t, the
more the merrier. Two leaders were
appointed and they proceeded to
choose sides The teams then station
ed themselves one on each side Of
some building, and the player with the
ball tossed it over tha roof. at the
same time yelling at the top Of his
! voice. "Anty-oyer!" II the ball was
caught by any player on the opposite
side as 1t came rolling down the shin
giles, it became the catcher's privilege
to sneak around the corner of the
| building and sock some man belonging
to the other side If he succeeded in
doing this to the satisfaction Of every
body-excepting. of course. the fellow
| who got the ball In the neck or some
other sensitive spot-the man hit had
to change sides. don't know wheth-
or or not this game Is still among the
living. but If 1t isn't there's good
thing gone out of the world. There
WosS lOI5 VI 0ACICLS0 III ~ dNo pAOASy
of excitement. When the expected
"Anty didn't come and there
was a suspicious silence everybody
on the other side held his breath In
anticipation Of possible socking
Then there was the old cat family
Of ball-one old cat. two old cat. etc.
used to regard two old cat as
mighty scientific game in those days.
and the only fault it had In my eyes
was that the girls would play 1t in
spite Of the risk Of being dubbed tom
boys. did my share in discouraging
them. but rather than not play ball
was sometimes driven to let girl or
two into the game. AS soon as another
boy put in his appearance. though. she
had to go Although have modified
my views somewhat, in those days
was a firm believer In the physical in
| feriority Of the other sex