The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-08-13

How times do change! When l used
to watch the flies buzzing against the
window pane, and by making a quick
swipe manage to secure one in my little
fist, and proceed to tear off it's wings and
legs, one by one, L was very apt to hear
in Mortified tones from a female relative,
"Oh, you naughty naughty boy, to be
SO cruel to an innocent little fly. How
would you like great bly, giant to catch
you and tear off your arms and legs?"
Whereat, l would begin to shed tears, and
have visions of the bottomless pit and
wonder if by doing sufficient penace L
could ever procure forgiveness for my
offense.
Now, the most expert boy fly killer
reaps the highest rewards, and gentle
ladies are urging every one to<swat the
fly, which, instead of being an innocent
little insect, we learn is a demon in
disguise.
lie is exhibited on theN moving picture
screens and held up to the scorn of the
multitudes who are urged to obtain ad-
mission to the movies by presenting at
the door one quart of dead flies, worth
only cents, but worth even then much
more dead than alive. If the little boy
of the Cos was damned for killing one
lily, WHAT SllOulu U6 Tie ldlS Ol lHOS0 WHO
kill them now by the quart? Even as
gentle lady as Miss Judy Brown, who
sees SO many good things in life can
see nothing good in the fly, which she
wants to see destroyed, not by the quart,
but by the ton. How times are changed!
Well do l remember how the little dar-
keys, armed with a peacock tail or a
palmetto brush, or a peach tree branch
in the absence of the other two, kept
.
flies from settling on the food of even
the first families of the land. And how
necessary it was to constantly remind
the brushers of their duties, to keep them
from going to sleep standing up. How,
too, the work of some of the smaller ones
was to 'bresh de flies off ole Miss not
SO much because there were any flies on
''ole Miss, but because the brusher had
to be employed in some way to keep them
out of devilment.
Later on a swinging frame was pro-
vided with paper streamers which swung
by rope, pulley and weight by a lusty
boy, kept the flies in motion. After that
came the little metal. wire and cloth
winged fly fans, which offered a rest
ing place and afforded much pleasure to
the festive fly as he rode on the merry
go-round and made frequent voyages to
the butter plate, the preserve dish, and
olHeI pOHllS OIL MS SelecllOI, returning
to resume his ride if SO be he escaped
falling into the soup, or the coffee or
the milk en- route.
Those were the days when every boy
went barefooted, where, unless he had
the ground itch between his toes, he was
not eligible to good society, and a lifted
nail on his big toe, or a stone bruise on
his heel, was as good as pass into
show, and were a means of income
to the owner who exhibited them for a
consideration. Charging more if to en-
able one to get satisfactory view, he
had to remove a greasy rag and a piece
of fat bacon from around his foot.
Those were the days when if you
stepped on rusty nail. you took the
nail, stuck it in a cake Of tallow to keep
from having the lockjaw, and proceeded
on your way, or if you stepped on piece
of glass and cut your foot your mother
poured some spirits of turpentine into
the wound, warned you to be more care
full. and sent you on your way.
Those were the days when the hogs
slept under the schoolhouse and filed it
with fieas, when the goats reclined when
they did recline, on the front porch and
cows wandered at will in milady's gar
den, or elsewhere, and everybody was
happy.
In these days if boy cuts his foot
he has to go to the hospital, have his
wound enlarged washed out with bichlo.