The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-18
MEN, WOMEN
AND THINGS

A good friend of mine who sits in an
easy chair wrote me recently, saying
that while he enjoyed my "reminiscences,
I better be careful or people might put
me down as being old.
| do not care what others may think
as to my age. SO long as I know that /
am not old, and while have discovered
no fountain OF youth, yet feel that the
reason 1 like to talk about my boyhood
ldays is not because am aging, but
rather from the fact that at heart am
still a boy.
This may be mere camounage, and by
writing about things out of the past
may be giving myself away as advanc-
| ing in years, but if old Father Time is
creeping upon me. he is doing it SO
gently as to keep me from being worried
about his approach, and so why should
worry?
| 1 pity the boy reared in place where
there was no public stable, for in my
homo town there were several One was
in two blocks of my home, and all of
them close by, and many pleasant hour
I put in watching the horses in the stalls
or sitting on the fence as the mule
traders walked about in the yards with
their great sticks punching up tho ami
mails.
| I spoke of tho county fairs, and surely
they were events which ranked In i'm
portapce with the coming and going of
circuses. / always loved horses, and to
tell the truth, I like to see the ponies
run to this good day, and will turn
around any time Of the day to watch
la fine sadd1er or good buggy horse, or a
| spanking carriage team go by.
| 1t may sound out of date and put me
| in the old fogey class, but the motor fire
engines as they go shrilly past me on the
way to fire do not make my blood
tingle like it used to when I saw the
rearing horses with wide open nostrils
race down the streets. and race be-
tween rival fire companies was better
than anything ever pulled off on sure
lenough track.
When I was growing up drovers came
| through the country and there was al
ways great excitement when we heard
the racing feet of a drove of mules and
the strange, weird cry Of the leaders
calling them to follow. This was IN
the days before they had to be tied to-
gether and led quietly by halters. We
boys just took to trees or climbed fences
to watch the fun, and il one strayed
away and there was chase through
the streets and lanes after him. our cup
LOT JOY was filled to overlooking.
(
I do not know how such things got
horses reached town every boy was sure
to be present at the unloading. 1t was
fun to see them led out and to pick ones
favorite out of the bunch before they
we're lined up to start stableward. IT
was cheap way oy gratifying ones
wish. a bit like taking imaginary trips
with the aid of railroad folders. We used
to have some warm fights over who
claimed a certain horse first. The choice
carried with it the right Of possession
4 at least in Imagination. -
I
Did you ever as boy cut reed ant
leave some Of the leaves on it for tale
and get astride of it and give it a name
and race around and pretend that It was
a horse you had for mount? This uset
to be a favorite pastime. Each Of thu
playmates had favorite name. Mine
was Gray Eagle" the name of IA
nous racing horse which used to MAKE
the fair circuit I recall. that one BOY
invariably called his>stick BLACK Cloud,
while yet another chose white Socks"
Many an hour have sat in a can'
bottom chair with back tilted against q
post an dwith my bare feet dangling
above the tan bark or pine shavings ant
listened to the horse talk Of the profes
sionals- Some of it was racy and quite
a lot of it would have to have been ex
purgated in mixed company. Yes, it was
Rabelaisian, and the jokes at times fire
Iquently broad and coarse but take it al
in all. it was mighty human. and dc
hOt tuuih L WdC CNSi Al6AiAO0 W ~
|
! I got to thinking along this line in re
calling G. c. Skiilman, who recently dice
lat Eufaula after having been actively
engaged in the stable business for nearly
"a half century. He was my boyish hero
and cut a very much wider swath in my
thinking than any Of the preachers. law
lyers, doctors, bankers or merchants. II
me he was the biggest man in the whole
town, and now that he is dead 1 want t.
lsay that he was always kind to me whsr
n used to play around his stable in my
boyhood.
He was a handsome man, carried him
self like a proud, prancing steed, ant
dressed the part. I can say it withou
hesitation, for in my mind he was the
best handler Of horses have ever seen
and in my day have witnessed many
in the ring and shows. He could pu
more style in horse and make him de
more things either under the saddle OF
in harness than any one 1 have evel
known. Now. this is a broad statement
but I believe my opinion is that Of the
great majority of men who were reared
in Eufauia.
He had genius for matching horses
land some OF the pairs he brought from
Tennessee, and Kentucky were known fal