The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-03-30
emember
the Time
By Jack Casey.

~ on and a harness dealer
always had straps at
tached to his outside window
frame, to hold whips. And there
was long whips, short whips and
whips that bent and had a tail
on 'em for teamsters who wanted
tough whips for indolent dray
horses. And yer used to love to
stand and eye the wonderful
whips an only wish yer had
couple to play horse with. And
what a thrill yer got the day yer
found a whip in the road and a
man stopped in a wagon and
gave yer a nickel for it..
Women wore. flannel bathin'
suits with braid on 'em and stock
ings an bathing shoes and wooden
boomers. And when they was
wet they looked a mess. And
there weren't any tank acts in
vaudeville but seals and nobody
had ever heard of Charlie Chap
lin. And there wasn't any snap
matches, just sulphur matches
that came in cards. And they
was called Lucifer matches and
when yer scratched 'em they had
q strong smell and lit slowly.
And workin' men carried a card
Of 'efn in their vest pocket
broken up and whitfield the I'M
used end after lunch for tooth
picks.
You saw yer first circus and
the clown in 1t was Silvers and
he was the funniest guy you ever
saw. And you had a nightmare
that night and believed the band
was chasin' yer with elephants in
the bass horns and lions on the
clarinets and yer woke up with
yer Pa leadin' you back to bed
ana yer Ma wantin' to know If
yer had a ''tummy ache" And
Easter Sunday mornings when
re got up early to see the sun
dance and yer looked at . it
through piece Of smoked glass.
And at breakfast yer could have
all the eggs yer could eat and
sometimes yer had 'em fried and
sometimes boiled.
-
When yer'd hoIler Halves"
whenever yer saw one Of the
gang find somethin'. And how
careful everybody was If they
had an apple or piece Of candy
and reluctantly gave someone a
bite, holdin' thumb SOS the
guy wouldn't bite off too much,
or first holding a truce and
maxim the beggar agree he
wouldn't pass a certain imaginary
line. And how sore yer'd get
when,a guy would abuse yer con-
fidence and take half Of the ap-
pie or most Of the candy. Hair
ness for kids to play horse with
had bells on 'em and were made
of red and white, and yer could
buy a little whip with a whistle
on the end Of the handle.
Yer saw yer first muster and
the Gulf Stream and Defiance
was the hand engines entered
from your town and how yer
hoped they'd win, but they never
did. And yer favorite was the
Gulf Stream cause its old engine
house was on Rock street, but it
couldn't touch the Defiance which
disappointed yer greatly as the
Defiance was boarded in place
they called under the hill'' bein'
below .Anawan Hall, but it squirt
ed a mean stream and generally
had the wind with it and was
manned by tough guys who could
pump.
Engines came from all over the
State and the parade always
made yer feel good even though
the tailenders were always pie
eyed and held a line of march as
uneven as the stream they pump
ed later in the day. And the
pumpin' was done on the South
Park and papers put on sticks
marked the distance made. And
once in while somebody fell off
an engine and the ambulance
came.
REMEMBER? I'LL SAY I DO.