A few more vignettes about life on the farm:
One incident occurred when I was about 16 that always stood out in my memory. We were allowed to have a 22 rifle (nothing larger) and could shoot crows, blue-jays, rats, ground squirrels and other pests, but not rabbits of other birds. I well remember my fright when I threw a stone and killed a rabbit. I hurriedly buried it, so father never knew of it. The spring in question, we were told we could have the rest of a given week to finish putting in the “small grain”. Irvin had it figured out that if we crowded a little on quitting time, we could get done by Friday noon. At quitting time (at noon) we had a little less than an hour yet to finish, so we decided to finish before we quit. We were almost an hour late when we arrived home with our four horse teams dragging the disc, cedar and harrow in tandem. As soon as we arrived home, father met us and we saw that he was angry because we were late. Nothing was said. While we were eating dinner, Irvin broached the subject that we wanted to go to a country store, five miles distant, and get some shells for our rifles. Father said, “No sir, you will be lucky if you both do not get a licking”. That ended our dinner. I do not know where Irvin went, but I had measured a place previously for a retreat under the corn crib. There was an opening between the floor joist and the sill that was 6 by 18-1/2 inches. I knew that no one else could get through it, so I crawled back under the crib to the far end where I was completely out of sight. I intended to stay there till I died or was promised that I would not get a licking. (Father says he never licked me, but my memory serves me differently.) After about an hour, I heard mother calling, but I did not answer. I finally heard her and Irvin walking past the crib. I did not stir. Finally she called my name and said we could go to the store and get the shells as we had wanted. I came out and we went and got the shells as promised.
One spot that furnishes pleasant memories is the “Old swimming hole”. One branch of Silver Creek heads on our farm. At the origin of the spring, a hole had been gouged out, about 8 by 20 feet and three feet deep, by run-off water in the spring rains. We built a toboggan slide into it, and many were the welcome splashes when our toboggan dived into the water. The toboggan slide was a 12 inch board with cleats on the edges to keep the toboggan from jumping off. The toboggan was a board 8 by 24 inches, with spools securely fastened for wheels. The ride down the slide was almost breathtaking, and was great fun, if the toboggan did not jump the cleats and spill us off on the bank. After we had thus enjoyed our fun for a time, we had to hunt a clean pool of water to wash off before we could put our clothes on. But fun, Yes!
Tuples and Attributes 