My Favorite Toys As A Child
We (my three siblings and I) had toys. Growing up on a farm in South Dakota in the 1940's, having toys was not a given. I remember visiting neighboring children who had no toys. There was no assumption that parents owed it to their children to provide them with toys. In fact, much of our play as children on the farm did not involve toys. There were trees to climb, a barn with a hay mow full of hay in which to play, places to walk and swim, bottles to collect along the roads which brought 2 cents when redeemed at the store, snow for forts and snowmen, games of tag and hide and seek, etc. With brothers two and four years older than I, and a sister six years older, there were often others with whom to play and that influenced the choice of toys. We were fortunate enough to have a variety of toys and others with whom to play.
We had toys, quite a few actually. Some belonged to us all and others to one child specifically. Among my favorites was an old, i.e., older than I, cast iron, rubber tired tractor. It was red but not a specific replica of any brand. Yes, my fascination with tractors began early. My brother, David, had an Erector Set. It was full of perforated steel strips, corners, angles, wheels and axles accompanied by screws, washers and nuts to build structures and machines to match one's imagination. Hours and hours were spent with it. It was preceded by Tinker Toys, small wooden dowels of various lengths accompanied by round wooden pieces drilled with holes into which the dowels would fit. We built with it to our hearts content. We also had a Carom Board, about three feet square with targets guarded by wooden pegs at which we shot round, wooden, missiles; launching them with a snap of the fingers. ( A bit like a miniature pool table.)
Face cards, like those used for poker, were considered evil but we had Rook and other card games. My parents would sometimes gather with neighbors to play a card game called Somerset, a bidding and trick taking game. I've not seen a set of these cards for 70(?) years.
At some point we got a 'family bicycle'. It was a 'boys' bike but sister Lucille also rode it. It was blue and white, single speed, as were all the bikes in the neighborhood. Every year our father would take our picture on our birthday and the bike appears on some of those pictures. Before I finished elementary school, I'd guess about 6th grade, I bought my own bike. It had belonged to Curtis Holm, six years older than me, who lived across the road. Curtis had graduated to his own car so I purchased his bike for $10.00. A bit fancier than most it was maroon,and, of course, fat tired.
While we shared a bike my brothers and I each had our own snow sleds. There was hill in the pasture just north of the barn down which we could slide. But, most of their use was at school which had a steep little hill for sliding, Mine was the famous 'Flexible Flyer' model and could be steered by pulling on the front bar. Once, while walking the mile to school on a snowy day, pulling our sleds, a neighbor, Frank Teller, stopped his '50s something Buick Roadmaster. He told us to hook the ropes of our sleds to his back bumper and we got an exciting ride to school with snow and gravel flying in our faces.
Two toy wagons were used for both play and work. The green one was so old that it had lost its hard rubber tires before I could remember. Eventually it was supplemented with a new red Radio Flyer. We'd use it for many things including coasting down hills.
Perhaps to our most unusual plaything was an old buggy. The seats were gone and the front pole used to hitch to a pony was off. In place of the pole a rope was tied to the front axle, one side of the rope on the left and the other on the right. By pulling on the rope the rider could steer the buggy. With it's large wheels it moved easily and provided many thrilling rides down the pasture hill. Of course there were no brakes and we'd have to pull it up hill again but it was very light and that was easy.
Ah, yes, of course there was also plenty of work to do so we were seldom bored.
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