My Boyhood and Youth 



dozen or more were started together in excit- 

 ing races. 



Our most exciting sport, however, was play- 

 ing with gunpowder. We made guns out of 

 gas-pipe, mounted them on sticks of any shape, 

 clubbed our pennies together for powder, 

 gleaned pieces of lead here and there and cut 

 them into slugs, and, while one aimed, another 

 applied a match to the touch-hole. With these 

 awful weapons we wandered along the beach 

 and fired" at the gulls and solan-geese as they 

 passed us. Fortunately we never hurt any of 

 them that we knew of. We also dug holes in the 

 ground, put in a handful or two of powder, 

 tamped it well around a fuse made of a wheat- 

 stalk, and, reaching cautiously forward, touched 

 a match to the straw. This we called making 

 earthquakes. Oftentimes we went home with 

 singed hair and faces well peppered with pow- 

 der-grains that could not be washed out. Then, 

 of course, came a correspondingly severe punish- 

 ment from both father and teacher. 



Another favorite sport was climbing trees 

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