CHAPTER I 

 CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE 



When I was fourteen years old, and for some years thereafter, my play- 

 mates and I passed the long summer vacations entirely free to follow 

 whatever diversions we could originate. We lived in the country. Auto- 

 mobiles, movies, radios had not been invented. Not more than two fami- 

 lies that we knew owned graphophones. The invention of pneumatic 

 tires had made bicycling a pleasure. The fact is not generally known that 

 in those days a bicycle was not a salable article if it weighed more than 

 twenty-two pounds. If this statement does not seem important the reader 

 should ascertain the weight of the bicycle now being used by the average 

 boy of sixteen years or over. We made journeys on bicycles of eighty to 

 ninety rniles in a day. Lengthy arguments were entered into regarding 

 the weight of various makes of bicycles, the tread, gear and tires. Reduc- 

 tion of weight was more important than anything else. A boy owning a 

 bicycle encumbered with mud-guards was a "sissy." Bicycles were 

 equipped with tool-cases. We would carry our tools in our pockets and 

 discard the case to get rid of its weight. Today, a boy on an average bicycle 

 is as badly handicapped as one of us would have been if he had been carry- 

 ing a knapsack weighing twenty pounds. 



The business of some of our fathers was manufacturing. We lived near 

 mills that inspired interest in mechanics and chemistry. Our amusements 

 were, therefore, wholesome and constructive. We built boats and water- 

 wheels, made gunpowder and fired it in cannons of our own construction. 

 For sport we took the bicycle rides, played tennis, went canoeing and 



