![The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]](images/wwwboard.gif "The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]") |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
November 27 2002
Status: offline
Donating Member |
 Posted - October 01 2003 : 9:31:38 PM
|
...sigh... Yeah, it was truly a time of innocence, wasn't it?
Perhaps I was especially naive, but life was so simple. There was no sex on TV or in the movies, no violence (sorry, but you can't count the bad guys getting shot without blood spurting in the cowboy movies!), no drugs, no video games, no computers. You would go to school; watch the Lone Ranger or Robin Hood or Leave it to Beaver on TV; play cowboys and Indians outdoors, riding around on stick horses with the neighbor kids.
And there was: Summer vacation camping trips with my parents, sitting under a tree in the backyard reading a book, walking downtown to the corner drug store with my friends to have a cherry coke (mixed from scratch), picking strawberries for local farmers in the hot summer sun to earn money for school clothes, going to the movies on a Friday night and seeing a double feature, plus cartoons, plus a newsreel.. I could go on and on.
I can't believe it's been 40 and more years ago. Unbelievable. And I miss it. |
report to moderator  |
|
|
Adele
The Huggy Merchant
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 17 2002
Status: offline
|
Posted - October 02 2003 : 02:46:34 AM
|
This is a topic near to my heart!
It never ceases to amaze me the difference a good teacher (or librarian!) can make to a persons life, and this seems so sadly underestimated these days.
I remember when I was younger, I hated history. It was a subject that I dropped as SOON as I was permitted. I think my interest was finally sparked when I visited Normandy, and became emotionally impacted by the sight of D-day landing craft rusting on the beaches. But I had an advantage over a lot of people, which is that since I was a child, I loved books and reading, and so it was no hardship to start buying books on history and start educating myself.
My younger brother hated reading, and wasn't doing well with it, and I can remember digging an old book out called Great True Escapes, a big volume that told the exciting stories of real people who had made daring escapes. Everything from the only man to escape the Tower of London to WW2 POW's. I started reading the tales aloud to him, and he was captivated. He couldn't wait for each next episode. So why did I find history so dull when I was at school, when the reality is that nobody could write fiction as exciting as our own world history? An uninspiring teacher perhaps?
I am not sure how it is in the US, but in the UK, the public servants who should be most valued e.g. teachers, nurses, doctors...have been taken for granted to such an extent, and undervalued, that all the good ones seem to be in such short supply. I can't think of a more worthy job than being a teacher, and Bill gave some great examples: Jaime Escalante, the calculus teacher who got such great results from his students that they were accused of cheating - now he is a teacher that we would ALL wish upon our children!
HM |
| report to moderator |
|
|
Theresa
Bumppo's Tavern Proprietress
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 17 2002
Status: offline
|
Posted - October 02 2003 : 05:03:03 AM
|
| Jaime Escalante...yes, Bill and Adele, any parent would wish a teacher like him upon their children. He saw potential in his students and he had the gift of knowing exactly how to reach them. I didn't know about him until I saw "Stand and Deliver" and we have his biography in our library at school. *note to self...check it out*. You also have to give credit to those students for their perserverance and it was he that was able to bring that out of them as well. It would have been so easy to give up. |
Theresa |
| report to moderator |
|
|
richfed
Sachem
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 13 2002
Status: offline
Administrator |
Posted - October 02 2003 : 05:53:55 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Wilderness Woman
...sigh... Yeah, it was truly a time of innocence, wasn't it?
Perhaps I was especially naive, but life was so simple. There was no sex on TV or in the movies, no violence (sorry, but you can't count the bad guys getting shot without blood spurting in the cowboy movies!), no drugs, no video games, no computers. You would go to school; watch the Lone Ranger or Robin Hood or Leave it to Beaver on TV; play cowboys and Indians outdoors, riding around on stick horses with the neighbor kids.
And there was: Summer vacation camping trips with my parents, sitting under a tree in the backyard reading a book, walking downtown to the corner drug store with my friends to have a cherry coke (mixed from scratch), picking strawberries for local farmers in the hot summer sun to earn money for school clothes, going to the movies on a Friday night and seeing a double feature, plus cartoons, plus a newsreel.. I could go on and on.
I can't believe it's been 40 and more years ago. Unbelievable. And I miss it.
Yep, I hear you, WW. I kind of believe that the 15-20 years immediately following the end of WWII may have been the "high tide" of life here in the US. A wonderful time! Bring back The Beave! Certainly, as you suggest, a glorious time to be a kid.  |
| report to moderator |
|
|
securemann
Deerslayer
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 08 2002
Status: offline
|
Posted - October 02 2003 : 7:39:28 PM
|
| Let's make a homemade go-cart,play some stick ball,play some stoop ball,fry some ants with a magnifying glass,eat those candy buttons stuck to paper and go to the candy store for an egg cream which didn't have any eggs in it.Can go on and on....Oh,then go watch Gunsmoke on T.V. |
| report to moderator |
|
|
Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
November 27 2002
Status: offline
Donating Member |
Posted - October 02 2003 : 9:36:11 PM
|
Yeah!! And... and...
catch minnows in the little canal behind my house, and
ride our bikes with the big ol' balloon tires around the neighborhood, and
walk down to the Tasty Freeze and get a hot-fudge-dipped cone for 10 cents, and
build a nifty clubhouse out of pallets and packing crates with my Dad, my brother and several friends, and
go trick-or-treating on Halloween and be able to eat all the homemade goodies without having to worry about being poisoned... and... and...
Gee, I wish I were a kid again! |
| report to moderator |
|
|
Pen
Colonial Settler
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
February 03 2003
Status: offline
|
Posted - October 07 2003 : 7:57:49 PM
|
Hey, I read 'Singing Wheels'! Cool, people besides me read it! If I remember rightly, the series went through the 1910's or so. I liked that there was a continuing story with the children of the boy and girl from the first one. Plus, it was an interesting way to learn history. Beat the heck out of S.R.A. Reading Cards (or whatever those things were callled!).
Dang, all this talk of reading and learning to read makes me I wish I could see PBS's 'The Electric Company' again! Okay, so I probably just dated myself ...
Pen |
| report to moderator |
|
|
Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 03 2002
Status: offline
|
Posted - October 07 2003 : 9:21:06 PM
|
I'm not sure I remember Singing Wheels being so much actual history as such - I probably erred in referring to it that way - but it surely talked about fun things for kids in earlier days, and early/frontier lifestyles and trades and stuff. I loved it. And it DID prompt kids to go to the library and try to find out more.
Yeah. Earlier days were simpler. Good grief Charlie Brown, and we all lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation and nuclear winter, and it was STILL happier times and simpler times. Jeez. What does that say about TODAY?
Grade school was indeed the best times of my life. |
| report to moderator |
|
|
Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
November 27 2002
Status: offline
Donating Member |
Posted - October 18 2003 : 10:10:02 AM
|
Just found this cute little joke, which kinda goes along with this topic:
A little boy just couldn't learn. One day his teacher asked him who signed the Declaration of Independence. He didn't know. For almost a week she asked him the same question every day, but still he couldn't come up with the right answer.
Finally, in desperation, she called the boy's father to her office. "Your boy won't tell me who signed the Declaration of Independence," she complained.
"Come here, son, and sit down," the dad said to the boy. "Now if you signed that crazy thing, just admit it so we can get out of here!"
|
| report to moderator |
|
|
Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 03 2002
Status: offline
|
Posted - October 18 2003 : 11:15:14 AM
|
Well, I just got MY copy of this book in the mail yesterday!!! Bid on one that was listed on Ebay. What's cool about it is that it is in almost like new condition, AND it is the "Anniversary edition" printed in 1957 (I think the first edition was printed in 1947). That means this is probably the edition I was reading in grade school, as the books we had were new or nearly new, and the first edition of this book came out the year I was born. Ah, nostalgia.
Look Alice, look. See Bill jump. Bill is happy. Why is Bill happy, Alice? Bill has a book. See the book. The book makes Bill happy.
See Spot jump with Bill. See Spot climb Bill's leg. What is Spot doing, Alice? See Bill kick Spot. Bill likes cats. Bill does not like dogs. Poor Spot. Bad Bill.
|
| report to moderator |
|
|
richfed
Sachem
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 13 2002
Status: offline
Administrator |
Posted - October 18 2003 : 2:04:00 PM
|
| Sick puppy ... ooops! ... Just a-joshin', Bill! :) |
| report to moderator |
|
|
Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 03 2002
Status: offline
|
Posted - October 18 2003 : 4:01:30 PM
|
I know I know.
But the dog thing didn't just pop into my warped little mind. It was an actual grade school experience! A not so pleasant one.
Was walking home across the big field behind the school towards home and this little dog starts following me. I stop, pet it, etc etc and start walking again. It's still following me. So I stop and pet it some more and talk to it, and begin walking again. It's still following me acting all friendly and my little boy mind starts thinking how I'd explain to my Mom the classic "but it followed me home! It must not belong to anybody! Can we keep it PLEEEAAASSE?"
I stop again to pet it and before I can do that, the creepy little thing grabs my leg and starts going to town. At first, my little boy mind does not have a clue what it is doing. I try to get it off, and it won't let go. Keeps on ripping of one on my dam leg.
Finally it dawns on me what the thing is doing......sorta, I mean we didnt have sex education in grade school in those days......teachers allowed us to be innocent of those things back then instead of issuing 5th graders condoms......and I was forced to punt for the field goal on the dam mutt. I was all flustered, embarrassed and confused. Guess that's when I started hating dogs, eh?  |
| report to moderator |
|
|
LittleOne
Pathfinder
Canada
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
April 23 2004
Status: offline
|
Posted - April 24 2004 : 3:57:56 PM
|
| HA HA! ohh my neighbour used to have a dog like that, It was quite a big dog too, a shepard/collie mix and my nieghbour kept it loose on the front porch..the little thing attached itself to everybody...probably why we never had the same mailman for more than a few days.. lol |
 ~Sincerely yours, the littleOne "Tetanktitit" |
| report to moderator |
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
| The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!] |
© 1997-2025 - Mohican Press |
|
|
| Current Mohicanland page raised in 0.34 seconds |
 |
|
Grade schools then and now....Singing Wheels
