Back in the fifties we invented our own toys............... go down to Lewis Creek and cut canes.... used them for fishing poles... also tied a string to the top of it, straddled it and rode it like a horse.......... went to the corner store and got all the bottle tops from under the opener on the cooler and built houses with stacks of them....... took a piece of glass and drew squares in the dirt in heavily played in front yards, and played hopscotch........ took old worn out socks, stuffed them inside of each other, tied it off, and played sockball using an old broom or mop handle for a bat.......... our basketball goala never had a net........ we had plenty of baseballs because we lived next door to Burnham Field, because they continually hit foul balls and home runs that were lost in the weeds surrounding the park........... we would take a piece of a cardboard box from the corner grocery, draw a checker board on it, and use bottle tops for checkers..... half right side up and the opposing checkers upside down.......... the only store bought toys came at Christmas and had to last a year....... treasured Monopoly sets........ Old Maid Cards...... Crazy Eight Cards ....... played war with playing cards which cost 49 cents at the corner store........... baseballs were cheap and plentiful, though not baseball bats..... they were all wood and all cracked with nails and black tape to hold them together......... footballs and basketballs were in short supply and to be treasured........ bicycles were necessary and Santa Claus made a down payment on a bike and brought you a payment book from B. F. Goodrich..... Schwinn bikes were the best...... and a good one cost the entire weekly pay check of a cotton mill worker.............. Wal Mart wasn't here and consumers were at the mercy of the merchants around the downtown square............ we played marbles and horseshoes....... almost all activity was outdoors,,,,,, except when it was too cold or raining........ we were all lean and mean....... there were no obese kids.............

We had pinball machines at Bob's Cafe and Elmer Russelll's Snack Shack on Harrell Avenue across from the cotton mill.......... 5 balls for 5 cents.... and sometimes you could beat it and get free games....... that popping sound when you won a free game was music to the ears........ The Who wrote a rock opera about us........ The Pin Ball Wizard........... Tommy ,,,,,,,,,