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In the late 1960's I went to a two grades per room grade school. The principal was also my teacher. The man had a three pack a school day Kent 100's habit. After calling roll, The Pledge, Prayer, etc he would either call me or my cousin out in the hall and hand us a $5 bill and tell us to go across the highway {two lane not much traffic} to the General Store and buy him three packs. That today would cause a national scandal. When I see my cousin we still joke about it.

Most of the boys in sixth grade a some of the girls smoked. Recess was about an hour after lunch until the bus came. As soon as he sent us outside to the playground a good portion of the class headed over a hill that lead to the creek bank. Then it was smoke em if you gottem LOL. Most I highly suspect where smokes taken from parents who left them laying around. I waited till high school. No parents permission required. It wasn't encouraged nor discouraged by school staff. Principal in HS was also a Preacher. Thankfully I lost the desire for the cigarettes a few years later when I got out of the service.

This isn't the nation of my youth. Summers camped alone on the lake when dad helped me set up camp, launch the boat & old 7.5 motor, a .22 rifle, our dog, and then left for work on evening shift. He checked in on me every day or so brought in ice and food. That was when I was about 13 - 15. He grew up that way when only him and his brother camped on rivers in East Tennessee all summer and his dad or an uncle checked on them on the weekend. They camped about 40 miles from home close to a family friends farm and could run to him if there was serious trouble. Dad was born in 1928 and I was born in 1957. I had the privileges of the freedoms he had growing up in a saner era. I'm sad my grandsons never knew the nation I knew as a kid.