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In the late 1940’s I would be out all day til dark playing tag, hide and seek, and wild ponies with the other girls in the neighborhood. There were 20 acres and an ice pond we would use some times. Also battles holding tin garbage can lids and throwing driveway gravel. The most fun game was “let’s throw rocks at the boys across the brook and get them to chase us.” I never got caught and when I complained, one of the other girls said, “run slower.” I figured if they weren’t good enough to catch me I didn’t want them.

Sunken Civ, please post book by Firestone et al to answer marktwain’s question.

I married a man from the middle west. When he was about 10 late in the Depression he took his rifle and hunted for small game. In the summer he and the other boys would go down river and camp all summer. Parents would visit and bring food. When our boys were teens he bought them a pound of black powder. Older son would make pipe bombs and set them off in the forest park near our urban home. He was in ROTC and one night he was putting on his camo makeup and clothes. He and friends were going to camp overnight in the park. When I pointed out that was illegal, he said the point was not to get caught. I sighed, thinking, “at least he isn’t doing drugs.” He has now finished more than 20 years in Special Forces. Once as a teen my younger son went to a distant party on a summer Friday. Saturday he called to say he couldn’t get a ride back. He kept calling daily to say why he wasn’t getting home yet. He was gone about a week. Years later he told me his friends and he had driven across country and back, but he didn’t want me to worry so phoned every day!