The county yard

The county yard was in the back of our house. It had a fence around it, probably 10 feet tall and barb wire on the top. We would play baseball in the back yard and we always hit a ball over the fence. They had a night watchman and when he came to work he would throw the ball back over the fence. He wore some type of clock that had a strap on it that hung around his neck. He went from place to place about every hour and put a key in another box and turned it. In later years we found a way to get it back with out him. Right behind the house was where they made the cement pipes for the roads. They had some type of mold and they would pour concrete in them. They would pour one morning and the next day, they would take them out.
When we move to Barnard there was no over pass on Cottonwood highway. But about the time we move they started building it. It was right behind the county yard. We would go over there and play on the piles of dirt as they were building it. After they got it built we would take cardboard and slide down the side of it. We even slid down on pieces of tin. it’s a wonder we didn’t get cut up. We would also go up under it and play. It was real cool up there in the summer time. This is me in front of the county yard tearing something up. I will tell what it was later.

Big Tent

There was a big field across the street from the house. We would play ball over there. One time a revival came to town and they must have rented the field. Anyway they were on big trucks and sit up a big tent. They also hauled sawdust in and put on the floor. They hired some of the boys in the neighbor hood to set the chairs up. We would have races around the big tent. Every year there would be straw that would grow up head high and someone would catch it on fire and the fire truck would come and put it out. They would always try and fine out who had set the field on fire. In later years we dug a big hole over there. We would build a fire and roast marsh mellows. That was a lot of fun. I have more to say about the field later, there was a lot that happened over there.