| It seems that the kids in our neighborhood | | | | |
| were always building something. If it wasn't | | | | Death was all around us, but the scariest |
| stilts, it was rubber guns (probably a lost | | | | thing was when young mothers died from giving |
| art). If it wasn't airplanes, it was | | | | childbirth. |
| scooters. If it wasn't go-carts, it was | | | | |
| pigeon coops. It never ended. | | | | We needed not to think to much on these |
| | | | things. So maybe that is partly why we built |
| A supply of suitable materials was the main | | | | a wide range of contraptions. |
| problem faced by us early builders. Junk is | | | | |
| what things were built from. That often | | | | Following is a poem about a boat that was |
| showed in the final product. But we always | | | | built in my backyard. |
| looked on our great creation with pride until | | | | |
| a disaster destroyed our masterpiece. | | | | The Square Boat Which Wouldn't Float by |
| | | | Taylor Jones |
| In pioneer days, the Jordan River that runs | | | | |
| through the Salt Lake Valley was a clear | | | | Saturday, April 19, 1999 (Modified November |
| stream full of trout. We had never seen it | | | | 3, 2005) |
| that way. It was totally polluted in our day. | | | | |
| We were told it was a clean, clear fishing | | | | Aaron had the idea: A boat on the Jordan to |
| stream by Mr. Foster (who grew truck crops on | | | | float. So Dick and Aaron and all the big guys |
| a two or three acre plot to feed his family). | | | | Built a boat before our eyes. |
| He had caught many trout from the river when | | | | |
| he was a boy. | | | | It was shaped appropriately Like a coffin. It |
| | | | had square sides And a flat bottom. |
| We sometimes caught trout from the river too, | | | | |
| but we had to fish where fresh water streams | | | | They nailed and tarred; It weighed a ton. It |
| entered the filthy waters of the river. | | | | took forever to get it to the river Where we |
| Sometimes the state dumped trout into the | | | | could have some fun. |
| river at the fairgrounds after their | | | | |
| exhibition at the State Fair, but that was | | | | Well, every kid in town Watched the show. We |
| rare, and the trout were either quickly | | | | pushed the boat in the water To see if it |
| fished out or died in the muck. | | | | would go. |
| | | | |
| Still, the river was our playground. We were | | | | Aaron was in the middle And Dick was in the |
| told never to get into the water or we would | | | | stern. Would the thing float or not? That we |
| die of the bubonic plague or be drowned in a | | | | would soon learn. |
| whirlpool. None of us died of the plague but | | | | |
| some of us did drown. One of my friends tried | | | | They paddled it out into the middle Of that |
| to rescue his brother while by grandfather | | | | muddy Jordan River. At first things looked |
| played his accordion in the park only a few | | | | pretty good. It was quite a clipper. |
| hundred yards away. Both boys were lost while | | | | |
| we enjoyed the music, not knowing what was | | | | Then slowly, slowly, did we see, Right before |
| going on. | | | | our eyes, That Aaron and the boys would be |
| | | | swimming; It was the boat's demise. |
| Things were tough on kids in those days. Two | | | | |
| of our friends were killed when their bike | | | | Yes, it sank like that concrete ship That |
| was hit by a cement truck racing down the | | | | lay's on Cape May's shore. That bungling |
| street to get concrete to the arms plant. | | | | concrete vessel Made just for the war. |
| | | | |
| A brother and sister we knew where killed by | | | | And just before "Abandon Ship!" There was our |
| a truck taking ammunition from the arms plant | | | | little war Because there was a good supply of |
| to the railroad dock. The WAC driver fell | | | | mud On good Old Jordan's shore. |
| asleep. | | | | |
| | | | So began the mud fight Until the ship did |
| One of our friends died when he fell from a | | | | sink. They were covered with mud from head to |
| fence while he and his siblings were stealing | | | | foot Until they gulped the drink |
| a few lumps of coal from the coal yard. | | | | |
| | | | So all the work on that great boat Was lost |
| A baby was lost when a sibling closed the | | | | in just a wink. It sank so fast from bow to |
| drawer where the mother kept the child. | | | | mast, I could hardly blink. |
| | | | |
| Our widower shoemaker lost two children when | | | | I miss those days of carefree youth, Of |
| a son tried to save his sister from highway | | | | boats, and planes, and cars. But then the |
| traffic. (Later the shoemaker, who did not | | | | boys all left home To fight in a real war. |
| trust banks, lost his life's savings when his | | | | |
| last surviving son stole the money.) | | | | Orville and Virgil never came home. They were |
| | | | not alone. But the boat builders survived, |
| There were the diseases too. Polio scared us | | | | Thank God they did come home. |
| all, but kids died of a number of other | | | | |
| ailments because there was no penicillin or | | | | Copyright©John T. Jones, Ph.D. |
| sulfa drugs to help them. | | | | |