The Square Boat Which Wouldn't Float

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