# Sept. ? 1958



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Two young boys had been given a quarter each by their father when he arrived home from work that Friday evening. Like many family&#8217;s back then they got ready to go to town for the weeks shopping. They didn&#8217;t go to town just because they had ran out of peanut butter or something like that. You always bought enough staples to last the week or went without. It was a big night as much family&#8217;s met at one store or another and discussed the state of affairs. Young boys and girls would stroll the sidewalks and window shop unless they had some jingle in their pocket like the two young boys. 
The boys first went to the Moline tractor deal ship to ogle the new 445 sitting on the lot. Their dad had gotten a demonstration back in August and the boys were hoping to someday have it on the farm to work. Next they stopped and looked at the sleek new Desoto sitting in the window of the dealer ship. Right next door was the Gambles store where the boys intended to spend their hard earned quarters. They walked in the door and then down the aisle to the counter in the back of the store. Mister Gorthy was standing behind the counter and asked the boys if he could help them. Frank was his name and always treated the boys just the same as he would treat adults. The oldest boy who was 11 and soon to be 12 plunked his quarter down on the counter and said he wanted 5 16ga. Shot shells number 6&#8217;s, Peters if he had them. Frank reached be hind him and got a box of 16ga. Peters down and counted 5 into a small brown paper bag and handed it to the boy. The other boy said he wanted some 410ga 2 Â½ inch number 6 shot for his quarter. Frank told him if he would take 7 Â½ shot he could get an extra shell, 6 for his quarter as that is what he had left in the box of 7 Â½. Frank asked the boy what he was going to hunt with the shells and the boy stated Pats. Frank a hunter himself said the 7 Â½ would work fine on pats and also rabbits too. Frank asked the boys if they had been seeing many, the boys replied they had been seeing lots on the logging road the timber company had cut thru their dads wood lot to get to the timber on the property behind dads when they went to get the cows for milking.
I don&#8217;t think there is any place today that would sell a few shells to young boys. I think they can&#8217;t sell ammo to anyone under 18 years old. But that was the 50&#8217;s when gun safety was taught in the home nearly every family on a farm had some sort of fire arm stashed in the corner of the barn, workshop or kitchen. 


 Al


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## homstdr74 (Jul 4, 2011)

I remember those days. A box of .22 shorts was ten to fifteen cents; a box of .22 long rifles was twenty cents, sometimes a quarter. As young boys in the early fifties we could go anywhere with our rifles. Those were the days when the society still knew what being an American is; sadly, these days I can no longer state with any confidence that most people know what that means. 

I cannot give an exact definition of what went wrong, but those who have insisted on the violence portrayed on the ubiquitous TV set must accept at least part of the blame for the decline in morality. Violent video games are likewise not blame-free. Inner-city âcultureâ infecting many middle-class kids via ârapâ music is yet another problem. There are other problems, most identifiably poor parenting, yet could any of this have happened without a general lack of will among the entire society?

Itâs my opinion that itâs too late to turn it all around. We noticed this many years ago and left âmainstreamâ society to raise our children in the country. We were correct, since in the cities things have only become worse over the past four decades.


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## Two Tracks (Jul 13, 2013)

Ever read ol' Ben Lily hunting tales? He hunted on foot and mule across South Western country with a pack of hounds, a rifle and unlimited lion and bear bounty.... That's livin'.... born in 1856 hunted thru 1920's,


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

My Dad was a kid in the 1930s. At that time there was a 25 cent bounty on crows. He had a Stevens single shot 16 ga that he bought brand new for $7.50 when he was 12. Him and his friends would watch where the crows roosted at night. They would line up and pick their shots. They would try two line 2 birds up so they could get a twofer. They would all shoot at once and if they were quick would often get a second shot in. A box of shells was 25 cents at the time.


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

In the late 50's Icleaned out chicken houses between flocks and got $.75 an hour, worked every Sat. neighbors always come looking for me at clean-out time...


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I hold the belief that when the parents still made babies but didn't have time to raise and educate them our nation was on the road to the end.

I think my daddy started teaching me about guns as soon as I could walk and talk. My grand kids had never seen a gun till they came to visit and grandpa came in with his 22 and a bag of squirrels. They were about 2 and 4 years old and lived in another state.

In 1965 I bought a 1957 Desoto fireflite two tone white over pink, push button drive 2dr ht. Nice driving car well worth the drool I lost when I was 11 years old.


 Al


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

The good old days, back before this country lost all common sense.


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## oth47 (Jan 11, 2008)

Remember when every hardware store sold long guns and ammo?


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I remember guns in the gunracks of the trucks in the parking lost at school.. All the guys would head for the woods as soon as class let out for the day... Deer season was in.. 

I remember BB guns in gym class for gun safety and shooting practice.. 

I was in ROTC and was on the drill team.. Bet you don't see them twirling M1's in ROTC today... 

Once a week after class, all of us on the Marksmanship team would get on the bus and head to the Navel Armory for an evening of practice, and on the weekends for competitions... We even got to shoot M203 grenade launchers and full auto guns.. such as M60's... Bet parents would have a fit over that today... 

I've got pictures of me at about 4 years old with my grandfather helping me shoot a 22...

Times have changed.. .most of that in less than 30 years..


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

I will never understand why our supposed leaders are trying to disarm us, trying to demonize guns so that even a picture of a gun can get a kid suspended from school.
We don't have leaders anymore, we have a ruling class who is so afraid of the American citizen they have to brainwash our kids and legislate away our right to defend ourselves


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

oth47 said:


> Remember when every hardware store sold long guns and ammo?


Still do here.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

What's a hard ware store? My grand kids were they to live here and go to school in this town would ask that question. We have tsc and Home depot to buy nuts and bolts and lawn mowers. You have to go to a town about 20 miles away to find a hardware store around here.

 Al


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

mmmm... guns and ammo at Home Depot and Lowe's.. I like that idea..


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

I remember buying Paper Shotgun Shells and Lucky Strikes wasn't 10 yet. Would walk RR Tracks, Rabbit hunting with .22. Didn't have Deer back then.

big rockpile


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## Tobster (Feb 24, 2009)

I was 15 in 1969 and purchased a Mossberg 12 guage pump . . . on layaway, I paid around $80. No adult was present. I made the final payment and took it home.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We all remember those days with fondness yet we keep electing persons who have a gold spoon in their mouth and if they ever were just plain common folks they forgot what it is like.

 Al


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