Calvin Coolidge and I: How We
Spent the Day on March 4, 1925 (Cont.)
Screen 2 of 7

To go fishing at Drake's Creek ("that's where everyone goes to fish," we had been told) we had to have transportation, because this creek was almost seven miles from town. What better transportation than a pony, we thought. But we agreed--Lindsey and I-- that it would be much better if we had a buggy to ride in, one that Bonnie could pull. In that way we could ride in comfort and also carry our bamboo fishing poles alongside.

But we had no buggy--or harness. Perhaps we could borrow one. That's it, we would borrow a buggy from that same nice man that had sold the pony to my mother. We had been discussing this whole venture for several days, and the afternoon before we were to go fishing we had gone to the livery stable and asked Mr. Harris (our parents called him "Pat" but we didn't dare) if we could borrow a buggy--"some ole buggy you are not using," we had suggested. To our surprise and delight he had said yes, provided "you will be very careful and not damage it," he had added. He also agreed we could use for just one day an old piece of harness he had.

Early on the morning of March 4 when we went to the stable to pick up the buggy, we learned that instead of a buggy we were to have a two-wheel racing cart, along with the necessary harness. But that was all right with us. Even though we had expected a regular buggy, one with four wheels, we found that the seat of the two-wheeler was adequate for two small boys, if we sat close together. Also, it would be easier for Bonnie to pull. So we put the harness on the seat, thanked Mr. Harris (I forgot and called him "Pat"), and started pulling the cart back to the barn--at just about the same time Coolidge was taking his oath of office in Washington. On the way back from the stable, I remember thinking it was too bad Mr. Coolidge could not go fishing that day instead of having to go through that long and dull ceremony at the Capitol. When I told Lindsey what I was thinking, he said right off, "That's what he gets for being president."

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