Calvin Coolidge and I: How We
Spent the Day on March 4, 1925 (Cont.)
Screen 5 of 7Now came a not-so-merry trip for the three of us--Bonnie, Lindsey and me. With the bit tightly held in her teeth, Bonnie raced through the cobblestone and gravel streets of Bowling Green, with Lindsey and me barely hanging on for dear life. To make the situation worse and certainly more dangerous was the fact that Bowling Green had no storm sewers. Consequently, at each intersection of streets there was a dip--a very big dip--purposely constructed in that way so that heavy rains could be channeled through the town with the least possible damage.
These dips may have been helpful in a heavy rain runoff, but were certainly of no help to two boys trying to control a runaway pony. For at the first of these big dips, Lindsey and the two fishing poles were hurtled through the air, over the gutter and into the neat, well-kept pansy bed in Mayor Sumpter's front yard. (The mayor later complained that a number of his prize pansies had been "ruined by that thoughtless Fitch boy.")
At the next intersection--an even bigger dip in the street the cart was jolted so severely as we raced across it that the left wheel (that was my side) was broken and knocked completely loose from the cart. It rolled but of control and ended up on the front porch of the English teacher I was to have the next year at Bowling Green High School. (I was sure she would be furious and that she would take it out on me later, but I was mistaken. She turned out to be the best and most helpful English teacher I ever had--but that is another story.)
The left end of the axle was now dragging noisily on the street, and the cart was bouncing up and down with each cobblestone it crossed. The situation was made worse by my frantic screams for help, as I desperately held on to the reins with my left hand and to the arm of the little seat with the right. All this clamor and confusion drew men, women and children out of their houses and to the edge of the dusty street to witness this rather unusual debacle taking place. (Bowling Green, you must know, was ordinarily a very quiet town.) Of course, they could do nothing to prevent or even to alleviate what was happening, though at the time I thought they certainly should try.
[Contents Vol. 1]
[David's Home Page]
- 30 -