Them was the good old days, in Davenport, Scott County Iowa . them north coun-ties. And them boys knowed more about handlin freighttrains than Mose Hobbs, or Seth Twombley^ or any of themwise-crackers that was wearin paper collars and makin outreports in the old Farnam. street roundhouse. Thats when Zee McMahon usta sing: Binkem! Bunkem! My old hen!She lays eggs for railroad eight and sometimes ten—Binkem! Bunkem! My old hen! Understand, sport, in them days the brakesys and conhadta do hand-brakin, runnin from car to car and twistinthe brakes, not havin no boghead sittin in the c
Them was the good old days, in Davenport, Scott County Iowa . them north coun-ties. And them boys knowed more about handlin freighttrains than Mose Hobbs, or Seth Twombley^ or any of themwise-crackers that was wearin paper collars and makin outreports in the old Farnam. street roundhouse. Thats when Zee McMahon usta sing: Binkem! Bunkem! My old hen!She lays eggs for railroad eight and sometimes ten—Binkem! Bunkem! My old hen! Understand, sport, in them days the brakesys and conhadta do hand-brakin, runnin from car to car and twistinthe brakes, not havin no boghead sittin in the cab to putthe clampers on with a shot of juice. Brakesys and switch-men coupled cars with their bare mitts, and a regular hard-boiled railroader was always shy a coupla fingers from seeinhow long he could hold his hand between the bumpers with-out gettin ketched when makin a couplin. Purty cushy for engineers nowdays, with airbrakes andelectric lights. But, even at that, sport, them old timerscould jerk the throttle on the old ingine and pep her up sos 68. THEM WAS THE GOOD OLD DAYS shed throw a bunch of shotes or yearlin steers further thanany of these guys with all their electricity and modern inirprovements. People was scared stiff about that eclipse, as in themdays folks believed in ghosts, goblins, banshees, and fairies,and in payin their debts. Nowdays they think theyre toowise for that old bunk, but a lota Barnums one-a-minuteyaps are still with us, and are ducksoup for , and easy-money pirates, just the same. A littlemushy con about ten-per-cent-a-monthstuff, and them open-and-shut guys cantake em for their underclothes. In them times lovey and doveydreamed about the hardcoal burner andhorsehair furniture for the parlor, witha kerosene hangin lamp havin a flockof prism-glass dewdads danglin aroundthe dome, and makin a noise like arock-crusher while bein pulled down forlightin. But nowdays lovey and doveydope up on stucco bungalov/s, sun parlors, a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidthemwasgoodo, bookyear1922
