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17

A family I should include is the Lymans on Oak Street who had two boys, John and "Pusser", the latter's real name escaping me. John was considerably older and Pusser a year or so older than I. Pusser could be a good guy but also a bad guy at times and was the leader of what was known as "Pusser Lyman's Gang." I don't recall who the other members of the gang were. The gang preyed on various victims, aiming to scare and harrass them primarily. They chose me on one occasion and I remember how they hid behind the bushes in the vacant lot next to us and then made threatening gestures and verbal threats but I don't think anything came of it. In fact, Pusser and I became pretty good friends. One project Pusser was responsible for was the building of "automobiles" of the present Soap Box Derby variety. He built these in the Lyman garage and got about the whole neighborhood interested.  We would,"race" them down the hill on Highland Avenue that terminated just about in front of our house. It was a great thrill to drive your car down the hill under the influence of gravity something like the thrill of sailing. I recall one incident, I had with Pusser's brother, John. I had heard the term "son—of—a—bitch" used at school and thought I'd show my maturity by using it myself although I hadn't the faintest idea what it meant. So, one day Jinmie Halsted ,and I were playing in the Halsted pergola when John Lyman happened in for some reason, and during the conversation, I called John a son-of-a—bitch, not trying to insult him but merely attempting to show him my gathering maturity. John was very nice about it.  He explained to me that bitch is a she-dog and therefore it is an insult to call someone this and he was sure when I understood this, I'd know how to handle the matter in the future. I never forgot how [[underscore]]he[[/underscore] handled the matter.

Back at us on James Street, were two huge vacant lots, maybe in total some 300x800, on which was a coasting hill much better than Day's Hill but not as convenient. The hill was called Holden's Hill. Around 1913, a family named Wiard bought one of the lots and built a big mansion thereon, Mr. Wiard being president of one of the local plow manufacturing companies.  There was a Wiard son, Wolcatt, about my age, who became one of the general crowd and I recall going there once to a magic lantern show. But Wolcott was obviously headed for prep school and the Ivy league and I never got too well acquainted with him. He was rather unattractive with a birthmark on his face.

Across James Street from the Wiards, about the same time, the Wilkinson's built a mansion. Mr. Wilkinson was chief engineer of the Franklin Automobile Company, which was going pretty strong at this time. A son, Jack, had been known to many of us prior to their moving in and became one of the crowd but too late for me to become extremely well acquainted with him.