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a) The boys made paper airplanes by folding sheets of paper so as to have a sharp-pointed nose and long, narrow horizontal wing surfaces. These were thrown through the air indoors and out and great ingenuity was exercised in determining the proportions which would produce the greatest speed or range. By monkeying with the wings, the planes could be made to do aerobatics. It was great fun, was creative, and didn't cost a cent.

b) A less forward-looking pastime was the production of snappers, I guess you'd call them, by folding pieces of paper so that when the device was whipped through the air, the thing would snap open with an accompanying report. The aim was to make a device which would produce the greatest noise when snapping open and this involved the kind of paper used, the size of the device, and its proportions. It was a lot of fun, was creative, competitive, and cost absolutely nothing because scrap paper was always used.

c) A rather puerile device which was nevertheless popular, was a Squeaker made by folding a piece of paper into a ‘tee with a hole in the bottom so that when you blew between the two layers of the vertical portion, you produced a substantial squeak or Squawk whose tone could be controlled to some extent by the dimensions of the device, size of hole, kind of paper, etc. Any of these three devices could be employed in the schoolroom by anyone with sufficient daring but there was always the liability of severe punishment involved.

d) Making slingshots and bow and arrow were normal procedures with a jackknife.

e) My early interest in trains propelled me into a pastime which I think was original with me in that I conceived the idea although it may have been practiced by others whom I didn't know about, in fact, probably was because there was nothing at all complex about it. I was pretty good at drawing and I conceived the idea of drawing locomotives and cars, cutting them out, putting paper tabs on them to them stand up, and paper couplers to connect them together and then running them around on a track layout that was
drawn on a big sheet of paper or cardboard. My favorite spot for doing this latter was the bay window in the dining room. Of course, everything was steam in those days but I'd draw road freights, road passengers, switchers, and all manner of cars from Pullmans and coaches to freight cars of all sorts and from numerous railroads. This pastime was absolutely fascinating to me and there were no limits to the number and variety of the equipment I chose to create. And it was all for free and all mine.