In the hazy days before television and adult-supervised athletics, boys had to create their own amusements. In the 1930s, Paxton Davis and the boys from his neighborhood wreaked a brand of youthful havoc that was at once innocent, innovative, idyllic, and uniquely American.
Baseball was "as natural as breathing," played with towsacks or bushes for bases, splintered bats held together with electric tape, and teams with from two to two dozen players. The Meketchum Detective Agency was founded for the express purpose of apprehending John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1. Davis's Boy Scout Troop "never became a notable example of Scouting endeavor," but "it gained a widespread reputation as the troop freest of ambition and most devoted to pleasure."
In more traditional fashion, Davis and his friends listened to radio serials, delivered newspapers, attended summer camp, and, with a measure of trepidation, danced with the girls at the local female academy.
Davis recalls his youth with grace, humor, and a balanced perspective. Times and circumstances change, but there is always something to be celebrated in a boyhood fondly remembered.
