Sunday, August 15, 2010

What are Little Boys Made of?

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails, and... skunks.
That's what little boys are made of !

It was a school day in 1941 when the trapping incident sent Miss Mildred Henry to find a handkerchief to cover her nose. In the days of one room school houses one of the favorite past times for boys was trapping. Back in those days there were boyhood requirements and one was knowing how to make and set a trap, and the other was knowing how to get as dirty as possible. The boys did have goals, one was to trap any varmint they could, and the other was to create as much mischief as possible.

Jim Nickell was in the 8th grade and Leland Moyer was in the 3rd grade. Jim loved to trap any varmint he could and he was quite good at it. Everyday the two boys walked to school checking all of Jim's traps. Of course Jim took it upon himself to train Leland to be the second best trapper in the Nickellton area. Jim was the best. Part of the training was not only to learn to make and set a trap, but to take the animal out of the trap. Jim had shown Leland how to take out coons, opossum, squirrel, and fox. On the day the two trapped the skunk it was time for Leland to show Jim his training in action. Leland trusted Jim and knew he could do it. Plus he wanted to show an 8th grader he was fully capable of taking on a young man's task.

Leland proceeded to open the trap door just slightly. He stuck his hand inside reaching as far back as he could, nothing. Nothing was in the trap. Then the two boys heard scratching coming from the back of the trap, so Jim told Leland to get a long stick to poke at the skunk prodding it to move closer to the front of the trap. Nothing happened, the skunk wouldn't move. By that time the school bell was about to ring and they needed to get the skunk out quick or come back to it after school. Well the two boys couldn't wait all day. So Jim told Leland, "We'll shake it out. When I start shaking, you open the trap door." It worked. The skunk landed on the ground sprayed Leland all down his front side, and then it ran up the outside of Jim's pant leg spraying everywhere. The boys stunk and the skunk had escaped.

Jim and Leland stunk so bad they almost got sick right there by the trap. They knew they had to go to school because they would be in big trouble coming home smelling like a skunk. But they also knew they would be sent home from school if they went to school smelling like a skunk. It had just rained that morning so the grass was wet and there were puddles of water all along the trail to school. Jim and Leland rolled in the wet grass to get the stink off, didn't work. They pounced into every mud puddle along the way, practically bathing in the mud. Nothing was working. By the time they got to school they had been counted absent and the lessons had begun.

They didn't even get a chance to step into the classroom as Miss Henry, handkerchief in hand covering her nose and mouth, could smell them coming and met them in the hall. In fact the entire school was in an uproar over the smell coming from the hall. All the students were pinching their noses to avoid the smell. It wasn't possible to avoid the smell. Jim and Leland were covered head to toe in mud, their clothes soaked clean through and the smell was radiating from their bodies in a green halo.  Miss Henry directed Jim and Leland to go to the porch, but that was not far enough way. She did not ask what happened, but quickly sent them home and instructed them not to come back until the smell was gone. The smell didn't leave the school house all day, even with all the windows open and a nice breeze.

Leland did try trapping one more time. He caught a field mouse.

Tune in next time for more updates.

Picture: Mildred Henry-Bragg with some of her students. We think Leland is in this picture, but not sure.

1 comment:

  1. Ha, Ha! Love this story! Knowing "Miss Henry" now in her later years, makes it better! Thanks for the laugh today.

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