When I was a kid it used to be a big thing when we had an eclipse. There was a great deal of planning, and anyone with any sense started making preparations a week in advance of the phenomenon. First you got a piece of glass. If you couldn't find a piece big enough it was perfectly OK to get one of the kids to “accidentally" kick in the basement window somewhere from which we’d get the required glass. Then from someone’s mother we got a candle, (whatever became of them?) and we smoked the glass until it was black and even. Time was always taken out to write a few silly things in the soot before we came up with the finished job. Then on the day of the eclipse we all sat on the front porch and watched the whole wonderful show. We had an eclipse last summer and once again we watched the whole wonderful show, but this time it was all on television. I know it is much better this way because I read in the paper about the possibility of eye injury from looking at the sun during an eclipse. I am not saying this is not possible, but I can never remember even one boy going blind from looking through a hunk of smoky basement window. I tell you the story to point out that we should really not be too hard on kids who get into trouble, as they often do. Really now, is there any fun left in the world for them? Is there anything in nature that Walt Disney hasn't shown them on the wide screen? Is there anything in science that hasn't been laid out 1 - 2 - 3 on TV? Is there even one little mystery left for a kid today? Shucks with coffee coming in airtight bags, there's not even a can around to catch tadpoles. But then, where would they find tadpoles?
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