Reflections from Edgar Green (born in 1912, recollections gathered in 1992)
Shooting
1918, age 6. Pop would buy me toy guns that shot corks. The only trouble was the chicken would grab the cork and run, if I didn’t get there first.
1920, age 8. Dad taught me to shoot a rifle about this time and came the no rabbit in a fence corner was safe. When we got to Hagerstown, I would usually buy a Hunting and Fishing Magazine for 5 cents and the National Sportsman for 10 cents. I learned a lot.
Dad enjoyed shooting his 22, which he toted from age 8. He was a crack shot and often baited the sparrows with grain in order to set them up as targets. When it came to butchering time, he was called upon to shoot the hogs before Herbert Hutzell stuck them.
Elias Hutzell, who lived at the lower end of Appletown, peddled produce, had a Ford truck with a canvas top which he would kick out of gear at the top of Appletown hill and coast thru town too fast. One time, he ran over Carmie Netz rabbit dog; broke his back (the dog) and I had to shoot him.
Dad always looked forward to the fall because it brought hunting season. He remembered paying $1.50 for 500 shells, which he might use up in one-half day of hunting for rabbits. Armistice Day, November 11, was the first day of hunting season.
(Edgar Green, recollections 1992)
When I was a young child (1940’s), Dad and a buddy or two would go out early every Thanksgiving Day and bring back quail, maybe pheasant, and rabbits to be part of our dinner.
(Luana Green Goodwin, postscript 2015)
