Mother told me "A boy should always carry a pocket knife"Mr. Bowen had his Barlow knife which he used to cut off chucks of Brown Mule chewing tobacco. (I have one of each which I'll place on his grave while I drink a beer and remember old times.)
Less than 40 years have passed and I am astonished to see how the
times have changed since my father bought this knife for me as just a
small boy. I do still have it, which by today’s standards is an anomaly.
I’ll leave the discussion of our throwaway culture for another time.
Yes, this pocket knife has witnessed many changes in our society. Technology, communication, transportation, and even education have dramatically changed from the way it was just a generation ago. My pocket knife and I are neither quite certain if all the changes have been for the good. When I look across the landscape of America and take note of the differences, the greatest change that I see is in the people themselves.
Growing up in rural Northeast Alabama in the foothills of the Appalachians, I was privileged to catch the tale end of what was an era marked by ruggedness and self-sufficiency. I grew up around men that were willing to fix what was broken and take the time to do it right.
Yes, this pocket knife has witnessed many changes in our society. Technology, communication, transportation, and even education have dramatically changed from the way it was just a generation ago. My pocket knife and I are neither quite certain if all the changes have been for the good. When I look across the landscape of America and take note of the differences, the greatest change that I see is in the people themselves.
Growing up in rural Northeast Alabama in the foothills of the Appalachians, I was privileged to catch the tale end of what was an era marked by ruggedness and self-sufficiency. I grew up around men that were willing to fix what was broken and take the time to do it right.
More @ The Natural South
I still carry a pocketknife, and both my son and even one daughter do too.
ReplyDeleteGood deal.
DeleteHi Brock,
ReplyDelete10-4!! Besides Gunz... GOT KNIFE??
'Long story!!
read my comment at "The Natural South!!"
skybill
I didn't see it.
DeleteIve had to leave so many knives at TSA or going into a courthouse etc, that I stopped carrying one several years ago. bummer
ReplyDelete:) In 1969 I carried a loaded.45 cal. derringer back to Vietnam on Pan Am.
Deletehttp://namsouth.com/viewtopic.php?t=30&highlight=fsee
That was a great piece. I had never seen that blog. From what I gather, the author is about 50 miles due east of me. I've got a neighbor that has a maxim that goes; "never trust a man who doesn't carry a good-sharp pocketknife or doesn't drink a beer". It is a different world today. I can remember teachers asking to borrow pocket knives from boys even when I was in grade school. That wasn't meant as satire. The teachers literally needed to borrow a knife for whatever reason and gave it back to the owner after her task was performed. My fifth grade teacher once told the class that all boys should carry a pocetknife. She meant it too. That was back in 1975 and she was the same teacher that whipped me with hickory out in the woods on a school trip. That was a different time and she was from an earlier time of 4 m.p.h., no electricity, no running water, raise what you eat, waste nothing, etc.
ReplyDelete& yes, the times were better for everything that counted when we grew up. What a crying shame.
DeleteWhen I was just a youngster, my DAD worked as a loom mechanic in cotton mills. ("loom fixer") We moved to Philadelphia when I was 5 yrs old. What I am getting at is, as a loom mechanic Dad always ha a pocket knife, usually a Barlow. When it had been sharpened so much that not much was left of the blades, it was passed down to me. I was always overjoyed to get his old knife, no matter how worn out. Dad is a long time gone, but to this day I feel undressed without a pocket knife, in my pocket...Old habits die hard !
ReplyDeleteWhen it had been sharpened so much that not much was left of the blades, it was passed down to me
DeleteThat's intriguing as the Barlow I bought on-line to place on Mr. Bowen's grave was just as worn. Interesting, as he used it for cutting the necks of chickens as well as his Brown Mule. :)
I carry a switch blade and it didn't go off when I entered the
ReplyDeletecourt house but my glass bottle of water didn't make it.
Mine is spring loaded and just as fast as a switchblade. American ingenuity.
DeleteA pocket knife was a rite of passage for a boy when I was in school. It meant you were old enough to be trusted with something that could be dangerous but that you were adult enough to handle the responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThat can't happen now. Any school boy who has a knife runs the risk of having it at the least taken away by the police if a teacher etc. learns he has it...if he carries it anywhere he runs the risk of PRISON. The emasculation of America has done unmeasurable harm to young men and boys. We are now starting to pay the price as a society that is falling apart.
A pocket knife was a rite of passage for a boy when I was in school. It meant you were old enough to be trusted with something that could be dangerous but that you were adult enough to handle the responsibility.
Delete& right after that came your first .22.
===============
The emasculation of America has done unmeasurable harm to young men and boys. We are now starting to pay the price as a society that is falling apart.
Amen, Amen.
I keep a few knives on my person as well, even as an office worker. A Leatherman CS Style (scissors come in handy) inside a Mentos case along with BIC lighter and small pen in right pocket. A SAK Classic, along with a survival kit Vietnam aviators brass 'thataway' compass on a necklace. And another SAK on my car keys. So a sharp edge is not far away at all - ever.
ReplyDeleteGood to go!
DeleteThanks again Brock. You are the MAN! I too carry a pocket knife, and have done so since I was 14 years old. I was trained on the proper handling and care of sharp-edged tools, ie. knives, hatchets and axes, and certified by the Boy Scouts of America some 51 years ago. I have had many different knives over the years. I have lost some, and found some. I have received, and given them, as gifts. It is a tool that I do not leave the house without. I currently carry a mid-sized 3 blade Buck, and a DeWalt Razor knife. It is a tossup each day which one gets used more in my line of work. I am glad to see that there are a lot of other men out there who still think a knife is an essential tool.
ReplyDeleteGood deal! A man with sharp knives and a sharp wit. :)
DeleteWhen I was young, the older men sometimes called them pen knives.
ReplyDeleteThey could sharpen pencils to a perfect point, peel an apple in one, long, circular peeling, and whittle lovely figures out of a bar of soap or a piece of soft wood. And most had knives with a screwdriver or some other handy tool tucked away inside the grooves.
I miss the older ones.
I sometimes ask an older gentleman when I'm trying to fix something, if he has a pocket knife. And once in a while, a young man, will have one.
I agree about the sharp knife, and the sharp wit. On my list, I'll add a gracious sense of humor, and a sharp pencil.
Thanks for the nice visit to what once was. (And what could be....)
Miss Emma
(And what could be....)
DeleteThe saddest part, thanks and I remember also.
Just saw this:
DeleteUnder the Apple Tree
https://www.carolinacountry.com/issues/2020/stories/i-remember/under-the-apple-tree