Most everyone in Utah remembers 1896 as the year the
territory became a state. But in =Adenville it was celebrated
by all the kids in town and by =Papa and =Mamma as the time
of =TheGreatBrain's reformation.
I was seven years old going on eight. =Tom was ten, and my
other brother, =Sweyn, would soon be twelve. We were all born
and raised in =Adenville, which was a typical Utah
town with big wide streets lined with trees that had been
planted by the early Mormon pioneers.



Miss =Thatcher, who had been ill with a very bad cold, was well enough
to start teaching again on the following Monday. If she had been younger,
she might have recovered sooner, but Miss =Thatcher was getting along
in years and we kids had heard talk that she might be replaced in the fall.
=Sweyn, =Tom, and I were back in school just one week when school stopped
again for all of us because of =Mamma's system with childhood diseases.
=Sweyn, being the oldest, usually caught a childhood disease first. =Tom
caught the diseases =Sweyn missed. And that made me the victim of =Mamma's
system every time because =Mamma believed in getting us all infected with
a disease at the same time and getting it over with.



With the end of the silent treatment, I could look forward to three big events.
School was over for the year. =Tom and =Sweyn had promised to teach me how to
swim. And I was going to mate my dog, =Brownie, with a dog named =Lady. =Brownie
was the only dog we had ever owned who wasn't a mongrel. He was purebred Alaskan.
A rancher who was a friend of =Papa's had given me the pup on my fifth birthday.
I guess because =Brownie was a thoroughbred, it made him different. He didn't
run and play with other dogs, but he would fight them if they wanted to fight. He
was such a good fighter that it wasn't long until every dog in town was afraid of him.
If any dog came near him, =Brownie would show his teeth and begin to growl and chase
them away.




=AbieGlassman and his peddler's wagon arrived in =Adenville just a few days after
=TheGreatBrain had saved the day. =Abie travelled all over southwestern Utah with his
peddler's wagon, selling merchandise to ranchers, farmers, and people living in
small towns. Everybody, including children, called him =Abie, because he was that
kind of man -- friendly, kind and gentle.
The wagon was painted white and had signs on both sides of it reading The
travelling emporium. It was constructed so it could be opened to display
merchandise on both sides. The tailgate let down, forming steps leading into
the wagon. The aisle down the center of the wagon had shelves on both sides
containing merchandise. Everything form hairpins to coyote traps was on display.




It was right after =AbieGlassman opened his =Adenville variety store that =VassiliosKokovinis
arrived in town with his mother. He was the first genuine immigrant boy that we had ever
seen. His father, =Georgeokovinis, had come to this country five years before, leaving
Mrs =Kokovinis behind in =Greece. During those five years Mr =Kokovinis had worked in the
coal mines at =CastleRock and saved his money. Then he had come to =Adenville and opened
the =PalaceCafe and sent for his wife and son. He had learned how to speak pretty good
English during this time, but his wife and son couldn't speak one word of English when they
arrived in =Adenville.



August came to =Adenville, bringing with it the hottest weather of the year. The heat slowed
everybody down. People walked a little slower. Our fathers began crowding us kids a the
swimming hole to escape from the heat. Dogs became listless. My dog, =Brownie, spent most of
his time lying in the shade of a tree or under our back porch. I began to worry about =Lady,
who was expecting a litter of puppies. =Tom had told me that it would take sixty-two days from
the day Lady was mated with =Brownie before the pups would be born. He assured me that the heat
wouldn't stop =Lady from having the litter. As always =TheGreatBrain was right. =Lady gave
birth to a litter of eight beautiful puppies the second week in August. I took =Tom's advice
and decided to wait until three weeks after the puppies were weaned before taking my pick of the litter.




Summer vacation came to an end. We all went down to the depot to see =Sweyn off for =SaltLakeCity
to attend a Catholic academy and boarding school. =Mamma was crying. =Papa kept clearing his throat.
I felt a lump in my throat that wouldn't go up and wouldn't go down. =Tom was very quiet. The only one
who didn't appear even a little upset was =Sweyn.
"Please stop crying, =Mamma," he said.
"What if Father =O'Malley forgets to meet you at the depot in =SaltLake," =Mamma sobbed?
"You saw the telegram from Father =O'Malley saying he would meet me," =Sweyn said. "Please
stop crying, =Mamma. People are staring at us. I'm not a little boy."





It was the first week in November before =AndyAnderson was able to attend school. Mr =Jamison, the
carpenter, had built a wooden peg leg for =Andy with a pad made from leather where the knee rested.
At first all of us kids were quite awed by  the peg leg. We tried it on and walked on it. But
the novelty soon wore off and we began calling him =PegLeg. =Andy couldn't join us in most of the
games we played. His father must have realized this and had ordered an erector set from =SearsRoebuck.
I guess he thought the erector set would draw kids to the =Anderson home where they would play with
=Andy. He was right. I learned from =HowardKa one Saturday morning that the erector set had arrived.
We ran all the way to the =Anderson home.