Little memories of playtimes by three friends

Born in 1896 (Ivadel) and 1898 (Marie & Dorotha), three little girls grew up together in Dearborn. Here are a few of their memories, all written when they were retired:

Marie:

I remember playing games after dinner at night until dark -- 'Run Sheep, Run,' 'Hide and Seek,' etc. It was hard to have to go to bed and to leave my friends. We walked to school together. My special friend Dorotha Hall often stopped for me and now she and I recall how I would walk home with her, then she would walk back with me, and so on.

There were plenty of baseball fields where the neighbor children could get up a game. My brothers would call and say "Come on, Marie, we need someone to play third base" and away I would go. We could roam the fields picking wild asparagus which tasted so good since we had found it and of course later we had wild strawberries. The girls played jacks and skipped rope and then the roller skating and the hoop rolling! We could run all over too, even way down on Mason Street where there were long stretches of sidewalk with few side roads.

Nothing was organized -- we just made our own good times and always had plenty to do. The summers were looked forward to and we were off to the fields and woods. Our mothers didn't worry about us, knowing we would turn up at meal time. The daisies grew in the open fields and I dream of standing in a field of daisies on a lovely summer day behind Moore's barn. There were only two houses in the whole square -- Mrs. Moore and her family lived in one and my family lived in the other.

Dorotha:

The Arna Mills fire was a terrible thing I remember. Everyone turned out for that in all kinds of apparel. Afterward there were a lot of huge empty cartons that escaped the fire and the children were told they could have them. Marie's brother Russell brought a few to their house to play in and that really was fun.

There was a lovely field between our house and Ivadel's which was almost solid with white Shasta daisies. It would make us furious because people would come out by street car from Detroit and pull them up by the roots to take back with them.

We used to play run Sheep Run until long after dark some nights in the neighborhood. No one was afraid for us.

I could go on and on but this will give you some idea of how happy we were.

Ivadel:

We often followed the paths that led us across the river to the old road that is now Cherry Hill. Wintergreen berries grew along the way and when we entered the Sisters' woods, we found beech nuts in the fall. We rustled the leaves around and picked up the little triangular nuts that had fallen from the trees. Squirrels and other wild animals watched us from a safe distance.

The boys in the neighborhood built a club house in one of the large trees at the end of Morley Court. They spent many happy hours spinning yarns, playing games and enjoying the freedom of being on their own in this crude house.

Many times we organized outdoor games as soon after the evening meal as we could and one of my favorites was "Run, Sheep, Run." We chose teams and instead of hiding as an individual the whole group was concealed and then ran home when the leader yelled "Run, sheep, run."

Roller skates and iron hoops played an important part in our lives. We skated all over town on the sidewalks. Our knees and elbows bore signs of our many falls. We had to remove our skates before going into Mr. Wood's drug store where the post office was located. In those days everyone had to call for his mail and either rented a box or used the general delivery.

I cannot remember where I got my hoop, but it was about ten inches in diameter. I made a cross-like stick with which to roll it and it was a wonderful sport to run as fast as I could with my iron hoop engaging all my attention.