The first seven years of my life were spent in Dallas Village. I lived on Halsey Avenue.

The boys in the village that I grew up with were: Posey Luna, Harold (Big boy) Harbin, Larry Gray, Erskine Neal, Melvin Neal, Grady Neal, Bud Gault, and my two brothers, Hiram and Richard Knowles.

Larry Gray lived by the railroad tracks north of Oakwood Avenue. We would wait in his backyard till the freight train came by heading north. We would run along side of the train and grab onto the ladder and ride up to Normal by A&M University and drop off and walk back.

There was a cemetery by the railroad track, and we would hide behind the gravestones and throw rocks at the boys over in Lincoln village.

About every Sunday, some of us boys would climb the dummy line up the mountain and take vines and swing out over cliffs; that was fun at the time.

One of the events that comes to mind, is when Harold Harbin got his grandfather's (Grover Wright) horse and wagon and loaded it with seven or eight of us boys. He was going to take us for a ride around the block. Harold couldn't stop him (he forgot to put the bit in the horse's mouth). Halsey Avenue was a gravel road at that time and every time we would get to Halsey the wagon would slide sideways. The horse finally stopped. We thought we were cowboys that day.

When the Nehi Bottling Company opened at the corner of Halsey and Fifth Street (Andrew Jackson Way now) they were giving a free drink to everyone. They would check your tongue to see if you had already received one; some of us boys would run home and wash our tongues and go back for another drink.

Every Saturday night I would get a dime from my Dad and go to the YMCA to the movies. I would pay a nickel to get in, and would buy five Dumb Dumbs with the other nickel.

I moved to Florida after the 2nd grade at Rison in 1943, and the Harbins moved to Hazel Green. I moved back t Huntsville in 1994.

I still ride through the village and think of the good times we had.