In my 1930s world, jackknives were a badge of maturity. True, you weren't really a grownup yet, but a jackknife meant you were on the threshold of becoming an adult. It meant you not only needed a jackknife, but you were now old enough to be trusted with it without slicing off a finger.

The major uses a kid had for a knife were whittling whistles, haw-poppers which shot out ripe hawthorne berries, and "jackknife baseball." This was played with the long blade extended and the short blade at a right angle. The knife was placed on the board (or could be played in the dirt) and flipped with your index finger from the back of the knife, spinning it into the air.

If the knife stuck with the small blade and the handle on the ground, it was a single. If it stuck with the small blade only, it was a double. A triple was when both blades stuck, and a home run was when the knife stuck straight up on the large blade. If the knife landed on its back with the blades up, it was a walk. It was an out when it landed on it side. We would pick our favorite Major L eague teams and play nine innings.

Boys spent a lot of time sharpening their knives. A razor-sharp knife was a status symbol. The ultimate test was if you could lightly hold a piece of newspaper between your fingers and cleaning slice off a strip a couple of inches wide. If your knife ripped the paper instead of surgically trimming it, back we went to the whetting stone for more sharpening.

Today's culture is an entirely different one than when I grew up in the 1930s, at least concerning young boys and jackknives. A kid found with a jackknife in his pocket in school would be hauled to the principal's office, his parents would be summoned and the police would automatically be called. He would be automatically suspended for two weeks until a hearing was held by the school board, and then likely suspended from school for the rest of the school term.

There was no cause for this sort of apprehension when almost all boys packed jackknives to school in my generation. The idea of carving on each other's hides had never occurred to us. Indeed, our high-top boots even had a little pocket on the side specifically designed to hold a jackknife. In certain stores, when boy's boots were purchased, a knife in the pocket came with the boots.

Young girls not only toted nail files but often a pair of manicure scissors which are classified as lethal weapons today. Young boys with jackknives in their pocket and young girls with a 4-inch nail file in their purses would now receive the same attention as a student caught with a loaded pistol in his backpack.

To most of the older generation, this sounds outrageous, although I guess its a sad commentary on how our world has changed. Back in the 30s, despite the unemployment and hardships during the "great depression," people lived in a kinder, more gentle time.