Old Mr. Smoot's house

This house was just across the street from our home. On warm days and evenings Mr. Smoot would sit on the front porch, or the back porch and hold court. Mr. Smoot usually smoked a cigar. Mr. Smoot liked kids, and we liked him. Telling old railroad stories was one of his specialties. He worked for the B@O. His to grandchildren, and their mother lived with him. Charlie Saller was his grandson, and Charlie was the mad scientist that helped with a chemical and explosive projects. Charlie taught us how to make oxygen form hydrogen peroxide. There is a long story about how Lord Kadizzle hitchiked to California and back with a guy trying to escape his wife from Baltimore. Perhaps we will get into that some other time. Now, back to the Smoots. Mr. Smoot like to teach my cousin rhymes. One rhyme he taught everyone was:

If I had had a hit ta tit
To hit ta tit ta taney
I could have caught the thingamagig
Ah stealin my capanie.

For years I have wondered what a capanie was. I think it is some kind of a hat. Next to Mr. Smoot lived Bill Smoot. In the winter it was customary to throw snow balls at people windows. It is unclear to this day why the windows didn't break. However, I have a distinct memory of throwing snow balls at Bill Smoots house and having him chase us down the r. He caught Chuck Hiles and pushed him onto the street. We kept running, so I don't know what happened to Chuck. Bill Smoot broke us of this hobby.

I may have told this part of the story before, but I will repeat it. I just found this out in the last couple of years. My little Sister Patty used to play with Mr. Smoot's grand daughter Patty. Both the little girls could not have been older than ten at the time. My sister told me how before they went to bed when she was over there for a sleep over, Mr. Smoot, and the two little Patty's would sit down and enjoy a shot of wiskey with Mr. Smoot before bed. No doubt this solved all Mr. Smoots babysitting problems.