Pumps' Perplexities

I believe I discussed this subject before......But, in the light of
the airplane bomb threats in England, my mind returns once
again to that little store in New York City......

Before terrorists there were Lawyers.......Before both there
was FUN......In the '40s and early '50s, in the days of the
Gilbert Chemistry Set, a little kid with a few coins in his
pocket could walk up the the second floor of a building on the
west side of Manhattan, around 37th Street, and buy all
the chemicals to make gun powder......It was there in little
bottles, on shelves, along the walls......

All the elements and compounds you were learning about in
Chemistry high school class was yours for the coins or dollar
bills you had with you......Of course there were flasks, beakers,
glass stirring rods and microscopes, but mainly there were
the chemicals.......

And yes, a few of us got hurt trying to convert paper knowledge
into an experiment, but it was a learning experience......But
that's life, before lawyers......

Times have indeed changed......Today if a 16 year old boy got
caught with a bottle of sulfur or carbon in his pocket he would
be hauled off to jail......And in those days, I had to take the
subway home......I would be up for 10 to 20, hard time....Pumps