Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug

When we were children, we had a game we played in early summer when June bugs came out. June bugs were large bugs about one-half inch long and almost as big around. We would catch one, tie a thread ever so long to its leg, and let go - holding on to the string.

Boy, could they fly and buzz! They sounded like a little motor humming. This game could last all day. The June bug would come down to rest and go right back up. We ran to keep up with them. We got a lot of exercise that way.

We used to play under the schoolhouse on rainy days. There were these little bugs that dug holes and went underground, piling the dirt around their hole as the dug. They were easy to locate. We would get down over one and start this little chant. I cannot remember were we got it from. We would say, "Doodle bug, doodle bug come out and get your 'lasses. Your house is burning down - your house is burning down." For some unknown reason they came zooming out backwards. We could spend hours doing this. It was one of our favorite games on rainy or cold fall days.

We used to have funerals for our dead pets, chickens, mice, or whatever. Once three small mice without one hair fell out of the paper on the ceiling of the sitting room. We carefully lined a matchbox with brown satin left over from Took's dress and made a pillow to match.

We rowed up three little bald heads on the pillow, had a funeral, and took them to our very own pet cemetery and laid them to rest. The cemetery had many graves in it. Roses were growing that we had planted, and we went by often to care for the cemetery and plant flowers.