Along the Backroads of Yesterday

Those fortunate enough to have grown up in rural America in the middle of the 20th Century can roll themselves up in this book like a warm quilt stitched by your grandmother.
If you weren’t a farm kid in the 1940s and 50s, it is not too late to correct your education, and this is just the book that can do it. Follow Oris George and his contentious friend, Henry, as they journey through life in a world where the chores are as endless as the summers, the odor of fresh baked pies sweetens the air, and a smile from a teenage carhop can lead to serious heart palpitations.
It would be an ideal world if Henry would keep in check his urge to take Oris’ father’s pickup to town without permission. Life would be simpler if Henry hadn’t revealed where they stashed Elmer’s favorite bull, Challenger. Growing up would be more pleasant if Henry didn’t suck up to the grown-ups while laying the consequences of his pranks on the shoulders of his best friend. But simple, pleasant lives would not make for the entertaining world found in the pages of Along the Back Roads of Yesterday.
In Oris’ world the animals talk, the fish are wily and the mules have more personality than some people. Neighbors can be as grumpy as Elmer, or as eccentric as Anna Tidwell, who wants to save old horses and mules from being slaughtered. Roads are dusty, white tee shirts and jeans are required formal attire for a night on the town. Having your parents leave you “in charge” for the weekend while they take a short trip means unlimited freedom.
If this isn’t your world now, by the time you turn the last page it will be. Oris George lived these adventures and brings time to life with dialect, description and colorful phrases that are a part of growing up rural. Along the Back Roads of Yesterday should be required reading for every city slicker. Enjoy

Ava Betz
Prowers County Historian