I was looking around for a piece of string the other day to seal a paintbrush in a plastic bag so I could use it again. I found a ball of twine in a box of seldom-used odds and ends. It probably sat there, unappreciated for months. We don\u2019t use string much these days. Or rope, either, for that matter. But both were once vital to everyday life.<\/p>\n
We used it all the time when I was a kid. A ball of string was in the kitchen, in the garage and I had one in my room. Mom wrapped our sandwiches in wax paper and tied them with string. It was the same thing the butcher did when you went to the grocery store; the meat purchases were wrapped in butcher paper and tied with string from a giant ball on a spool, right there on top of the counter. No plastic bag problems in those days. No plastic bags.<\/p>\n
Kids couldn\u2019t live without string. We needed it to make a bow from an unseasoned tree limb. How else could we play cowboys and Indians? Fix a yoyo with a broken string? Fly a kite? String was the thing. You needed it to pull out a loose baby tooth, tie one end to the tooth and the other end to a doorknob. Then, get your courage up and slam the door shut. Kids, and adults too, tied a string around their finger to help remember to do something. Our moms used it to tie turkey legs together and to sew up a flap so the stuffing stayed in the bird. <\/span><\/p>\n