Tommy Walkers

Stilts from Cardboard:

When we visited with the Butler side of our family we had watched Dad and our uncles walk on "Tommy Walkers". (Tommy Walkers were stilts made from two long boards about two inches wide By two inches thick. You would  cut a block of wood and nail it to each of the long boards about eight inches to a foot from the ground, depending on your capabilities, then nail a small loop of leather to support your feet and a loop of leather to go around each wrist.)

We older girls had walked on Tommy Walkers before, but we created a new style of stilts that proved to be more fun and took more skill. (Though we never accomplished much skill.)

Dad was laying new linoleum in our house and the large cardboard tubes that it came in, were tossed outside to be burned later. We were quick to grab them and our imaginations went to work to figure out the best use for them. 

After several discarded ideas we hit on one that we all liked. One of us girls sneaked a knife outside and we cut the tube into sections, probably three feet long each. Then with two sections of the tube laying side-by-side on the ground, one of us held them still, while the others helped one girl to slide her legs into the tubes. 

The feet of the girl, whose legs were inside the tubes were probably a foot or more from touching the ground and she could not bend her legs. With one girl on each side we helped her to her feet and propelled her forward until she was ready to walk on her own. Of course trying to walk in these was not as easy as the Tommy Walkers because you could not jump off if you lost your balance. 

Even when we were helping each other to stand and walk in our new stilts, it was hilarious. Picture us, as we lifted one girl to stand upright,  when her weight shifted forward, it threw us all forward. We ran forward to regain our balance while still holding her up. Then we tried again only to be  thrust backwards as we over compensated, and ran backwards.  

This forward and backward dance might continue for several minutes before we thought the one on stilts was steady enough to turn loose. Then we stood and watched for the inevitable collapse  we knew would happen so the next one could take her turn. 

You might be able to walk steadily for several feet before starting to lose your balance. Then to the enjoyment of the watchers you would start the little forward and backward dance again before collapsing to the ground amid the peals of laughter around you.