Posted by Eric Abraham on September 13, 2003 at 13:41:10 from 199.240.139.77 user EricAbraham.
In Reply to: Re: Compass posted by John Nichols on September 12, 2003 at 20:07:48:
All this "junk" and "toy" compass talk brings back the compasses I had about the time I was reading Arthur Ransome. One was an octagonal shaped "Jack Armstrong" compass and sundial that I sent off cerial box tops and ten cents for that glowed in the dark. I always wondered how one was supposed to get a sundial time reading in the dark! I wore it on a chain around my neck. The other was a wrist compass - oil dampened, like the car compasses that mounted on the windsheild divider bar. Everyone thought it was a watch and asked me for the time - this was when very few children had wrist watches (at least in the Missouri Ozarks). I could always tell them generally which direction was north. It was marked N-W-S-E with little marks in between for NW, etc. Actually, I never really did get lost, but I don't think it was because of the compasses!