Lucky was the little girl who possessed a pony and cart in the early 1900s. This 1908 postcard, printed in color in Germany, was from a photograph taken on Cliff drive when the few automobiles in Kansas City had not yet affected the leisurely horse-and-buggy traffic, and it was great fun to go driving with a little friend almost anywhere. The new boulevards, Cliff drive and the Paseo, were favorites. The proud driver of this cart is unidentifiable, but Ernestine Martin (now Mrs. Grant Hatfield, sr.) had a similar conveyance about this time and a roan pony named Pinky. She often drove to the spring on Cliff drive from her home at 2700 Park avenue. From the time she was 9 and could reach the pony's head with the bridle she was allowed to hitch up and go. Even during the months when school was in session she hurried home at 4 to harness the little horse in the barn behind her home and leisurely drove north on the Paseo and down Eleventh street, where she picked up her father, Joseph Martin, at Eleventh and Grand at the Robert Keith Furniture store, where he was employed. The 4-wheeled cart had wicker sides and the back seat could be twisted around so passengers in the back seat could face either front or rear, Mrs. Hatfield recalls. Sometimes on Sundays we drove to Independence my father, mother, sister and I. When we reached Independence, father left Pinky at the livery stable, and she had dinner there while we dined at the hotel. On the return home we crossed a small stream where we always stopped to rest. There were weeping willows growing nearby and my mother, who was a skilled basketry craftsman, loved to gather the young branches and weave, while the pony rested and drank the cool water of the creek. All just wonderful memories of a bygone and slow-paced era. Kansas City Star, July 25, 1970.
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