I am teaching a Midcoast Senior College course on Milton's Paradise Lost. In the sixth book, Milton describes a war in heaven between the forces of Satan and those of God. After Satan's angels pelt the good angels with cannons, the other get angry and hurl pieces of mountains. Soon all the angels are flinging dirt at each other. Apparently, in Milton's time this passage was not thought comic. Oh, c'mon.
When I was a kid, images of World War II were all over the B/W TV and we boys played various war games. One of the things we did in our back yard was to throw dirt bombs. A clod of that good Jersey soil, hurled high in the air, would rush to earth with a craaack and a puff of dust that looked like the smoke of a mortar. The deal was to throw them high enough so that the other guy had time to move away. (Of course, occasionally, a warrior might throw two at the same time....)
I haven't seen a kid throw a dirt bomb in years. On the other hand, there seem to be plenty of guns around. Glad, sometimes, that I am old.
Take away the glowing screens and kids will eventually re-discover real fun, including dirt bombs. Their moms will probably make them wear those stupid rubber gloves so they will not have to wash their little hands, for crying in a bucket.
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