When Lynn Stanfield was growing up in Martinsville, Illinois, in the 1930's, the population was 1,206. (It's now 1,238.) It was "essential to create your own entertainment back then," and "Pinky" and his friends did, from making skate boards and racers and their own oil-drilling rigs to observing and participating in the portion of life's rich pageant that family life, the Stanfield's store, and the town offered them. This insider's view of life in...