In the forties we would place a card under
or beside the DDT treated number. It had
numbers on it 25, 50, 75 to let the ice man, Wally Turner, know what we
needed. He would bring it in and put it
in the ice box from his team pulled wagon.
The milk delivery came even before we got
up in the morning. I think it was Waymond
Greer even then. He drove a truck out of
Fulton and would leave our milk beside the door on the porch. I always wanted to be the first to the milk
for I wanted the cream off the top. The
bottles were glass with with a cardboard stopper. The cream content, of which there was a lot,
rose to the top and stuck to the cardboard.
I would scrape it off and eat it.
It was delicious.
I may have mentioned this before but, if I
have, I am repeating it. At my age it is
allowed. Johnny Walker, Johnny Miller,
Bobby Vaughn, Tommy Clapp and I all loved fishing and also all had bass rods
and fly rods for bream. There was a
small shallow pond surrounded with nice willows, located about where the track
snack bar is now, and it was loaded with frogs, tadpoles and perch about three
inches long. Just for sport we would
leave our rods at home and cut a willow limb that served as a pole. We adorned it with cotton sewing thread for a
line and a bent straight pin for a hook.
Sometimes we would adorn it with red worms or grubs and use a wooden
match for a float. Other times we used
it like a fly rod and would put a trailer on the hook that was the red
cellophane strip from a Lucky Strike cigarette package and no, none of us
smoked then. The cellophane was red then
and green during the war. I always heard
it was because the red dye was hard to get because of the war and green was
easier to get. The saying was that Lucky
Strike went to war with the green pack. We
were able to pull them out constantly and threw them back. I think we enjoyed this as much as fishing
for bigger fish. On this one trip to the
pond we noticed a brand new American wire fence with three strands of barbed
wire and cross ties for all the post. We
climbed that and proceeded up to the pond when we heard an rumble. Over the hill came a herd of the scariest
creature we had ever seen. Tom Boggle
had brought in a herd of Brahma cattle and none of us knew what it was but they
were so ugly we took off running. We did
not remember climbing back over the fence we were so scared but when we were
safely on the other side we were still carrying our makeshift willow rods and
bait can. These cattle had been hauled
in from Texas by rail to Clinton and switched to truck. When they smelled water they took off and we
were between them and the water.
While I am on fishing I cannot help but
think of the time Eddie Roberts and I were fishing his grandfather, Mr. Harry
Whayne`s pond for bass and bream. We
went to put a fish on the stringer and all we had on there was fish heads. A big ol snapper turtle had eaten our
catch. We being boys decided to have
some turtle and turtle soup. We put the
fish on and back in the water. When the
snapper came back for seconds Eddie picked up on the stringer and I grabbed its
tail and lifted it into the boat between us.
Now if you have never been in a boat with forty pounds of pure, hissing
and mad snapping turtle, I do not recommend it. He intended to be top dog.
Ed had a stiletto knife and we decided one
could get him to grab the sculling paddle and pull while the other drove the
knife into his neck. Well that ol turtle
bit a chunk completely out of the blade of the paddle. We got him to bite the handle end and lifting
with the paddle and me grabbing the tail we put him back where all three of us
wanted him by then.
Saw a picture of a 1948 Champion
Studebaker the other day and reminded me of my first ride. It just happened to be a 48 Champion too. Cost me a week’s pay but really was
dependable. It had overdrive and got
really good gas mileage and was equally good in mud as on the highway.
On one particular day I had a jug of baby
snakes in the back seat and happened to hit the brake a bit hard and it rolled
into the floor and broke. I did not run
into any problems until I mentioned that I caught all of them but one, or else
I miscounted. After that a few boys and
no girls would ride with me so I had to sell my old fliver and find something
else to drive.
I just read a blog by Vicky Carter about
the year 1957. I hated school and during
Christmas break that year (I can still say Christmas right) and my senior year
I decided to drop out of school.
I went to work for Berlin Coat factory and
was happy there. After a few weeks Mr.
Jimmy Aquisto plant manager and Mr. Phillips got together at Rotary club and
decided I should return to school. Mr
Aquisto offered me a much better job but I would have to have my diploma to get
it. He said Mr. Phillips had agreed for
me to come back to school and he would let me make up all the weeks work I had
missed. I did return and got my diploma
and while in the Army got sixteen hours of college credit. I cannot express how much I appreciate these
two men.
Jimmy had a very colorful vocabulary and
some resented him for that but he was really nice to work for and I was
disappointed when he was fired right before I graduated. It was Berlin’s loss and the community.
I have often said of Mr. Phillips that he
was principal, coach, PE teacher and guidance councilor as well as friend and I
will always appreciate what these two fine men did for me.
