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On the second Wednesday of each month they had in school teachers training, so we only went to school half a day, the other half of the day we could go across the street to the movie theater and for 45 cents we could see two movies and a serial and get a large bag of popcorn and a soda and with the nickel left over from the $.50 from my allowance I would go next door to the drugstore and get a nickel Cherry Coke. During the rest of the week we would collect soda bottles and turn them in for the two cents deposit.
I sure miss Walter Cronkite on the evening news... Thanks for the wonderful memories, ALL! I guess I turned out OK despite Miss Thomas whacking my knuckles on an almost-daily basis in 6th grade English class...
Location: Moved to town. Miss 'my' woods and critters.
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Memories Were Made of This...
Thank you Brian and everyone else for the delightful trip down memory lane. I too have my memories. And yep, I am over 40, over 50, and hmmm over 60 and ...well, that's enough for now. Wax paper, oh yes. Cut Rite Wax Paper. The one and only. My mom would wrap our sandwiches in wax paper. Place the wrapped sandwich on a piece of newspaper, put a Twinkie (my favorite, cause that was my Dad's favorite) or a Ding-Dong on top of the sandwich, followed by an orange, apple, or banana. Fold the paper over all of this just so. Lunch was placed on a shelf in the 'cloak room' 'til lunch time. Never got sick.
Never had 'snow days'. Walked to school. Hey, St. Louis, back then. Played all types of games on the school playground and if you got hurt, so what? Mom worked in the Defense Plant and I didn't have to worry about getting in our home, heck, we never locked our doors! The Druggist sold penny candy. No sales person wore gloves when they dished it out to you. Never got sick.
Our tennis shoes (I never played tennis) cost $1.00. White. Us girls wore 'leggings' during the snowy days. It kept you warm.
There was an 'ash pit' behind our home that the local grocery, tavern and drug store shared. Lots of critters around there. Some flew around and others just crawled around. Oh, we lived for awhile above that drugstore and once when my Mom put on her fur (mink) coat (they didn't cost as much then), she put her arm in a sleeve and suddenly jerked her arm back out and screamed for my Dad. Seems as if a mouse from 'downstairs' had made it's way up into her closet along a vent pipe.
Oh, we didn't sue anyone. Our dentist was highly qualified at the time I am sure. Heck he was a student at St. Louis University Dental School on Grand Avenue. All the school kids could go there. Good practice for the students.
Vaccination shots? Oh, yes, I can show you mine still, Yep, there it still is. Not the shot, the scar. Lived in Iowa for 4th grade. Rode a friends bike down what at the time appeared to be a steep hill. Crashed into a lamp post and of course fell off. Damaged the front of the bike, hurt my knees and elbows and had a headache for awhile. Nope, no pads, no helmet. Now how in the world did I live through all that?
I remember my mom wrapping my wax paper wrapped sandwiches in newspaper tied with the string from the butcher shop One time I got a washer stuck on my finger and mom walked me to the jewelry store and the jeweler filed the washer off and gave me a nickle for being a brave little girl..
Yep, had to walk 2 miles to school.
Even if the snow was a foot deep.
Even if it was zero degrees.
And it was uphill.
Both ways.
Had a black and white TV with only 3 channels. But there was more quality shows on them than there is on the 14,000 channels they have now. Actualy had to get up and move across the room to change the channel. It's a wonder we didn't have a heart attack. I remember when I was real young we had a victrola that you had to crank up with a handle so it would spin a record to play. So much physical labor to get entertainment. Never got corpal tunnel from it though.
Used to grab a salt shaker when the tomatoes in the garden got ripe and go sit in the mater patch and eat them after just wiping them off a little on my shirt.
You didn't sass an adult. You had to respect others property. You mowed lawns or shoveled snow for the old people whether they could pay you or not.
If I got the "board of education" at school I also got the "board of correction" at home.
We visited relatives and friends and neighbors and they visited us. Families did things together. They even ate their meals at the same time at the same table.
Mom made meals from scratch instead of just throwing some pre cooked stuff in a micro wave. Food tasted a lot better then.
I still remember those big fluffy buttermilk biscuits at breakfast with fresh eggs and bacon. Umm, Umm, good. Mom is 84 years old now and still makes a mean buttermilk biscuit from scratch.
If a kid got hurt because he/she was doing what kids do, it was a lesson learned instead of a lawsuit. We learned self preservation from our mistakes that got us hurt, not from placing blame on someone else. We learned to protect ourselves without waiting for the government or some orginization to tell us how. Experience is the best teacher.
I am amazed that mankind wasn't wiped out before all the government agencys and law makers told us what is good for us.
We could run and play all day in the woods or the fields, or yards and sidewalks, and not collapse. We got exercize and fresh air instead of sitting on our butts all day and breathing indoor air all the time playing some box thing type electonic computer gizmo.
I feel sorry for those who will not know what it is like to really feel alive instead of just acting like some regulated, inactive ornament that never experiences a way of life and freedom and family living that was common when I was growing up.
I feel sorry for my own grandkids. I don't think they will learn as much about themselves, life, and what they can do as much as I did growing up. How will they learn to cope and take care of themselves without gaining the knowledge from the school of hard knocks. I don't want them to have a hard childhood or life. But I want them to know how to climb the mountain if one comes along in life instead if starting up the mountain and falling off.
being involved in an incident in school
meant you failed to raise your hand in class it did not mean you and your buddies attempted
to rape a teacher in the stairwell.
Hmm.
That happened to my art teacher--in 1974. It ruined her teaching career, she never returned to my high school.
I suppose it is true that the Under 40s won't understand.
They have to make their own way in their own world. When they have kids and grandkids of their own, they too will sigh nostalgically over the good old days while shaking their heads over what the younger generation does not understand.
Yes, times are different (I still don't own a cellphone, and don't know when I ever will) but I think a few universal truths still hold, it's just that each generation has to discover them for themselves--in their *own* way.
btw
CutRite wax paper still exists. I purchase and use it regularly.
And every teacher had their own homemade paddle. And they used them!
I hated those pointer sticks (they hurt the most)
In one of my classes all the kids had their own bar of soap
if you did something wrong you had to lick the soap (by the end of the year my soap was almost gone)
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Memories Were Made of This...
I too have my memories. And yep, I am over 40, over 50, and hmmm over 60 and ...well, that's enough for now.
Wax paper, oh yes. Cut Rite Wax Paper. The one and only. My mom would wrap our sandwiches in wax paper. Place the wrapped sandwich on a piece of newspaper, put a Twinkie (my favorite, cause that was my Dad's favorite) or a Ding-Dong on top of the sandwich, followed by an orange, apple, or banana. Fold the paper over all of this just so. Lunch was placed on a shelf in the 'cloak room' 'til lunch time. Never got sick.
