I woke up this morning remembering what it was like to be a kid way back when. The differences are amazing. I have received e-mails telling about it. Things pointed out were just like it was. We didn't worry about things. We got dirty and the worse thing that could happen to us was we could get "impentago". I am not sure about the spelling, but that "sounds" right.
Washing of ones hands would have helped, but you know how kids are.
They had a "Toy Loan" at Pacific Blvd Grammar School. What a kick that was. We could go in after school and pick out a toy and keep it for a week. Much like you check out Library Books. No one thought about their carrying germs back then. There were few enough toys to go around. Having a place where we could borrow a play thing to enjoy, even for a week, was great to every kid.
Most every kid had a "lunch box". I remember Mom would wash ours out at night and leave them dry on the drain board overnight. We lined them with a napkin and put our sandwiches in "waxed paper". It really didn't keep things as fresh as the plastic bags of today, but then we used what was pretty "modern" way back when. I remember putting Root Beer in my thermos one morning. Really pleased with myself too, I might add. I never dreamed it wasn't a good idea. Half way to school, the thermos blew its' cork and Root Beer was all over my lunch box.
What a mess. I didn't try that again.
There wasn't a cafeteria at Grammar School, if you didn't have a lunch, you could walk to the grocery store a couple blocks away and buy something at the Lunch Counter they had. It seems Lunch Counters in Stores was pretty common back then. In fact in Woolworths on the "Blvd" they had a great Lunch Counter. You could buy Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner there. That use to be a big treat for us kids. Thrifty Drug and Sav On Drug both had Ice Cream Counters, another treat when we were shopping "up town".
We had Home Economic Classes at Junior High School. That was where I learned to sew and cook. My Dad being English was thrilled when I learned how to make Orange Marmalade. I whipped up a batch for him and did some pickles too, as I recall. I remember soaking the cucumbers in a crock in the Laundry Tub before I pickled them. What a great time I had. Once
was enough, I never did that again. I made jam and canned fruit after I got married, but I don't recall making pickles again. Never Marmalade. I don't like it myself.
I joined the Campfire Girls. They were part of the YMCA. Never heard of Girl Scouts until much later. Never joined a troop myself. I enjoyed the Campfire Girls. We did all kinds of crafty things. That was where I learned to knit. I never made anything in the line of clothing, but we made a lot of "hot pads". Later I learned how to knit sweaters. Tried a dress once, but never finished it. They are not fashionable now, but were very expensive back then. Lots of work as well. I never liked to knit things that needed to be put together. Once I found a pattern that knit it all in one piece, I was happy.
It wasn't common back then to have many "bought clothes". Ready made clothing was expensive and family budgets didn't allow for that. Patterns were cheap enough, and fabric was
reasonable as well. At one time flour sacks were used to sew into garments. When flour was needed, Mom would check out all the sacks and pick one that had a nice print on it. Once the flour was used, the sack was washed and the seam let out. One sack would make a little girls dress. Everything was used up then. The depression had extended the frugalness of most families. I never went without, but I wouldn't have dared asked for something. My folks were
good about giving us allowances each week for the chores we did. I don't remember a time when I didn't have a little purse, or some money in it. It never was much, but I had something. More than what a lot of kids had.
When I said I wouldn't have dared asked for anything, I guess I mean there were not a lot of things we saw that could have tempted us to ask. The Christmas I got my first skates, I asked they not be "learner" skates. I wanted "ball bearing" skates. They rolled, and you could go fast.
The sidewalks by our house were pretty broken up from the weather. Hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. The cement didn't fare well with the expansion caused by so much change. Well, I got the skates. Dad fastened them onto my; at first I fell more than I skated for awhile, but when I mastered them, I would watch for the cracks and missing areas in the sidewalk, and I could really go. There was a hill by the house, and I could coast too. What a blast that was. We got a sled one Christmas. Our front yard sloped to the sidewalk and when it snowed, we could coast clear out into the street. Not many cars back then, so it was safe to do
that. In the summer when they would have thunder storms the water would run down hill and the gutters would be full of water. After it had rained for awhile, Mom would let us put on our bathing shoes and suits and we would splash around in the "gutter water". Sounds awful, but
it was great fun. The gutters ran so fast, the dirt was cleared away in no time, so the water was clean, and deep enough to splash each other. I can even remember wearing a bathing cap. I guess Mom didn't want to wash my hair. Well that was what it was like being a kid in Pennsylvania. When we moved to California things were a great deal different, and I have already told you about that.
I am greatful for my childhood. We had to rely on our imagination. I never have been very good at visualization, but I have a great imagination. I have spent hours planning things, even when I knew they would never happen, but the fun of planning and thinking about them - well that is what can make a dull day pretty exciting. I wouldn't trade my childhood for any today. With all the electronic things, and computers, well I believe the kids miss out on discovering just how much fun there is around them everyday.
When Jay and I were first married there was a scam called the pyramid club. We were invited to join. The cost was one dollar. As you asked others to join, you climbed to the top and the payoff would be a large amount of one dollar bills. Jay was a very level headed person. He put in his one dollar and he and I spent many happy hours planning what we could do with our prize when it arrived, which of course it never did. Someone asked him later how he could have fallen for such a scam. He laughed and told them it was the best dollar he had ever spent. He knew it wouldn't work, but it gave us some pretty wonderful times imagining what we could do, if we had the money. We didn't set around fretting over what we couldn't have. All in the way you apply your thoughts. You never get something for nothing, but you can always make something out of nothing if you have a great imagination. That's a fact!
Written this 13th day of June 2009
by: Eileen Rosenberg
No comments:
Post a Comment