Funny how one small thing brings to mind something you haven't thought of in years. At dear old Pacific Blvd. Elementary School we had "hall monitors". The whole idea was to make sure the kids went to class. The one picked to be a "hall monitor" had to be pretty reliable. When the Teacher singled you out, you were given the "arm band". How exciting. It was a brass cirlce with a blue bell in the center and the title around the outside edge. You put it on your right arm and strapped it down with a blue band that had a safety buckle to keep it on tight. Well if you had a blouse that had shorter sleeves, the darn thing would turn your arm green. A small price to pay, however, for being the chosen one to keep the halls cleared after the bell had rung.
I don't remember what the time such an honor was held, but I know it was a real "big thing" to be able to put that arm band on and wear it all day. I am not sure it struck fear into the hearts of any of the other kids, but it sure made the wearer pretty proud.
Of course in Elementary School we didn't change classes, so the duty was limited to the First Bell to start the day and the one that signaled the end of the Lunch Period, oh, and the Playground time too. There was one of those in the morning and again in the afternoon. From First Grade to the Sixth Grade there weren't a lot of kids who hung around longer than allowed. We did not have Kindergarten back then in the School District. Surprisingly most of the kids were pretty good at coming on time and moving when the bells sounded to commence classes again.
We didn't have a Cafeteria at the School either. No one lived close enough to go home, so it was
either a brown bag, or lunchpale. How I hated that. I have never been a sandwich eater, and I
thought the stale smell of the lunchpale was disgusting. No matter how much Mom would wash
and air it, it always seemed to smell awful!
Back in those days, they didn't have a lot of the dessert items that are common today. Mom would bake cookies, but I found the "waxed paper" wasn't a very good protecter for them. Most of the time they were reduced to crumbs from being swung around in the lunchpale. I doubt a brown bag would have been much of an improvement. Yes, back in those good old days there were no sandwich bags or plastic wrap. We had Waxed Paper, and it was good for keeping out
moisture, but stiff and not very good for keeping things in any kind or original shape.
Then there was the sad deal of a piece of Mom's pie. There was a real mess for you. A lot of licking went into finishing up lunch. Well, it tasted good, but left a lot to be desired in the visual department .
Apples were treated carefully, but still got bruised and bananas, well that was a whole other thing. An orange ment getting juice all over you. Back then there were no neat little plastic boxes to cut the fruit up and keep it contained until lunch time. Oranges and bananas had to be peeled before consuming and and apple well bite by bite it had to be eaten. The small thermose always had milk. I believe I have already told about the day I tried to take Root Beer. What a disaster that was.
There were no book bags back then either. All the books were carefully piled on a notebook and balanced while walking to and from School. Of course there was one arm for that while the other was occupied with that lunchpale. As I recall there was a great deal of shifthing, arm to hand and back again. It was quite a long walk. Everyone did it, there was no bus service, and there were no two car families. In fact there were few cars period.
Amazing we survivied. Walking in the heat before Summer and during the bad and wet weather in the winter. We were a pretty healthy lot back then. Either we were hearty or so use to the dirt and fresh air, we didn't get over taken by the germs surrounding us. Then again when I think of it, Mom fixed breakfast for us which was always wholesome and everyone sat down at the dinner table together and ate a well balanced meal. It might not have been fancy, but it was cooked well, and balanced to the best of what was known at the time. We rarely had anything but water or milk to drink. Those were the days before all the "extras" of life were around.
Well, we did have the "Good Humor" man who drove the Ice Cream truck around the neighborhood with his bells a chiming. Not everytime he came around, but once in awhile, there was enough change in the household to have a treat of an ice cream bar. They were only ten cents a piece, but with three of us kids, that was thirty cents, and there were many a week that amount of money was needed to buy a quart of milk and a loaf of bread for the family.
Were they hard times? I don't believe so. We didn't know anything else. A treat was a treat, and we all knew they were not something we got all that often. The folks were always so giving that when No was the answer, we didn't argue. Hearing Mom and Dad take council at the end of the week as how much they still had before payday, we were pretty aware of how things were.
Gosh, it is fun to remember then. I am so sorry for the children today. They may never really know how much fun can be had with so little. I know they will never appreciate their parents more than we did. As a family we were close and worked together. No dishwasher. We took turns washing or drying. Setting the table or clearing things away after the evening meal was something we just did. No TV and for sometime not even a radio. We had friends and playing in the street or over the various yards of the neighborhood was our turf.
How fortunate that we had all ages to mingle with. The older ones took care of the smaller kids and no one thought anything about it. No Little League or Pop Warner. Vacant lots were the ball fields and every age and size was included. Teams were divided off among those who were
available. Not everyone had a ball, so the lucky one was willing to share. Yes, we were lucky in a lot of ways. It just takes time to set and think back to realize that those were the best of times and imagination was used continually to make up games and fun times. I guess that is when we learned that is was not what you had but what you did with what you had that was important. We may not have had much, but we did have each other, and I am so greatful for that.
Written this 21st day of October 2009
by: Eileen Rosenberg
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