A Tale of A Depression

This may be a bit longer than I like but how do I compress a childhood into a short story? I will try to show some brevity but don't anyone plan on it. This will be primarily directed at my grandchildren and may be, more importantly, at my great grandchildren. I don't know who amongst my progeny will ever read this but it is necessary that I recite my happy days as a child for anyone to read who may be curious as to what did Grampa do during the great Depression? That question might be summarily answered by another question, what depression? Oh I remember those days but every one else was living and surviving and we didn't know any better. We had food on the table--sometimes it was oatmeal. I ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches but so what. Everyone else was in the same boat and so again I say, what depression?? I have previously talked about some of the memories of those days but here I will put in print more of what took place beginning with me being age 7.

One of the things that stands out is the delivery men that came to our door -- some every day. A milkman came every morning and left a couple of quarts of milk. (There were no gallon containers that I remember then.) It was always fun in the winter time to see the frozen cream above the top of the milk bottle. Now, it's homogenized. An ice truck would arrive every couple of days and put a block into our "ice box" to keep our food edible. Whats a refrigerator? It was childhood fun to go out to his truck in the summer time and "steal" ice chips off the floor of his vehicle. There was a bread man that brought bread and pastries almost every day and there was an old man that had a truck and as it passed by, he was shouting "Rags,paper,pipes metal" He was the original recycler and he made his living this way. Now you must also be aware that many of the delivery people that came were in horse drawn vehicles. I can remember stories of Gramma Mary running out to the street with a shovel to collect fertilizer for her garden. Really!!

You might ask how were we entertained. Well, we didn't have TV's or computers but we did listen a lot of storie son the radio. A fire can was great fun. You found a two pound coffee can, punched a few holes in the bottom and added some paper, twigs and bits of wood, lit the paper and watched the flames begin to take affect and with the can already equipped with a strong wire, we would begin to whirl it around our heads to develop the flame. We could then begin to add larger pieces of wood, some small chunks of coal from our coal furnace and then, if you could get one, you would put in a potato to cook as you were whirling. Great fun!! Marbles was another game. Just rolling them along the curb to try to hit your opponent. We also had horse chestnuts trees in Buffalo and we made up games using the chestnuts. Of course in the winter we played a lot of street hockey with sticks that were taped with black electricians tape to prevent breakage (that seldom was effective) and we had pucks that were also taped. There was skates for rollering and skates for the ice. Of course the roller skates were secured to your shoes with a key that tightened clamps to hold them on your shoes. If you lost that key, hopefully your neighbor might have one. I never had any ice skates or a bike for that matter.

Letters were mailed with a .03 stamp, ice cream cones were .05 and bread was about .12 a loaf. Halls Bakery was at the crossing of Fillmore and Main streets and a donut or other pastries could be had for about a nickle if you went to the "yesterdays" counter. I hopped on a street car with a .08 token and rode to the baseball park and sat in the bleachers for about .15. I also was placed on a train to Syracuse at age 10 with no concerns for my safety. There were almost no mortuaries. Your deceased were buried from your home and a large black wreath hung on your door denoting the death of a family menber. There were woods only a short distance where you could go, build fires and have your potato for dinner. You might even find some weed to smoke. No, thats a different weed. Baseball or football were played in the corner lots and glass or rocks or nails were prevalent and you would determine whether to slide or not depending on the surface of the field. In football you always planned your running game over the part of the field less covered with the above deterrents. My first job was at age 13 for a 10 hour week and I was paid $2.25 every 2 weeks. Later I used broken tees to play golf. Every one did!!

In short, you made up your entertainment and there was never a time when you walked by a penny without stooping down to pick it up. I still will put one in my pocket. Yes we were in the midst of a depression but as a child it was all over our heads and all our friends were as unaware as was I. The depression lasted from about 1930 until about 1939. It began to improve about 1936 but did not fully change until 1941 when the war with Japan broke out. Yes, I was a depression child and so were all my friends and yes we all survived and were quite unaware of what all the parents were going through. And yes, those were happy days and it is my contention that we were happier then than are most kids today. It is my hope that my grand kids and greats will read this and be curious enough to ask questions of me while I am still here. There could be a lot more to tell of my days as a child during the great Depression.