BRJWinter23Web - Flipbook - Page 34
the open back door. We had no screens in neither door nor windows. A lamp fixture hung
over the kitchen table. It housed a kerosene lamp on a chain pulley which could be lowered
to fill. There were several kerosene lamps in the house; two of which were kept on wall
brackets. It was my job to remove the soot from the chimneys and make paper tapers
which were used in place of matches.
There was a picket fence the width of the front yard overlooking the narrow dirt road
and the river. I remember my Uncle Fred Duchemin, one fourth of July, lighting a firecracker which he had placed on the gate post. It blew the gate from its hinges.
Saturday afternoons, in the summertime, baseball was played in the field next to my
Uncle Edwin9s candy and ice cream store. The store was only open on Saturday afternoons. In the back of the store was a one chair barber shop which too was only open on
Saturday. A holiday spirit prevailed on Saturdays in the summer. Usually I travelled barefoot but on Saturday afternoon I wore shoes and stockings. Needless to say the soles of
my feet were tough and leathery.
In my youth, Pottersville was a thriving town. There were two grain mills operating, a
basket factory, a saw mill, a hotel, a machine shop and railroad. All these enterprises are
gone except the church and one store. A train usually arrived and departed once a day in
each direction. The sound of the whistle alerted the town, particularly the young boys
and girls like myself. We would race to the station so as to be on hand when the little old
wood burner (later, soft coal was used) puffed and fumed across the meadow.
One day9s outing I remember well. My grandmother took me by train to Asbury Park.
I left my little tin pail and shovel on the train which she had bought me from her hardearned cash. It was never recovered.
Grandma bartered eggs for groceries and staples. The credit of fifteen cents would be
given for a dozen eggs. Milk was sold in your own container for ten cents a quart. The
milk, of course, was not pasteurized but I drank it until it literally came out my ears.
The Dutch Reformed Church held a fair from time to time. A band stand would be
constructed and a uniformed brass band would be engaged for these occasions. Once in
a while a portable dance floor would be installed and the grounds and benches were illuminated with kerosene flares and Chinese lanterns. Strolling away from the fair in the itch
darkness and hearing the band in the distance brought, even to a seven-year-old boy a
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Horse and wagon meet the automobile in front of Wortman9s Mill c. 1910.