Holidays

Holidays just do not have the same feel that they had when I was a kid!
Back in the 40's and early 50's everything was closed up tight on the holiday.You loaded up on what ever you needed to celebrate or you went with out. All work places and stores were closed except for Drug stores a few restaurants and of course what ever events that were associated with the holiday. Fairs,carnivals.street vendors etc. Of course the turnstiles of area Church's were busy on most holidays. So I guess they should have been on the open for business list. Bar rooms of course were open, put packy's were closed. On the outskirts of towns, such as Ryal side the local druggist usually had the area liquor license. He by law had to cover up his alcoholic wares on these occasions. However the back doors of these establishments could usually compete with the church turnstiles on any given Sunday or Holiday.(wink,wink)
To digress for a bit. I want to reflect on retail and industrial work week hours in general. Back in the time frame I refer to, stores generally were open 9 to five on weekdays 9 to 1 on Saturday and were closed on Sunday. The druggist of course a exception to the rule, but other than the weekend not a hell of a lot different. Office's, factory's, utilities, trades,construction and service station's except for the pumping of gas all were 8 to 5 on weekdays and closed on weekends. The exception to that being the United Shoe plant that was the major employer in the area and was loudly operating three shifts a day.

Public transportation buses and trains were much like today ( yes they were on a curtailed holiday schedule). Although buses were more prevalent in that era because far fewer people owned automobiles. When the head of the family drove of to work and reached his destination, his vehicle remained parked for the day.As there were few two car families, the women of the house and her children would have to rely on the buses. I recall the buses running up and down Bridge st. and Elliot st. every half hour, They would start in Danvers square and proceed to either Beverly or Salem square. I believe it was Michaud Bus line. Also during weekdays kids could play and ride bikes in the streets at will, because there was virtually no traffic on the side streets.

A long with the amount of money saved on utility bills and the family lifestyle it just seemed to make a hell of a lot more sense to have controlled hours.What happened in those days was the customers had to shop around the store hours.Now the tail is wagging the dog. The stores are open way to long and there seems to be about 53 stores to every one customer.In the mid 50's the beginning of the end of a quieter era came when food markets and department stores started staying open until 9 on Thursday and Friday nights.

Getting back to holidays, They could fall on any day of the week and that's when we celebrated them.If it happened to be a Monday or a Friday, it was a bonus. If not tough titty.Today there is as many half assed holidays as there is major ones. All but the major holidays should be called notable days, not holidays.The fact of the matter is we now give most holidays and all notable days the back of the hand. This is perfectly understandable as there are so many of them.

I think that we should be ashamed about the way we treat some of the major holidays.And laugh at the way we treat others.

My favorite holidays are Easter (Not for the religious slant but for the pastels and the flowers,the scents and the fact spring is really on it's way)

The Fourth of July (I remember the parades,the speeches.Ober park's little carnival with competitive events for the kids. Sack races,sprints, horseshoe toss etc. the sound of the Red Sox and Yankee's game on portable radios, gifts for the kids and free eats and tonic. and the fireworks to end the day)
Memorial day (There was just a comfortable sadness to the cemeteries with all the little flags and the geraniums, And the wonderful scent of lilacs)
Christmas (I never meet a kid who did not love Christmas)
Veterans Day (And any other day that salutes our vets,living or dead,yesterdays wars or today's)
As for the notable days Halloween is probably the best.
As for the myriad of notable days,Festivus is probably the bellwether.

So it is plain to see I miss the way it use to be when it comes to holidays.A couple of years ago Diana,Lisa and I went to Wisconsin to take part in a ceremony to honor my great grandfather and their great great grandfather(more about this at a later date)
On a Sunday we went to down town Baraboo to get something to eat.We did manage to find a place to eat. It was small and clean,and we were the only one's there. After eating we walked around down town Baraboo and looked into store windows.That was all we could do because everything was closed.This was nostalgic for me because that's the way things were when I was a kid.So if they are behind the times in the Midwest I hope they are smart enough to stay that way.I envy them.
So in closing I have this suggestion for retailers. If you really think we need more holidays you should adopt this idea.People seem to love to blow money on booze and food on new years eve
So why not have new month's eve,new week's eve and even new day's eve. As P.T. Barnum once said "there is a sucker born every minute" the saps will probably love it.

Pondering

I just want to reiterate,I am writing these memories because I felt uncomfortable relating them verbally.I stated why in a earlier blog. I try to write only things that I remember. On some of the subjects I have touched, people have related incidents to me that happened on or about the same time . So because it is just hearsay, I have not passed it on. Things that I was told about my mother and father are just that!
I am not saying I do not believe what I was told. A lot of it sounds logical.I'm just stating that I will only write what I remember.
The incidents I lived through as a kid formed my beliefs and fears. Just as who ever reads this had their childhood experience form theirs.
Certain things to this day make me paranoid. I always expect that what ever happens next is going to be bad. I know that many good things have happened to me in my life (two good women and four great kids). But certain things from my youth ingrained that fear into me. I know it is wrong but it takes me a very long time to trust any new person I meet. When I was a state kid growing up,it was a common occurrence to have people deride you, sneer at you, and give you what I refer to as the Holier than thou look. I will say this it was only from much older kids and adults. There was certain places we were just not welcome. The minister of the Emmanuel congregational church for one,was agast and practically sneered and giggled all at once,when I told him that I wanted to go to the church summer camp(I did not know you had to pay to go there). So as I said before,I kind of understand what minorities such as black people and aliens have to put up with. So to this day I am rather reclusive and usually come up with a lame assed excuse to avoid social gatherings. I particularly try to avoid bible thumpers,do gooders and artsy fartsy yuppy types. Inferiority complex is what I had as a kid and to a certain degree I still do.
You know how you hear some people say that if they had to live their life over agian they would not change a thing. I personally thing that's a lot of bull shit. I think most people would like to rectify the harmful things they said and did to other people.I know that I personally rue many things I did and said,
The Emmanuel church and other Ryal side memories are going to have to wait for another day.

Georgetown

This is probably where I should have started,when I first attempted to put my childhood memories on this blog.There is no chronological order, so I am sure that it reads like I am just rambling. It just proves that I'm no wordsmith. This part about Georgetown I am very vague on because it occurred before I was six years old. I'm sure any of my older kin could easily correct me or just have a giggle. I am also sure many of my acquaintances from Ryal side could do the same.
So to the best of my recall here goes.
I remember we had a outhouse, a smelly one seater at that. We got our water from a dug well that was in the side yard. We had a big wood burning kitchen stove,and a shed attached to the back of the house for firewood storage. The only other thing I remember about the inside of the house was my father sleeping in a easy chair.This I only was aware of from the rare times the outhouse would beckon me late at night. I believe he slept there because of our mother's health problems,or maybe a wee bit of a nip. We had a barn in the back yard. Across the street was a field and another house.I believe both houses were owned by our grandfather Harry Lemp.
The field had a rather large vegetable garden in it and a abandoned old car down at the end of the field,that Harry and David used to sneak smokes and what not.
I remember living with my grandparents some where in Pennsylvania for a short period of time.
The only thing that stands out in my mind from that period was my grandfather strutting around in his army uniform. Even at that age he came off as a pompous ass. And I have to say "honest to God" he actually carried a swagger stick.
I remember going with David and Harry to a pond, so we could catch frogs and have their legs for supper. I remember a day with huge snow flakes and seeing a car drive by with a deer slung over the hood.
I remember a very confusing day, when two people came to take me and Noel into the state house in Boston.Earlier in the day some other people came to take my mother away.I remember one of my sisters chasing the car down the street and both of them loudly crying. I don't remember if the people who took me and Noel away were male or female,only that they pointed out the dome of the state house when we neared it. As if we should be impressed and that it was some kind of a big deal.(do gooders and bureaucrats,what an odd combo)
After what seemed like hours setting on a bench in what I believe was the state house, we were taking to the orphanage. I'm sure you have heard the ads on TV to support "The Home for little Wanderers" Well my experience with that place was not all warm and fuzzy.It was more like something dark and gritty that Dickens would have penned. (of course that was the 40's and things may be different now) It was a scary time and the kids that were there were mostly older and bigger and had a "chip on their shoulder", and rightly so.
The other thing that stands out in my mind is the fact that we had to cross over a busy Boston st. via a foot bridge ever day.Where we were going I do not remember.Even though leaving there to go to the Thibedeau's in Beverly was to turn out to be a better experience.It still was very scary and hard to adjust.Even though the atmosphere was much better,it was still hard to adjust to another place full of strange people.
We later learned That Delice and Adele were placed in a state home in Merrimac.Harry went to live and finish High school with his friends the Thompsons (I've probably misspelled this name)
and after that into the Air Force.David had gone immediately into the Air Force and my father back to upper state New York. I think.
In my next blog I will try to finish up my Ryal side memories

More Ryal side memories {resubmitted}

Before I get to the memories, just a couple of final Christmas thoughts.
When I was a kid mail order catalogs were heavy hitters especially for people who lived in rural areas and people who worked long hours or two jobs. Montgomery Ward and Spiegel's were the heavyweights of the day, although there were many others. In Montgomery Ward and Spiegel's catalogs you could purchase just about anything. Today cyberspace does the same thing basically for the same reason. It is much more convenient and easier to turn a page or move a mouse to find what you want.Not to mention the fact that you are eliminating the A-hole factor!
In another vein,why is it receiving a Christmas card the day after Christmas just does not feel the same? The majority of them say season's greetings or Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.But yet it still seems like yesterday's newspaper.
Getting back to memories of Ryal side.I'll start with the grammar school.I remember the scent of the building vividly a combination of pine scented sweeping compound for the wooden floors,freshly mixed batches of ink,chalk dust,wet boots,and mittens. A combination I am sure I will never smell again.
The bench in the hall outside of Mrs. Upton's office.As principle of the school Mrs. Upton was tiny in stature but a giant by all means.I would sit there on her bench waiting to be summoned. wondering if it was true that she some times rapped wayward students knuckles with a paper cutting ruler.I don't believe it ever happened, certainly not to me or any one that I knew. But she sure could put the fear of God into you with one of her scoldings.
She retired while we were still there and her replacement Mr. Battis(a.k.a, Mr Bastard)was not even remotely close to being in the same league as her. Shortly after her retirement, the city proudly renamed the school the "Winifred P. Upton School" in her honor!
I remember whistle britches,coon skin hats, polio and the pledge of allegiance.I remember holding in my hands a dime freshly coated with mercury (dumb), The line in the basement for cookies and milk,The inane jingle about the ice cream trucks "Handy Dandy brings us candy Jack and Jill brings us swill". Baseball cards and yo-yos
Word would get around that there would be a Duncan yo-yo champ at the Ryal side drug store after school. So of course all the boys made a bee line to the front of the store as soon as the final bell rang. The yo-yo champ was of course a high schooler or a college student hired to hype the yo-yos for the yo-yo company. He would amaze us with tricks like "walking the dog" or "rocking the cradle" and other maneuvers that I have long since forgot. It certainly worked, evert boy in the area had one or two yo-yos.
Also pitching baseball cards against the school wall or any wall for that matter was big. For a nickle you would get a big wad of pink sugar loaded bubble gum and about ten cards.What you would do with these cards is keep all of your favorite players for your collection and either trade your duplicates or challenge some one to a game of closest to the wall. With hopes that you would win some players cards you did not have. Some of the kids would wax their cards, the theory being that they could flip them right up to the wall,with out them floating and dieing half way there. The only problem with that, was they were no longer worth saving. The best thing to do with them after that was to attach them to the wheel of your bike and pretend the flapping noise was that of an engine running.
I also remember a make shift class room in what was either a small auditorium or library. It was partitioned off to make two class rooms. The room that I was in had a elevated area at one end.(maybe it was originally a stage) . One day the class had visitors to hear us put on a skit about pollution. The theme being "give a hoot don't pollute". Well I was sitting in the last row up against the wall, and being fidgety like all grammar school boys. I stuck a paper clip into a electrical wall outlet. Need less to say the jolt brought me right up out of my my chair. It also brought me a very red faced trip to Mrs, Upton's bench.
I remember Miss Erskine, pick up games of baseball and football in Parker Davis's pasture and games of screen-o at the Livingston ave play ground. I remember picking blueberries in the area to the rear of Sunset Drive and then selling them from door to door. I also recall doing the same with freshly dug dandelion greens.I also remember Nanny reaming me a new rectum for putting a garter snake in one of the bags of greens. I also remember over hearing her relating my misdeed to her daughter Peggin with much glee!
As I write more and more memories pop into my head. So I will save them for another day.

More Ryal side memories good and bad

I'll get the bad one's out of the way first.
One day I was told that my father had died. It was kinda of casual like "on by the way your father just hung himself". My brother Noel who was just four when we were taking away from our home and put into a orphanage, just bolted when he heard the news. He ran off into the woods and did not come back until it was getting dark. How he felt that day or any other day,I do not know, neither one of us ever broached that subject again. That's the thing that really bothered me the most,when I found out that he was killed by a train.
A few months after we heard the news of our father's demise,all the kids were raking and cleaning up the back yard.Underneath one of the trees was a sandbox made out of heavy two by tens. unbeknown to us Noel was hiding up in the tree so he could avoid the chores.Wither he was climbing higher to avoid detection or just too much weight was put on a branch, I don't know.The next thing a branch was heard snapping and them a tremendous crack as Noel landed on one of the two by tens.Well the screams of pain was just traumatic.There were no cell phones or instant 911 calls in those days. So by the time someone ran in to tell nanny,and she contacted the telephone operator,and that person contacted the right authorities,considerable time lapsed with Noel screaming in great pain.Finally a ambulance came to take him away. After these two incidents Noel was never the same.he just became to be like "Peck's bad boy". In the future I will relate a few other Noel incidents.
Staying on this depressing part of my Ryal side memories,some thing that was an embarrassment to me for many years happened. On the last school day of my first year at Ryal side grammar school,I received my report card.Back then the final report card of the year would tell you if you were promoted or not. There it was in black and white "repeat grade one".I just ran out the door and headed for Virginia ave,I did not want anyone else to know.When I got home I showed it to Nanny and she said how do you know what it says,you don't even know how to read! well for years I was ashamed of the fact that I was too stupid to pass the first grade.I would always hide my feelings by saying the reason I failed was because I could not color between the lines, now it does not bother me anymore.When I look back at the things that transpired that year.Being pulled from my home and moved to an orphanage. That in it self was a very scary and daunting experience.Then pulled out of there and moved to a home for state wards and then shortly plunked down in a school. I was a very immature and scared little boy.I look back at it now and I don't feel the shame of failure.I just feel lucky that I ended up in a good foster home and things worked out better for me than Noel.I still feel guilty to this day that I was not a more protective big brother.
I guess that's enough for today.I still have some happy thoughts to relate and to tell you a little bit about the Thibedeau's and the state kids I grew up with and about the unfortunate one's who just lived with us for short periods of time.

Christmas and Winter in Ryal Side continued

What I am trying to do here is post things I remember,some times it will just read like a list.And some times I will expand on the memory's a little bit. I have been told many times by my off spring that I never tell them anything about my youth. Well I always felt uncomfortable talking about it,because when ever I did it always sounded like I was looking for sympathy or that I was using it as an excuse for not being a better parent or person. Having said that I plan to slip little tidbits of my child hood experience into these memories. This way they get to pick up the history in bits and pieces as I go along.It may take me awhile to get to more recent history,but I promise to tell things the way they happened.In some cases I will state my opinion and sometimes I won't. With that out of the way let's get back to reminiscing. Good memories from Christmas when I was a kid. Hard candy,A toy rifle that made a bang and let a puff of smoke out of the barrel when it was fired,A black Tom Mix cowboy hat,(Bud Thibedeau one of Nanny's grown sons would on occasion give us kids a ride down town to the Ware Theatre ,which is now know as the Cabot Cinema.There on a Saturday afternoon we could see a newsreel, 2 or 3 cartoons a weekly cliff hanger, and a full length movie to boot. I guess that's where I got hooked on oaters. But anyway getting back to my Tom Mix hat, on the ride to the movies Bud would always say with a grin on his face What are you guys going to see? Tom Mix and cement! needless to say there was a collected groan from the back seat) One last good memory of Christmas, when I was about eleven or twelve I had to get up and out of the house at four a.m. to do my morning paper route( more about the route on another day) and Nanny let me open my present on Christmas eve. It was a little cardboard basketball court and you could shot a ping pong ball at the net.I just loved it. The one thing that I just hated about Christmas was the annual Beverly Christmas party that some well meaning people held for poor kids and state wards. This was held at the YMCA with a fake Santa and all the do gooders standing around a ratty looking tree handing out second hand clothes and cheap toys,It was one of the most demeaning and embarrassing things that ever happened to me as a state ward and believe me there was many. It was easy for me as a kid to under stand discrimination.Needless to say they never got a second chance at my sorry ass. one other thing stands out in my memory of winter when I was a kid. Getting back to Nanny's rule of having to go out side to play regardless of the temperature. There were days when it was so cold that you just had to ether sneak into the basement or find another spot to get warm. (she didn't do this to be mean, she really thought it was the right thing to do) the place I found and really enjoyed was Parker Davis's chicken coop.It was large bright and warm. With a thick carpet of wood shavings on the floor and a mixture of chicken shit mixed in it had an aroma that was not at all unpleasant.I would sit there and watch the foul for hours. I usually had a bag of hard candy left over from Christmas in my pocket,so I was quite content.For the rest of my life I enjoyed raising poultry. Another dumb think we did riding in Bud's car was sing Christmas carols.Walter and Frank Elwell, Noel and I and Victor Bernson would shout more than sing this inane verse "We three Kings of orient are traveled afar to get a cigar, it was loaded it exploded! We had to walk because we didn't have a car. We thought that was a riot.Bud would just sit there grinning and shaking his head.

Winter in Ryal Side

One of Nanny Thibeadeu's rules was if it's daytime and not storming you must go outdoors and play.It did not matter if it was 10 below and windy or 40 and thawing. So needless to say there was a lot of sledding and skating.Being as how there was no real steep hills around sledding was not really a whole lot of fun.It was mostly drudgery,dragging your flexible flyer around in search of a decent hill. Skating on the other hand was great, Just off of Bridge street right below Cressy avenue there was a natural wet land. The water in this area was never more than a couple of feet deep,But it made a great skating pond. The pond was shaped like a side ways exclamation point,the end near Bridge street was small and round. There was a small gap that opened up to a long rectangular area, that bordered on the Lindsay ave. and Eaton ave area.This part was where the girls and assorted adults pretended they were figure skaters.But it was the small round area where the boys pretended like they belonged in the NHL. I particularly remember Andy Nelson being a real good stick handler,the puck just seemed to be glued to his stick. At the Ryal Side grammar school the area around the back of the school was hot top.I know it's hard to believe that would be the case in the early 50's, but it was. And right after a snow storm the janitor would hand out these big wide wooden snow pushers to the bigger more ambitious kids, so that the walks out front and the hot topped play area would be open for recess and comings and goings. A couple of things stand out in my memory that happened outside of the school.(things that I remember from inside I will get to on another day) There was a chain link fence on the northern side of the hot topped area,and we thought it was funny to chant a verse about one of the kids named Ray Arsenault. It went like this "Ray Ray went over the fence arse in all" Hey what are you going to do kid humor! Getting back to the skating area there was a path that ran from Eaton ave, past the pond and up to Cressy ave. where the notorious Ploof brothers lived.Clem was the oldest and all though he looked he was really tough, He never really bothered us younger kids.His brother Vernon on the other hand was a different story all together.Vernon was our age but big for his age and the only character I can think of to compare him to is Scut Farkus.I remember very vividly one cold winter day on that path, Vernon with a size ten pair of steel toed brogans kicking me in the shins.Also on a similar note I remember meeting Bobby Berg on the sidewalk on lower Bridge street where we agreed to fight,I do not remember why we agreed to that but we did.We agreed that there would be no hitting in the face,Bobby proceeded to kick the crap out of me.The beating was not bad,it was the embarrassment of having two or three girls standing there cheering for Bobby. Well I guess that's enough for today.

Christmas

What I remember most about Christmas when I was a kid. Walking from Virginia ave. in Ryal Side to down town Beverly.I remember it as always being cold. The five and ten is where I would always end up.Thats where all the kids went because of the lure of low prices and great smells.When you walked in the door the heat and aroma of freshly roasted peanuts and cashews was overwhelming. The store had it all from a snack bar to parakeets and goldfish! after buying about 10 presents for a grand total of about three dollars. Then we would squeeze out what little change we had left to buy a little bag of candy (Boston baked beans,little red hard coated balls of sugar and nuts) or go over to the Delight doughnut shop across the street from the bus terminal and YMCA to get a couple of day old do-nuts (honey-dipped hunks of goo).And then the long walk home. The money we had for presents, we earned by selling door to door little dollies and the like that Mrs.Thibedeau crouched. Every evening after all of her chores were done she would sit in her rocker and crochet. She did this all year and then in November she would dole out the fruits of her labor to us State kids. Doesn't that sound like some thing you would see in one of those sappy Hallmark Christmas movies . I know the bean counter thinks all he is going to get out of me is inane ranting, but this is just my first try.(sticking my toe in the water, so to speak)