MY BOOK..........LILAGCS B2 -4

Wednesday May 16, 2012

After I finished delivering the paper at the BeeHive I headed north again to Twettins (not sure of the spelling) Furniture Store. The next place I stopped was above the Fraser Theatre to deliver to an elderly lady, Mrs. Fraser.

Story about Mrs. Fraser

.......I have to pause and tell you a very interesting story about Mrs. Fraser and one time when I was collecting for the delivery of her paper. I remember being very apprehensive about knocking on her door but I did anyway. When she finally came to the door I told her that I was collecting for the newspaper. She handed me a paper bill and said you may keep the change. (She owed me about $3.50 as I recall)

I didn’t look twice at the money and stuck it directly into my money bag I always carried to put my money in...... (Jumping ahead to when I was counting my money at the end of my route) ......I all of a sudden discovered I had a $50 bill in my bag of money. She was the only one that had given me a bill that I didn’t look at before placing it in my money bag so I figured it must have been hers.

I return directly to her apartment to return the $50 bill. When she answered the door again she asked me in her usual gruff voice what I wanted. I showed her the $50 bill and said I thought she had given it to me by mistake. She grabbed the bill from my hand and after a few seconds hesitation looked at me and said she had thought it was a $5 bill. She all of a sudden got a big grin on her face and complimented me on my honesty and handed me a $10 bill and said it was my reward for being so honest. I never forgot Mrs. Fraser.

Now back to my paper route. I left a paper at the K & D Bootry Shoe Store next and then one at the Lynche’s drug store at the end of the block.

I then had to back tract to west 4^th and Main Street where I had left off before crossing Main Street. I had a few deliveries to make west down 4^th street at, like Medlar Studio, a Bowling alley, the Gambles store and a large grocery store (Council Oak Store, I think it was) all on the south side of the street. Then back to Main Street.

The Farmer’s Trust and Savings Bank was on the corner and above the bank and on the second floor were some doctor’s offices. Actually both my own doctors had offices there; Dr. Collester, who delivered me and fitted me with my first pair of glasses and Dr. Jones our family doctor who removed my tonsils when I was 5 years old. I left one paper at the desk in the reception area.

My next delivery was at a lady’s fashion shop, Ellerbrocks next door south of the bank. I think my next delivery was Spurgeons department store before getting to one of my favourite places, Miller’s Hamburger Shop.

Time for another Editors note:

Miller’s Hamburger Shop was introduced to me by my father. Millers were famous for their “Homemade Baked Beans”, not their hamburgers like their name might suggest. Their hamburgers were also very good and, at that time, very inexpensive. They were only 15 cents and that included all the trimmings.

On Saturdays, my folks would give me 35 cents and send me off to stop for lunch at Millers and then go to the movie (almost every Saturday this happened). I would spend 15 cents for the hamburger and 5 cents for a bottle of orange soda for my lunch.Back then I could go to the Bandox movie theatre just up the street, for a dime and get a box of popcorn for 5 cents. I was in seventh heaven with all that. Then I would walk to my Grandma and Grandpa Logan’s just down the street west from the theatre to visit my Great Grandma Austin and have some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and listen to her “wisdom talks” (I will share more about her later).

My next stop was at a tavern next door to Millers. I loved going in there even though it smelled bad (like beer). My Grandpa Logan would be sitting at a card table with some other friend playing cards. I would go over and greet him as usually one of his friends would whip out a nickel and ask me if I had any extra newspapers. The man counting out my newspapers most all of the time would give me an extra newspaper as a “bonus”.

I would sell the man a paper and be on my way again. My next stop was another grocery store. It was a small store called the Clover Leaf Grocery store. I was now at the corner of Main Street and West 3^rd street. I was very familiar with this corner because my Grandparent’s (my dad’s parents) apartment house was just a few places west down the street on the south side of the street.

On the corner was a western saddle shop and directly below in the basement level was a barber shop that I went to from time to time. Next to the saddle store was another tavern and then a store owned by Ben Shine and very nice Jewish man. I would go up some stairs to apartments above his store and always smell cabbage cooking from outside the apartments that he and his family lived. I had a number of other apartment customers up there. When I returned to the street level I was at a place I loved to smell, the Spudnut Shop. Boy they were good! I am told that they are still sold at the Clay County Fair in September.