Musing
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The weather has cooled down a lot hopefully to everyone’s liking. Now to get caught up on the lawns, between the humidity and the rain things shot up overnight.
I haven’t taken a story from Sid’s Hash lately this one seems to fit last month.
“Golden days in the sunlight of our happy youth
Golden days, full of innocence and full of truth,
How we laughed with a gayety that had no sting,
Looking back through memory’s haze.
We know life has nothing sweeter than its springtime,
Golden days when we were young golden days”.
This theme song from the popular play, “The Student Prince” causes this writer to recall incidents of a long-ago youth. The hot weather recalls the hot weather we had and the things we did to combat the heat.
No air conditioners, no electric fans, no plastic swimming pools. But there was the ever-present palm leaf fan and ice. Many in the rural areas stored ice from the ponds and creeks in their small ice houses. In Palmyra much ice was stored in the icehouse North Main Street, but the main supply was manufactured at the ice plant.
On summer days waiting lines were not unusual as folks both rural and urban sought ice for their ice boxes. And there were at many times two horse drawn ice wagons delivering ice to the stores and residents of Palmyra.
No one was more popular with the children than the ice man. They followed him along the street knowing he would have and accident, drop a cake of ice. It always happened in a clean spot and the kids would quickly salvage the ice much to his and their delight.
A chunk of ice, wrapped in a cloth, was a good way to cool yourself by holding it to your face, neck or arms.
Two or three of the local merchants had overhead fans with long blades installed. They hung from the ceiling and stirred the air enough to provide some cooling. The fountain in the courthouse lawn and the spring branch near the powerhouse were favorite spots for the young and old.
It was hot then, as it is now, but we survived then, and we will make it through this and many other hot spells.
Old timer
7/27/77
Everyone have a great week and enjoy the cool break we are having for awhile.
The Gardner House Museum is open on Mondays, Wednesday’s, and Fridays. 10 to2
The Old Marion County Jail and Genealogy Room is open on Wednesday’s 10 to2.
Call for a tour, 573 769 3076
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