Nellie’s Corner - September
Sep 01, 2022 02:10PM ● By Greg “Nellie” Nelson
When I was young, our town was different! We didn’t have individual phones let alone an individual phone line for each house. Party lines were connected to five other houses. If you picked up the phone and other people were talking, you used courtesy and hung the phone back up and waited your turn, otherwise you were listening to their conversation.
Most folks had only one car in the driveway. Not many cars on streets like today. No one but a farmer or a guy in the construction trades had a truck. Trucks were for work only. Most kids walked everywhere or rode some kind of bicycle...usually well-used by someone else in the neighborhood.
Baseball was played at any empty lot in town. There were more kids in families then. I counted 103 kids in three blocks in my own neighborhood. Everyone played outside all summer. If you were inside it was because you were sick or grounded. Girls skipped rope in the street and sang songs that I never understood...they skipped rope all day!
Most moms were stranded at home because dad took the car to work. Every mother was an unofficial police officer. Not much crime went unnoticed. Saying a bad word was treated with a mouth full of soap…supposed to clean your mouth, I guess. Our town was a busy place of activity every day except Sunday.
Some folks traveled on Sunday afternoon to see another family in another town. That always made the society page in our local newspaper. It was thought to be a really big deal! Example – The Don and Arlene Smith family of North Hampton visited the Norman and Alice Johnson family for chicken dinner last Sunday in Lacon. It was a wonderful visit and all returned safely by 7pm that same evening.
Back then we knew the owners of the butcher, the men’s clothing store, the baker, and every merchant downtown. We knew them and they knew us…and our families, kids, and sometimes they knew our pets. I encourage people to bring back the time when we knew our neighbor, our business owners, and our community. People need one another! Instead of a digital FaceTime try face time literally in front of the community individuals in our town. Say hello and smile…it’s the sweetest thing to do.
Most folks had only one car in the driveway. Not many cars on streets like today. No one but a farmer or a guy in the construction trades had a truck. Trucks were for work only. Most kids walked everywhere or rode some kind of bicycle...usually well-used by someone else in the neighborhood.
Baseball was played at any empty lot in town. There were more kids in families then. I counted 103 kids in three blocks in my own neighborhood. Everyone played outside all summer. If you were inside it was because you were sick or grounded. Girls skipped rope in the street and sang songs that I never understood...they skipped rope all day!
Most moms were stranded at home because dad took the car to work. Every mother was an unofficial police officer. Not much crime went unnoticed. Saying a bad word was treated with a mouth full of soap…supposed to clean your mouth, I guess. Our town was a busy place of activity every day except Sunday.
Some folks traveled on Sunday afternoon to see another family in another town. That always made the society page in our local newspaper. It was thought to be a really big deal! Example – The Don and Arlene Smith family of North Hampton visited the Norman and Alice Johnson family for chicken dinner last Sunday in Lacon. It was a wonderful visit and all returned safely by 7pm that same evening.
Back then we knew the owners of the butcher, the men’s clothing store, the baker, and every merchant downtown. We knew them and they knew us…and our families, kids, and sometimes they knew our pets. I encourage people to bring back the time when we knew our neighbor, our business owners, and our community. People need one another! Instead of a digital FaceTime try face time literally in front of the community individuals in our town. Say hello and smile…it’s the sweetest thing to do.