Main Street – April 22, 1948

By Morris Rote-Rosen

Old friends, now living out of town, drop in occasionally for a few moments chat and the subject invariably turns to old Granville and to a period when another group of men and women were prominent in the affairs and the activities of our village. The faces of our friendly visitors beam with pleasure, mingled with sadness, as they recall names, which, to them, bring happy memories of other days. One of them stopped in to see us recently and he expressed regret because many of the Granville people he knew in his youth are no longer with us.

As he hurried out he left us with the thought that Granville has changed to such a great extent as to almost make Main street unrecognizable to these older people when they return for a visit here after an absence of many years. They stand on the village square, as if in a dream, looking up and down the street, searching their memories to try to locate some business places, or, among the pedestrians, a face they knew long, long ago. We met an old Welsh gentleman, a former resident of Middle Granville, and as we shook hands with him, his eyes were glued across the square from the Pember opera house block and he said: "I can see George Finch standing there in the doorway of the Central House."

Death and fires have played havoc with the Granville these older people knew. The older generation is practically all gone having reached the end of life's journey. Buildings which were well known land marks on our Main street have long been replaced as a result of the many disastrous fires. The young people of Granville can not conceive the changes which have occurred on our Main street. Old timers visualize these changes in their memory. The youngsters go on seeing Granville as it is, never having known it to have been different.

Gladys Cox, faculty adviser to the Vocational school in Binghamton, N. Y., mailed us a copy of the "Vocational View-Point", a mimeographed magazine of fourteen pages, composed and edited by the school children. The articles are well written as well as the poems, and a report on the school athletic activities. The names of the basketball teams are the "Electrons", "Termites", "Woodpeckers" and "Grease Monkeys", representing the different trades in the school. We don't know the age group of the youngsters attending the Vocational School, but the make-up of the magazine is on a par with many high school publications we have seen. Thank you Gladys.

From Washington, D. C., comes a pleasant note from a reader of the "Sentinel": "I just want to tell you that it is like home for a few minutes to read 'Main Street', which always reflects your concise and honest opinion and the ability to look beyond the cold surface of human nature and into the heart of people and things." ... It has been years since the going out of the ice at Lake St. Catherine has done so much damage as this year. The ice took every dock which wasn't anchored for the winter and moved it out of sight. Alton and Clifford Ellis, proprietors of "Idylwild", are still looking for most of their large docks, some parts having been found as far north as "Whip-poor-will Lodge".

John G. Cary of Middle Granville, who spends most of the year with his daughter, at Seneca Falls, has the distinction of being the first from Granville to be awarded the Palm Leaf to his 50 year Grand Lodge of Masons Medal, indicating membership of sixty continuous years. Congratulations Brother Cary! ... Is Ruth Lyng flashing an engagement sparkler to friends ... The Veterans of Foreign Wars of Granville have turned over $375 as a starter for furnishing a complete ward in the local hospital, which is expected in time to be known as the John Falvey - Sullivan Fringi VFW ward. When the room is completely equipped, at the expense of the VFW, a bronze plaque will be placed on the floor of the ward crediting the Post with it.

Granville can not afford to let the Pember Library slip below its present level of high standard because of the lack of finances. But, that is just what will happen if the people of our community don't take more interest in the library and support the trustees of the library with funds appropriated by the town, or by private subscription. The Pember Library is now financed on practically the same income it had forty years ago. Unless the financial support is brought up to date in keeping with the times, irreparable damage will be done to one of the finest libraries of its kind. Can't we do something before it is too late?

Said John Foster Thomas: "I enjoyed your article about the old shows at the Pember theatre. I have seen some good shows in Liverpool years ago, but I remember in 1909, seeing the play 'The Call of the North' in the Pember opera house and it was the best play I ever saw. I can still see the man coming onto the stage in his canoe and the moonlight effect on the state was beautiful." Mr. Thomas was referring to Paul Gilmore who played the lead in that play, appearing as a dashing hero of the Hudson Bay county in the Canadian fur trade.

Why all this delay in Congress about outlawing the Communist party and its followers in the United States. Is there any question in the mind of any American citizen that the Communists have one aim in their political life. They are definitely committed to the overthrow of our government by force and violence and yet they are given their "constitutional rights" before our courts. Let's not be sentimental in giving the Communists "freedom of speech", which can only result in the enslavement of our people. There can be but one choice. Which shall it be?

When Mac Manchester of Washington was in Granville recently, he made a trip to Boston. An emergency telephone call came in to stop him before he reached Boston. We contacted the police at North Adams, Mass., and in less than half an hour Mac was on the phone. All the police in North Adams were on the lookout for a Virginia license plate on a 1947 Chevrolet. When Mac reached the city limits of North Adams, a police car was waiting for him and it followed him. The officer blew the horn to stop him, but Mac, having a clear conscience continued on his way, and at the same time he could see through the car mirror that he was being followed.

Looking at his speedometer Mac realized that he was exceeding the speed limit by only two or three miles - not enough to be arrested for. He slowed down. The police car was still after him. Mac again searched his conscience for any law violations. he found none. When he heard the siren of the police car ordering him to pull over to one side of the highway Mac stopped. The officer asked him for his license. Then Mac was asked to identify himself. Then he was told that the police department in Granville requested the North Adams police to stop him and telephone to Granville - that's all.

Later, when Mac returned to Granville, he said that the North Adams police had him sweating and guessing for a few minutes. "My conscience was clear," said Mac, "but I thought of my wife and baby being in Granville and surely something must have happened. I didn't know what to think. Everything ran through my mind for a few minutes until I found out what it was all about." Mac was impressed with the efficiency of the North Adams police. Mac is editor of "The Officers' Reserve", official publication of the reserve officers of the United States, with headquarters in Washington. He is a captain in the U.S. Reserve.