By Morris Rote-Rosen
That note from B. E. Curtis of Middle Granville, on the announcement of the conclusion of 50 years in business, reflects the character of a gentleman and of an outstanding citizen in the town of Granville. It reads: "After 50 years in business I extend my sincere thanks to my many friends and customers, for by your help and Divine guidance I have been able to make my business a success." Mr. Curtis deserved many more happy fruitful years.
+++
We have seen Martha Ann Nelson of the Gold and Blue cheering team do her somersault successfully many times, through a loop formed by two of her high school team mates, but was her face red when she failed to complete the somersault through the loop, recently and got stuck suspended in mid-air, head down and other end up. It seemed like hours to Martha as she struggled in mid-air, while the basketball crowd appreciated her predicament. But, the good little sport that she is, she managed to wiggle out of it and run to a seat in the cheer leaders' row, somewhat surprised and shocked.
+++
When we paraded the street with a broken collar bone and with our left arm in a sling we were chided by "Pat" Quinlan and were given some fatherly advice about men of our age being too old to go skating. Now we find "Pat" laid up with a broken leg from climbing a ladder. Why, "Pat"! ... Barbara Bigelow, that little pal of Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Bigelow now 12 years of age. Congratulations, Barbara ... Those commercial advertising signs between Granville and Blossom's Corners obstruct the beautiful view, in that vicinity, looking east. There ought to be a law against it.
+++
Lester Browde, chairman of the "March of Dimes" in Granville reports a total of close to $1,400 collected in the drive against polio. Isn't that nearly as much as was collected in the entire neighboring county of Rutland? ... When little Mada Weiner is asked to give her baby brother Richard's name, her reply is: "Open the Door Richard" ... John R. Pritchard was one of the last, if not the last, active members of Morning Flower Lodge of Pawlet who served the fraternity 50 years or more. He was preceded in death by Henry Warner and Charlie Leach, 50 year Masons, all of them good Masons and fine men.
+++
A pleasant sight was to see the line of men waiting in front of the Hugh G. Williams office for their pay roll on a Friday. It seemed like the good old days when hundreds of slate workers came back from the quarries and lined up in front of the different slate offices for their weekly checks ... Is there anything to that report that "Ted" Lutz of the Precise Machine company was awarded a large contract by a nationally known firm and which will require a large force of machinists to do the work?
+++
The electrical score-clock in the high school gymnasium is appreciated by basketball fans ... And didn't the High Twelve Club have something to do with purchasing and installing it? ... Where do the high school cheer leaders, all of them half-pint size, find all the pep and strength for their enthusiastic cheers during a basketball game ... And to see some of the fans, both men and women, pulling their hair, chewing their nails, tearing their clothes, stamping their feed and screeching like a Comanche on the war path explains why basketbll is such a popular sport. It has the largest attendance of any sport in the U.S.
+++
And whenever we see a basketball team, during a rest period, down on their knees, in a circle, their foreheads touching the floor, we recall when as a youngster we watched those of the Mohammedan faith turn to the east, in a similar position, answering the muezzin call to evening prayer. We witnessed it at a recent basketball game in the high school gymnasium and we wondered whether the boys were praying for victory or talking about the weather. Some one ought to drop a candid microphone in such a circle.
+++
Only a few of the Granville veterans had their bonus application blanks returned. Many of them have their checks and it is expected that by mid-summer the job will be finished. The bonus bureau is paying out an average $3,000,000 daily. By the end of this month 75 per cent of the anticipated 1,700,000 bonus applications were expected to have been filed, but the bonus bureau has been so swamped with applications that the 75 per cent was filed within three weeks after the forms were released on January 1. Thirteen thousand checks are being issued daily and there are 1,000 employees handling the heavy mail and payment of the bonus.
+++
That was a "hot" town meeting staged in Wells last week. Not only were the offices closely fought for, but the temperance question brought out a large vote. Beer lost the decision by 11 votes while liquor was knocked out of the ring with a majority count against it of 57 votes ... That good amateur talent which West Pawlet was noted for several years ago seems to have switched to Middle Granville ... Norma Gilfeather of Middle Granville combines good looks, good voice and general all round good talent.
+++
The recently organized K. of C., basketball five is going places. Newcomers, they are crowding some of the top-notch semi-pros in this vicinity ... We met Fred Braw, sr., of Whitehall the past week, the first time we have seen him in years. A bit grayer a bit older, otherwise he looks the same as when we met at the railroad station in Tours, France, in World War I, when Captain Braw was in charge of an army train between Tours and Chaumont ... He came to Granville to see his son "Bill" join the Masonic lodge.
+++
The pupils of the Quaker street school are writing a biographical sketch of Sidney G. Potter, who attended the same school a century ago. "Sid" is still going strong. There are several other survivors who attended the Quaker school with him, the names include Samuel G. Ayres, S. E. Everts, Lucina Woodard Everts and Minnie Bulkley, the latter living in Boston. The pupils have every angle of the life and battles of Sid Potter except the story about Ed Vail robbing "Sid" of a ride with a pretty girl in North Granville, many, many years ago. Ed Vail still boasts of it.
+++
We were visiting with a Granville veteran of World War II. "I don't know where we're going," he said. "I established my business after I got out of school and the war made me give it up. I served through the war and started all over again. I am now established and I can again hear them blowing the bugle. If I have to give up my business this time for another war I'll stay in the army and forget civilian life. What a mess we are in." ... And he is not the only one who is confused.
No comments:
Post a Comment