Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

Age 19 or 20

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passsed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

Anyway during this time period, I was making my mind up that I was going to quit school. All I had to do was wait until I was sixteen and I would not have to run from the truant officer.

March 17, 1935 I became 16 years old. April, May, and 26 days before the school term ended, I dropped out. It hurt my parents. I was just disgusted with everything. Jobs were scarce for you. Who ever ws in a position to hire would think twice to hire a child. At one time they would do so at 14 years old. The law had been changed and you had to be 16 before they would be able to hire. But it was usual to hire boys only for jobs that were for boys like running errands.

Where I could get a job was a big problem. There were none. The local stores just about made out. There was the First National stores. They sold coffee, butter, cannded good, eggs. This was the forefunner along with the A&P, a competitor, the beginning of the chain stores which would have their start after WWII. Their products were excellent compared to today. A 16 ounce can of coffee was a dollar. When it was brewed in the morning it gave off an aroma that woke one up. It tasted a hell of a lot better than what we get today.

Tonic [ed: soda] was wonderfully tasty. Every bottled goods or packaged, or canned made a statement. "made from all natural products."

I went to the Center and there Skip asked me if I would volunteer for the summer school, that he would be running for pre and kinder children. As long as they were trained [ed: toilet trained] I would have a lunch with the kids and teachers, dry dishes and maybe have to do a little bit of work.

The children would be checked every morning by a junior year med student. His father was a doctor and he was following in his father's footsteps.

The teachers were any where from [ed: college] sophomores to seniors. And who ever hired them knew how to pick them. Besides being knowledgeable, they were lookers. 35 of them. I had a nice time chasing them. It was the best summer of my life.

There was another boy that would help out after lunch. He didn't chase the teachers.

I recall this little girl coming into the room. It was a large room, the chairs and tables were not set up. Her shoelace came untied and some other kid told her she was going to get punished. I sat down and calmed her down as I was tying her shoe. I assured her that no one would touch her. I would not have anyone do that. She was the younger of two sisters and they both were beautiful. The staff and teachers marveled at their being dressed and looks.

I got that chore down and I got up. As I turned to get up, I saw Julie Dwight looking at me. She was the assistant to Kay Campana.

A day later, I was teasing Kay when she asked me if I loved Julie. I sure did but I was defensive. I thought I might be being set up. Julie was a beautiful girl. Older by 2 or 3 years. Nice background. Father was an engineeer. And she lived in Newton [ed: well-to-do suburb of Boston compared to East Boston]. Kay asked me more than once that morning. But I told her I could speak for myself and I got out of that situation.. Julie when I turned my eyes on her after tying the little girl's shoes, was looking at me with eyes that took me in. Had I walked over to her she would have wrapped her arms around me and said those three little words. I would have had a girlfriend (steady) I don't know what the outcome would have been. Besides, I did not have any pocket money. At the end of the summer I would receive $10 for helping out at the play school. A dollar a week.