Old Runnemede

Picture from the history of the Runnemede Fire Company's website.

Well, not THAT old. At least when you get to be my age, old is a relative term. Is something that was around in the 1940s old? Not for me, but for my children and their children that's ancient, just like 1908 and 1909, the years my mom and dad were born are OLD to me. So old photographs for me come from the pre-1920s. Well, this picture is not quite that old.

I remember so well this old firehouse (that's the building behind all those firemen). This was a place where I first heard Christmas songs that weren't carols. Songs like "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus" and "Rocking around the Christmas Tree" and others of that ilk. They did play the old standbys such as "Silent Night" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", but I really enjoyed the new "songs" as opposed to "hymns". My mom and dad didn't think they were proper because after all they were considered "rock and roll."

So, I would march, walk, trot down to the Pike and just listen to the music as it was played through those speakers at Christmas time.

You can also see the Gulf gas station next door. I wrote about that before. Then right next to that gas station was Second Avenue. We lived two blocks away from the Pike.

You can also see that the new firehouse, that was built on Second Avenue, just down the street from our house, was going to be opened for business soon. I do recall one time my dad running down there because a neighbor's house was on fire and he ran down to pull the alarm which woke up the town's volunteers. Yes, Runnemede is all volunteer fire fighters, but they always did a good job.

I recall one Sunday night, just after church, the sky lit up and we knew there was a big fire. The lumber yard had caught on fire. You can imagine what the result of that fire was. I mean wood burns really well, doesn't it? It was, however, a night that set a fear in me, and I was fearful every time the fire siren went off, calling those volunteers to their job. That fear lasted until well in my teens.

I don't recall what replaced that old fire house. I think it was torn down, but I don't recall what was put in its place. Anyway, just thought you might like to see a little bit of our little town, Runnemede, NJ., as I remember it.

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Untitled -- about one of the Runnemede house's rooms

One of the last times my mother was ill -- so ill I was called home to see her for the last time -- I remember so vividly the room in which she lay. It was summer. She was in the "back bedroom." That was the room that would abut the kitchen and if the kitchen had a door would have gone directly into that room.

Her room was stuffy, even with the windows open. There were two windows in that room, and the bed in which she lay was between those two windows. I recall that the shades were always pulled down to try to keep the room cool, with just about six inches of light showing at the bottom.

The room was what I would classify as ugly. It had been my brothers' room. The lower 2/3 of the room was papered with contact paper in a brown, faux paneling design. The upper 1/3 was painted an ugly dark tan. The other furniture in the room was a bureau and dad's armoire.

Dad's armoire had to be in that room because there was no room in the main bedroom which also had a bureau, mom's vanity, their bed, and dad's desk, as well as a bookcase, and oh, yes, dad's high boy. And Dad had to have an armoire because the house had only one small closet, a hall linen closet, and the space between those two with shelves which was located in the bathroom, such space not being a closet, but more like an overgrown medicine cabinet.

The main bedroom was very, very crowded. I doubt that at my present girth I would be able to walk around in that room if it was still so full of all that furniture.

So, today, I was thinking about that room and what was NOT mom's last days. Don't know why I thought of it because today, here in N KY the weather was super. Not too hot at all, and it was an open-the-windows day, which I did (open the windows, that is).

Modesty

I was always taught that I should dress modestly -- no short shorts, one piece bathing suits, no short skirts, be careful when I bend over, etc. That carried over into my marriage. I'm not ashamed of it.

However...

There is an incident that occurred during the summer between grade school and high school. I really still don't get it, but apparently I was very immodest.

We had a church youth group meeting -- mix sexes, boys and girls -- and the ages of those in attendance was 14-18. We had an outdoor BBQ (hot dogs and hamburgers, no BBQ) and so I had dressed "appropriately" for a summer BBQ, according to my mother's and father's standards. I was wearing pedal pushers (are they called clam diggers now?), and a matching blouse, tucked in. That was suitable dress for the occasion, so I figured, phew, got past that one.

You see being a PK (preacher's kid) in Runnemede meant that you had tests to pass every day on all kinds of things, modesty being just one of them.

I rode my bike to the party. And we had so much fun. We played badminton and some board games (that was how we had fun back then), and then it was time for supper. Well, the hosts didn't provide chairs for us to sit on, so the ground was the only option, other than standing and trying to juggle a plate, a drink, and eating at the same. We were all sitting on the ground with our legs crossed "Indian" style. If you don't know what "Indian" style is, I can't explain it except one leg is crossed over the other and vice versa, so you sort of look like a pretzel with a body attached to it.

Well, apparently the lady who hosted the party didn't' think sitting "Indian" style was appropriate for anyone. But, she called my mom. She called her before I got home, and mom was waiting for me.

She started to tell me I was getting boys excited (I didn't even know what that meant, believe it or not, when I was 14) and that I wasn't sitting like a lady should sit. I was really confused. I didn't get how sitting "Indian" style -- and every single one of us was sitting that way - was causing boys to get excited.

Apparently the hostess thought that sitting that way was "exposing" one's self to the opposite sex and getting them aroused. Of course, I wasn't the only other girl there, and there certainly were much more attractive girls at that party dressed more seductively than I, I might add; but I was the one that got the "friendly" call from a "concerned" parishioner.

So, girls and ladies, be careful how you sit. Always sit with your feet crossed at the ankles, and keep those knees tight together. Sit in a chair or on a step -- that was the suggestion for me -- and make sure you are modest at all times. You never know when someone is going to take offense at how you are sitting.

Of course, with my present girth, sitting "Indian" style is out of the question, so I suppose that I don't have that problem at this point in my life. However, I mentioned it to my daughter, and she cracked up. But, she also could see the point of the poor lady who thought I was being immodest.

Be careful, my children, and others, the "immodest" police are out there just waiting to get you caught!

No TV

You know, I'm so glad we didn't have television until I was 10 years old. And even then, there was little on TV that we watched. We didn't watch TV every night, all night. Nor did we watch it all day, every day. Saturday morning there were cartoons -- Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, etc., but nothing else on after that, except for Hopalong Cassidy.

The few programs we did watch in the evening were The Lone Ranger, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, Roy Rogers, Liberace, and I Remember Mama.

But when I was little (before I was a grown up of 10) there was plenty else to do, and I was thinking about that today. What do children do these days?

I know my grand-daughter who is in third grade comes home laden down with homework, so that by the time she's finished doing the home work, there is no time for play. Don't they want children to play any more? Can't the children get the work finished in school, during school hours? My granddaughter is very smart. She really shouldn't even have homework. Plus, I never had home work in grammar school, so why do they have homework these days.

I came home and I played -- either I played with one or two of the neighborhood boys, pitching a ball or batting a ball, or climbing trees, or I played with my sister -- pushing a doll coach or playing brides or pretending I was a teacher and she was the student, or pretending I was a nurse, using my mom's nursing caps to make it more real. I also made nurses caps out of paper when mom's needed were being laundered and needed starching and ironing.

I often played with "bricks" -- which were like Legos, but they were made of wood. And I built villages with those bricks, or I built houses. I often sat down at my desk and designed houses. Of course, they were mansions, not small homes like the ones everyone in Runnemede lived in at that time.

So, I was wondering today, as it was such a beautiful day, and I don't see our few neighborhood children outside playing, are the children cloistered inside because they have homework, or do children these days not know what to do outside?

What is it about holidays?

I have written a couple of remembrances of holidays as I remember them. What is it about holidays that makes one remember smells, tastes, laughs, and other things with such fondness?



My sister was recalling Halloween. We don't "honor" halloween any more. We didn't "do" halloween when my children were growing up either. Without getting "religious", let me just say that I believe Halloween is the devil's holiday, wholly. And because of all the evil things that transpire on that day or around that day, we felt is was a safety thing for our family to ignore the day and think on Godly things.



That said...



How can I explain what Halloween was like when I was a child. It was fun! And I guess for some today, it is also fun, but all I can see is the dark side of Halloween. However, when I was a kid, I would rush home from school on October 31 (I wasn't allowed to participate before I went to school), and since I had a costume already for school, I just checked in with my mother and off I went with my bag.



There were certain places in Runnemede that I had to get to before they ran out. Gardner's Funeral home always gave out apple taffies. Not the nut covered kind, but the red-hots covered kind. They were soooo good. Then I went to Calenders, on Clements Bridge Road, two up from the church, because they gave out nickles. There was a home (don't know who's it was) on Knight Avenue that gave out dimes. After that circle was completed, I methodically went up and down the pike, because the stores gave nickle candy bars (50 cent candy bars these days). Then after I got up to 8th Avenue, I would work my way back going back and forth on the various avenues. Now, I didn't cross the railroad tracks, there was enough good stuff on our side of the tracks. And, I had to be home before dark (which was at 5:00 p.m.). I was never allowed out after dark.



I don't recall any reports of razors or pins in candy, or poison, or any kidnappings or beatings. We just had fun.



I'm sure my banging on Halloween might offend some family members, but that's okay. You have to come to a conclusion on your own, based on your understanding of God's word about "fleeing evil", etc., and because some in my family still celebrate Halloween, doesn't mean I love them any less, or think that God isn't pleased with them. It's just something Alan and I determined and we stuck to it.



But this muse was not supposed to be about Halloween, it is supposed to be about holidays.