Evening star., 1932-05-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

4, liked by the boys. But ne mooerI
reader, familiar with neat packets o.
these Oriental fruits, must not sup,
pose that the boys were at all worried
by germs; they purchased them IRON
an old store on the corner, OUTSIDE tne
door of which the dates reposed In sun
| light and shadow, wrapped cunnnSs
around a long wooden stake or spike.
Evidently there were not as many
germs in the air, or something, 1or II
is not on record that the dates, after
removal from the outside layers on the
stick, were ever washed, or put through
| any other sort of sterilizing process.
The boys thought they were great
and no doubt they were. The same Ole
man sold popcorn and hot roasted
chestnuts In season. These latter steWeo
| and steamed enticingly on cold Winter
| days: but some of us were forbidden tc
eat them, because they did not agree
with us, and we had enough sense tc
| know that they did not, SO chestnuts
are merely memory now.
The popcorn was another matter
What tasted better, then or since, than
a fine bag Of popcorn, oiled by hot but
| ter Seeping through, delicious with the
smell of corn and salt?
| 1t was a dish fit for a king, let alone
made the most of 1t, because popcorn
was generally regarded by them as a
| sort of nut, and there was nothing the
| average kid liked then better than wal
| nuts, and pecans, and butternuts, ano
almonds, and hickory nuts, and even
| lichee nuts.
Brave was the boy who walked into
| the den of Sam Lee, laundryman, to
! purchase few lichee nuts. Sometimes
Sam would not sell them, but gave
them to his favorite boys. The truth
was that Sam Lee was an entirely
| harmless soul, but the legend had gone
around the neighborhood that for ways
that were dark and for tricks that were
vain the heather Chinee was peculiar
as Bret Harte put it, once and forever.
He had not written in vain.
There was always some boy, more dar-
ing than the rest, who worked up a
friendship with Lee, and came forth
smiling, bearing a handful Of the
curious lichees, with their queer skins
and queerer taste. This same Sam Lee
at the proper time, sold the finest fire
crackers to be purchased any place
each cracker lovingly made, tied with
such fine silk thread, real work OF
art. He had Chinese bombs, too, era
died in wicker which exploded with a
delightfully."- dull, sonorous sound.
| AS for candy, he was poor boy, in
deed, who couldn't scrape up a few
| pennies for a fistful, especially on the
way home from school. Then it was
the delight of the juvenile school popu-
lation to stand expectantly in front of
the glass counter in the little store on
| the corner, in complete befuddlement
at such an array Of enticing delicacies
There were jawbreakers and ncorice
| drops and sticks. caramels and choco-
late cigars, candy bananas and small
disks of chocolate peppered with small
| white beads; there were cinnamon
| drops, and butter daisies, and jelly
beans, and chewing gum sticks, and
/ long rolls Of parafin, which did duty as
| gum.
The amount Of time spent on the
delicate task of deciding what to dc
with 2 cents was immense; the old
whitebeard behind the counter, who
knew his customers, did not hurry
them, but stood with indicative hand
pointing first to one. then to another
while the interminable decision went on
The real job. whether any one knew
1t or not, was to get larger amount of
candy today than one got yesterday
for the same money! In that the boys
OF the day were not so peculiar, after
all. perhaps.
'Lickrish" was a favorite, as were
jawbreakers-hard, round candies veri-
tably living up to their name. Car'mels
with the accent definitely on the first
syllable, intrigued some, but left others
cold. There were other candies, whose
names we have forgotten, which came
in boxes, in the depth Of which were
prizes" always eagerly sought, and in
variably Disappointing We learned
early that prizes" might be prizes, OF
just bit Of tin.