Evening star., 1932-05-17

Children still eat between meals"
In the days when you and wer'
young, Billee, there was much hue ant
cry against the consumption Of edible'
by kids except at the regular mea
times.
| No doubt the same clamor goes w
today, in official quarters, but one may
notice the boys and girls on the way
home from school, their mouths cram.
med with candy and ice cream.
Ice cream cones seem to be TO-
to-1 favorite.
But in the old days, past recall, ex.
cept in memory, ice cream soda itSeli
was the novelty. Cones were unknown
A kid who could garner a nicke
would launch out Immediately for the
corner drug store, where the finest anc
most Watery sodas we're to be imbibed
The modern ideal, in soda water
manufacture, seems to be very thicl
sirup, the thicker the better, but IL
those old days the youngsters de-
planded them "watery," and got then
that way, too.
We still think they had the right
idea. Many an oldster. who remember:
his childhood days with the peculiar
vividness which is not the portion Of
all old-timers, still wishes he coulc
get one of those old-time "nicke
sodaS," with plenty of liquid.
There was no whipped cream in those
days, but plenty of bubbles. Maybe
they really used soda then at any rate
the entire top of the glass was filled
with white bubbly mixture, partly
colored with chocolate, which had 9
taste all its own.
We say chocolate soda advisedly; the
writer here, who has been an avid con-
sumner since childhood, cannot recall
ever having purchased more than hall
dozen sodas Of any other flavor.
You see, 1t was this way: In youth
cents was cents and when one sal
down at the counter and tried to think
OF what to buy one Immediately
thought OF chocolate soda, then Of va
nilla soda, then of how much better
the cholocate soda would be, then oi
how good the vanilla was. after all:
then Of the unquestioned superiority OF
chocolate, then of the fact that a
nickel was only nickel, after all, and
that 5 cents was lot of any boys
money
Chocolate sody, with 'nella cream
in It'll"
What else could the order have beeni
And today, when the boys of that day
and age have come into the delectablt
land OF change jingling in their trousers
pockets. they still begrudge dime, Of
is cents, or 20 cents, alas, spent fol
anything but "chawklut' soda.
We will bet that every man alive ovel
80 years of age orders chocolate, no.
only because he prefers 1t, but also be.
cause it is the classic soda Of youth.
But sodas were not all that thost
boys of yeSteryear took between meals.
Heavens, mol
Consider the limeade, that delectablt
drink Of the palest green, with crushed
ice floating on the top. If there evel
was a beverage liked by youngsters
especially boys, and particularly aftel
a hot set Of tennis, the limeade wa!
exactly the thing.
The sourer it was the better 1t tasted
One might have ordered more simple
sirup put in, one supposes, but at that
time and age one did not: one delighted
in the sharp stab Of sour pain which
snlote the tongue and throat, and which
| caused the fervid brow to wrinkle In I
kind Of agonized delight.
Ginger ale. which one might suppose
to be a strictly modern drink, was vel
known TO those boys. 1t was possible
to purchase a huge bottle for a nickel
as We recall, and the contents carriet
fiery reproach to the inner man, o
boy, which was never answered.
To many small boy of that era gin
ger ale was slightly under the home ban
| it tasted better when purchased II
secret and drunk in secret; ordinaril,
it graced an impromptu banquet in tn
| den of the Seven Wonders. or some sucl
| juvenile organization, whose purpoS
was to sweep the seven seas Of pirate
or the Ike.
Dates were another confection muc