Pictures and Short Stories from the PoorTown Books
© 2003 James D. Pearce and Rebecca P. Pearce
Number 72
~~~
A penny awaits smashing on Ahoskie track, lower-left of center
~~~
A TRIP TO NEWPORT NEWS
Junior was sitting on the ground by the track in No Man's Land, the parking lot at the depot, when he felt the first tremor of the rails indicating the train from Norfolk was near Ahoskie on its early evening run to Rocky Mount.
He took two pennies and carefully placed them on the track about a foot apart, and then walked toward the station. He could barely make out the locomotive down the straight, flat roadbed of the Atlantic Coast Line. He climbed onto a high-wheeled baggage cart and waited.
The locomotive, bell ringing and steam pulsing, slowed to a halt. The engineer tipped his cap to Junior, and the boy grinned.
Junior recognized the first passenger off the train, and called to him: "Boweaver, where've you been?"
The tall, lanky passenger walked toward the cart.
"Hey, Junior. I've been all the way to Newport News and back today, and I'm tired. Let's go home."
"One minute, Boweaver. I'll be right with you," said Junior, jumping down from the cart. "I've got some pennies on the track."
The taller boy looked at Junior and shook his head. "You know, you're going to get in trouble one day, smashing U.S. money on the train track."
"Ah, it's only two pennies," said Junior. "Nobody's going to miss two pennies."
"Junior, the United States Mint has a record of every penny ever made," said Boweaver, "and when they turn up with your pennies missing, somebody's going to come looking for you."
"Boweaver, I ain't going to tell 'em, and if you don't tell 'em, ain't no way they're going to know that I was the one that smashed the pennies."
Boweaver grinned. "Well, Junior, if the FBI has to find out from me that you ruined those pennies, they ain't ever going to find out."
Junior, picking up his flattened treasure, matched his step to Boweaver as they walked down Main.
"Why did you go to Newport News?"
"Well, I went to see a girl."
"Almarie?"
"Yeah, Junior, but it didn't work out too good."
They stopped for a drink at the schoolhouse water fountain.
"Junior," said Boweaver, "do you know what you have to do to get to Newport News?"
"Well, I know the train doesn't go all the way."
"Well, Almarie gave me her phone number and told me to come see her sometime in Newport News. She said we would go down and spend the day at Buckroe Beach."
"Did you go to the beach?"
"Not exactly," said Boweaver.
"I got on the train this morning, and it stopped at Port Norfolk, in Portsmouth. That cost forty-five cents. I got off the train and took the bus uptown to the ferry. That cost eight cents. I went across the ferry – that cost a nickel – and then caught a street car on Granby Street to the Newport News ferry. That was another dime. The Newport News ferry costs a quarter and that's a long half-hour over rough water. When I got off in Newport News, I was about halfway broke and about three-quarters seasick. I bought a Pepsi and put a nickel in a pay phone to call her."
Boweaver hesitated.
"Well, I got Almarie on the phone, but she said she wasn't feeling so good. She said she had a splitting headache, and couldn't go to Buckroe today." Boweaver's face sagged. "She wouldn't even tell me what else I would have had to ride to get to her place."
~~~
"You know, I'll bet she didn't have any headache," offered Junior.
Boweaver shrugged. "Yeah, Junior. I know."
~~~
In 1944, the train tracks from Ahoskie to Cofield
~~~ No Man's Land, Ahoskie
~~~~~~~~
WELL, JUST BECAUSE
~~~
Well,
~~~~~~~~
~
I think kerosene was up to about eight or nine cents a gallon by the time I was old enough to pump it at my father's store in Cofield, North Carolina. We had one of the pump setups much like the one in the picture (Poor Town News No. 71) ...... My pet peeve was the kids who waited until you were in the shop, changing oil or a tire, and then they wanted a penny's worth of two-for-a-penny cookies. I think they were Jack's cookies, and came in bulk. Had three or four bins of those things, different kinds ...... Good old days ...... I remember the kerosene lamps and the pitcher pump in the kitchen. We got electric power on the farm when I was in the second grade. About 1950 I think. My uncle finally got a telephone on that farm in 1968, and it was a party line ...... A slower-paced life, and I kind of miss it.
~
(Just a note) to let you know that I am a faithful reader of The Poor Town News. And to say how
much I admired your note to Joe Parker about his pa (J. Mayon Parker of Ahoskie) ...... That brought back a flood of my own remembrances, and I went right to the file and rewrote a little memoir that I did several years ago about my days in the (Ahoskie) newspaper "back-shop" ...... I still have not been able to dredge up the last name of "Bob," my dear friend the (newspaper-page) "makeup man." So you could help me out on that ...... Hope you are well. All well here. I've been retired for two years and do nothing but write history, mostly family, and a weekly military history column for The (Fayetteville, N.C.) Observer.
Editor's note: The Poor Town News is making every effort ~
I am a little slow to react to (this past week's change in The Poor Town News URL), because we have had some scary days here with (my wife) Brita having emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix Saturday night. It looks like everything will be OK ...... What I was going to say is that I hope you are not closing your web site?
~
Do you know who wrote (the hymn) "In the Garden," and the rest of the stanzas? Thanks. (This is a reference to
"Johnnie in the Garden," under "Tales the Old Folks Told.")
(Editor's note: Yes, we do. "In the Garden" was written ~~~
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You are reader number
were just the first stage of a complicated
journey to Newport News, Virginia
just because you think you're so pretty,
just because you think you're so hot,
well, just because you think you've got something
that nobody else has got,
you think you can make me spend all my money.
then laugh and call me old Santa Claus.
well, I'm telling you,
baby, I'm through with you.
because, well, just because.
Well,
there'll come a time when you'll be lonesome,
and there'll come a time when you'll be blue.
Well, there'll come a time when old Santa,
he won't pay your bills for you.
You caused me to spend all my money,
and now, now you still want more dough.
Well, I'm telling you
baby, I was through with you
a long long time ago.
Well,
just because you think you're so pretty
just because you think you're so hot,
well, just because you think you've got something
that nobody else has got,
you think you can make me spend all my money.
then laugh and call me old Santa Claus.
Well, I'm telling you,
baby, I'm through with you
because, well, just because.
(1933. ~ B. Shelton, J. Shelton, S. Robin)
Mailbox
A PENNY'S WORTH OF TWO-FOR-A-PENNY COOKIES
John Taylor, Texas
email John
A FLOOD OF REMEMBRANCES
Roy Parker Jr., Fayetteville, North Carolina
short of money to persuade Roy to allow us
to "publish" his memoir about his
Ahoskie "back-shop" days
CHANGE IN THE POOR TOWN NEWS URL
By Kjell Petterson Kjell's Web Site
(Editor's note: Well, no, Kjell, but you must have been reading our minds. We have been thinking about it. We will have to stop some time. I'm 76 years old next week, and beginning to feel every year. Sometimes I get a little "logy" (that's "weak as branch water," as my mother used to say) and think, what the heck ~ wrap it up ~ but then, we get nice emails from people, and they tend to put a little pep back into the heart and a little spring into the step, and we continue ...... I did decide, however, that in sending the weekly circulation list (about 150 addresses), I would prompt readers to click to The Poor Town News index rather than to a specific issue. The latest issue will always be at the top. My thinking is that some people might not realize how much material there is on the web behind The Poor Town News, and I figured the index might show them ~ impress them ~ (it does me). It is possible that The Poor Town News might be delayed now and then this summer, because Becky and I will have the opportunity to spend a little time walking in the sand around Jockeys Ridge occasionally ~ and who could pass that up? ...... We are certainly glad that things are looking better for Brita ~ give her our best.
JOHNNIE IN THE GARDEN
Charles Riner
and set to music by C. Austin Miles in 1912.)
I come to the garden alone,
while the dew is still on the roses,
and the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
the Son of God discloses,
(chorus)
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
and He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
and the melody, that He gave to me,
within my heart is ringing,
(repeat chorus)
I'd stay in the garden with Him,
tho' the night around me be falling,
but He bids me go; thro' the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling,
(repeat chorus)
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