A BEAUTIFUL WALK

This Saturday afternoon in mid-June was a perfect day for a long walk, so when Susan said, “Let’s visit the court house,” Jenny readily agreed.

They stopped first at the bakery and plunked their nickels down on the candy counter so they could fill their pockets with this week’s supply of penny candy and be armed for the long walk. Jenny’s beautiful golden haired cousins on Mother’s side of the family eacn got a dime every week for the movie and a nickel for pop corn. They knew just what they wanted to do and their parents knew they would be safely inside the movie theatre and that they would be entertained from one until five, if they wanted to see the whole thing through again. For a dime, they got a varied menu. There would be a newsreel, a Disney cartoon, perhaps a thirty minute special, previews of coming attractions, and the Saturday afternoon cowboy movie. Jenny liked the newsreels, the specials which might be Laurel and Hardy or The Three Stooges and some of the other specials, but she didn’t give a hoot and a holler for silly stuttery Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck or the jerky Cat Chasing Mouse cartoons or Gene Autry, Roy Rogers or Dale Evans. To her cousins, these movie stars were like Jesus. They imitated them in their playing whenever they played, “Let’s play like,” but Jenny was outside this enchanted circle. Movies made her eyes hurt and her head ache. She soon grew tired of the smell of stale popcorn and of sitting still for so long. She was always glad when the movie was over so she could go out into the fresh air and sunlight into the real world . Jenny didn’t envy these cousins. She was sure that what she and Susan had was much finer, the freedom to explore and to make up their own pretend characters. Susan wasn’t so sure about this. She went to school with Jenny’s four cousins and they always seemed to know everything, they were bold, adventuresome leaders on the playground and plenty smart in the classroom. They knew how to make everyone like them.

Today Jenny and Susan started eastward through residential areas, and then turned north to wherever their feet seemed to want to carry them. They stayed on the smooth sidewalks, being careful not to step on the cracks. They came to two little curved concrete bridges built over drainage ditches.

“Don’t you just love these Humpty Dumpty bridges?” asked Susan. This was what her older sister
Elizabeth, who was four years older, the same age as Margaret, called them.

“Oh yes, “ said Jenny. She had never seen such bridges. They looked like something out of a fairy tale. As they went over them, they put their weight on their hands on the iron rails on each side and let their feet swing through the air in wide giant steps. It was so much fun that they went back over these several times. From time to time they would take out some of the penny candy from their pockets to suck on or munch on as they walked along.

They walked on until they could see the Dutch mill park. Jenny remembered when the Dutch mill had been uprooted from Reamesville and had been taken past their schoolhouse into town about three years ago. It had been worked on by the NYA boys and a beautiful little park had been built around it in the little glen. The lush green grass and the big variety of colorful flowers were tenderly cared for by Sam Wagner, the caretaker. It was to be later named Wagner park. The first thing they did when they reached the park. was to walk on the swinging bridge. It was made of unfinished half logs and rope and swung when you walked on it. It looked like a jungle bridge. They went over to the gold fish pond which had water piped to it that ran over the rocks above it and looked like a waterfall. There were water lilies on top. They watched the beautiful goldfish swimming around . Some were quite large, much bigger than those in the goldfish bowl at Jenny’s house. and then they sat on the soft grass beside the fish pond. They looked for four leafed clovers , but didn’t find any.

“Elilzabeth found one here once,” said Susan. “She pressed it in a big book.”

“Did it make her lucky?”

“I think so.”

Elizabeth was a good artist and appeared to be her mother’s favorite. Susan lived in Elizabeth’s shadow, but later learned to develop her own strengths. There were at least six big wooden picnic tables in the park. It was a favorite place for family reunions and picnics for all kinds of occasions.

Jenny said, “Lets go in the mill.”

“Okay.”

The mill was locked today, but was kept open on Sundays and holidays and on hot summer afternoons, when the now dry concrete wading pool came alive and would be filled with water and screaming splashing children. There were restrooms inside and showers and dressing rooms. There was also a large room for indoor gatherings, out of the sun and rain. There was a long rope swing from a tall tree on which you could swim a long way over a big dip to the other side, but they didn’t feel like doing this today , as Susan had once gotten painful rope burns on her hands from losing her firm grip and letting her hands slide.. There was a whirligig and several regular swing sets. At the north end of the park were two tennis courts and behind this, a tall white rock wall. They could see a row of stately mansions. They went on the sidewalk past these beautiful houses with lush green lawns. There were signs saying, “Keep off the grass.” Even the trees looked well manicured. Did lucky people really live in such houses and who were they? Did they do the everyday things that ordinary people did? Did they ever have any sad times? They continued on this street until Susan said, “Now let’s visit the court house.”

“Oh yes.”

It had been such fun getting there that Jenny had nearly forgotten their planned destination. The stately houses thinned out to smaller homes, which still looked nicer to Jenny and Susan than most farm homes. After they turned the corner, they could see the tall black standpipe in the distance. Some day they would go closer to it, but it seemed too far and scary just now. It’s size was awe inspiring. Jenny could see it at the top of the hill just a half mile south of their farm and would look for it on her way to and from school. They blew the seven o”clock whistle from here every morning and at noon and again at six o’clock in the evening. The three whistles were for waking up, quitting work for the dinner hour and store closing time and supper. All the dogs in town would throw back their heads and howl when the whistles blew. Jenny thought they were singing along with the whistles, but later learned that the loud high pitched sirens hurt their sensitive ears and that they were howling with pain.

The stately gray court house was surrounded by a spacious grounds, carpet by lovely grass. There were a few well chosen trees and shrubs and plantings of special flowers. They walked on a long sidewalk and ascended the courthouse steps. Over the door the letters read, “Smith County Court House.” and the numbers 1918 for the year it had been built. The went in the massive door. The inside steps were of polished marble and there was fine woodwork on the walls and floors. It was a luxury to be able to go into such a building. Two polished brass spittoons stood on either side of the main court room , where trials and other such important official business was carried on. They had never seen anyone spitting in the spittoons. Maybe they were relics from an earlier day when many men chewed tobacco. The area did smell of cigar smoke and cigars. Jenny rather liked this smell. She could imagine cigar smoking lawyers and dignified judges, harrumphing and solemn.

The county superintendent’s office was next to this room, and you could check out library books here too, as many as you liked. These books were not usually story books, but were true books about science, history, geography, plants, insects and animals and showed customs of people in other countries and pictures of important events, discoveries and inventions. Many were on glossy paper and in color. They would liked to have checked out at least ten, but 3 were all they could carry. When they went to the check-out desk, they were greeted by the smiling rosy cheeked county superintendent who visited their schools once or twice every school year. He asked their names and what schools they attended.

“Thank you for visiting our office,” he said. “Feel free to come in often.”

They got refreshing drinks of ice cold water from the water cooler. and decided to check out the rest room in the basement. Many offices were also in the basement. They gave this rest room an A-, because it had a couch along one wall and three toilets in separate private stalls and it was clean.

They made the return trip on different streets which led past brick churches and also past a hotel with a big wrap around porch where people sat in porch swings and listened to the whistling and warbling of the two cages of tiny bright yellow canaries. They unloaded the heavy books into their cars and headed for the main street stores, where their parents might be about ready to go home. Jenny and Susan too were ready. They were tired, but happy, and felt that they had had a fulfilling afternoon.