Paw Paw River Journal

Autumn’s Red and Gold

 Ahhhhhh, haven’t you noticed?  Just step outside at night.  There is a coolness, a smoky tang in the air.  And we don’t even burn leaves any more.  Someone is fudging on that rule a little.  There’s something about autumn that makes it my favorite.  Night falls more quickly, and we have the furnace on.  Where did summer go!  There is a beauty about fall that is tinged with regret.  We know the year is slipping away from us.  We are reluctant to put away our summer clothes and start wearing sweaters and sweat shirts.  But now we will go outside and be confronted by Nature’s paint brush.  The trees around our house will be glorious yellow, orange, and red.   And then the leaves come down and must be raked, gathered, and placed in big bags.  No more burning them in piles.  We must not add more incense to the polluting of our atmosphere.  I must confess I miss the smell of burning leaves… but my breathing is better for it. And they do come down.  And they must be raked up.  Robert Frost said in his poem, “In Hardwood Groves:”

The same leaves over and over again!

They fall from giving shade above

To make one texture of faded brown

And fit the earth like a leather glove.

 So we rake them into piles by the street, until the city can come and pick them up.  Of a fall evening we can still smell bon fires… even though we are not supposed to burn them.  It is the smell of autumn and a part of our lives. When we were kids, autumn was a magical time.  We played outside until it was dark, and our folks called us in to get ready for bed.  We had baseball games in the long early autumn twilight.  There was a field just up the street, and neighborhood kids gathered there.  We played a game called “workup.”   Anyone could play.  You had to start out in the outfield, and as batters were struck out, or called out by acclamation on a base run.  This started some arguments that were only ended by booing and ridicule, until the “out” runner gave up and went to the outfield.  We worked our way from the outfield, to third baseman, second baseman, first baseman, then shortstop and finally pitcher.  After another batter was out, then the pitcher became catcher… and finally up to bat.  And there a good player could stay until he was out!  Back to the outfield again!  We ran races too.  On our street we had marked off 100 yards… that was our favorite, and we were always trying to better our time.  One of my friends received as a present two pairs of boxing gloves.  So, under the street lights we had a ring marked out.  Confession:  I never really liked boxing.  If you were a mild mannered kid (I was), and not aggressive or a bully (I was not), you had to take your lumps… which I did.  Every kid learns to get hurt.   The thing I really hated was inflicting pain on someone else.  My Dad was an easy going man… he liked everyone.  Guess it rubbed off on me.  If pain came to me in a game, I took it; but I never liked to dish it out.  I still have a crooked finger from a touch football game injury.  Autumn’s advent meant that Halloween would soon be here.  We did not have trick or treating as such in those days.  That gentle blackmail came at a later time.  But we did go about trying to play pranks on people.  The real ambition was to tip over someone’s out house.  And there were still quite a few in our small town back yards.  I never was a member of one of those successful forays, but some friends were.  I’ve told that story before and perhaps will again in another column.  For some reason, the coute la vec of Halloween pranks was to take down the bell on the old high school that stood where Red Arrow Elementary School is now located.  I know of its happening two or three times in my childhood.  My gang never got in on one of those daring raids, but I watched a couple of times from a safe distance when some of the daredevils did it.  If successful, the miscreants always hid the bell somewhere in town.  But, you know, kids cannot keep quiet.  Someone always has to talk about it.  And in a couple of days, the school authorities would have it back up in place, and calling us all to the halls of learning.  Back in the day, autumn was a magical time… we knew winter was coming… as it always does.  The season’s beauty, which could not last, had a really haunting quality about it.  Now, of a fall evening, when I step outside the magic is still there.  Footballs are in the air.  Our school teams still play their hearts out.  I love to watch the highlights Friday nights on our local TV station.  I always sigh and think, Yes… I could run like that!  How beautiful those kids are!  How full of life!  Autumn has always been just about my favorite time.  Helen Hunt Jackson captured that feeling in a poem which says it all…

0, suns and skies and clouds of June

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October’s bright blue weather.

HARTFORD 1916 – 100 years ago

 Hartford has a “fowl” mystery. James Ingalls chickens failed to come home to roost, but they appeared at daybreak the next morning. There hangs the mystery.  Convinced that chicken thieves had made a clean haul of his flock, the cashier called Sheriff Beattie into the case. The sheriff started on a search for the marauders. He let it be known that arrests would follow if the prize Wyandottes were not back at the Ingalls home on Center Street. Whether the thieves heard of the pending arrests, or the chickens, the fact remains that they were all back the next morning contentedly waiting the genial smile and generous hand of their owner. Neighbors declared that the chickens were so delighted with the home-coming that three of them laid double-yolked eggs the next day.

1941 – 75 years ago

 An all time record crowd saw an all time record “mum” show at Hill Top orchards and nurseries four miles southeast of Hartford Sunday. One unique feature of the 1941 show is an exhibit of nearly 10,000 plants of new seedlings. J.H. Heuser, Eugene Heuser and Paul Day of the Hill Top management have made the annual “mum” show an attraction for thousands. Sunday’s visitors came from cities within a radius of 50 miles. Eugene Heuser is the manager of the nursery division of the Hill Top enterprises where the free “mum” show is staged.

1966 – 50 years ago

 Two men were presented certificates of commendation by the Hartford Fire department last week in recognition of their efforts to save a man whose cabin was on fire. They are Edwin Ison and Reginald Moore, who received certificates from Fire Chief Harold Walker, Sr. Ison and Moore pulled Leon Spencer from his burning cabin on the Hiram Dade farm west of Hartford last April after they spotted the early morning blaze while driving by on Red Arrow highway. A parade Saturday afternoon will climax observance of Fire Prevention Week. In the line-up will be the Hartford and Lawrence high school bands, the Blossomland Cadets junior drum and bugle corps, the Bridgman Golden Eagles, Boy and Girl scouts, Future Farmers of America and a number of other marching units.

COLOMA  100 years ago – 1916

 A.J. McGuire, in charge of the tomato pulp department of the Friday Bros. canning factory, fell into a pool of scalding lye. He was confined to bed due to the burns. The work on East Logan Street has begun. It is being widened from the grist mill across the interurban tracks to Walnut Street. The Coloma boys again showed superiority over their opponents with a 26 to 0 score over Buchanan. The lineup includes Brunson, Wooley, Lavanway, Lorenz, Eber, Leonard, Nordeen, Hingst, Guy, Corrigan, Fritz, Urch, Peters and Kilmark. War News: Secretary Lansing met with President Wilson concerning German submarine raids off the American coast.

60 years ago – 1956

 Chamber of Commerce president James Barricklow announced they are establishing a Community Chest. Army Pfc. Dominick D.G. Greco Jr. graduated from the artillery communications course. Mr. and Mrs. William Scott of Jackson Court recently moved to Houghton, Michigan to be with their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Chester Pratt. Pratt is a professor of Physics at the Michigan College of Mining and Technology.

30 years ago – 1986

 Township and City finally agree to accept the Joint Fire Board’s proposal. The seven-bay fire station will be built on the railroad property on Washington. Mayor Glenn Randall, Clerk Shirley Eggermont, Charles Owen, Martin Quigley and Galen Blough each receive Fire Department hats as a thank you. Marshall Badt and co-owner Gene Rennhack announce the sale of Badt’s Pharmacy to Rite Aid. Susan Olney and Chris Glisson were named CHS Homecoming Queen and King. Washington Elementary School children enjoyed a performance by Latin dancers as part of their Latin countries studies. The Coloma Lioness Club will hold their seventh annual Holiday Fashion Show.

WATERVLIET 90 years ago – 1926

 President C.I. Monroe of the First National Band and Uriah Wood, Civil War veteran, left on September 11, 1926 for Des Moines, Iowa, to attend the annual encampment of the G.A.R. They will spend two or three days in the Iowa capital.  Mr. Wood is one of Watervliet’s three surviving Civil War Veterans.  He is 84 years old. Mrs. Marjorie Dipmore, who with her husband, owns a large farm in Watervliet and trains high bred riding horses, has been awarded prizes amounting to $500 on horses that they exhibited at the State Fair in Detroit. Raunald Myrick, Watervliet, returned to Detroit to resume his studies at the Sacred Heart Seminary.

60 years ago – 1956

 Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Fillmore are the proud parents of their baby girl, Roxanne Lynn, born Aug. 8, 1956 and weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces. Paul Pflugradt, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pflugradt, Watervliet, submitted to examination for entrance in the U.S. Marines.  He telephoned his parents and informed them that he had successfully passed the tests and would leave on Sep. 14, 1956 by plane for his new base in San Diego, California. Mr. and Mrs. James Kerr are proud of their new baby girl, Cynthia Jo, born Aug. 27, 1956 and weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces.

30 years ago – 1986

 Vickie Haynes earned her master’s degree in educational leadership at Western Michigan University in September 1986.  She obtained her undergraduate degree at Grand Valley State College.  Mrs. Haynes is an adjusted studies teacher at South School.  She has been with the Watervliet Public Schools for six years. WBA 300 Club Chairman Betty Kunst drew the first winning number of the 1986 season’s club.  Virginia Meader of Watervliet Gambles was the first winner.  There are 32 cash prizes in the popular drawing series that spans from September to the Saturday before Christmas.

Coloma Library News Book Sale

 The library’s annual book sale will be Saturday, October 29 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the library’s lower level. The library will be OPEN during the sale. Don’t miss out on this HUGE sale of gently used books, DVDs, videos and more!

Story Hour

Story Hour meets on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. at the library. Story Hour is preschool aged children- join Miss Amy for a story, craft and song time. It is asked that all children be supervised by an adult. Story hour is a free program and no registration is required.

Book Club

The Coloma Library Book Club is meeting for a book discussion on Thursday, October 27 at 5:30 p.m. The title to read before the discussion is “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman.  Generally, depending on demand there are titles available for check-out at the front desk.  The book club regularly meets every other Thursday and is always looking for new members. For more information please stop in the library or call 468-3431.