Chickens By Aunt Wilda

We use to sell chickens. One day we had an order for several chickens. Aunt Edith and Uncle Furman came to visit while the chickens were being prepared. Furman stepped right in to get them ready. We always cut the heads off on a tree stump with two nails hammered in the top to stick the neck through. Up goes the ax , down it comes, and off goes the head. Edith said," I want to try it." Furman gave her the ax and said "Now don't cut your leg off." she had him to put the head on the stump and then she put the ax up a little and down it came.The neck got cut, but not off. The chicken jumped up and ran off. Edith started yelling,"Get him, get him." Furman ran and got the chicken,Grand pop stood there laughing and the poor chicken was hurting. Furman cut the chicken's head off, and off it ran again,tripping and running some more. Edith yelled,"See Furman, you can't do any better than me." She didn't know that they do that sometime because of the nerves. She went into the house and the rest of the chickens got their turn.

The Late 40's

Everyone had a job in the late 40's, there was no TV or electronics and hardly anyone had a telephone, but life was good. An occasional movie downtown, the beach, the boardwalk, and our friends was all we needed. It was a simpler way of living and I miss it.

If I was starting over again, I would buy myself a small farm and just sell vegetables at a roadside stand. I did many things in my lifetime, but none were as satisfying as watching animals and vegetables grow.

Roof Slide

After Grand mom and Grand pop,Lois and I moved from the lock house,we moved to Hanes road in Edgley, which later became a part of Levittown,Pa.. My job at that house was to clean the Chicken coop every Saturday. One Saturday after I finished my job I thought it would be a good idea to get up on the slanted roof and slide down. Well, when I did that, I got my pants caught on a nail and put a large L shaped tear in them. The first thing I thought was,( Mother will be so mad about this) I waited until she wasn't in sight, and I went to my room and sewed them.The L was very large and I sewed it with about four stitches. Later I heard Mother laughing out loud and said to Daddy,"Look at this." and when I walked into the room, there she was holding my pants up and laughing. I was then told that (I should never do anything like that again.)( That was the same as telling a lie.)(You should never Sneak.) Etc, etc.She at least didn't tell me never to slide on the roof again, So Guess What? The next week I took the hammer with me and got rid of that nail. I didn't only slide once, I went down again.

Boy From NY City

A family from NY City rented a house on our street for the Summer. They had a boy about 5 years old that talked so strange, I barely understood him. He always tried to sound tough, I guess he was from a tough neighborhood or something. He would say something like "I don't want to hurt you, but don't came on my porch." He wasn't big enough to hurt anyone, that's what made it so strange sounding. Even though we didn't really like him, we would go over to his yard, because he had the neatest toy trucks, tractors, and other dirt moving toys.

Selling Fruit Trees

Dad started selling fruit trees from the stark catalog for extra money. He would take the orders and send them in for the people. This was before we moved to Erma and he actually sold some to Mrs. Sirrus who would later be our neighbor. When I got out of the army, she gave me two of the fig trees she bought from him and I moved them to the yard in Erma. I put one by the cabin door, so that fig tree stayed in the family for a long time.

Sand Dunes

The sand dunes in North Wildwood were like the dunes that are in Avalon now. They pushed them down to make a clear view of the ocean for the motels they were building. So, then they decided it was better to have the dunes to protect against hurricanes. They planted dune grass and let the sand make new dunes, but they are nowhere near as big as the old ones were.

The Rat Trap

I was watching our neighbor lady and her grandson clean their yard one day and she told him to reach in the hole under their house and get the rat trap so she could put new bait on it. Well he did and I bet it really hurt from the sound of his scream. That's when I found out I could laugh at other people's trouble's.

I felt guilty about laughing, but I still laugh when I think about it. She started blaming her husband for putting the trap in the hole, that is the most comical part of the whole thing.

Our Fort

We found a dry spot in the middle of a swamp and decided to build a fort. It turned out pretty nice and it was well hidden with all the cattails around it. We had a place that even the older boys on the street didn't know about.

One day one of the guys said that dry cattail stems were good to smoke and they tasted like cigars. Well we had to try them so we got some matches and lit up a few. Boy, I thought I was going to die, my head started spinning and I had the dry heaves for about an hour. After that I got a severe headache. Live and learn!

The Gas Co.

Before natural gas was piped in from out west, they used to make it from coal right in Wildwood. The coal was brought in from PA by train and there was always a mountain of it. The plant had a high chimney and there always was a large flame shooting up from it. It seemed to me that they were burning the gas as fast as they were making it.

There was plenty of cinders left over from burning the coal and several places were using them to make cinder blocks. Half the motels in Wildwood were made with them.

The Bomb

One day the neighbor boy brought over a bomb that he found on the beach. We thought it was neat and were really checking it out. He finally said he would show it to Dad and see what he thought of it. He took it in our house and I could hear Dad yelling at him. He ran off with the bomb and Dad came out after him and wanted to know where he went. He said the bomb was probably live and the kid was going to kill himself. I spent the rest of the day listening for an explosion.

I hated Liver and Onions

There were two meals popular in our house, liver and onions and mashed potatoes with buttermilk. I couldn't stand either one of them. I was threatened with everything short of horse whipping if I didn't eat them and even that would not have worked on me. They finally gave up trying and Mother would let me eat something else on those days.

One day Dad brought home some Chinese food and Dad and I were the only ones that would eat it. I loved that stuff. One of Dad's friends gave us some wild cherry jelly that he made and I was the only one that liked that, so I had all of it to myself.

The Farm House In Erma

We went over to Erma to see the farm that we would be moving to. The first thing to hit us was the mosquitoes. It was noontime and they were out in force. We had to go buy some 612, which was the only repellent at that time. It was a liquid that you rubbed on and it smelled terrible.

The mosquito problem lasted a few years until the county dug all the drainage ditches in the marshes. That made a tremendous difference.

We had a great time exploring the farm with all it's buildings and antiques.

The Townhouse 5&10

The townhouse 5&10 store was always a good place to see the latest toys for sale. The owner was a very nice man. He let us look as much as we wanted even though we rarely bought anything. The sears Christmas catalog was the only better place to do this. When the sears Christmas catalog came, it was an exciting day. We would wear the thing out by the time Christmas came along.

The Old Plymouth

The old Plymouth always got us to where we wanted to go, but an impatient person would never have been able to drive it. Forty miles an hour seemed to be it's top speed and Dad rarely went above thirty-five. He always had a large following, of cars that is. We looked like the engine of a long train plugging along. It's a good thing no one thought of road rage in those days.

Dad was always looking at the temperature gauge and if it got too high, he would take the car out of gear and we would coast for a couple hundred yards and then continue on for another few miles until it got hot again. One time the brake line broke and we finished the last thirty miles to Grandpop's farm with just the emergency brake. That was fun on the hills.

Drumfish

Our next door neighbor caught a large drumfish. I never saw such a big fish, it must of weighed about 70 pounds. He gave us some and it was really good the way Mother cooked it. I liked it made into a potpie. I always liked all of Mother's potpies, especially the chicken with the thick crust.

It seemed like every Friday we had baked cod with mashed potatoes and stewed tomatoes. I haven't had that in years and I think I'll go buy some codfish.

Repairs

Dad used to repair our shoes at home. He had all of the tools that a cobbler had and at that time all shoes were made of leather with leather soles and heels. No one had sneakers in those days. We all had to shine our shoes, mainly to make them last longer. The wax kept the leather from cracking.

He also had to be good at fixing flat tires. On a trip to PA, we usually had at least one flat and sometimes more. He never had a spare tire, he always took the tire off the rim and patched the inner tube. Air was pumped in with a hand pump and we would be on our way again.

The Twins

Don and Shirl were born before we moved to Erma. The little house we were living in was getting pretty crowded. There were seven of us kids now. The twins would be the last of our family to be born at Margaret Mace hospital. Sharon would be born at Burdette. Burdette was just built and it was very small at that time.

I had mixed feelings about moving, our 4th street gang was a big part of my life and I would miss the kids. I don't think any other street in North Wildwood had as many kids as our street did.

High Water

Late one afternoon I noticed water coming out of the street drain. It started running down the street and neighbors started coming out and talking about it. I looked out towards the meadows and they were completely flooded. It was strange because there was no wind and the Sun was out. It kept rising and soon the sidewalks were under water. I started to worry, because it started coming faster and now it was heading towards our front door. It looked like we were in Venice.

It finally stopped and after a while it started to recede. Some of the older people said they lived there all their life and never saw the water come so high.

Changing Grades

In Margaret Mace school, every grade had a skit to do on the last day of school. So I was graduating from the 1st grade and I wasn't too happy about it. It meant going into the 2nd grade that was taught by a very grouchy woman that everyone was afraid of.

Well I thought my luck was turning for the better when Dad said we were moving to a farm in Erma. I wouldn't have that teacher after all, little did I know that I was getting a worse teacher in Lower Township.


Diet Help

Our Dog

The collie we got as a pup grew up and became a car chaser. We couldn't break him of the habit and he finally got killed by a car. I had a feeling that the neighbors were not too sorry to see him go. At the time I was too sick to think much about the dog, I had the chicken pox and was really feeling terrible.

Mother believed in fresh air for any illness and she made me go outside and stay in the sun. It was very windy and cold that week and the cold made my rash itch like crazy. I can still see some of the scars on my face.

How Different It Was

One day the man living in the house in front of ours got sick and his wife called an ambulance. Everyone on the street came out to see if they could help, there must have been 50 people there. Even the lady from New York, that everyone thought was stuck-up was there holding the man's hand as he was being put in the ambulance.

When they called the ambulance for me a couple of years age, people watched from their windows, but no one even asked what happened to this day. It's a far different world from the forties.

If you live in St. Augustine

One Big Typewriter

This typewriter on the Atlantic City boardwalk actually worked. They scrapped it during world war 11 for the metal. What a shame!

Cape May's Elephant

This is a drawing of the elephant made in Cape May in 1884. It was over 40 feet high and the owner charged 10 cents to go inside and up to the pavilion. It was located in South Cape May. It was left to rot and the city tore it down around the turn of the century.

Interesting family history from Aunt Wilda

A long time ago Lucy the elephant was a Coffee Shop. That is where Grandmom's Mother worked,her name was Ida Bacon. She was my Grandmother. My great Grandfather worked at the Barniget Light house, his name was Sam Leamon. Grandmom Miles told me that when she was a little girl, she would visit and play in the Light house.

Lucy is now restored and in Margate, NJ.

Grandmom

We went up to PA to bring Grandmom down for a stay. We came back to NJ by way of Atlantic City along the white horse pike {rte. 30}. We were all fascinated by all the signs on the way into Atlantic City. There were signs made like full size castles, dinosaurs, fish, and just about anything you could think of. It was great fun seeing the sites in Atlantic City, like Lucy the elephant and the tall hotels along the boardwalk.

Dad's Burnt Elbow

Dad was the only person I ever knew that could sleep while sitting in a straight back chair. One night he was doing this and leaned back a little, just enough for his elbow to touch the heater. That woke him up right quick and he ended up with a very large blister.

He always used to read his paper, sleep awhile, then read his paper some more until late in the night. I never could read at night unless I was in bed.

Hamburgers

When Don and Shirl were born, Mother had to stay in the hospital for a week. Dad asked us kids every day what we wanted for supper and we always said hamburgers and ketchup on buns. He did it, every day he went to the market and got fresh hamburger and buns and we all helped cook and fix them. Everyone on 4th ave. was joking about it. Dad said that we would start eating right when Mother got home.

Aunt Wilda Also Liked The Railroad

I liked the railroad also. I would run across the field and wait for the train to come, because I knew I was going to get candy thrown to me. The Engineer got use to me coming out there to wave at the train, so he started bringing me candy and yelling "How are you today?" I told Albert and Margaret Parr about this, and they started coming with me. Who would have known then that one day I would marry an Engineer that would buy me boxes of candy. One thing for sure, He didn't throw them at me.

They Are Taking Black Hill Away

They started hauling away our beloved black hill. Loaders and dump trucks worked on it day and night until it was gone. They built that furniture store "NJ Warehouse" where it once stood. We were all sick about that.

There was a building boom in Wildwood, because the war was over and and people were making up for the 5 years lost. All the empty blocks where there were shrubs and swamps were being cleared and houses were being built on them. I didn't like the change at all.

NJ Ave.

NJ ave. had railroad tracks running down the middle of it when we lived there. They still had passenger service in to the center of Wildwood. Those old steam engines used to put out a whole lot of smoke. Sometimes you could get yourself covered with black soot if the fire wasn't burning right in the engine.

I was fascinated by them and the railroad workers were always friendly and talked to us kids. I asked for an electric train for Christmas so I could have my own train. I had that train for years and kept adding to it each Christmas.

I never wanted to be an engineer like a lot of the other boys, I wanted a ranch like Roy Rogers. Aunt Mary's father was a real cowboy from the west. When he was young, he rounded up cattle and all of that and I thought he was a special person, above everyone else.

The Dentist

My trip to the dentist in Wildwood was an experience I'll never forget. He was as big as Paul Bunyan and his fingers were so big and fat that I couldn't see how he could work on any one's teeth with them. The hardest part of the whole thing was there were about 12 kids in front of me and they were screaming like they were being chopped to pieces. If the big nurse wasn't blocking the door I would have taken off.

They didn't have fluoride in those days, so dentists were pretty busy filling cavities. I finally got to the big chair and couldn't believe how much torture equipment was around that thing. The drill is what I didn't like, something about the sound it made is what turned my bones cold. It's funny, but the drilling didn't hurt at all and I was surprised that the other kids screamed about it. The dentist thanked me for being good and off I went.

The Gullies

When the tide started going out in the ocean off North Wildwood, it would form gullies or sand bars under the water. These made safe places to swim where you wouldn't get taken out in the undertow. The water also was a little warmer in them from the Sun hitting the still water. We spent a lot of time at the beach when we lived there. After we moved to Erma, it was only a few times each Summer.

No one used sunblock in those days, I wonder why skin cancer is on the rise now. Our skin used to peel off every June and we would be tan until school started again.

Roy Rogers

Jim and I each had a dime and Mother said we could go to the newsstand and buy 2 comic books. We each bought the Roy Rogers comic, because he was the was the king of the cowboys and there was no 2nd place. Well Mother said we were crazy and made us take one back and exchange it for another comic. So Jim exchanged his for a capt. Marvell.

I recently saw that same Roy Rogers comic at a card show and it was listed for $10,000. Boy, if we only knew what things were going to be worth.

Long Nights

I used to think nights were weeks long compared to days. It was because I used to wake up during the night and it would seem like a very long time before I went to sleep again. I didn't like nights at all.

When the Sunday school teacher told us that bad people get tormented forever after they die, I figured they were put in a pitch black place where they never saw anything again. They were all alone with nothing to do, see, or hear for the rest of time. What a horrible thought.

Blackberry Pie

One day Dad loaded us in the car and said we are going to go blackberry picking. We rode offshore to an abandoned railroad track bed and overpass just west of Court House. There was loads of ripe blackberries and blueberries all free for the taking. We had a good time filling our pots with berries and eating as many as we could.

When we got home, Mother made two large pies in her baking pans and they were really good. I still have never tasted a berry pie as good as the ones Mother used to make. Somehow you could taste both the blackberries and blueberries that she mixed in the pies.