Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/187

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wooden member nailed across its end. With this,

the youngster rolled the wheel. 3. The 100 block of A Street (Memorial Square)

became a skating rink where kids tried out their new skates and bicycles. The grass center was wider in the old days, and the roadway was thus narrower than it is today. 4. Plucking eggs was great Easter entertainment. You held your hand supportively around the base of the egg, as did your partner. One "plucked" the other's egg. Whichever owner's egg survived was the winner. 5. Plucking a top was slightly similar to egg-plucking. You used the cord wound around the top to spin it. As you spun your top, your friend would try to throw his top down and try to break your spinning top. These tops were bought at Mr. T. D.Cost's store (he was Grafton's father) and his store was in the wooden storeroom at the west end of Kaplan's brick building, between Kaplan's and the Reformed Church after 1923.

When the Stewarts returned, they found the couple - quietly playing checkers. S - Gwendolyn Stewart McCallum W-MMM

A TRIP TO BELL'S MILL Henry L. Crummett (b. 1905) recalls accompanying his brother Luke to rent a hack. They went to a livery stable in the west end of town. Destination? Bell's Mill, where a picnic was being held. Henry was about ten years old at the time. Bell's Mill is located two or three miles from Brunswick High School on Route 464 (the Point of Rocks Road). A barely noticeable private road to the left parallel with Catoctin Creek led to the Ausherman farm; the public used this road to reach an inviting pool of running water suitable for swimming. Families and organizations held picnics here. S - Henry Crummett W-MMM

W-MMM

ALUMNI GLEE CLUB For three or four years surrounding 1948 the Alumni Association's Glee Club presented Christmas programs, sang in churches, and even scheduled performances as far away as Hagerstown, for several of which they received payment. Mildred Cox directed and rehearsals were in the Methodist Church. W-MMM

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE 1920's An attractive yet delicate young lady who directed entertainment for a company in Ohio came to Brunswick in the late 1920's to help present an amateur musical show. Doris roomed with the Grover Stewart family during her brief stay. She caught the eye of a handsome young local man, who was interested in music, having a band called the Potomac Club Orchestra. He met Doris, and now he was coming up to visit her. One evening he arrived for a visit just as the Stewart's were leaving. "Do you mind if I stay," he asked the hosts. "Well, I guess it's all right," came the reluctant permission. One couple left; the other couple stayed.

Do You Remember ... On "Pay Days" for railroaders, twice a month, Mrs. Mary Douglas for nearly three decades stood in the alcove entrance of the old Bank of Brunswick building wearing the familiar Salvation Army uniform, holding a tambourine in which contributions were placed as the employees left the bank? Mrs. Douglas served as a Salvation Army volunteer for 70 years. At the age of 88 she was recognized as the "oldest newspaper carrier" in the U.S. Walking the hills of Brunswick she delivered the BLADE TIMES. Declamation Contests? Mary Foster Cage does; she entered every year from seventh grade on. Her first entry, "Little Orphan Annie," a poem by James Whitcomb Riley, won an honorable mention. Practice paid off; senior year she won first place with "Delores Defies the King," a very dramatic piece. The readings all had to last from three to five minutes.

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