October 10, 1991 - The Past Was the Best of TimesCIO The Suffolk Times • October 10, 1991
The Past Was the Best of Times
By Paul Stoutenburah
They say you shouldn't look back but
I'm afraid it can't be helped, particularly
when I've just attended my 50th high
school reunion. Talk about looking
back! It was 1941. Hitler was smashing
his way through Europe and our own
world was coming under siege. It was a
time that news from the outside world
came to us somehow — mysteriously
through glowing tubes in a radio set
that seemed to take forever to warm up
before the voice was actually heard.
In those days the school bus ran only
along the main roads and a good mile
walk from our little house to the bus
was made every day and that was only
for the high school. We walked to the
grade school on Depot Lane.
Cold winters when the bay would
freeze over and early springs when pota-
toes were planted as early as March were
common. To heat the house a tall
woodstove stood in the middle of the
living room. The bedrooms were always
cold, particularly mine for it was on the
northwest corner of the house where I
listened to the wind howl on lonely
winter nights. As I remember the stove
the front door was made of two parts so
the entire stove front could be opened to
admit huge logs to burn overnight.
How it devoured wood!
In those prewar years my dad worked
in the city at a defense plant and came
out weekends on the Long Island Rail
Road with its old steam engine. He
could do just so much wood cutting; the
rest was up to me. I still have a scar on
my foot where the ax ricocheted off the
Focus on
Mature
wood and cut into my precious
"highcuts" (boots). The walk back to
my house from the woods is still deeply
imbedded in my mind for my boot
sloshed with blood. At home, first aid
was to wash it out and pull it together
with a strip of old- fashioned adhesive
tape, for doctors were a long way away.
Raccoons Were Trouble
Even though times were hard we still
fed the birds right outside our breakfast
window. As now, we had difficulty in
trying to keep the suet away from the
raccoon that challenged our ingenuity to
outwit him. Dad fixed him by putting
the suet behind half -inch galvanized
mesh screening strapped to the tree.
We'd often flash the outside light on at
night and see Mr. Raccoon spread out
like a carpet around the suet.
Those were the days the weakfish
were so plentiful in our bays that the
fishing party boats were a big economic
factor in the area. On weekends, boats
by the hundreds would be anchored off
Roses Grove chumming for those sil-
very fighting fish. The best chum was
shrimp caught in our creeks. A hand net
about four feet wide worked along the
banks as the shrimper made his way
around the perimeter of our shallow
creeks. The shrimp were sold by the
quart and a rugged gal called Old Mary
used to work our creek pulling a shrimp
Friends
U Nlimited
�1
P.O. Box 683 Mattituck, N.Y. 11952
Friends Unlimited Inc. wishes to. thank everyone
who participated in our 3rd annual golf tournament.
Congratulations to the winners:
Men 1 St Low Gross
2nd "
3rd "
1 St Low Net
2nd " "
Women 1 st Low Gross
2nd " If
3rd LOW Net
2nd " "
Andy Stype
John Charters
Scott Tyler
John Haas
Greg Tyler
Nancy Hilbig
Jane Kaytis
Nancy Bertorello
Doris Sherman
Special thanks to Island's End Golf and Country
Club for the great lunch and wonderful course; to
Skip Schoenhaar and crew at the 1/2 Shell Republic
Restaurant for another fabulous cocktail party and
dinner; to Dennis Harkoff who gives so much time
and effort; to Jack Clark and TOM Foster for their "de-
liveries"; and especially to Harold Wilsberg for his
most thoughtful and generous contribution. We thank
you all. We're overwhelmed by your support.
Linda Burke and Nancy Bertorello
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
SKUNK —Once common on our East End, the skunk has completely
disappeared from the North Shore due to the pressures of man and
pesticides.
cart behind her. Clams, both hard and
soft, were common and oysters lined
our creek banks. Our driveway, soft in
the springtime, soon became rock hard
from shells of all sorts. Dollars were
scarce and yet I can never remember
going hungry. When we moved from
that house the taxes were a mere $75 a
year.
It was the days when blowfish were
common and, in the beginning, consid-
ered trash to be thrown away. Later
when it was discovered they were good
eating they were kept and skinned —
the best - tasting fish one could imagine.
As young boys we'd catch them off any
bulkhead or dock for they could be seen
easily from above and your hook baited
with anything would snag them easily.
They introduced many a small boy and
girl into the world of fishing but
fishing would never be as good as then.
An Expensive Car.
Where we lived forced me to find
much of my entertainment outdoors. In
those early years there were few kids
nearby. In the later years of high school
my folks did let me buy an old Model A
Ford. It cost the grand total of $25,
which I got back when I sold it to go
into the service. It was a good thing
there were no inspections then for it al-
ways seemed to have something wrong
with it. The only heat was from a heater
that operated by swinging a gate open
to let the heat in from the exhaust
manifold. The idea was good but with
all the drafts and cracks around the
windows and doors it was more
psychological than practical.
My father introduced me to hunting
not so much for the sport but for the
necessity of putting food on the table.
Our motto was not a chicken in every
pot but a rabbit or squirrel in every pot
and I must say my mother could cook
rabbit to perfection. Hunting got me
outdoors and helped use up my youthful
energy.
I think what introduced me to photog-
raphy was a program at school of pic-
tures someone had taken of wildlife.
Those shots of baby foxes and birds
with gaping mouths waiting to be fed
filled my head with wonder and, of
course, from then on I had to have a
camera. A Kodak 35 with a split -image
range finder was my first purchase and
that wonderful little camera served me
well. Right through high school and all
through the war years even overboard
when our ship was sunk it stayed with
me.
Life was much simpler then. Our
mailbox up in the post office
(combination "MD ") was never filled
with junk mail as our mail boxes are
today. Often we wouldn't pick up the
mail for days as trips into town were
planned and, of course, sort of special.
We got our milk at Wickham's farm
and the bottles were half cream. Even
then we recycled the milk bottles.
Dad had a compost pile in the back-
yard where all the garbage was buried
and turned over. The cans and bottles
were thrown in a big hole dug in the
woods. Once a skunk fell in and lived
there for a long time. Today we don't
even have skunks on the North Shore
and very few on the South Shore.
Yes, there is much to be remembered
when you go to a 50th high school re-
union. Sadly a few of our classmates
were missing but I think all would
agree we lived in the best of times and
the best of all places.
Joseph L. Townsend
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