Beacon Nov 2023

Page 6A THE BEACON November 2023
By Mary-Alice Helms
We had no doorbell when
we were growing up. The
usual method for gaining
entry to a house was the old
tried-and-true knuckle rap.
If the caller happened to
be a neighbor or other family
friend, a simple vocal “Yoo-
Hoo” would suffice. What
followed was a mad scramble
among the kids to see who
could be the first to reach
the door. In those days of
telephone party lines, no cell
phones with texting or messaging,
the most common way
to reach a client or prospective
customer or to provide
a service was by making a
house call.
I don’t know why the mail
wasn’t used for billing and
making payments. Surely a
three-cent stamp wasn’t costprohibitive,
but the paper boy,
the milkman, and the employees
of some utilities all came
to the door to make their collections.
I especially remember
the monthly calls made by
our insurance company representative,
Mr. Hobby Meyer.
He was a friendly, pleasant
man who would talk and joke
with us kids while Mother
went to get the envelope with
the insurance payment for that
month. She would return to
KNOCK, KNOCK! WHO’S THERE?
find three little girls happily
chatting with Mr. Meyer while
licking on lollipops which he
had discovered hiding in his
jacket pocket.
There are so many memories
of people who came
to that front door. In the
early 1940s, our country was
struggling with the double
whammy of just emerging
from a terrible depression as
well as facing involvement
in a world war. Young men
worried about being drafted
into the service and leaving
their families while older
men were out of jobs and
struggling to survive. Some
of these vagabonds took to
riding the freight trains, jumping
off in towns to look for a
job or a safe place to stay. Our
house was just a few blocks
east of the railroad tracks in
Brookville, with trains going
through town twice daily. Occasionally
one of the forlornlooking
men who had been
riding the rails knocked on
our front door.
They were always humble
and polite, asking if we had
any jobs for them to do, or if
we might have a little extra
food.
I felt so sorry for every one
of them!
Mother never turned any of
them away.
While we might not have
had a full meal prepared, she
would fry bacon and eggs and
make toast and coffee. She
had a table and chair on our
shaded back porch, where
they gratefully sat and ate. If
she had any food that could
be carried in a bag or box, she
would pack it up for them to
take with them. There weren’t
that many of those poor
strays, but we were told that
they had marked our property
in some way as a place where
a stranger would be fed.
We sometimes wondered if
salesmen might have marked
our house in the same way!
While we rarely made any
purchases, few weeks went by
when we weren’t visited by at
least one salesman. We heard
pitches for vacuum cleaners,
encyclopedias, and various
sprays, soaps, and cleaners.
There was only one company
that our frugal mother welcomed.
It was The Jewel Tea
Company. While she liked the
coffee and tea the company
sold, she was especially fond
of their line of chinaware. She
wouldn’t buy the bowls or
teapots, but the company gave
coupons for each tea or coffee
purchase. When the required
number of coupons were
accumulated, they could be
exchanged for the chinaware
pieces.
We ended up with bowls
of various sizes, a coffeepot,
and a teapot, all acquired
with carefully saved coupons.
Generations of families have
collections of items in that familiar
Autumn pattern which
features a creamy background
with orange flowers, green
leaves, and stems.
The salespeople whom we
truly welcomed at our door
were the farmers and/or their
wives. I wasn’t terribly fond
of the live chickens they sold,
but I sure loved the finished
product! The preparation was
a lot of work for Mother, but
there was nothing better than
one of her fried chicken dinners.
We bought fresh eggs
as well as bushels of corn,
tomatoes, and green beans
for canning. The farmers
didn’t have to use many sales
pitches on us.
Many of the people who
knocked on our door provided
products or services
that might otherwise have
been difficult for us to get for
ourselves. The newspaper
that magically appeared on
the porch every morning as
well as the bottles of fresh
milk were much appreciated.
Does anyone else remember
the glass milk bottles with
the bulbous shape on the top?
They were designed to keep
the cream, which floated to
the top, separated from the
milk.
I remember very cold winter
mornings when the milk and
cream would freeze. The small
cardboard caps would be
lifted by the expanded liquid,
sometimes for several inches
above the bottle. Our milkmen
all were very accommodating.
In later years, after our mother
started working away from
home, we had one milkman
who was most considerate.
Not satisfied with leaving the
milk to sit out on the porch
after Mother left for work, he
would bring the bottles into
the house and store them in
the refrigerator.
Keys? Who, at that time in
Brookville, locked their door?
The “clunk” of mail hitting
the bottom of the mailbox
would send us racing to greet
the mailman. Any knock
on the door was cause for
speculation. Who might be
coming to see us? It might
be the doctor making a house
call, our pastor or a friend just
coming by to chat. Eventually,
we got a doorbell equipped
with two chimes loud enough
to be heard two blocks away.
No matter how we were
summoned, we always were
excited to see who was at our
door.
Credibility • Advocacy • Education • Visibility
What Can The Chamber
Do For You? Just Ask!
812-537-0814
www.dearborncountychamber.org
By
Jeff
Hermesch
Purdue
Extension
jhermesch@purdue.edu
Fall Garden Cleanup
Our gardens are either
done or close to done producing
for the year, so now is a
great time to clean up your
garden while the weather is
still pleasant. By taking the
time this fall to clean up your
garden, you will save yourself
time and energy next spring.
First and foremost, you
should remove any dead plant
material. The removal of dead
plant material helps eliminate
diseases and weeds while
reducing insect infestations
that could remain over winter
and be problematic next year.
Throwing everything away is
best, but some gardeners who
compost may want to use the
dead plant material for their
compost piles. If composted
correctly this practice is fine,
but please remember that some
diseases can survive composting,
so be careful when adding
this to your garden.
Secondly, you should begin
preparing your garden soil.
Tilling the garden can be
done in the fall to aid with
compaction and is helpful if
you choose to plant a cover
crop. Cover crops have many
benefits including reducing
erosion, improving soil structure,
reducing weeds, recycling
nutrients, and improving soil
fertility. Oats are the most
user-friendly cover crop as
they will die off in the winter
and decompose in the garden
as a natural mulch. This is also
a great time to get a soil test
which will show what nutrients
your soil needs. If there is any
www.GarrettBacomLaw.com
204 Short St.
Lawrenceburg, IN 47025
812.260.8154
need for soil amendments, they
can be added in the fall during
tillage. If you don’t plant a
cover crop, the soil should not
be left uncovered. Simply add
leaves or straw to your garden
beds to help absorb water and
prevent erosion.
Next, clean up your garden
tools. Tools can carry disease
pathogens, so they should be
cleaned and sterilized regularly.
Proper tool care will also
keep your tools in good shape
for many years of use. Metal
surfaces should be free of soil
and any tools that cut should
also be sharpened. If you use
trays or pots for seedlings,
please make sure to clean and
sanitize those as well to prevent
any future disease issues.
Finally, make a map of your
garden with this year’s crops
so you can plan for next year
and rotate crops throughout
the garden. A good crop rotation
helps to balance nutrient
depletion in the soil and will
help reduce disease. Avoiding
planting annual plants within
the same family in the same
spot for 3-4 years is ideal.
Make notes of any problems
your garden had including
diseases and pests. This is also
a great time to research new or
different varieties to try in the
garden and start making plans
for next spring.
As always, if you have
questions, please reach out to
me at at jhermesch@purdue.
edu or by phone at 812-926-
1189.
BRATER - WINTER
FUNERAL HOMES
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