I watched the TAGS episode today where Barney gave Opie a penny and told him
to go buy a licorice whip so he could talk to Juanita on the phone. I recall
another time Andy gave him a penny for the gumball machine. Every time I
see these two scenes I think of all the wonderful times I had back as a
child trying to decide how to spend a few pennies on candy. We had some
wonderful choices back then. We had bright red wax lips, wax harmonicas,
and even little wax pop bottles filled with a sickly sweet syrup. Then
there was Chum Gum that was three sticks for a penny, named because they
were meant to be shared with a chum. We also had delicious black licorice
pipes and little tiny round pieces of hard button-like candies that were
attached to a long strip of paper. Half the fun of eating the candy was
trying to remove the pieces from the paper without getting any of the paper
stuck to the candy. Our corner drug store that had an old fashioned soda
fountain also had a penny gumball machine. Mixed among all the various
colored balls of gum were hidden a few striped balls. If you were lucky
enough to get a striped gumball you could exchange it for anything in the
store that cost a nickel. So that meant you could get either a candy bar, a
bag of chips, an ice cream cone, a root beer, or coke, or even a cherry
phosphate. But it only worked with pennies. It would not give you a
gumball for just saying "Tuscarora". And you know something? In all the
years that Mr. Weix ran that store I don't think he ever ran a fixed gumball
contest. Not like Mr. Krueger down the street who fixed a drawing so yours
truly could win a brand new cowboy outfit.
"Oh the tears on my pillow speaks the pain that is in my heart."
After more than moving from being away from "Dorchester, My Hometown" I
still get a lump in my throat and a beating in my chest whenever I recall
those wonderful days of childhood growing up in a small town back in the
late 1950's. But what is even sadder is the fact that today's children and
the children of tomorrow will never experience many of those wonderful
things. Unless that is, they become viewers of TAGS, and that is why we at
the Digest play such an important role in helping to pass down to others the
true meaning of what Mayberry is all about.
Kenneth G. Anderson
2906 May Street
Eau Claire, WI 54701
715-839-8470
www.mayberryreflections.com
kanderson8...@charter.net
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