Come on, Take the Quiz
By
Gerry Niskern

We all run into the “Do You Remember?” quizzes from time to time. Usually they’re fun and you end up feeling really smart, or very old!
I decided to make up one of my own. My quiz is a little different because some items have a little story too.
l. Do you remember salesmen coming to your house hoping to sell your mom some “Jewel Tea or Coffee”. Or do you remember men coming around every so often offering their sharpening services for your household’s knives or scissors. I do.
Did the doctor come to your house when someone was sick? Yes, the family doctor actually did come! And by the way, do you remember the metal braces they recommended to put on the elbow of a toddler who wanted to continue sucking his thumb. The brace kept the poor baby from bending his arm to put his thumb into his mouth, until he broke the habit……… Supposedly.
Did your house have plenty of ash trays, in case the doctor wanted to put out his cigarette? And did your coffee table have a cigarette box, full of cigarettes, for guests?

And speaking of coming to your home, do you remember the Vegetable Man who drove his truck down the alley behind your house with fresh veggies and fruit for sale every couple of days?
2. Did you or your sister have a Hope Chest? Years ago, almost every young girl wanted a hope chest to start saving linens and other items for the day she was married. They were about the size of a large trunk, made of beautiful wood, and Cedar lined.
3. Do you remember your mom whitening the summer shoes with the little bottle of white liquid with the sponge on top, usually on Saturday night , for Sunday church.?
4. Do you remember standing on the large floor vent from the furnace on a cold winter night? And do you remember cleaning the wallpaper every year with the large wad of spongy cleaner ( it resembled Pla-do). It was pink and came in a can. When it got too dirty, you grabbed another wad.
5. Do you remember the Spittoons? They were a large, round receptacle, placed on the floor, usually made of Brass. The spittoons were about eight or ten inches across the opening. Men who used chewing or dipping tobacco used to spit into them, sometimes from some distance away. My grandma had one in the corner of her large kitchen for my grandpa and uncles. Gross!
6. Do you also remember when men carried large handkerchiefs and women carried dainty, embroidered “hankies”? They all had to be washed and ironed every week. Thank your lucky stars for Kleenex.
7. Popping corn over the coals in the living room fireplace was easy with the long handled wire basket was fun. Do you remember doing that?
8. Did you make some serious decisions in front of the large glass “Penny “ candy counter at the grocery store? You might only have three pennies, but if some items were “two for” or “three for”, you could come away with quite a bag full.
And remember when your dad bought ice cream? The clerk had to pack the ice cream into quart size boxes ( similar to the carons Chinese food comes in) and if he was a good guy he would leave the flaps up and pack it to the top of them?
And best of all, do you remember the Eskimo Pies? Chocolate covered ice cream on a stick with a gimmick. Every once in a while when you finished licking the wooden stick, the word free would appear. That meant you could march right back in and get another one!
Do you have memories of any of these things? …………Of course you don’t.