Reflections from Edgar Green (born in 1912, recollections gathered in 1992)
Early Days of Edgar Green, born 1912
Well, it all started some years ago, August, 1912. I don’t remember much of that day, unlike my cousin (Mary Stone) who remembers it very well. She says she laid in the doctor’s black bag and ate pills.
From 1912 to 1918, things are a bit hazy except going to Mt. Carmel Church every Sunday. How I hated afternoon service and saying your “piece” on Children’s Days and Christmas.
Things were a bit rough around First World War time. Nobody had money and, in 1918, half the people had the Flu. The only one in our family that had it was my mother.
This was the time when you put your heavy underwear on in October and it stayed ’til April or else “you would catch your death of cold” or worse. This is how I learned to read a lot on my own, when I caught cold and had to stay in the house at least a week—no radio, no TV….only books. Still have books.
Come 1920, off to Mt. Carmel School, Teacher Agnes Murphy. She lived in Boonsboro and Hezzie Snavely hauled her night and morning to Mt. Carmel and back. She would close school sometimes at noon and we would walk in the woods in search of the Trailing Arbutus.
Next teacher, would close school at noon to entertain boyfriends. She flunked me in the 3rd grade because I had measles in Lilac time. Next teacher, Aaron “Monk” Snyder—we got along fine—had me skip the third grade.
We got up to Hagerstown on an average of about twice a year. We would heat bricks to keep our feet warm on the way up. Coming home, I don’t know what we did to keep warm.
(Edgar Green, recollections 1992)
