Arts & Entertainment

I Was Only 10 Years Old by Cap'n Jack

Issue 2 of Egg Rock was written by Jack Miller, the former owner of Cap'n Jack's Waterfront Inn. He was Cap'n Jack and grew up in Swampscott. He wrote this piece and others for his children, including Peg Wenninger.

 

It was about a half mile walk down the hill to the Hadley School from where we lived. There were lots of interesting things for me to observe along the way. In the residential neighborhoods the wood frame houses stood in rows on each side of the streets.

Forest Avenue kind of became Redington Street at the intersection of Banks Road and Devens Road. Part way down Redington Street was a little neighborhood grocery store that was known as "Ginters." It was a busy little market. A little further down the street was a house where one of my teachers lived and a little bit beyond that I would pick up my friend Dick and we would walk by the "haunted house." About two hundred yards beyond that we arrived at the red brick school house.

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It was 1932 and there were not a lot of automobiles, but the few that there were made a broken line of two or three Fords and Chevrolets going down the hills carrying their felt hatted owners to work. It was always cool or cold at 07:45 in the morning and the journey was downhill.

Upon arrival at the school house a loud electric bell rang and we filed in and up the stairs to the 2nd floor where Miss Fenwick stood awaiting us. There were thirty of us in the class, and in the last four years we had spent one year each in the four big classrooms on the first floor. The school principal's name was Miss Alice Shaw, and she ruled the largest school in the town with unquestioned authority. She was a big woman who was tall and well filled out. She tended toward black dresses and took care of behavior problems with a ruler or a paddle which the students called the "rattan."

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Miss Shaw glided rather silently through the hallways and didn't miss a thing. She could silently appear at the rear of a class in progress, and now as I look back on it the teachers viewed her much as a buck private would view the drill sergeant.

I would arrive at Ginters store usually accompanied by one of my little friends, and we would always peer inside as we passed, but one cool fall morning just as we approached the store, there was a sudden and loud commotion.

In front of the store on the sidewalk a rather large German police dog was yowling in a highly agitated way. The storekeeper appeared at the door in his white apron and straw hat howling in glee.

In short order the dog stopped yowling and ran off up the street. My friend and I didn't know what to make of it and continued on our way.

The next day a man said to us, "You're the two kids who were here when the dog got zapped aren't you?"

He laughed, and when we looked puzzled, he showed us the metal screen on top of the large box of oranges that were on display on the sidewalk and leaning up against the front of the store.

"See that," he said. "Well, there's a wire going to a spark coil inside the store, and that dog would come by and pee on the oranges. Charley in there got mad and rigged it up. That dog won't be lifting his leg there any more." With that he laughed again and walked away. My little friend and I talked it all over as we walked on and came to three conclusions: (1) that dog probably wouldn't do it again; (2) Charley must be awful mad, and: (3) we should tell our mothers not to buy oranges at "Ginters."

to be continued


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