Title
I Remember Old Tuscaloosa, July 22, 1971
Subject
History--Tuscaloosa (AL)
Maxwell, Fred (Frederick Richard Jr.), 1889-1988
Description
Fred Maxwell wrote "I Remember Old Tuscaloosa" for a weekly newspaper in Tuscaloosa called The Graphic from December, 1970 through December 1971. The Graphic was founded, owned and published by Maxwell's daughter Camille Elebash and her husband Karl Elebash beginning in 1957. It was sold to The Tuscaloosa News in 1976 and ceased publication sometime later.
To see the complete article enlarged click on the image.
To see the complete article enlarged click on the image.
Creator
Fred Maxwell
Source
Camille Elebash
Publisher
The Graphic
Date
July 22, 1971
Contributor
Brenda Harris (Description)
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Type
Document
Identifier
1819
Coverage
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Text
(Editor’s Note: This is a continuation of last week’s column on some of the “fun things” boys used to do around 1900 playing near the wholesale grocery at University Blvd. and 23rd Ave. owned by the author’s father and uncle.)
*****
Buried treasure is always exciting and the store furnished a convenient location. There were two iron gratings on the store’s front sidewalk which furnished ventilation to the basement.
The basement was not lighted and I was not allowed to play in this area. However when I accidently dropped my favorite marble “taw” through the grating I prevailed on my father to let me try to recover it. I not only recovered my agate marble but I found about $1.30 in small coins that had been lost through the grating and had not been disturbed in several years. Subsequently this area frequently yielded 15 to 25 cents a month.
It was observed that a flock of about 10 to 12 geese would walk up 23rd Ave. about 3:30 to 4 p.m. just about every day to pick up the small amount of grain (corn and oats) that was dropped on the ground in handling the large sacks of grain. These domestic geese came from somewhere near Lock 10.
On a few occasions I gave them the following excitement. A small hole was drilled in a single grain of corn and a string was fastened to the grain. At the other end of about 10 feet of string a sheet of newspaper was gathered together in the middle and tied. This grain of corn was included in a handful of corn which was placed near the loading zone. The geese lost no time in gobbling up the corn.
Soon one goose would stand erect with the string protruding from his beak and his sound of an alarm started the geese to retreat. But when the newspaper followed along pandemonium broke loose. First they all ran and sometimes they took to wing and flew across the Warrior River.
The grit in the craw would grind up the grain of corn and quickly release the goose from the pesky “thing” that was following him wherever he went.
*****
Buried treasure is always exciting and the store furnished a convenient location. There were two iron gratings on the store’s front sidewalk which furnished ventilation to the basement.
The basement was not lighted and I was not allowed to play in this area. However when I accidently dropped my favorite marble “taw” through the grating I prevailed on my father to let me try to recover it. I not only recovered my agate marble but I found about $1.30 in small coins that had been lost through the grating and had not been disturbed in several years. Subsequently this area frequently yielded 15 to 25 cents a month.
It was observed that a flock of about 10 to 12 geese would walk up 23rd Ave. about 3:30 to 4 p.m. just about every day to pick up the small amount of grain (corn and oats) that was dropped on the ground in handling the large sacks of grain. These domestic geese came from somewhere near Lock 10.
On a few occasions I gave them the following excitement. A small hole was drilled in a single grain of corn and a string was fastened to the grain. At the other end of about 10 feet of string a sheet of newspaper was gathered together in the middle and tied. This grain of corn was included in a handful of corn which was placed near the loading zone. The geese lost no time in gobbling up the corn.
Soon one goose would stand erect with the string protruding from his beak and his sound of an alarm started the geese to retreat. But when the newspaper followed along pandemonium broke loose. First they all ran and sometimes they took to wing and flew across the Warrior River.
The grit in the craw would grind up the grain of corn and quickly release the goose from the pesky “thing” that was following him wherever he went.
Original Format
Newspaper