Growing up on a farm was a wonderful childhood. The fact that our closest shopping area was a small town was also a plus. Once we were old enough to know our way around, be careful crossing streets and mind our Mom, we were allowed to do some things on our own.
Before we were old enough to earn an allowance, Mom might give us a nickel. I remember her tying the coins in the corner of our handkerchiefs so we wouldn't lose the money. Often we would go into the drugstore, climb up on a stool and order a small cherry coke.
There were two drugstores in the same block on the west side of Main Street - McClelland's and Dunham's. McClelland's was where the big kids hung out. Dunham's was quieter; safer for little kids. If we wanted an ice cream cone for our nickel though, McClelland's was the store of choice because they had more flavors.
One summer afternoon Mom stopped to talk to someone. Betty and I asked if we could go on ahead to get our ice cream cones. Up the sidewalk we went. Outside McClelland's we met up with another little girl we knew slightly. She went into the drugstore with us and we got our cones. Back out on the sidewalk Betty and I were licking and enjoying our ice cream while the other little girl gazed at our cones longingly.
Mother came up and saw us eating in front of the other girl. She didn't bawl us out in front of her. She hustled us back to the car. "You never, never order ice cream and eat it in front of your little friends again. If you don't have enough money to buy them something, too, then you don't buy anything for yourself", she warned us.
That was one of our early lessons in manners. It is one I have never forgotten.
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