With Halloween just around the corner I was thinking about costumes. I don't have any small children around anymore, the grandkids are too " old " for such stuff. I kinda miss the excitement of assembling the outfit. I was remembering what we used to do when we were little. Seems to me I was a hobo more than once. Mom would burn the end of a piece of cork and use that to blacken our faces. A stick and a bundle of rags on the end of it was a required piece of the outfit. Funny how we didn't have any mask on and today they preach about that. I vaguely recall wearing those plastic masks with the tiny eye holes though, couldn't see a thing ! Didn't matter much though, nobody was killed that I ever heard of. Pirates were also popular if I recall correctly. Fancy costumes were just not seen, and I doubt available, except at a professional costume shop. The style I recall were the "jump suit " kind.
There was one Halloween in particular that I remember. My brothers and I were wearing burlap sacks that Dad had brought home from work. I'm not sure exactly what we were supposed to be but the sacks were, to say the least, distinctive. The distinction was not in appearance, they looked like any other sack, but in the way they smelled. You see Dad worked at a fish processing plant. The smell was unmistakable. Over time you did become somewhat " nose blind " to it, as they say today. Us kids didn't seem to notice it much anyway. I do remember that everywhere we went we got comments ! Mostly the comments were not very kind, but we still got the candy. The other kids shied away from us and we got quick access to the doorsteps. All the relatives knew who we were immediately. I just can't imagine how.
I lived outside of town, down to northwest woods. There were few homes down there and they were spread out. Dad and Mom would drive us kids into town ( the village really ) were the rich folks lived and had the good candy. Also their houses were all in a row, up and down the street. Man, was that convenient, somebody must have planned it that way. You only needed to do a few streets and your bag was filled up. That was when you got full sized candy bars, popcorn balls and at some places little bags filled with candy. One year a lady, obviously wealthy as can be, had a big bowl of pennies on her table. You got to reach in and grab a handful ! Just once though, she was watching ! Another year I got a plastic piggy bank. Put a coin in the slot and he tipped his hat. Wish I had saved that bank now, it is a favorite memory of Halloween.
Well, it is all different now. There is a time limit, two hours. There are also age restrictions in place. We didn't need those when we were kids. that was self regulated. It just doesn't seem to be as much fun as back then. Maybe that is just because I'm older now. Maybe it because it seems like a more dangerous thing as well. The candy is suspect and requires a good checking out. Maybe it is the fact that sex offenders are identified so they don't solicit children. It is a sad world indeed. Too much innocence lost I'm thinking. Halloween and children are meant for one another. Fantasy at its' finest. I can be a hobo and just get candy everywhere I go. Good memories.
There was one Halloween in particular that I remember. My brothers and I were wearing burlap sacks that Dad had brought home from work. I'm not sure exactly what we were supposed to be but the sacks were, to say the least, distinctive. The distinction was not in appearance, they looked like any other sack, but in the way they smelled. You see Dad worked at a fish processing plant. The smell was unmistakable. Over time you did become somewhat " nose blind " to it, as they say today. Us kids didn't seem to notice it much anyway. I do remember that everywhere we went we got comments ! Mostly the comments were not very kind, but we still got the candy. The other kids shied away from us and we got quick access to the doorsteps. All the relatives knew who we were immediately. I just can't imagine how.
I lived outside of town, down to northwest woods. There were few homes down there and they were spread out. Dad and Mom would drive us kids into town ( the village really ) were the rich folks lived and had the good candy. Also their houses were all in a row, up and down the street. Man, was that convenient, somebody must have planned it that way. You only needed to do a few streets and your bag was filled up. That was when you got full sized candy bars, popcorn balls and at some places little bags filled with candy. One year a lady, obviously wealthy as can be, had a big bowl of pennies on her table. You got to reach in and grab a handful ! Just once though, she was watching ! Another year I got a plastic piggy bank. Put a coin in the slot and he tipped his hat. Wish I had saved that bank now, it is a favorite memory of Halloween.
Well, it is all different now. There is a time limit, two hours. There are also age restrictions in place. We didn't need those when we were kids. that was self regulated. It just doesn't seem to be as much fun as back then. Maybe that is just because I'm older now. Maybe it because it seems like a more dangerous thing as well. The candy is suspect and requires a good checking out. Maybe it is the fact that sex offenders are identified so they don't solicit children. It is a sad world indeed. Too much innocence lost I'm thinking. Halloween and children are meant for one another. Fantasy at its' finest. I can be a hobo and just get candy everywhere I go. Good memories.
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