PASSING NEWSPAPERS IN NEW BREMEN
by Elton (“Pitt”) Bruns – N.B.H.S.-1925 [from “The Towpath” – January 1988]
Our route began when we picked up our papers at
Schulenberg’s “Drug” Store (later Gilberg’s Furniture Store), then the
Western Ohio Interurban Station and waiting room. Our car was the 4:50 which arrived anywhere from 4:50 to
6:00 p.m. Our route took us west on
Monroe to Main, then north on Main to Vogelsang’s (now 22 Knoxville Ave.),
then back south on Franklin to Monroe and then west to the White Mountain
Creamery, where we stopped for free buttermilk which was always on tap -
sometimes ice cream, if the right people were on duty - then back east to
Franklin and Main and south to Plum and the Wooden Shoe Brewery ice houses,
then home where, if we were not too late with the paper, we sometimes
received a free Sarsaparilla. Then we went south on Washington, past Rabe’s lumber
yard & mill, a block past South Street to Oliver Boesel’s and Peter
Erb’s, where we were sure to receive a lecture and a hunting story from
Pete. Typically, his feats were
capturing or shooting multiple game birds with a single shot, i.e. six
pigeons on the same limb. He took
careful aim and split the limb and trapped all birds by their feet. The next week, it would be similar except
he inserted his ramrod in the rifle barrel, took careful aim and impaled all
six on the ramrod. Then back north on Washington and Walnut, past Rabe’s
Store, the Arcade, the Kuenzel Mills, the First National Bank and several
canal warehouses to Second Street.
Then, east to the last house on Second Street to Arnold (“Fat”)
Gieseke’s where Mrs. Gieseke (Elsie, mother of Marjorie Lietz) usually gave
us a cookie. She was such a pretty
and nice lady. It was a pleasure to
be near the end of our routes. It must be remembered
that New Bremen in 1917-1919 was much smaller than now, also the number of
subscribers was low in proportion to population. Our combined routes had no more than 60-70 customers. The winter of 1918 was an especially severe one, with
temperatures below zero and very heavy snows. There was practically no motorized traffic on the streets and
no salt was used. Once down, the snow
stayed on a long time so that we were able to load our papers on a sled and
sometimes get a pull from a horse-drawn sled or sleigh. It was a wonderful sensation on a wintry
night with the only sounds being dogs barking and sleigh bells jingling, one
which I will never forget. My father, F. W. (“Pitt”) Bruns wrote many articles for
the “New Bremen Sun” under the name of “SNURB” (Bruns spelled backward). …SNURB, II |
