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16

Bill was interested in the "film" business which I shall describe later. One of the most intriguing possessions of Bill's was a huge file of the old LIFE magazines full of illustrations by Charles Dana Gibson, James Montgomery Flagg and so many great cartoonists of the day. I could pore over these by the hour and never get tired of it. Bill also liked to put on the magic lantern shows (as I did also). Bill graduated with me from Lincoln School but I'd begun to drop out of the old gang by then, he soon went away to prep school and then college and our paths separated never to cross again--unless they just might because I understand that Bill finally married an old flame of mine, Nelda Pfohl; how I'd love to see them both--or would I really?

And speaking of magic lantern shows, some people named Greene lived on Highland who had two sons, Nelson and Dickson, and they put on such a show at which I had my first view of "pornography." They'd shown a bunch of travel slides, I think, and right at the very end, they projected a slide portraying a man washing his face in the toilet. Wow! Did I feel I was getting really mature when I saw that! The Greene boys were probably five years older than the gang I usually went with.

Near the Greenes, on Oak Street across from the fire station, lived the Smiths with sons Marshall and Hamilton, the latter one of my contemporaries with whom I played on occasion. Mr. Smith was a lawyer or insurance man, making out but not big.

On Highland Street just around the corner from Highland Avenue, was the parsonage of the Dutch Reformed Church and in it lived Beardsley Dobbs and a younger brother. The big feature of this place was a real log cabin in the backyard where some of us would gather. The Rev. Dobbs was transferred to another city and was replaced by the Rev. Warren who had several kids but the eldest was Larry, who was a street fighter and reveled in fist fights with just about anyone, as well as mopping them up, particularly inflicting such noticeable damage as black eyes and bloody noses. I disliked the guy thoroughly but never fought him despite having deliberately tripped him one day on the ice so he fell down; I guess that buffaloed him. We were to wind up fraternity brothers in college!

In the same area, lived the Dunnings, primarily famed for having two Hudson Super-Sixes, and two slick-haired sons. Across from them, lived Mike Marlow, son of Dr. Marlow, an eye specialist friend of my father's. Nearby lived Jerome Moore, a handsome kid but a bit out of range. As was Britton White who lived at Highland and Graves. Also Jack and Mary Van Duyn, at James and Highland Street, cousins of John Southworth, Mary a beauty whom I knew mainly at dancing school. And Goodwin Bradley on James with whom I used to trade stamps.

Transcription Notes:
The numbers at the top of the page are not "preprinted". These are personal memoirs, not company letterhead.