Back in the old days and they really were since I am writing this at age 60. Anyway back in the old days it was still safe to let your kids even first graders walk the mile or two to the local school. To this very day I can remember many of the sounds and smells that we were accustomed to back then and even miss a little now. There was the 8:00 am steam whistle of the cotton mill that let us know we only had 30 minutes left before we had to be in class. That whistle went silent many years ago when the old cotton mill was closed. Then there was the smell of the paper mill. You really don't want to know what it was like. What you smell from the paper company these days is like a rose garden in comparison. In the spring there was the smell of all things becoming new again and in the fall that smell of coal burning in the school furnace. There was always a pair, apple or plum tree along the way to get a snack and there were always the wild blackberries in the spring. Almost everyone walked to school back then, even in the rain and the rare days it would snow. Yes we went to school if it snowed. Oh yeah you ate breakfast at home and studied at school.
