I sat outside in the warm sun this morning and something triggered my memory of the door-to-door salesmen who used to visit our isolated farm house in the spring, after the snows had melted. We especially welcomed the Watkins Man, who pulled up in his old Model T ford, carried his sample case up the porch steps, and spread out his wares on the kitchen floor. Spices, vanilla, pudding mixes, salves, cough syrup, lotions, liniment, even various remedies for the cows. We were always delighted to see him, and we had no qualms about letting him in the door. It was the same man who came each year, and whoever spotted him first would alert the rest of the family with the cry, "it's the Watkins Man!" He brought news of the farms he had already visited and linked us to the rest of community with his light-hearted gossip.
Another salesman who was welcomed was the Fuller Brush man. He sold high quality brushes which lasted forever. I think my husband has a clothes brush from the Fuller Brush man to this day. They were expensive but we usually managed to pay for them somehow.
In later years, magazine salesmen would appear, but I don't remember that we ever bought anything. They always said that they were working their way through college, but we didn't trust them. Sewing machine salesmen came by, and one time a nimble-footed lightning-rod man clambered up to the peak of the roof and affixed a llightning-rod, for $20.00 I think. It was supposed to carry the force of the lightning harmlessly down into the ground if lightning ever struck the house. In the years that we lived there, it never came into use. We did live through a tornado that took out the silo, and lightning struck a tree down in the pasture once, but not the house. I have always rather enjoyed a good thunder and lightning storm. We never have them out here where we live now. I miss them.
Today was a quiet day, even a lazy day. It was also a very warm day. Maybe we will have an early summer. One day follows another, a quiet stream of life. Take care.
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3 comments:
Grandma Dottie I always enjoy your stories. Thank you so much for sharing. I wish that I would have been able to hear more stories from my grandparents. You have a way of bringing me back in time I truly enjoy this. Thank you.
I'm old enough to faintly remember the Fuller Brush man but none of the other door to door salesmen. Watkins products are still sold by catalog and probably on the Internet too.
I've heard of Fuller Brush salesmen, but not the Watkins man. These stories are wonderful to hear about. My mother grew up on a farm and was born in the early 20s. She had similar stories. Her mom made her dresses out of the material the seed sacks were made from, her mother would tell her father when he went into town to buy seed, "now pick out a nice print so I can make a dress out of it for Anne!"
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