All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. My brothers delivered the newspapers six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which they got to keep 2 cents. They had to get up at 6 AM every morning.
On Saturday, they had to collect the 42 cents from their customers. The favorite customers were the ones who gave the boys 50 cents and told them to keep the change. The least favorite customers were the ones that seemed to never be home on collection day.
Rain, snow, and summer heat never stopped the paper boys from getting the papers to every customers home.
At My House
My brothers were paper boys in the early forties, they were in third and fourth grade, let’s see, I guess that would have made them about 9 and 10 years old. It was in the city of Hartford Connecticut. They delivered them after school and used a red wagon instead of bikes, we couldn’t afford bikes.
We were Irish Catholics living in an Italian neighborhood and that meant trouble for the boys, especially my younger brother because he had bright red curly hair and big freckles all over his pale white face.
You may wonder why that would be trouble for the boys.
The Irish and Italian’s did not mix together in those days. The Italian boy’s named Joey, Rocky, and I don’t remember the other boys names would be on the corner when the bundle of papers were dropped off, then folded and placed in the red wagon by my brothers.
Rocky and friends showed up just to make trouble for my brothers. They would scatter the papers all over the streets and passing cars would carry them off on their hoods, roofs and trunks never to be seen again. Other times Rocky and friends would wait until the papers were all folded and stacked neatly and ready to be delivered, then the bully’s would push my brothers aside and throw the papers all over the streets. No one could do anything about it and the boys just took it. Well it did escalate to the point where Rocky and friends were waiting on the corner along with, this time untouched papers.
They had other plans this particular afternoon.
They wrapped white adhesive tape all over the boys heads and my brothers went about there job delivering all the papers wearing this horrid tape looking like they had white caps on their heads. My mother had to cut most of there hair off and they went to school the next day almost bald. The following day my mom, dragging my reluctant brothers along went directly to the principle’s office to give Father O’Malley a “Show and Tell” complaint. The Father questioned my brothers, asking for names until he was blue in the face because my brothers would not tell, “squeal” on Rocky, Joey and friends. The very next evening the Italian boys were waiting on the corner for my brothers. The news papers were all folded and stacked in a neat pile. As soon as the boys appeared, Rocky and friends placed the folded papers nicely in the red wagon and walked away.
That was it, not a word was spoken, they just walked away!
My brothers were never bothered again by Rocky, Joey, and the other friends of theirs or anyone else. An interesting observation, every now and then when my brothers got to the corner where the bundles of papers were left off for them, they would find a nicely folded stack of news papers ready for the boys wagon and they knew they were safe from not just Rocky and friends but from any other bullies that might be around. I’m guessing the word got out, don’t nobody mess with the Irish paper boys because the Italian boys were watching over them.
Author Eileen Clark
Image: fulcrumgallery.com
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