A few days ago, my husband Tom and I got a phone call from an antiques dealer. He said that Merrill’s Auctions and Appraisers in Williston would auction the Mehuron’s family archives the following day. We were surprised since we already have a healthy store of papers, photographs, and memorabilia of the Mehuron family carefully stored in our home. And Tom’s cousin has a stash in equal measure.
Tom put a bid in for the lot. Someone had already done so. This was curious because we thought only family members would care about these things. We went to the auction center in person while the other bidder called and offered more and more money. We wound up paying three times what we intended.
SWAG ITEMS
Of immediate interest are some promotional swag items from the first Mehuron’s that was on Bridge Street. Some pencils included in the lot had Compliments of E.R. Mehuron, Telephone 28-2 on them. There are pens too that list the phone number of the store as simply “28”. E.R. would be Tom Mehuron’s grandfather, Elmer Robert. (His sign hangs above the deli at Mehuron’s Market in Village Square.)
Two of the pencils are a study of the times after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The president at the time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” Our nation has never known such a ground swell of patriotism after the attack but also fear. 1941 was the year that Elmer and his wife Aurelia opened their store too.
WHEN YOU HEAR THE SIREN
Back to the pencils. To the left of the engraved E.R. Mehuron are the words, “AIR RAID INSTRUCTIONS. When you hear the siren, run like h--l, in any direction. If in bakery grab a pie, if in bar grab a bottle, if in movie grab a blond. Eat four onions before entering a shelter. You’ll SMELL but you won’t be crowded. When raid starts holler “Bloody Murder!” This adds to confusion and scares the h--l out of everybody.”
To the right of E.R. Mehuron is written, “RUBBER once used for erasers is now used to rub out JAPS!” The two pencils aren’t built with attached erasers because the substance was needed for defense purposes. Even tires were rationed at the time.
The Office of Emergency Preparedness opened in the same year, May 1941, before the bombing. According to the American Rosie the Riveter Association, the office was created to coordinate state and federal measures to protect citizens in case of war emergencies. “The federal government sponsored public service announcements to promote participation in the drills and blackouts and make sure people knew what to do. These measures included posters and pamphlets, as well as training manuals that instructed citizens to have emergency supplies in case of an air raid. Necessary supplies included 50 feet of garden hose with a spray nozzle, 100 pounds of sand divided into four containers, three 3-gallon metal buckets (one with sand and two filled with water), a long-handled shovel with a square edge, a hoe or rake, an ax or hatchet, a ladder, leather gloves, and dark glasses.”
AIR RAID DRILLS
Air raid drills were announced ahead of time so people didn’t worry that they were actually being invaded by the Japanese or the Germans. Large cities had huge sirens but small towns like ours rang their church bells to sound the start of a scheduled drill. Thirty minutes was about standard for these practice exercises. Appointed volunteer air wardens drove around town to make sure that no lights were on. If there were they would shout, “Put out the lights!”
“Local citizens were also asked to shut off appliances, disconnect electricity, turn off gas and water, and move to a shelter or basement until the drill ended. Cars were required to pull over, turn off their vehicles, and find a shelter.
“Schoolchildren were also required to practice air raid drills at school. Boys and girls lined up separately and marched to basements or hallways, gathered in assigned areas, and often instructed to bow their heads to protect them from debris in case the school was hit by a bomb.”
POLITICAL INCORRECTNESS
Besides the glaring political incorrectness of the writing on the Mehuron’s pencils, the text printed on them is an attempt at a kind of humor that hasn’t aged well either. But could it be that our hamlet, whose population was much smaller than it is now, was so remote that they could afford to make fun of the situation? Or is it a case of black humor. When things get bad enough you sometimes have to laugh. Laugh but not say the word “hell.” You notice that word is only implied.
And then among the other antique Mehuron stuff there are also complimentary ash trays that listed: Meats, Groceries, Vegetables, Paint, Hardware, Dry Goods. All in that little store? One can only marvel. And the ash trays are a stark reminder of a time when tobacco companies were allowed to lie about the dangers of smoking and so many people got addicted and then sick.
There’s still piles of papers, photos and correspondence to go through. It’s going to take some time to work our way into organizing all these things. The first order of business is to sort things into the generation who left it behind.
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