Days
of Yore
| |
as
recounted
by
Bill
Day
|
|
Simpler
Days
It was so much simpler in the old days.
This
statement is so true in may of our modern ways of life. It
was
particularly
true when the procedures are compared now to that which prevailed
in
1910
to 1917. When a seventeen year older wanted an automobile
license
in the State of New Jersey. Now birth certificates, permits,
appointments,
written examinations, eye tests and driving tests are required
before
an
applicants is granted a license. It was not so in the
earlier
era.
Mr. Stan Redman was asked by Mr. Ellis to get a license to drive
the
delivery
truck for the Ellis Meat Market in 1917. Walt Ellis took him
out
kings Highway one Sunday morning and put him behind the steering
wheel.
With no traffic to worry about, Stan drove to Moorestown, then
down
Camden
Avenue to Camden. Walt took over from there and with a
little
traffic
from Haddon Avenue to Haddonfield. Stan had never driven a
vehicle
before. He performed his chores in the truck all the
following
week,
and Friday afternoon Mr. Ellis took him down to a real estate
office.
A man at a desk asked their wishes, and when told that a driver's
license
was desired he asked Stan if he knew how to drive, what kind of
car he
would be driving and where he'd be driving. He then wrote
out a
license
which was one or two dollars. (The exact amount is now
forgotten.)
Permits were unknown, and oral or eye or driving examinations were
not
required.
A senior in town also relates how he drove
a
four
cylinder Flanders truck made by Studebaker Automobile Company in
1912.
He delivered all over town orders from a store. It had a gear
shift
which
was needed for the streets were unpaved. When the snow
ruts in
the
in the winter froze it was difficult to get the truck out of the
ruts
to
turn a corner, and in the summer the mud ruts were just as hard
to
maneuver
around. Haddonfield is greatly improved now except for
taxes.