Akron, PA is a small borough near Ephrata, PA in Northern Lancaster County. When we moved there on April 19, 1941, it was a sleepy little town of with a population of about 900 people. The town was incorporated in 1895, and was probably named after the city in Ohio. Before the incorporation it was known as New Berlin. The name Akron comes from the Greek word akros, meaning "high place," which fits its location. Akron is located on a shale hill, which meant that the ground was very porous, and most of the residents had a cesspool for their waste water. Fortunately, they also had city water, which probably prevented a lot of disease.
The day following our move to that house, we celebrated my 8th birthday. This house was the nicest house we had lived in up to this point. My sister Arvilla and I each had our own bedrooms, and we had a full bathroom. Dad also bought a refrigerator. It wasn't very big, but now we could keep perishable food on hand, and we began to keep ice cream on hand in the ice cube unit. Life was good.
A young boy named Bobby Hufford lived across the street. He was the same age as Arvilla and we became playmates. He was an only child, and consequently had a lot more toys than we had, and we loved to go across the street to his house to play. Of course, we always had to get permission to go over there, and we weren't allowed to go over so often that we became pests. He also came over to our house a lot.
There was another boy up the street by the name of Guy Hull. He was about ten, but he often joined in the playtime. His dad made him a wooden wagon similar to one that is pulled by horses and it had a seat on it for the driver. Two children would play the part of horses, and one or more would ride on the wagon. Usually Arvilla and I were the horses. We seldom got to ride in the wagon. One day my mother wanted to take a picture of us, and Bobby and Guy became the horses and Arvilla and I got to ride on the wagon. Since I was older than Arvilla, I claimed the position of driver. I don't think either of us ever got to ride on the wagon again.
There was a United Brethren church across the street. We often played in the cemetery behind the church. That was a fun place to play. We would play things like hide and seek behind the tombstones. One of the games that we played in the cemetery was "Captain, may I?" We played it for hours on end.
There was a neighbor lady up the street who was kind of a religious fanatic. One summer she wanted to start a bible school at her home. Mama and Daddy didn't allow us to attend. They thought she would take an offering and use it to buy toys for her children. I don't know if that was true or not, but we never went. One summer night after coming home from church,there was a magnificent display of an Aurora Borealis. I recall her screaming at her husband that the world was coming to an end, and he was not saved. The poor guy must have been embarrassed because the whole neighborhood heard the episode.
Every few days Arvilla and I would walk several blocks to a farm on Zwally's hill to get milk for the family. On the Zwally farm where we got the milk, there was a mangy old hound that I liked to pet. One day, one of the older girls asked if I wanted the dog. Of course I wanted the dog. I never had a dog before. I was so proud to lead that dog home. When we got home, Mama was beside herself. She knew that Daddy wouldn't allow a dog in the house. When he got home that evening, he insisted that we take that dog right back where we got it. I was so embarrassed to take the dog back to Zwally's, but I didn't have a choice. Then and there I made up my mind that when I got married, I would have a dog. Years later when I did get married, my wife, Mary, said absolutely not. To this day I have never owned a dog, although we had cats when I was a child and after I got married.
Then there was the incident with the matches. My uncle Phares Horst was having problems at home with his wife and their children Lee and Jeanne were sent to live with Aunt Anna Horst in Akron. Lee and I would often walk to school together. Somehow he got hold of a whole carton of matches. We used to light these on the way to school. One time we even lit one under a bush because the flame showed up better in the shade. Fortunately we never started a fire with those matches.
He must have gotten caught with the matches, because he told Aunt Anna that I was responsible for the whole thing which was a lie. One evening at church, I saw Aunt Anna talking mysteriously to my mother, and they both glanced at me. I knew what it was all about. Well, my mother told my daddy and he started to question me. Daddy tended to have a bad temper, particularly when he couldn't control a situation.
He asked if I was burning matches on the way to school. First, I lied and acted as though I didn't know anything about it. He knew that I wasn't telling the truth, but he never gave me a chance to explain what really happened. He kept asking me over and over about the matches. Finally, he took off his belt and proceeded to beat my butt with it. That's the only time, he ever did that, but I resented him for years because of it. Lee was more responsible than I was, and Lee never got punished.
I finally admitted to striking matches, and the punishment stopped. I never saw my dad so angry.
