Life in summer in Danville, IL, as a kid during the late 1920's and early 1930's was surely interesting and challenging. I recall playing in the deserted glass factory behind our home on Stroup Street and bear a sliver of glass in my left hand to prove it. We guys had fun playing along the C&EI railroad tracks at the end of the street, especially all over the parked box cars, but it was really dangerous. It was also the place where the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CIRCUS unloaded for their stay at the Fairgrounds not far away. Wow! The Fairgrounds also had a nice outdoors swimming pool to cool off in. We enjoyed rummaging through the Chuckles Candy factory dump site for some castaway jelly orange slices among the sweepings ... a little unsanitary, but tasty, nevertheless! Just beyond the factory across the street was a favorite night spot -- Garfield Park with free cowboy movies each week. Don't tell my parents (when you get to Heaven), but I must confess that I smoked a 5-cent cigar one night at the show there and didn't even throw up as a consequence ... at least, that's my story. Summer then was not complete without the familiar ding-a-ling of the horse-drawn ICE CREAM wagon that came by daily ... and you always got a candy cherry on top of the scrumptious cone! There were several good buddies in the neighborhood, including Billy Britton and Tommy Walge. Tommy lived around the corner on Cronkhite Street and his dad teased me about "sitting down to walk" while riding my Montgomery Ward balloon-tired bike (which my Dad really sacrificed to get)! Well, we can't re-live such good memories, but now and then we may find a sort of "deja vu" ... like I did a few years ago when I found Tommy at home living at the same old address! He shared some of his life, including World War II service, and I updated him and his wife on my life's journey since "summer daze" in Danville so many years ago. And it was a special joy to tell him how I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour right after the War, and to urge him to make that same decision, too. I do hope to see him again in Heaven, along with others we knew in our childhood. It's so comforting to know "whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord
SHALL BE SAVED" (Romans 10:13)!
