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LEARN HOW TO MAKE OUR TYPE LARGER

	Just a thought
	Betty Lammers

Sweet memories
Published March/April 2001

Candy

I recently took a mental stroll through the Penny Candyland of yesterday. While visiting my sister, Lucille, for a few days, she passed me a box of Godiva chocolates which she had received as a gift. I helped myself to a couple of them and while savoring the delicious taste, I remarked, “We sure have come a long way over the years. Remember when we used to go to Szaly’s Candy Store with a few pennies clutched in our hand to get those white paper strips with pink sugar dots?”

That started it. She said, “They also had licorice strips with sugar dots.” We went back and forth. How about the wax bottles with syrup? First you drank the syrup and then chewed the wax. They also had red wax lips. Neccho wafers was another.

The doorbell rang and two neighbors dropped in for a visit and got in on our memory jogging. Lois recalled the miniature pie tins filled with sweet stuff accompanied by a tiny metal spoon. I hadn’t thought of them since childhood. Ruth said, “Remember the licorice laces - they came in black and red?” Lucille then mentioned, “Licorice buttons.” We named root beer barrels, candy necklaces and gold nuggets. Finally someone said they sold grab bags with hard candies. They were three cents a bag. We all came from different places, but the neighborhood candy store existed all over.

I saw on the news a few nights ago that there is a place in New York that features all this old-fashioned candy. Although I am sure you need more than a few pennies, you take a bag around and weigh out what you have selected and people come in and stay for an hour or two to reminisce about the “good old days.”

As for us – we’ll go for the Godiva chocolates which sell for about $33.00 a pound. I said it before, “We’ve come a long way, baby.”

E-mail Betty Lammers at betty@homefrontmagazine.com.

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