Memories are precious. Memories are something that cannot be taken away from you. Memories bring you great comfort and joy. Memories can sustain you through difficult times. Memories allow you to remember from where you came and look forward to where you are going. Memories are God’s gift from the past for the future.
Take Me Out to the Ballgame
By LeMyra Young, courtesy Wagener Monthly
It has taken me many months to clear out all of the hiding places for things that I really don’t need but really don’t want to discard either. I have finally made it to the green bedroom. I call it the green bedroom because it is paneled a very light green color. This room was to be my “little girl’s” room; however, I never had a little girl, and it was a guest bedroom for many years. Eventually, I converted it to my computer room; later I took the bed down and added another desk in its place. Then the “too good to discard, but no where to put” made it into the green bedroom; I have now named the room “the dungeon.” There is barely room to walk through the maze of unlabeled boxes and piles of stuff stacked on every available spot. It is so easy for me to get distracted when I discover an item that I have not seen in years, and then the memories begin to flow.
I continue to find old pictures or mementos that depict the ways that men, women, children, and families entertained themselves before computers, cell phones, electronic games and devices, and even television. One of my favorite pictures is that of my Granddaddy Fred Lybrand and the other members of the baseball team on which he played. None of the men are wearing a baseball uniform. Pa Fred is wearing a shirt with Seivern in big letters across the chest of the shirt, and another member Euse Hutto’s shirt reads Beulah. Several men are wearing white shirts and bow ties, while others have on nondescript shirts. There were four boys in Pa Fred’s family, and all four of them are in this photo plus seven other young men. Davis Shull gave me this picture some time ago, and fortunately he identified each young man. Pa Fred and his brothers grew up on a farm in New Holland as I believe the others in the photo did also. The names of each are familiar New Holland area names of that era…Sammie Lybrand, Kence Hutto, Fred Lybrand, Ode Hutto, Chester Brogden, Georgie Lybrand, Euse Hutto, Allen Lybrand, Milledge Shull*, E.H. “Bub” Gunter, and Newt Lucas. Ode and Euse Hutto were brothers, and Euse married Pa Fred’s niece Annie Ready. I also judge from the photo that they all seem to be not only team members but friends; most are resting their hand on the shoulder of the man in the row in front of them. Pa Fred was born April 15, 1890 and died January 3, 1954. He was the youngest son in his family. I can only guess that this picture was taken in the early 1900’s.
As I look at the picture, I can imagine the spectators made up of wives and girl friends, parents and children, other family and church members, and casual acquaintances gathered together to root for their team. I imagine that many came by horseback, wagon, buggy, or on foot to share in the entertainment of watching the game. I picture ladies in long dresses, wearing big hats, and holding parasols for protection from the sun. All those many years ago, a peaches and cream complexion, not tan, was desired. I also wonder if the ladies were watching the game or catching up on the latest gossip. I vote for gossip. I also envision a group of younger children playing their own game of baseball with a stick for a bat and a wad of something for a ball while another group is chasing each other in a game of tag. I imagine that each lady had packed a few items to pacify the hungry and thirsty, and some diligent ladies may be selling refreshments to support the missions of their church group. As for the men spectators, I see two or three sneaking back to a wagon for a swig of “cough medicine.”
Pa Fred’s mother Jane Jackson Lybrand smoked a pipe as did many ladies of that era. I have a picture of her and four or five other ladies sitting together outside; most were smoking a pipe. Mama often told me about her great aunts on the Lybrand side that smoked pipes. She said that each carried a pipe, tobacco, a little knife to cut the tobacco, and matches in their apron pocket. They spent half of the day cutting the tobacco to fit the pipe and the other half trying to light it. I can just see the ladies in their gossip circle talking, laughing, smoking pipes, and every now and then inquiring what the score is. The ladies did not need Facebook, texting, internet, or all the other electronic devices of today. As the old saying goes, “telegraph, telephone, tell a woman.” However, I have decided that men are just as nosey as women.
In some ways I am envious of the era in which this photo was taken. The images that I have envisioned take me back to a time when life was much simpler. To me it seems as if time stood still, no television, no computer, no smart phone, no iPhone; just face to face camaraderie, and a life time of good memories.
*Milledge Shull is Davis Shull’s father.