HILLSGROVE:A KID's PARADISE PLAYGROUND
DOGTOWN DIARIES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsgrove,_Rhode_Island (History of Hillsgrove)
https://www.google.com/maps/
(Google map of Hillsgrove) Big Canal was one of the Three Ponds that boarded Gustafsons farm.
It's now the Whethersfield Commons.
It's the pond that is right off Jefferson Blvd. right opposite of Best Tile company.The next pond
is Small Canal ,the next pond was The Bog(cranberry).Further north was Petit's(Pitzee's) pond.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7202124,-71.4355878,1606a,35y,278.79h,39.1t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en (Pitzees machine shop opposite Big Canal)
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7177314,-71.4457619,129a,35y,278.79h,45t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en( " ' " " " ")above)`
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7251432,-71.4443861,3a,75y,243.86h,98.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scwtM4lUtNizoO9qX6fyXKQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en (Dogtown in Hillsgrove on
Jefferson Blvd looking south toward Greenwood)
https://pbn.com/elizabeth-mill-demolition-begins103271/
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hillsgrove,+RI+02886/@41.7259352,-71.4562646,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e44c285af791d9:0x1d7691fc3
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7183964,-71.446875,3a,30y,89.12h,98.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNBJLtAvX548tVjnzADVz_Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en (Pitzees-(Petit's)-Machine Shop with
cement loading platform opposite Big Canal on JB)
https://www.google.com/maps/place/596+Jefferson+Blvd,+Warwick,+RI+02886/@41.7238003,-71.4440367,845m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e44e83349cccd5:0x1313530d70e62cd7!8m2!3d41.7317315!4d-71.4417179?hl=en (St Francis Rectory)
-DOGTOWN DIARIES (Dogtown;Hillsgrove;Warwick;R.I.)
I --Our paradise playground,(our home base was 846 Jefferson Blvd.-Railroad Side of JB)
-Our playground was bounded on the east by the Post Rd,on the west by the Pawtuxet River,
on the north by St Francis church,and on the south by the Greenwood Bridge.
The land from Kilvert St to Petit's (Pitzee)machine shop,opposite Big Canal on JB(Jefferson Blvd)
near the road that went up to Gustafson's farm(Wethersfield Commons) were open fields.The
Hillsgrove fields between Dogtown and the railroad tracks.were open spaces.
( About 30-40 feet-
behind the Dogtown mill houses were the deluxe duplex out houses(They were three holers -small,
medium,and large) and incinerators to burn our trash (a 55 gallon drum with a wire screen on top.
Our plumbing was an inhouse/outhouse system.In the winter,hot summer,and at night we utilized
the inhouse part,which was a 5 gallon bucket with an air tight lid and an old toilet seat with
tarps(sheets) to give us privacy in a secluded area inside our duplex side of the house.
This system was simple,functional ,efficient,and economical. We never had to call a plumber.
The only trouble occurred during the '38 hurricane when some of these outhouses toppled over.
But they were up-righted a day or two later.)
We utilized this system up to about 1949 when the owner installed indoor plumbing.
THE RAT PATROL One of the drawbacks of the inhouse/outhouse plumbing system was a
proliferation of the wild rats that scampered between the outhouse and the incinerator/garbage
barrel. During the day to see these varmints going back and forth between the outhouse and
the incinerator was an affront to our common human decency and our manhood. The house wives of
Dogtown tried to fix this problem by spreading lye around the outhouse,except the path.
But this disastrous development had to be confronted with a para military solution. This came
about by the formation of the Rat Patrol.These were a group of Dogtown ragamuffins whose
honor and manliness were challenged. Armed with their BB guns and their 22 rifles they went
into action.They made their base in the upstairs of their duplex side where there were small
windows facing the outhouse/incinerator complex,open fields,and the railroad tracks beyond.
Thus began the great Dogtown Rat War I.(Probably the precursor to WWII!)
The Dogtown Rat War I was in reality a guerrilla sniping war. These courageous comrades in
arms developed their sniping skills and proficiency to such a degree that they could have
taught the instructors at the US Army sniping school a thing or two.
One of the main essentials of sniping is the developing the skill of "the lead". That is to
determine the killing point-the point at which the bullet meets the moving target. Factors
that had to be integrated :the speed of the bb or the 22 bullet,the wind velocity,the speed of the
intended target,the humidity,and the micro split second reflexes of the sniper.
The rise in rank in the Rat Patrol was based on merit,not on length of service.The merit was
based on kill/miss ratio.Sure kills had to be proven by a dead rat-there was no "I think I got
him",I coulda,Iwoulda,near misses didn't count.This was the fruition of the Rat Patrol's
motto:"The only good rat is a dead rat."
The sniping skills were honed in the outhouse complex ,on especially rainy days, and then
also at the Hillsgrove dump,next to Big Canal opposite Pitzee's machine shop on Jefferson
Blvd.Shooting rats at the Hillsgrove dump was a joy to behold.Some of the rats would try to escape
by swimming away in Big Canal but they were easy shots for professional expert snipers.
After a hard episode of rat sniping at the dump we would take a dip in the Big Canal.(Where the
rats had taken their last earthly dip!!!)Between the dump and the Big Canal beach(a 10 foot
base between the water and the steep sandy embankment below JB) was a macadam boat
ramp that was used to launch boats and the fire trucks filled their truck tanks with water.
Remnants of this ramp may still exist under the under brush that has accumulated over the years.
The older boys had sunk an old ice box about 30 feet out in the water.This was one of the
feats in our pursuit of our manhood.The test was to swim out to the ice box,stand on the
ice box and recoup your breath and composure,and then return to the beach. Achieving
this accomplishment put you up another rung on the ladder of manhood.Some of us had to
stand on our tiptoes to keep our heads above water on the ice box.You are a man,my son!
as that guy,the poet said.
II--Stages of discovery -Wheels : No Wheels,2 Wheels,4 Wheels
WE would go further for special occasions. We would go to the airport,horse barn and golf ball driving range opposite Kilvert St.,Blue Moon Diner,Roller Skating Rink,Greenwood Fire Dept Carnivals,pick strawberries at Rondeau's farm on Strawberry Field Rd.,Take the bus to Providence for YMCA swimming,and the decorations at Outlet and Shepherds at Christmas.
We were limited by our means of transportation.As our transportation improved,our horizons
of discovery were expanded.Without wheels our area was limited to the railroad tracks and the
Pawtuxet River,the Greenwood Bridge,and St. Francis Church.But with our two wheel bicycle
we could go to the Lincoln Park underpass near the Jewish cemetery on the north and to Gorton's
Pond on the south and all areas in between.The open fields meant freedom and sports,football and
baseball,and the woods were our frontier habitat-hiking,camping,fishing,hunting,building camps,
skating,climbing trees ,trapping,ski hiking to camp out,and doing juvenile delinquent stuff .
III --Our civilizing program rested on three pillars-family,church,and grammar school.
The families in Dogtown were religiously oriented.There were more boys than girls in dogtown.
Boys liked dogs and girls liked cats.That.why Dogtown was named Dogtown.Simple logic!
Most of the families in Dogtown were everyday hard working,family oriented.and common sense
ruled.All the young urchins were born during the Great Depression imbued with the wisdom and
depression mentality-"Make do with what ya got." And this involved the 'hand me down'
system of property ownership.The parents brought new humans into existence during the
Great Depression to procreate more souls for the Creator. That was just a fact of life.They had a
more spiritual out look on life.
These values were reinforced in the churches and the grammar school.
My parents were devout Catholics and we went to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic church on
JB and the Protestant kids went to the Hillsgrove Methodist church on Kilvert St. The
Methodist church was built by the founder of Hillsgrove and the St. fRANCIS Church was
originally a mission connected to St Josephs Church in Natick.And that's the way it was !!
We learned our religion with the Baltimore Catechism which we memorized the questions and answers.The first two questions were 'Who made you? and 'Why did God make you" and the
answers were "God made me" amd "God made me to know Him,to love Him. and to serve
Him in this world,and to be happy with Him in the next world". Modern pedagogical experts
will probably deride this method of pedagogy as simplistic,unsophisticated, retrogressive--but
it was effective and it worked. We never had to agonize over our existence on this earth!
Our lives revolved around church activities.One activity we participated in was being
alter boys.Learning the latin responses for the mass was the ultimate test for being an alter boy.
We could rattle off those responses with our high focused minds like a precision automated
machine gun.I was being groomed to be a candidate for the seminary until some unfortunate
circumstances arose.The first incident occurred when we were caught nipping some of the
alter wine.During my probation period I was selected to carry the Easter candle in the
Easter procession.All was proceeding elegantly and reverently until we were approaching the
alter which had a step to go unto the sanctuary of the altar.It was at that point that all the
plans for my becoming a deacon went down the tube.For all my athletic skills went awry,
my foot got caught on the first step forcing me to try to correct my erectile dysfunctioning,
in trying to gain my balance and my composure the Easter candle became dislodged from my
possession and projected itself onto the altar careening across the altar surface carrying the
sacred chalices and altar missal in one hundred and eighty different directions.After putting
some kind of dignity and reverence back into the service and cleaning up the unholy mess
that had resulted from my uncoordinated acrobatics, I carried on my ecclesiastical duties with
as much decorum and dignity that I could muster.
My altar boy duties for the rest of the Easter service were performed with grace because of the
training that I had received.
One of the priests that made an everlasting impression on us was Father Xavier Caron. He
came from the same place in Quebec that my Pa came from on the Gaspe Peninsula.
He was a rough and ready kind of guy.At one mass we served the wine and we forgot
to cover the wine over the night and the fly's got drunk and died in the wine.So he poured the
wine and the flies into the chalice after he had put a cloth over the chalice straining out the flies.
Without blinking an eye he wuffed down the contaminated wine and continued the mass.
He was our kind of guy.He use to carry his ice skates and hockey stick in the trunk of his
his car and when he saw us playing hockey on one of the ponds he would take out his skates
and hockey stick and rough it up with the best of us.When we saw him coming one of the kids
would pass the word "Here comes Father X so watch your swearin".
Another one of our mentors
was Brother P (Pineau).He was a Missionary of the Sacred Heart brother that did the maintenance
at St Francis Church.He was a jack of all trades-carpentry,electrician,plumber,etc..He had a
little pop belly,gray hair, wire rimmed eyeglasses,and one of those curved pipes that rested
on his chin.He looked like the old philosopher.We kids would follow him around with our
mouths shut and our eyes and ears open.He would talk to himself as he was working describing
what he was doing and over exaggerating his movements.This was for our benefit, not his.
We learned a lot from old Brother P. One of the most important lessons we learned was in
fire safety.Father X wanted to have Friday night movies in the basement of the church.
To do this he needed the approval of the fire department.So the fire inspector came and was
adamant that there be another exit out of the basement.AND That THE DOORS HAD TO
OPEN OUTWARDLY, NOT INWARD. This made common sense to us kids.
Shortly thereafter they had the catastrophic Boston COCONUT GROVE FIRE.That showed
the wisdom of this requirement of exit doors opening to the outside of any building.
Old Brother P was not just a cracker jack maintenance man, he was a very religious man and
showed us kids how a real man worked and acted.
We later had movies in the church basement.My brother Gerry,a mechanical genius, ran
the projector. When the car was going over the cliff,he would turn on the reverse switch
and the car would go backwards,which would evoke a burst of booing by the excited kids.
HILLSGROVE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
We attended the Hillsgrove Grammar School which was located right next to St. Francis
church.This was before all the new pedagogy theories were embraced. Our teachers were
like teaching nuns without the nun's habits.When you completed old Mrs. Lewis's first grade
you knew your letters and numbers cum laude.They never used corporal punishment but
instilled the love of learning-learning was hard work but when you learned something
no one could take it away from you.They also instilled an ethical and moral code. This was accomplished by use of THE GOLDEN RULE. We knew the the golden rule backward
and forward."Do Unto Others as You Would have them Do Unto You! This was really
a summation of the 10 Commandments.Many of these women were single and were
called 'old maids' but they were respected by the parents in Hillsgrove. They were like
teaching nuns without the habits.
My student deportment went well except for an unfortunate incident in the second grade.
A new young substitute came in with some new pedagogic theories.It was a process for
civilizing us unfortunates in the Hillsgrove area.She started this process with a new social
exercise.We were learning some rhymes and one was about "Jack be Nimble,Jack be Quick,
Jack Jump Over the Candle Stick". One day she brought in a candle stick and when we
recited the the rhyme we had to jump over the candle stick on the floor.When it was my
turn to jump I walked around the candle stick unlike the proverbial Nimble Jack.
What I had done, without knowing it ,was upset the whole modern teaching methodology.
When pressed for an explanation for my insubordinate action I responded,unfortunately,
jumping over the candle stick was "dumb and stupid".This pedagogical insubordination
reverberated throughout the Hillsgrove community. When I arrived home after that particular
school day my parents knew all about my gross misbehavior.When they asked for a
reasonable explanation I gave them the same answer I had given my teacher.When they
heard my explanation they suddenly went into another room and I thought I heard some
funny noises like sniffling.I thought they were taking this very badly.My ma told me what
I had done was not the proper thing to do.The solution to this societal faux pas was I
would jump over the candle stick the next time it was done for ma's sake,to have peace in the community.I did it for ma's sake but as I was jumping over the damn candle stick I was saying
to myself in pure Galleleon defiance "It is dumb and stupid!"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsgrove,_Rhode_Island (History of Hillsgrove)
https://www.google.com/maps/
(Google map of Hillsgrove) Big Canal was one of the Three Ponds that boarded Gustafsons farm.
It's now the Whethersfield Commons.
It's the pond that is right off Jefferson Blvd. right opposite of Best Tile company.The next pond
is Small Canal ,the next pond was The Bog(cranberry).Further north was Petit's(Pitzee's) pond.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7202124,-71.4355878,1606a,35y,278.79h,39.1t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en (Pitzees machine shop opposite Big Canal)
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7251432,-71.4443861,3a,75y,243.86h,98.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scwtM4lUtNizoO9qX6fyXKQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en (Dogtown in Hillsgrove on
Jefferson Blvd looking south toward Greenwood)
https://pbn.com/elizabeth-mill-demolition-begins103271/
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hillsgrove,+RI+02886/@41.7259352,-71.4562646,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e44c285af791d9:0x1d7691fc3
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7183964,-71.446875,3a,30y,89.12h,98.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNBJLtAvX548tVjnzADVz_Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en (Pitzees-(Petit's)-Machine Shop with
cement loading platform opposite Big Canal on JB)
https://www.google.com/maps/place/596+Jefferson+Blvd,+Warwick,+RI+02886/@41.7238003,-71.4440367,845m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e44e83349cccd5:0x1313530d70e62cd7!8m2!3d41.7317315!4d-71.4417179?hl=en (St Francis Rectory)
-DOGTOWN DIARIES (Dogtown;Hillsgrove;Warwick;R.I.)
I --Our paradise playground,(our home base was 846 Jefferson Blvd.-Railroad Side of JB)
-Our playground was bounded on the east by the Post Rd,on the west by the Pawtuxet River,
on the north by St Francis church,and on the south by the Greenwood Bridge.
The land from Kilvert St to Petit's (Pitzee)machine shop,opposite Big Canal on JB(Jefferson Blvd)
near the road that went up to Gustafson's farm(Wethersfield Commons) were open fields.The
Hillsgrove fields between Dogtown and the railroad tracks.were open spaces.
( About 30-40 feet-
behind the Dogtown mill houses were the deluxe duplex out houses(They were three holers -small,
medium,and large) and incinerators to burn our trash (a 55 gallon drum with a wire screen on top.
Our plumbing was an inhouse/outhouse system.In the winter,hot summer,and at night we utilized
the inhouse part,which was a 5 gallon bucket with an air tight lid and an old toilet seat with
tarps(sheets) to give us privacy in a secluded area inside our duplex side of the house.
This system was simple,functional ,efficient,and economical. We never had to call a plumber.
The only trouble occurred during the '38 hurricane when some of these outhouses toppled over.
But they were up-righted a day or two later.)
We utilized this system up to about 1949 when the owner installed indoor plumbing.
THE RAT PATROL One of the drawbacks of the inhouse/outhouse plumbing system was a
proliferation of the wild rats that scampered between the outhouse and the incinerator/garbage
barrel. During the day to see these varmints going back and forth between the outhouse and
the incinerator was an affront to our common human decency and our manhood. The house wives of
Dogtown tried to fix this problem by spreading lye around the outhouse,except the path.
But this disastrous development had to be confronted with a para military solution. This came
about by the formation of the Rat Patrol.These were a group of Dogtown ragamuffins whose
honor and manliness were challenged. Armed with their BB guns and their 22 rifles they went
into action.They made their base in the upstairs of their duplex side where there were small
windows facing the outhouse/incinerator complex,open fields,and the railroad tracks beyond.
Thus began the great Dogtown Rat War I.(Probably the precursor to WWII!)
The Dogtown Rat War I was in reality a guerrilla sniping war. These courageous comrades in
arms developed their sniping skills and proficiency to such a degree that they could have
taught the instructors at the US Army sniping school a thing or two.
One of the main essentials of sniping is the developing the skill of "the lead". That is to
determine the killing point-the point at which the bullet meets the moving target. Factors
that had to be integrated :the speed of the bb or the 22 bullet,the wind velocity,the speed of the
intended target,the humidity,and the micro split second reflexes of the sniper.
The rise in rank in the Rat Patrol was based on merit,not on length of service.The merit was
based on kill/miss ratio.Sure kills had to be proven by a dead rat-there was no "I think I got
him",I coulda,Iwoulda,near misses didn't count.This was the fruition of the Rat Patrol's
motto:"The only good rat is a dead rat."
The sniping skills were honed in the outhouse complex ,on especially rainy days, and then
also at the Hillsgrove dump,next to Big Canal opposite Pitzee's machine shop on Jefferson
Blvd.Shooting rats at the Hillsgrove dump was a joy to behold.Some of the rats would try to escape
by swimming away in Big Canal but they were easy shots for professional expert snipers.
After a hard episode of rat sniping at the dump we would take a dip in the Big Canal.(Where the
rats had taken their last earthly dip!!!)Between the dump and the Big Canal beach(a 10 foot
base between the water and the steep sandy embankment below JB) was a macadam boat
ramp that was used to launch boats and the fire trucks filled their truck tanks with water.
Remnants of this ramp may still exist under the under brush that has accumulated over the years.
The older boys had sunk an old ice box about 30 feet out in the water.This was one of the
feats in our pursuit of our manhood.The test was to swim out to the ice box,stand on the
ice box and recoup your breath and composure,and then return to the beach. Achieving
this accomplishment put you up another rung on the ladder of manhood.Some of us had to
stand on our tiptoes to keep our heads above water on the ice box.You are a man,my son!
as that guy,the poet said.
II--Stages of discovery -Wheels : No Wheels,2 Wheels,4 Wheels
WE would go further for special occasions. We would go to the airport,horse barn and golf ball driving range opposite Kilvert St.,Blue Moon Diner,Roller Skating Rink,Greenwood Fire Dept Carnivals,pick strawberries at Rondeau's farm on Strawberry Field Rd.,Take the bus to Providence for YMCA swimming,and the decorations at Outlet and Shepherds at Christmas.
We were limited by our means of transportation.As our transportation improved,our horizons
of discovery were expanded.Without wheels our area was limited to the railroad tracks and the
Pawtuxet River,the Greenwood Bridge,and St. Francis Church.But with our two wheel bicycle
we could go to the Lincoln Park underpass near the Jewish cemetery on the north and to Gorton's
Pond on the south and all areas in between.The open fields meant freedom and sports,football and
baseball,and the woods were our frontier habitat-hiking,camping,fishing,hunting,building camps,
skating,climbing trees ,trapping,ski hiking to camp out,and doing juvenile delinquent stuff .
III --Our civilizing program rested on three pillars-family,church,and grammar school.
The families in Dogtown were religiously oriented.There were more boys than girls in dogtown.
Boys liked dogs and girls liked cats.That.why Dogtown was named Dogtown.Simple logic!
Most of the families in Dogtown were everyday hard working,family oriented.and common sense
ruled.All the young urchins were born during the Great Depression imbued with the wisdom and
depression mentality-"Make do with what ya got." And this involved the 'hand me down'
system of property ownership.The parents brought new humans into existence during the
Great Depression to procreate more souls for the Creator. That was just a fact of life.They had a
more spiritual out look on life.
These values were reinforced in the churches and the grammar school.
My parents were devout Catholics and we went to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic church on
JB and the Protestant kids went to the Hillsgrove Methodist church on Kilvert St. The
Methodist church was built by the founder of Hillsgrove and the St. fRANCIS Church was
originally a mission connected to St Josephs Church in Natick.And that's the way it was !!
We learned our religion with the Baltimore Catechism which we memorized the questions and answers.The first two questions were 'Who made you? and 'Why did God make you" and the
answers were "God made me" amd "God made me to know Him,to love Him. and to serve
Him in this world,and to be happy with Him in the next world". Modern pedagogical experts
will probably deride this method of pedagogy as simplistic,unsophisticated, retrogressive--but
it was effective and it worked. We never had to agonize over our existence on this earth!
Our lives revolved around church activities.One activity we participated in was being
alter boys.Learning the latin responses for the mass was the ultimate test for being an alter boy.
We could rattle off those responses with our high focused minds like a precision automated
machine gun.I was being groomed to be a candidate for the seminary until some unfortunate
circumstances arose.The first incident occurred when we were caught nipping some of the
alter wine.During my probation period I was selected to carry the Easter candle in the
Easter procession.All was proceeding elegantly and reverently until we were approaching the
alter which had a step to go unto the sanctuary of the altar.It was at that point that all the
plans for my becoming a deacon went down the tube.For all my athletic skills went awry,
my foot got caught on the first step forcing me to try to correct my erectile dysfunctioning,
in trying to gain my balance and my composure the Easter candle became dislodged from my
possession and projected itself onto the altar careening across the altar surface carrying the
sacred chalices and altar missal in one hundred and eighty different directions.After putting
some kind of dignity and reverence back into the service and cleaning up the unholy mess
that had resulted from my uncoordinated acrobatics, I carried on my ecclesiastical duties with
as much decorum and dignity that I could muster.
My altar boy duties for the rest of the Easter service were performed with grace because of the
training that I had received.
One of the priests that made an everlasting impression on us was Father Xavier Caron. He
came from the same place in Quebec that my Pa came from on the Gaspe Peninsula.
He was a rough and ready kind of guy.At one mass we served the wine and we forgot
to cover the wine over the night and the fly's got drunk and died in the wine.So he poured the
wine and the flies into the chalice after he had put a cloth over the chalice straining out the flies.
Without blinking an eye he wuffed down the contaminated wine and continued the mass.
He was our kind of guy.He use to carry his ice skates and hockey stick in the trunk of his
his car and when he saw us playing hockey on one of the ponds he would take out his skates
and hockey stick and rough it up with the best of us.When we saw him coming one of the kids
would pass the word "Here comes Father X so watch your swearin".
Another one of our mentors
was Brother P (Pineau).He was a Missionary of the Sacred Heart brother that did the maintenance
at St Francis Church.He was a jack of all trades-carpentry,electrician,plumber,etc..He had a
little pop belly,gray hair, wire rimmed eyeglasses,and one of those curved pipes that rested
on his chin.He looked like the old philosopher.We kids would follow him around with our
mouths shut and our eyes and ears open.He would talk to himself as he was working describing
what he was doing and over exaggerating his movements.This was for our benefit, not his.
We learned a lot from old Brother P. One of the most important lessons we learned was in
fire safety.Father X wanted to have Friday night movies in the basement of the church.
To do this he needed the approval of the fire department.So the fire inspector came and was
adamant that there be another exit out of the basement.AND That THE DOORS HAD TO
OPEN OUTWARDLY, NOT INWARD. This made common sense to us kids.
Shortly thereafter they had the catastrophic Boston COCONUT GROVE FIRE.That showed
the wisdom of this requirement of exit doors opening to the outside of any building.
Old Brother P was not just a cracker jack maintenance man, he was a very religious man and
showed us kids how a real man worked and acted.
We later had movies in the church basement.My brother Gerry,a mechanical genius, ran
the projector. When the car was going over the cliff,he would turn on the reverse switch
and the car would go backwards,which would evoke a burst of booing by the excited kids.
HILLSGROVE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
We attended the Hillsgrove Grammar School which was located right next to St. Francis
church.This was before all the new pedagogy theories were embraced. Our teachers were
like teaching nuns without the nun's habits.When you completed old Mrs. Lewis's first grade
you knew your letters and numbers cum laude.They never used corporal punishment but
instilled the love of learning-learning was hard work but when you learned something
no one could take it away from you.They also instilled an ethical and moral code. This was accomplished by use of THE GOLDEN RULE. We knew the the golden rule backward
and forward."Do Unto Others as You Would have them Do Unto You! This was really
a summation of the 10 Commandments.Many of these women were single and were
called 'old maids' but they were respected by the parents in Hillsgrove. They were like
teaching nuns without the habits.
My student deportment went well except for an unfortunate incident in the second grade.
A new young substitute came in with some new pedagogic theories.It was a process for
civilizing us unfortunates in the Hillsgrove area.She started this process with a new social
exercise.We were learning some rhymes and one was about "Jack be Nimble,Jack be Quick,
Jack Jump Over the Candle Stick". One day she brought in a candle stick and when we
recited the the rhyme we had to jump over the candle stick on the floor.When it was my
turn to jump I walked around the candle stick unlike the proverbial Nimble Jack.
What I had done, without knowing it ,was upset the whole modern teaching methodology.
When pressed for an explanation for my insubordinate action I responded,unfortunately,
jumping over the candle stick was "dumb and stupid".This pedagogical insubordination
reverberated throughout the Hillsgrove community. When I arrived home after that particular
school day my parents knew all about my gross misbehavior.When they asked for a
reasonable explanation I gave them the same answer I had given my teacher.When they
heard my explanation they suddenly went into another room and I thought I heard some
funny noises like sniffling.I thought they were taking this very badly.My ma told me what
I had done was not the proper thing to do.The solution to this societal faux pas was I
would jump over the candle stick the next time it was done for ma's sake,to have peace in the community.I did it for ma's sake but as I was jumping over the damn candle stick I was saying
to myself in pure Galleleon defiance "It is dumb and stupid!"
IV Hunting,fishing,sports--Hillsgrove woods/Pawtuxet river/Three ponds.
I Our paradise p layground,(our home base was 846 Jefferson Blvd. east side of JB.)
II Stages of discovery Wheels: 0W,2W,4W.
III Family,church,grammar school
IV Hunting,fishing,sports
V Social and ant-social activities
VI 38 Hurricane
VI--38 Hurricane
1938 Hurricane inR.I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_New_England_hurricane#Rhode_Island
#################################################################################
1938 Hurricane inR.I.from 846 Jefferson Blvd,Dog Town,Hillsgrove,Warwick,R.I.
I was 6 years old and I was going to Deo's store near the railroad tracks and Kilvert St.
around noontime.
My older brother Joe met me and said "Ma wants you to come home now,right now."
The air had an orange tinge to it and very humid.
During The actual storm we would run from window to window to see what was happening.
The first casualty was a billboard at the southern end of Dog Town went down.
The next was our dog house(Bijou's house) went tumbling down the fields southward.
The next were the outhouses at each duplex tipped over.(The men of Dogtown righted them
up the next day)
Then we went to the window facing Jefferson Blvd and watched the trees lining JB.
The tree near the window was tipping and the ground was raising up and down you could see
some of the roots. But the tree stayed upright. The flash lights and kerosine lamps were ready.
the next weeks my Pa and Alphonse 'Fonze" Roy,a neighbor,went into a wood cutting
work.They had a saw with a man on each end and they went to work.
They Would cut the tree in 10' lengths and load them on the trailer
My Pa got a saw anvil and hitched it up to run by running a belt from the rear wheel
of our old '29 Model A Ford family car. One rear wheel was jacked up to run the belt.
He built a trailer to hitch onto the old Model A and him and Fonze started to recycle the
downed trees around Hillsgrove , even on the Post Road side of the railroad tracks .
They had the old depression mentality--"Make do with what ya got"and don't let a
downed tree go to waste.
VII WW2
VIII-- Glorious Hillsgrove dump pickin days
IX--Juvenile delinquent shtuff.
A-Condom water bombing cabooses off the Greenwood Bridge
B-Playing bumper cars with the 6 wheeler trucks at the sandpit.
C-Counterfeiting nickels into quarters on the railroad tracks
D-Bare ass mud flopping in the sand pit.
E-Puttin potatoes in auto exhaust pipes
F-Bombing trailer trucks on JB from the Maple trees overlapping JB
G-Halloween night stuff
I Our paradise p layground,(our home base was 846 Jefferson Blvd. east side of JB.)
II Stages of discovery Wheels: 0W,2W,4W.
III Family,church,grammar school
IV Hunting,fishing,sports
V Social and ant-social activities
VI 38 Hurricane
VII WW2
VIII Glorious dump picking days
IX--Juvenile delinquent stuff.
A-Condom water bombing cabooses off the Greenwood Bridge
B-Playing bumper cars with the 6 wheeler trucks at the sandpit.
C-Counterfeiting nickels into quarters on the railroad tracks
D-Bare ass mud flopping in the sand pit.
E-Puttin potatoes in auto exhaust pipes
F-Bombing trailer trucks on JB from the Maple trees overlapping JB
G-Halloween night stuff
VIII Glorious dump picking days
IX--Juvenile delinquent stuff.
A-Condom water bombing cabooses off the Greenwood Bridge
B-Playing bumper cars with the 6 wheeler trucks at the sandpit.
C-Counterfeiting nickels into quarters on the railroad tracks
D-Bare ass mud flopping in the sand pit.
E-Puttin potatoes in auto exhaust pipes
F-Bombing trailer trucks on JB from the Maple trees overlapping JB
G-Halloween night stuff