Hyde Bay Camp For Boys

First Auto

 Dad shopped around for a job and was hired by the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, Penna.  So they crated up what little furniture they had and returned to the farm for the summer.  I have photos that indicate that the Ames and Tags visited.  The most significant event was that Dad got inoculated with the gasoline bug.  On the farm Grandma, because of her illness, had to have a “hired girl”, who mentioned that there was a car at her home over in South Valley that they could use.  With the help of neighbor Joe Nelson, a mechanic, they brought the Model T. Ford touring car back. Joe then drove Dad down to Fred Clark’s and back.  Then he did the same thing himself.  So much for the driver education.  The following is an excerpt of Dad’s story/

“At table, I announced that we would all drive to Oneonta now that I had learned to drive.  Mother, Father, Emily, Herbie and Mrs. Pitcher, (hired girl) piled in and we did get down and back.  I stalled on the trolley tracks and had to be pushed by passengers and motorman.  I visited a garage and found that my trouble was that I had left the emergency brake on……We kept the car all summer and took it back to South Valley;  but gasoline was now in my blood.”   (The rest of the auto story in due course.)