Spirit of the Past Antiques

When we were kids we used to collect soda bottles and when we had enough we would turn them in at the General Store for 2 cents each and buy another soda to be shared amongst us.  It kept us busy.  Bottles.  Back then they would be washed and used again.  Those were real silver dimes we received for five empty bottles; there was a musical ring when they would spin on the store counter.  The General Store had a Coke machine, the kind you open a lid and pull the soda along a metal track until it releases into your grasp, always completely chilled and perfectly wet in your hand.  The store had wooden counters and ceiling fans.  Remember the smells?   The hot, humid summer air, and always something sweet, probably from the candy bins.  We bought our jelly beans from glass apothecary jars, and put them in paper sacks.  We rode our "Schwinn" bike everywhere.

There were signs on Main Street, for the service station, the cafe, the hardware store, all those places are gone now.  So is the old man we always saw on Main Street, he with the derby hat that looked out of place even then.  And always with his cane, so ornamental.  We wonder where the rocker he would sit on in front of the barbershop is now? 

There was no such thing as fast food, and when we traveled in the car with the family we seldom saw two towns that looked alike.  We had toys, marbles, the girls had dolls.   And Mom had special china, and silverware that she would save for when guests came for dinner.  And we had an attic filled with Grampas things, older still.  We would sneak up there when it wasn't too hot and just look at it all, and then carefully put it all back.  

Sometimes the good memories come back, they come back when we see a little piece of our past.  They are so very welcome.  A few things from our past are still alive, waiting to be reclaimed.  Something to hold, to feel, they help us recall the days when the skies seemed to be just a little more blue, smiles were common, and we were a part of it all.  Today they are called antiques.

And if you admire them, as Emerson said, it is an admiration of the natural.      

"Spirit of the Past Antiques"  an antique mall located at 215 North 5th Street (Hwy 29) in Pekin, Illinois 61554.  Our hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00am until 7:00pm and Sunday, Noon til 5:00 pm.  Our phone number is 309-346-1660 and you can email us at info@spiritofthepastantiques.com.

Come visit us, Dan and Debi Bruns, proprietors.