Ole
Harv started right out of school being a milk delivery man.
Up
until he got a job as a deliveryman he hardly knew one end of a horse from the
other. Now he started out at four each
morning getting ready for the days delivery.
First
it was grooming the horse then feeding him. While he (the horse) was eating
Harv had to load his milk wagon for the day’s deliveries; Milk, cottage cheese,
whipping cream and eggs.
By
six o’clock he was on his way; Picking up the clean empties and replacing with
fresh full bottles. Occasionally there
would be a note saying Harv put the milk in the ice box and there is a sweet
roll for you on the table or some other message like “going out of town so no
milk.”
And
so it went either deliver the norm or follow the note stuck in the bottle. In
the early morning you could hear the clop, clop of the horse’s hooves followed
by the jingle of bottles being loaded into the carrying rack and then the
bottles banging into each other in the tray.
First
the heavy sound of the hooves followed by the bottles jingling was noise that
only the soundest of sleepers could continue their undisturbed night’s sleep
without being aroused.
After
a few months of delivering the milk,
Harv developed a sort of a rhythm in his step which in turn caused the
bottles to have a jingle bell beat and it became addictive. People picked up on
the sound and in their mind kept time as he beat out the rhythm.
It
was expected for the customers to put their money in a clean milk bottle once
every week and if they didn’t their delivery next week never arrived.
They
would have to pay their bill to get their service started again.
Sad
to say they lost a few delivery men who couldn’t make the switch but those who
made the changeover were happier for they didn’t have to care for their horses.
This saved about two hours a day for them.
It
required the drivers to learn a new cadence for no longer was the clop, clop to
be heard again. When the last horse was retired it ushered in a new era in the
milk home delivery business.
Perhaps
you should check this out! And turn up your sound
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