The Alexander City Outlook

Remembering war time etiquette

Back to the war years, we quickly shifted from playing cowboys and Indians to playing Americans vs. Germans or Japs. Many of our schoolmates had close relatives in different branches of the armed services, and we were vitally interested in any scrap of information that was available.

Of course, so much was secret and not available to the Home Front. There was an extremely talented “reader” or “seer” in the Millerville Community in Clay County by the name of Mrs. Teel. She is no longer living, but a good many of her relatives are. My understanding is that Mrs. Teel met her clients at her kitchen table and read the coffee grounds in her cup. She was exceptionally gifted in locating lost objects and animals. A cousin of mine was quite sure that Mrs. Teel located a lost diamond ring.

All sorts of rumors were circulated during the war and Mrs. Teel was able to know about the locations of individual men on active duty. This was never proven: however, the location of cows, horses and pieces of jewelry definitely was. This amazing lady was also able to read persons characters and, in many, (though not all) instances, predict the future. I was told that appointments were made and that two dollars was charged for an individual reading.

I cannot imagine patriotism being as sincere and emotional as it was during the war years and directly thereafter in Alexander City.

We memorized songs and speeches that can still bring a lump in the throat and tears to the eyes. The movies and all local entertainment had patriotic themes, and we never tired of them. The songs were “Remember Pearl Harbor,” “America,” “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America.” The last named was treated with just as much respect although it was recently written by Irving Berlin and could only be properly sung by Kate Smith who was a very large woman with a talent for belting out songs unlike anyone else.

Of course we learned the etiquette with which our National Anthem and National Flag were treated. I imagine the same rules apply, but we were supposed to stand motionless with the right hand over the heart. Of course we boys and men kept our heads uncovered. If anybody dared to violate these rules, he risked all sorts of abuse.

The flag could never touch the ground. If so it had to be destroyed by either burning or being buried in the earth. Boys could really annoy one another by yanking a friend’s flag to the ground. That would be the end of that particular flag, and a replacement would have to be bought, probably at the 10-cent store.

There were lots of patriotic parades with heads uncovered as the colors passed. That reminds me of the very strict etiquette surrounding the wearing of hats and caps by men. These rules and regulations were observed by all men, rich or poor, young or old, big or small. Men wore felt fedoras and, in the summer, straw hats or boaters. A man always lifted his hat with the left hand if he encountered a woman out of doors. If there were ten men on an elevator and one woman got on, off came the hats. Men really always uncovered their heads in an office, certainly in a restaurant or places of eating and shops unless they were outside. This “hat practice” was, I suppose, learned at home and reinforced in school.

All good manners were reinforced or if necessary taught in school. Quite frankly, it was rather humiliating to be caught being unmannerly. When I use the term “hat” it also applies to farmers’ straw hats or caps of any description. Military headgear had different sets of rules.

Jack Coley’s column on Alexander City will appear each Thursday in The Outlook.