October 5, 2016 – All in the family – writers of one kind or another 

          I come from a line of writers; it must be in our “blood”!  Not famous – but still writers. 

My Grandmother on my Mom’s side, Madeline, used to write a society column for a The Lowell Sun newspaper in Massachusetts, in the early to mid-1900s.  I believe I will find a few of those columns in my mother’s archives [scrapbooks] when I have to go through her belongings after my Mom’s death.  [I look forward to reading them; I bet they will be priceless!]

          Over the years, my Mom has been doing some of her own purging of records and several years ago she sent me a copy of The Berlin News, dated September 17, 1993, which is Volume 1, Number 12.  Under the heading of “A Little of This, A Little of That” was a column where the paper accepted contributions from locals.  She had submitted an essay and they had printed it.

          My Mom sent me a copy to enjoy and I share it with you:

Beware of Three Corner Shelves.

          Do you remember the three corner shelves you have used and seen over the years?  Some big, like in a barn to utilize the space for small items, some tiny that could be purchased for your first apartment.  Pretty, but what could you actually put on them. The new home designers were probably smart to have eliminated them.

          I remember when they were first installed – how great – a safe place to put Aunt Tillie's vase, so the children wouldn’t break it. Then the eyeglasses, that book of stamps, a sample of lipstick, comb, some toothpicks, warranty for the toaster, 3 thumb tacks, 4 pencils, 6 pens, extra pen light battery, orange plastic piece (must belong to one of the children’s toys), post cards, business cards – never know when you’ll need the number – extra screws that came in a piece of equipment, always handy to have around, were added to the shelves.

          Pretty soon we can’t see Aunt Tillie’s vase so we move it to the next shelf up. That doesn’t help because taller people have already put junk mail to keep, extra keys, some matchbook covers with two matches still intact, seeds, cough drops, all those items you don’t want to lose and want handy.

          There is something to be said for the top shelf - not handy to sniggle things on, so, perhaps that is the proper place for Aunt Tillie’s vase! 

You can tell a lot about a family by their three corner shelf.

Time to clean it off; it looks so good.  You say you have tickets to the Centrum – where do we put them for safekeeping?  Why, of course, the “three corner shelf”.

          Contributed by B.S.

I believe the below was added by the editor – to possibly fill up the column space:

A whimsical bit of nostalgia with a very factual observation of some area in anyone’s house they can relate, whether it’s a true three corner shelf, a kitchen drawer or the corner of a handy table by the door.

Aren’t we all victims of this habit?

          I don’t happen to have a three corner shelf – but I have the same habit – top of my bureau, table near the phone, corner of the desk, or on the fireplace mantel among other special places for those things I need to keep handy.

          Like grandmother, mother, and now daughter; we are all writers at heart.