We lived in the 700 block of North Pruett Street until I entered the second grade.  The ice Cream Man, Mr. Harris, and his horse, Dolly, lived next door.

   Mr. Harris sold ice cream from a screened-in wooden wagon that was pulled by the horse.  He sold three flavors -- vanilla, chocolate and strawberry -- and ice cream was 5 cents per dip.

   We had to wait until late afternoon when he returned to get our ice cream.  Sometimes he sold out before he got home and we were disappointed if we had our nickels ready.

   Dolly in the yack yard is another thought.  Pruett Street has changed very little since then and it certainly was just as populated as it is today.  

   We occupied a lot of time talking to Dolly across the fence and fantasizing.  There were times when fantasizing was not enough to take care of the odor and the flies, but when the wind was not out of the south, the horse was nice.  If there had not been a horse, there would not have been an ice cream man.

   My dad would bring us Val-o-milk candy that he bought from Mr. Dunnavant, who had a candy shop behind his house on Bradburn Street.  He sold the bars, six for 25 cents, and we've been told that he patented the Val-o-milk candy.   He had a route selling the candy.  after he quit making Val-o-milks, Curtiss Candy Company started making them, but they were much smaller than what we bought from Mr. Dunnavant.

   One of the Harris boys told me that he and his brother would ride the train to Gainesville, get off and hunt rabbits on the way back to Paragould, and they sold them to Mr. Wofford for his hot tamales.

   As I share the memories with my boys, they think that I'm old -- for how could anyone live without a refrigerator and television?  These two things alone guarantee that one is old.

   They cannot understand why there would be a need for so many grocery stores, or an Ice Cream Man or a Hot Tamale Man or a Candy Man.

Sharran McCullar