Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

Trip to New York City
 
On day three of our Senior trip, we boarded the train once again and headed for New York City. It was a one and a half-hour trip as I recall. Upon our arrival we went to the Gov Clinton Hotel which was across the street from where we disembarked.
 
I didn’t like New York. It was dark. If you wanted to see the sky, you had to look up. And the people were not welcoming. When we bought food from vendors, they acted like we were disturbing them. 
 
We went to Radio City Music Hall and saw the Rockettes. We must have gone by taxi because I remember that I was scared to death in the traffic. I kept looking out the back window because I was sure we were going to get hit. 
 
We also boarded a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We saw the United Nations building and all of the things that New York offers to tourists.
 
While we were there, Agnes Carle needed to go to Catholic Mass for a special service. She asked me to go with her. Though she was a serious Catholic and I a serious Protestant, we had God and the same morals in common. We were always good friends. I went to her wedding after graduation. It was a good thing I had taken Latin because at that time all of the services were in Latin.
 
As I wrote earlier, I did not own a lot of clothes and soon found that I did not have enough for this trip. We had time off to go shopping at Macy’s and Gimbel’s, so I bought two skirts and two blouses. I’m not sure but I think I had only taken $50 on this trip but in those days that was a lot of money.
 
Since I was a young, impatient teenager, I decided that traveling was not all it was cracked up to be. I didn’t know this was just the beginning and that I would do a lot of it and even learn to like it. Growing up in Williamsport had been good for me.

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2021
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck