The following is an excerpt from “The Tanner’s Daughters: A Remembrance” by Helen Irvin Wyckoff, 1964.
Bunty Means
He was the village jeweler. His little shop was located in the only business block in the village – four small stores with a porch effect over the sidewalk.
He was a gentle little man with a permanent squint in one eye from the almost constant wearing of his jeweler’s lens. He sat at his workbench in front of the window, where passersby could see him tinkering with an old clock, or regulating a watch, or perhaps repairing a gold chain. He would fix anything – almost anything – for “Oh, about a quarter.”
From his 5 pound paper bound catalogs he would order things and tack on such a very moderate commission that everybody always got a real bargain.
On the opposite side of the store from his jewelry business, he sold tobacco, newspapers, magazines, and penny candy. The whole was warmed in the winter by a potbellied stove in the rear. There was a certain smell to the place like nothing else – a combination of oil – from the floor and from his workbench – tobacco, newsprint, soft coal smoke – other less easily identifiable things – not at all objectionable, but rather pleasant, withal.
When he grew old, his memory failed him, he was often confused, and he often got lost – a real accomplishment in such a tiny village. So the word went out to keep an eye on Bunty, and with the innate kindness of villagers in taking care of their own, he would be gently, but firmly escorted back to his home.
About the Author
Helen Irvin Wyckoff (1896-1966) grew up in Big Run, one of four children of Charles H. and Fannie Irvin. Her family owned the Irvin Tannery. In 1964 she wrote down some of her childhood memories as a gift to her two sisters. Submitted by her grandson, Charles J. Fausold, Valois, NY.