James H. Cagle
Some people collect bottles. They collect them for their value, for their artistic design, or for their sentimental value, among other reasons. Over the years I’ve collected a few bottles because to me they were unique and pretty.
I have found where there were old homesteads, and walked into the woods behind where the house use to stand to find where the family discarded all their bottles, tin cans, and other unwanted housewares. There would usually be an unnatural rise in the ground that was covered with weeds, leaves, and maybe small plants. Under that covering would be years worth of old bottles, cans, and whole furniture of all sorts from years gone by. Usually, I would find the old brown bleach bottle, old cough syrup bottles, and other bottles that I vaguely remember from my early childhood. Some bottles I found and kept because they were odd or unique and I just liked them, though I didn’t know what they had been used for.
I also found a lot of old drink bottles, the old Coca Cola, the Pepsi, the RC, the Fanta and Dr. Pepper, and others. Of course these bottles are of no real value today, except to the right person. But these are the kinds of bottles I collected in the good ole days when I was growing up around Bemiss, Georgia.
Before starting off to collect bottles I would get permission from my mother. With nothing on but a pair of cut off jeans, I would get a brown paper grocery bag and start walking the three miles to Mr. Wilson’s little store in Bemiss, with our dog by my side. Parents didn’t worry then like they do today about their children getting picked up and taken off by strangers. It did happen, but only once in a great while.
As I walked the dirt road to the store I searched the ditches for bottles. People who bought drinks at the store finished them in the car and threw them out the window. The bottles usually landed in the ditches. I would search both sides of the road and get bottles out of both ditches. By the time I got to Mr. Wilson’s store I had my bag full of bottles. If I found more bottles after my bag was full I would hide them and get them next time I walked the road.
Each bottle that was returnable was worth either five or ten cents. Twenty bottles, which was about all a grocery bag would hold, and a little boy could carry, would get me two dollars. That would be enough for a big RC (Ray Charles), a moon pie, some peanuts, and a little candy. It still amazes me how a bag full of drink bottles could give a poor boy a rush, by making him feel rich, because he had enough money to get his heart’s desire.
Mr. Wilson’s store sold gasoline and basic food items. Next to his store was a garage owned by Mr. Mack. And on the other side of the garage was another store that had most of what Mr. Wilson’s store had, plus fresh cut meats. These three building are still standing today and are still being used.
After getting my RC, moon pie, peanuts, and candy I left Mr. Wilson’s store with my paper bag. I might find some bottles on the way home that I missed. If I did I would have to hide them until my next trip to the store.
