W. Ray Freden

I love my little Clowns story, we are so fortunate to get together once again.  Enjoy.

Ray wishes his friends  and followers a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year.

As seen by The Little Clown.

My story begins with my first Christmas—– A few days before December 25th, 1934.

My friends and I were waiting patiently in our box on the table in the dining room.

A freshly cut pine tree was standing in the front window, it too, was waiting to be decorated soon.

It was very, very quiet—– not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Then suddenly a man did appear,
dragging a chair, which he placed by the tree.
Up he climbed up and attached a beautiful spear.

Next he wrapped the tree with lights—- strings of garland and cotton snow,
a Santa hung high, the mushroom down low,
a little boy with a tall hat, a bear—— then me,
we all were hung on bouncy branches around the tree.

Tinsel was draped from branch to branch,
and with the slightest draft, every strand shimmered and danced .
All was quiet for the next day—-
but, we were excited to be out after a long stay.
Then into the house there rose such a clatter,
when what to my eyes should appear, but a miniature person crying and screaming as there was something the matter!
The man had returned with a beautiful lady carrying this noisy spoof.
This bundle of joy was born December 10th to Bill and Ruth.
Now the quiet was in shambles——- but no matter,
I will hang around in spite of the clatter.
For the next few days I watched the family hustle about doing Christmassy things,
Two large stockings and one small, were hung from hooks and rings.
Boughs of greens were placed around ——— the wonderful smells of Christmas were abound.
Santa came and went and left a present or two, It was rather skimpy around the tree—– you see,
because it was a Christmas during the Great Depression.
And William Raymond was Bill & Ruthy’s Christmas present.
On Christmas day, Nana and Gramps came bearing gifts .
It was all recorded on Baby’s First Christmas list.

Relatives, neighbors and friends were generous with a rattle or two.
I watched the gang dwindle to a few, and then knew— this day was nearly through.
I was soon to be put away for another year—– along with the others, including the spear.
This routine has been going on for many-a-year——— It has been 88 times that  I’m out and free—-and now, the 89 th,
to be hung on a pretty Christmas tree,
I really don’t know how many more times I’ll last,
you see I’m delicate—- I’m only made of delicate glass!
But I’m feeling sure—– I’ll see my family once more,
and that will be in another year, so I’ll see you then, along with Santa and his reindeer.

 

Well I made it  through all eighty nine   (now 90)  protected on a shelf far above the floor.
I’ll be out again to see 90 ,  this time , not on a pine tree green, but in a special, safe place for me to be seen.
I’ll only be out a week, lets say,  and being  in  the company of Carol and Ray.
Pluto will be very near, as he is my younger friend, best and dear!
I don’t mind being put away for such a long time, cause the next time I’m out, again,  I’ll be fine.
Merry Christmas to all hanging around, I hope you have a friend like Pluto, my best-est  friend, just an old glass hound!

Pluto is my younger friend,
we’ll hang together to the end.
Clowning around is fun.
Good by for now——- I’ve gotta run.
The Little Clown.

My caretakers takers;
Bill & Ruth Freden , about 30 years.
Ray & Carol Freden ,  62 years.

“Christmas isn’t a season It’s a feeling” – Edna Ferber

You may also like;

The Days Before Christmas

W.Ray Freden
Seaview/ Marshfield, MA. 70 years.
”Down East” Maine 17 years.

In the 1940’s Scituate was a popular shopping spot for my parents, Mom grocery shopped at the A&P and  maintained  their  meats were the best.

Across the street was an Italian delicatessen with wheels of the best cheese. Mom would buy a wedge of Romano for grating on her pasta— Oh how good my Mom’s pasta sauce was–Oh-Yes– My wife’s sauce is good too!
Welch’s Hardware Store was toward the northerly  end of Front St. where my Dad always found everything he needed.

Welch’s, Front St. Scituate MA.
A centrally located Movie House, ”The Satuit Playhouse” provided the weekly news and memorable movies like ”Lassie Come Home”, Dumbo, Bambi, Pinocchio, Snow White——- Alice in Wonderland—- those movies have touch me to this day.

The Satuit Playhouse looking down the ally from Front St.

Not far westerly out First Parish Rd. or  Beaver Dam Rd. and off Branch St. was the Thomas Lawson Estate, a campus including a fountain within a common, a church, school, a wood tower covering the town water tank, Lawson had done to cover the ugly steel tank.

The Lawson Tower.

Driving through this immense  estate was certainly a ”Dreamwold” , as Thomas Lawson named it.  Much of the estate could be observed from the public roads surrounding the compound.
This day in the late summer of 1941, to my surprise, my Dad turned off Branch St. onto a dirt road into the Lawson compound. There were barns connected by tall wooden fences with big doors between the barns.

The home and  map of Thomas Lawson’s ”Dreamwold Estate”

The buildings within the dots contained Bill Chases Farm.
The lower dots border Branch St.  Lawson’s estate ” the nest” is on the right. The upper left is the Egypt Railroad station. Race track to the right.

Noises of all sorts were coming from behind the fences, My Dad parked the car and said ”lets go”, Mom declined, I took his hand and  we went through a doorway in the fence.  OMG! ,the monkeys were going crazy— screaming and bouncing all over their cage– there must have been 50 of them—along with monkey noises were tropical birds–parrots— way more than I can remember!
A call from my Dad– Bill!—Bill! — you around? If Mr. Chase didn’t hear — I could understand.  A turn around the corner of the barn revealed Bill Chase, wild animal keeper, then the ”Hi Bill’s” , hand shaking and ”how the hell are ya’s”!

It was evident that the Bill’s knew each other for some time– I never did find out!
As they chatted–more like screaming  at each other–over the noises,
I tried to take it all in, rubbernecking in all directions!
As I settled down,and  looking off to cages with big cats, A THUNDERING -TRUMPETING-SCREAM – louder than a train whistle- sent me many feet into the air!!  I don’t remember if I saw the Earth’s curvature—-when I landed — both Bill’s were laughing—THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!
Mr Chase told Dad he didn’t have much time, he was meeting a client looking at a big cat.  We got to see the ”Big Cat” a Leopard, a rather tame Leopard, I was about three feet from it, and long enough to get my fill of smell !  In fact, the stay was long enough to not only smell,  but burn your eyes!   Being the summer of 1941, there was never another visit to this farm.
WW ll  saw to that!

”Bill” Chase, far right.  Location of photo unknown.This article was published in the BILLBOARD NEWSPAPER,  1955.

 

Halifax, Mass., July 30. 1955

Chase Wild Animal Farm a landmark in Egypt Massachusetts for 20 years, opened recently in this new location with three times the area and a bigger operation for plant and stock.
Zoning laws and the growing need for expansion has been a problem for years for Charles P. Chase, “Bill”. Last spring he found a spot on Route 106, Plymouth St. in this town.
Since space permits, many of the animals will be allowed to roam within the confines of natural settings. In Egypt they were confined to cages due to the limited space.

The Animals included are, Elephants, Zebras, many types of Deer,Leopards, Llama’s, various spices of Monkeys, Tropical birds & Waterfowl.

Chase has set the admission at 50¢ for adults & 25¢ for muppetts.

This classified ad was placed in the Billboard newspaper, August 14, 1943.

African Lion, $ 40,000.
African Leopard, $ 100,000.
Lima, $200.,Emu, $200., Paca, $20., Coopers Hawk, $75.
Wildcat, $25., Blue Fox, $25.
Hampster, $1., Parakeets, $ 5. @ pr.
Tame Ringtail Monkey, $500., Boa Constrictor, $4.00 @ foot.
Black Raccoons,$ 10., De-scented Skunks, $7.50.,
Otter, $50.
Chase Wild Animal Farm.

A pendant available from the new farm in Halifax.

More reading;
https://cranberrycountymagazine.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-chase-wild-animal-farm-mystery.html

As I look back on my visits to Bill Chase’s Wild Animal Farm I was one lucky youngster, in spite of that Thundering Trumpeting Scream that scared me into space!

“WILD ANIMALS are less WILD and more human than many humans of this world” — Munia Khan.

 

A note from a Farm neighbor;

Andrea ,

 

W. Ray Freden
Seaview, Marshfield MA, 70 years.
Pembroke, Maine, 15 years.

Hello to my friends and followers;
Digging around in my nearly lost collection of “everything I’ll never use”, I came across the below, a tongue-in-cheek bit of literature describing the history of clam hunting.
This was the work of Timothy Jumper of Hingham MA. A very talented wood carver, and a man that wears many different hats.

I met Tim on the craft show circuit many years ago. I had a number of years behind me as a decoy artist carving shorebird, waterfowl & fish decoys. When I spotted a “clam decoy” on his counter, I was just blown away! I had heard of many different birds & animals being decoyed — but never a CLAM!
With a few questions to Tim about his clam decoys for sale, his answers led me to believe that I was being gulled — he then handed me a description note that he included with a sale of his hand carved clam decoys. Upon my first scan of this, I had a great laugh, and rereading many more times along with many more laughs.

Tim has graciously given me permission to use his wonderful work — I added a few photos & sketches — Enjoy.

Tim is now retired and,

 

The Cape Cod Clam Decoy 

The native peoples of North America were using decoys on their clam flats many hundreds of years before the coming of the first Europeans.
The Wampanoags of Cape Cod would set out empty shells, or clam-shaped stones painted white, to entice the wary mollusks out of the mud and onto the shore where they can be captured by camouflaged hunters concealed in blinds and wielding clam clubs.

Sketch by W. Ray Freden

In 1628 Miles Standish noted in his diary: “Ye Natives doe delite to pursue Clammes withe clubbes & Dequoyies.”
The colonists imitated this practice, but improved upon the decoys by carving them out of wood — typically white pine or cedar. This enabled them to more accurately imitate the features of this species being hunted, as well as to depict secondary sex characteristics — often exaggerated — which led to much higher bag numbers during the rutting season (January through December). They also began the practice of placing the decoys on sticks to make them visible from a greater distance.
Clams have almost no sense of smell and very poor hearing, thus clam calls, though sometimes tried, have never proven effective, but their eyesight is keen: A decoy on a six inch stick can be seen by an adult male clam on a clear day at sea-level from a distance of 40 rods ( one Furlong), provided , of course, that he is looking.
Although clamming with decoys is highly efficient it is an occupation fraught with danger, and it is owing to its perilous nature that it came to be replaced by the safer but more arduous method method of digging.
Clams have a great deal of pride, and though usually docile they become irate and wrathful when they realize they have been gulled and made to look foolish.
From 1680 to 1889, over 2500 Cape Cod clam hunters were killed outright or permanently maimed by clams enraged to discover that they had been lured out of the comfort of their mud by a bit of painted wood.

Sketch by W. Ray Freden

In May of 1756 two Chatham men were victims of an especially vicious clam attack: Their hideously mutilated corpses were found stuffed headfirst, inside their hip boots. The ever-increasing risk of such attacks—- called ”shellings” —- served to scare off all but the greediest and most foolhardy clam hunters, and by the end of the end of the 19th century even those few had abandoned their decoys, or died using them.

N.B.
The clam decoy you have purchased is an authentic reproduction, intended for decorative purposes only. Wooden Images disclaims any responsibility for death or bodily injury resulting from the use of this product for the hunting of clams.

Tim’s Clam Decoy’s, two hen’s and a Drake
Photo by Tim Jumper
Story by  © Tim Jumper
Hingham MA

 

Revived and added to by W. Ray Freden
Down East Maine
“The way life should be”