The other day two of my column readers were here for a visit at the same time.

One of them brought a photo album of nice pictures of Dowagiac places.

She said she and her friend had gone all over Dowagiac to get these pictures to put in the album, which was to show a friend what Dowagiac looks like.

I guess her friend has never been to our town and wondered what it was like.

In our conversation over coffee and cookies, I told my friend your book of pictures looks like you were working for the Chamber of Commerce.

One of the ladies said, I wonder why Dowagiac doesn’t have a welcome sign when you first come into the city from the north or south, like Welcome to the Grand Old City, and include some information about it.

All of us at the table agreed with her.

A few times I’ve been told by some of my readers that my Cardinal Charlie book is a great “bathroom” book.

Now this makes me wonder, is this good or bad?

A lady not too long ago told me that she saved all of the letters that she had gotten from her husband before they were married and has them tied in a bundle.

She wants them put in her casket with her when she dies.

From the Looking Back column of the Dowagiac paper, 1913, 25 years ago, which would be 1888. Cost of living, wheat 80 cents a bushel, potatoes 25 cents a bushel, butter 10 cents a pound and eggs 11 cents a dozen.

1914: Folks I knew who graduated in 1913 were Phillipine (Phoebe) Biek, Art Wick, Marie Ritchey, Grover Myrkle and John Newton.

1913, Ritchey and Company, suits, $10; coats, $6.75; Nemo corsets, $2; silk hose, 59 cents; and men’s Union Suits, 79 cents (I bet these were those all-wool, itchy underwear.

In my 1924 Wahoo there is an ad and a picture of a Farrell washer,  ringer and dryer which was made in Dowagiac by the Farrell Products Co.

Any older readers remember the Farrell Co.?

Are they really going to eliminate the white page phone numbers in our phone books?

I read where one phone company may have one, but you have to request it if you want one.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has trouble with the small print in our phone books these days.

It’s almost to the point where you need your magnifying glass to look up a number. What have they got against us old codgers?

Remember how farmers used to dry their ear corn?

They made a corn packet using rolls of wire-woven wooden pickets, like those old wooden snow fences you used to see on farmers’ fields to hold back the snow.

I guess some farmers used cornstalks for the roof.

“Cardinal Charlie” Gill writes a nostalgic weekly column about growing up in the Grand Old City. E-mail him at cardinalcharlie@hotmail.com.