Sunday, October 13, 2013

Jawbreakers

When I was growing up I enjoyed many a jawbreaker.  They were big round pieces of candy.  And they were very hard.  In fact, I believed that if you tried to bite through one, you would break your jaw.  Hence the name.
 
Yesterday, I learned that such was not always the case.  Jawbreakers were not always round hard pieces of candy that you could break your jaw on.  I learned that in the early part of the 20th century, jawbreakers were actually marbles covered with taffy.  Who would have thought.  How I learned this is an interesting story.

Two days ago I got a new, old book in the mail.  New to me and old in that it was written in 1985.  I guess that's not so old.  The book was entitled Some Days of My Life, written by Rendell Noel Mabey, a nephew to my Grandfather Cash (Charles Cash Rampton.)  Actually they were a generation apart but were born within a couple of years of each other.  Rendell Noel Mabey's father, Charles Rendell Mabey was governor of the state of Utah from 1920-1925.  His mother was the older half sister of Grandfather Cash.  The two young boys grew up in Bountiful, Utah, their houses less than a stone throws apart.

Grandfather Cash's father, Charles Hyrum Rampton (who was affectionately known as Pa) owned a three story building in town many referred to as the Opera House.  Actually the first floor of the building was a store while one of the upper ones was a large recreational hall where dances, musical performances and plays were performed.  I believe there was even a mortuary in the building.  Below is a drawing of the building.

 


A beautiful buiding indeed.  The following is from Rendell Charles Mabey's book, Some Days of My Life:


 
 
This is a picture of Grandfather Cash about the time this story happened.  His younger sister Wilda is with him.
 
 
I'll never look at a jawbreaker the same way again.  Nor will I accept any when I go trick or treating in a couple of weeks.