The rag man with his mule-drawn cart. The ice man that when the kids gathered around was a bit sloppy in cutting the cubes that would perfectly fit the ice box (from memory) so the kids would have some cold ice shavings on a hot summer day. (”Growing up - we never had ice cold drinks!”)
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The junk man on his mule-drawn cart piled high with stuff. In the summer when the ice man came, it was always an excuse to nag for ice cream so mom would churn it using real cream poured off the tops of the farm fresh milk bottles delivered that morning from the farmer down the road. Our ice box was open enough that it was basically a 4 foot high insulated box with a few shelves in the middle - no need to carve the 5lb blocks of ice to fit.
Our creek was too muddy and polluted from the hurricanes that brought floods to swim in, besides it smelled funny.
Like an earlier poster here, I’m a War Baby (’42).
I’ve really enjoyed the memories on this thread.
Anyone else remember the guy that pushed a special cart down the street about once a month that we called the “Sharpener Man”? He had rigged up a seat and pedal that would turn a grindstone. He sharpened knives, scissors and axes.
How about the guy that would walk a Shetland pony through the neighborhood so little kids could get their pictures taken while sitting on the pony?
Horse-drawn watermelon wagons and farm vegetable wagons?
Small dump trucks full of manure? Folks could buy a half load or all, depending on size of yard and Victory Garden.