That small-town feeling

Friday, November 11, 2011

If you read our story last week about the bizarre snow storm that smacked us, you’ll understand why people love small-town life.

Our Hattie Bernstein wrote, among many other things, about how the folks in Brookline, particularly the spouses of firefighters, made sure that people without power at least had plenty to eat and a warm place in which to eat it: the town’s fire station.

Here’s a little of what Bernstein wrote:

“On Monday night, 90 people showed up for roast beef and mashed potatoes, and on Tuesday, around noon, volunteer firefighters were delivering whole turkeys for the evening meal.”

Pretty fantastic, wouldn’t you say?

It is possible, of course, that such things happen in big-city neighborhoods. It’s possible that when the power goes out anywhere, neighbors make sure that neighbors are OK. But it just seems that in places like Brookline, it ALWAYS happens, no exceptions.

People in such towns just seem to know that it’s up to them. Of course, there are times when something is up to someone and it just doesn’t get done, but that never seems to be the case in small-town New Hampshire.

“We’re all working together,” said Irene Thompson, 80, a resident of South Main Street who was eating corn chowder in the fire station and waiting for power to be restored.

And Sheryl Corey, wife of Fire Chief Charlie Corey, at one point pointed out the women in the fire station kitchen who were making sandwiches, washing pots and organizing the next meal, and said:

“Without these people, we’d be nowhere.”

That’s a pretty good definition of small-town life.