32
PARTISAN REVIEW
long whistles and four short ones, and my father said casually, "Well,
there goes Stein's store." Of course my father had no advance informa-
tion about the fire, but I guess he knew that Stein's business was on
the blink.
The
Post-Star
next morning told about the damage caused by the
blaze, reported that the place and the merchandise were "partly covered
by insurance," and explained that the fire was of "unknown origin" or
that it was caused by "spontaneous combustion." Some smiled cynically,
but most of the decent citizens, and especially the business men, didn't
say much because they were glad that a little more money was coming
into the community from the outside.
Of course the people whose place burned down put on long faces
before the neighbors, and wept about the awful calamity that had befallen
them.
But most everybody recognized this as a necessary ritual.
That winter one or two of the insurance companies threatened to
cancel the policies in certain sections of Glendale unless these fires of
"unknown origin" and "spontaneous combustion" stopped. On the whole,
however, this activity was recognized as part of the legitimate business
enterprise of the community.
So my boyhood passed in the Queen City of the Adirondacks.
Every
winter there were fires, and when a celebrity came to town the Socialist
Band played the "Albania" march.
The Socialist local dozed placidly
through the years. When the papermill workers went out on strike the
Socialists could not understand.
