(Memories continued from page 1)

could even stand up. There were cobwebs in abundance, but with a stick we wiped them away. Then we saw slits of light at the opposite end of this space which proved to be the outline of a small door. We forced it open and found that it was in the low wall below the stage, and opened directly onto the floor of the hall. Wow! Locked doors could not keep us out.
   I'm sure we did a lot of whooping and hollering that day, and other times when we brought other friends through our secret door. We played on the stage and climbed the ladder or stairs to the booth where spotlights and movie projectors would someday be housed. The echo was great and the noise terrific.
  Then one day, we heard someone fumbling with the padlock on the front door. It was the sheriff, a face and uniform we all knew, mostly from Halloween nights when he would try to keep the big kids from Lakeside Farms from bringing old wagons and leaving them in the middle of Maine St. (I think his name was Sheriff May. Anyone remember?) That called for a speedy exit, out the secret door, which we carefully closed behind us. The Sheriff must have seen me because he called on my parents sometime later, but I don't remember that anything ever came of it. The secret door remained secret, although somehow the fun had gone out of it after that.