KID KLASSICS: THIS SURE TAKES SOME LICKIN'...

It was back in the late '60s, in Room 7 of my primary school one

day, that I espied the magnifying glass.  It was in the hands of one of my

classmates who was using it for the purpose for which it was designed.  (No

surprise there, really - what else is a magnifying glass for?)  I was fascinated -

it was such a small magnifying glass, and I immediately wanted one for myself.

"Where did you get it?" I enquired of him.  "I got it as part of a free stamp col-

lecting kit I sent away for" was his response.  That was the magic word for me -

"free".  I had seen the ad for such stamp kits in the comics I bought, but I had

never paid them too much attention before.  I decided there and then that I

would send away for such a kit the first chance I got.  Nothing would deter

me, my mind was made up.  I wanted a mini-magnifying glass of my

very own and, by thunder, I would have one.

******

Close to 30

odd years later,

when I eventually

got around to send-

ing for it (quite a

few years ago now),

it could well have

been from the very

same stamp dealer as

my long-ago class-

mate had acquired

his - D. J. Hanson

Ltd., Eastrington,

Goole, East Yorks,

England, DN14

7QG, who advertised

extensively in British

comics of the time

(and is still going

strong today).

 The much-coveted magnifying glass wasn't exactly the same as the

one I remembered, but it was good enough for me.  I felt the satisfaction

that comes from finally fulfilling some long-held purpose or ambition that

should have been accomplished years before.  In fact, I wish I could sit in

that classroom now, at my old desk, and employ my magnifying glass in the

way I would've done back when I was a kid.  No, not to read tiny print in

one of my school books, but to capture an errant sunbeam and direct it

towards a patch of skin on someone's bare thigh (short trousers in

my day, remember) and wait to see them jump.

Sadistic little bleeder, eh?

I do sort of collect stamps actually, but on an extremely limited scale:

Christmas stamps, TV, movie, and comic characters, etc.  I couldn't fill a

whole album, but I've got enough to keep me occupied for an hour or so, on

cold, rainy nights when the wind is howling outside my window, bearing

aloft familiar childhood voices and visions from so very long ago.

  

Typical stamp ad from the 1960s

Posted in: Cartoons