Before we resume our trip down Memory Lane, I would like to comment on “man’s inhumanity to man.” There are those who justify the desecration of the West End by stating that there was poverty and vermin in that area and that it would help eradicate these pestilences by leveling the structures that housed these enigmas. The tears that came to my father’s eyes when, while improving the house that he had purchased and removing the old paint from the woodwork he burned his hands was infinitesimal compared to the cascade of tears that rushed from his eyes and dampened his heart when he learned he had to get out of the building he had labored so diligently to keep clean and neat.

“The West Enders should recognize that we were but many ants in a world of heavy footsteps.”

Regarding poverty: there may not have been filet mignon, paté de fois, sushi or brie on everyone’s dinner menu, but I do not remember anyone in the West End ever going hungry.

As far as the rodents are concerned, I have not heard a hue and cry to level Newbury Street or Marlborough Street because they were inundated with that repugnant species. Perhaps it was because they were able to feed on those aforementioned delicacies.

The West Enders should recognize that we were but many ants in a world of heavy footsteps.

Now let’s pick up the threads and weave them into the garment hat cloaked the West End – the Happy Memories...

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