THE SQUARE

THE SQUARE

There is in Wilmington a public square, much the same as those in other towns of America,

except that our square is sunken a trifle and one needs to descend a few granite steps to

reach it. Feeling at home about it are the library, the post office, courthouse , town hall

and a large office building. The equestrian statue sits at the top of a flight of steps, also

of granite. The man appears to be somewhat inferior to the mount, however, long ago, he rode past here on the Kings Highway to cast Delawares vote for the Revolt of '75. There

are two fountains, elm trees, concrete walks, benches and for sure the sky. Once or

twice a year there is a band concert here. Election years it is almost always full of politicians.

The park or square, whichever, is apart from the town, like an island, somewhat unimportant. In fact the people who frequent it are sometimes called islanders'. Maybe

this makes it some different of other town squares.

The square perhaps has many dusty memories for many people, like the shadows of

sundowns and sun ups, or like a book from the library being carried across it's grass.

We don't go to the square, we only cross it to go from the post office to the library.

Even then, here is no one you know at the benches. Most are men wearing dark blue

suits and black shoes, reading a newspaper or sitting on one. They gather, talk, some need canes, and stay for a long period, like morning to afternoon. In cooler months you see these men in heavy overcoats, slick and shining with age and most are gray, just like the person in them. Once in awhile there is seen a Negro, alone and silent, lonesome, seeking some sun.

The other day, I sat in the square for the first time, killing twenty minutes and smoking a

cigarette. I sat looking at the library, nodded at several I knew who nodded back. The

men in the dark blue suits and black shoes paid no attention to me. The only way out is up

the stairs under the shadow of the rider to the noisy street of life.

Abstract: January 1941 'The New Delawarean' magazine of Berthold Bothe.