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The Globe-News recently featured an article about a man who collected lunch pails, and the photos made a colorful and interesting display.

Movie stars, television characters, comedy scenes and spaceships covered the sides of the lunch pails. I looked closely but didn't see a single molasses syrup bucket in the lot. Evidently, the collector was a younger man.

Generation after generation of school children used makeshift lunch pails made from buckets in which to carry their lunches to school.

The brand of bucket varied from syrup to lard to honey. Some were straight-sided, others had slanted sides and could be either "push-on" or "push-in" design lids. Most lids were attached to the bucket bail with a string to prevent loss. The size of lunch buckets used depended on number of children to be served. A single student might use a 2-quart size where a family of five might use a 2-gallon size bucket.

The contents of yesterday's lunch buckets varied from crackers spread with peanut butter to sandwiches made from homemade bread. Cold bacon or sausage patties were added if available. Sweets of any kind were a treat with cookies being the most likely dessert.

The fancy Thermos jugs of today had not been invented, so pint fruit jars were used to hold milk or juices. Be careful, or they might break and ruin the rest of the lunch.

I can hear the elder readers now as they read this article.

"Where are the cold biscuits? What about fatback and corn pones? How about cornbread and a jar of buttermilk? I always had a sandwich made with plum jelly." Well, in the old days, the contents of any lunch bucket depended on the financial circumstances of the family at the moment.

Poor crops, low crop prices, bad weather, injury and sickness could bring on unforeseen misfortune, which affected both the food on the table and the contents of lunch buckets. Cold biscuits, leftover flapjacks or "whatever" tasted pretty good if there was nothing else to eat.

A retired teacher at McLean tells of a local rural school during the early 1900s, when a teenage sister seated her numerous siblings in a circle at lunch time. She made them mind, take turns saying grace and sit quietly as she passed out the contents of the family lunch bucket. Can you picture this scene today?

Another lady I know recalls having to ride behind her older brother horseback to and from school each day. Her responsibility was not only to hold on for dear life, but to protect the lunch bucket and keep it safe. She managed in spite of her brother running horse races with the neighboring children, chasing coyotes and jumping ditches along the way.

In comparison, I read the schools are removing the automatic drink machines, causing great hardship among the students.

Comments or Suggestions?