Living in the country there were limited opportunities for near-by friends. Play dates were unheard of at that time.
Lois Goldsmith was in my same grade at school and lived about half a mile from our house. He grandfather, father, and uncles ran the dairy right next to Pleasant Valley School.
Every day two children were selected to go next door to the dairy and pick up some milk. The teacher would collect nickels at the beginning of the day for the orders for milk at lunch. At recess the one of the teachers would take over the money and the Order to the dairy so the milk would be ready at lunch time.
Just before lunch the two selected children would go next door to Goldsmith’s and pick up the order. They would walk side by side carrying a metal basket filled with small pint sized milk bottles sealed with waxy paper tops. Some days we had chocolate milk. That was a treat. It seems like the empty bottles were returned the next day when a new order was picked up. This was in the early 1950’s. Some of the little milk bottles can still be found in antique shops today.
There was no such thing as a hot lunch, except for once a month the eight graders boiled some hot dogs and sold them to the rest of the school. I think they used the money for the eight grade sneak day when they all went off to the mountains right before graduation. Regular days kids had brown paper bags for their lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were the staple with an apple or an orange. I do remember balona sandwiches on white extra soft Wonder bread spread thick with bright yellow mustard.