THE OLD STREET LIGHT ON THE CORNER

BY THE ABBOTSFORD HOUSE

This street light was typical of the nineteenth century. The light came from a kerosene lamp. It was the evening duty of the town marshal to make the rounds, fill the lamps, trim the wicks and touch a match. This particular lamp and, many others like it were lighted evening after evening by Oluf Olson, who was for years the marshal at Abbotsford. Oluf was later janitor at the courthouse in Neillsville, and also court bailiff. He has retired from the janitor job and is living in Neillsville. It is the irony of fate that Oluf, who started the blaze in the street lights thousands and thousands of times, should have been caught by the flames in 1953 and sent to the hospital with burns running up the back of a leg. Those flames, coming from a grass fire, sneaked up his trouser leg by a rear attack. He did not know what was, happening until the heat told him.