When the economy started looking not just bleak but truly dire, I had questions about life during the Great Depression. That led to a book search, and I found a great one, “Hanging On or How to Survive a Depression and Enjoy Life” by Edmond G Love.

Ed, as I call him, states “This is not a novel as these events really happened.”

You will be impressed by that when you read about his fraternity holding a scavenger hunt with a black cat at the top of the list.

Ed got a ride with the bread delivery man and managed to collect three cats from neighboring towns and sold two of them to his fraternity brothers.

Ed knew the cats were for a sorority prank, so he arranged for the girls to help him recapture the cats as they were placed through the window.

All the while screaming as loud as possible to give the pranksters their thrill.

Figuring the other Fraternities would also hold a scavenger hunt, Ed managed to resell several black cats two more times. With a flair beyond compare, Ed tells of winning at poker and The horse track, of shoveling coal on a cold night until 3 a.m., and losing his first love to another.

There is the story of his fathers business needing a loan to buy a load of coal the bank turned down.

That coal included the supply for the banks building… they approved the loan. A well–told story indeed.

Reviewer: Mel Densmore is a patron at the Harrison Regional Public Library in Columbiana.