After a bicycle ride from the south end of Rockland to the shipping dock of the hotel we dragged our bicycles up the stairs and into the bowels of the great place. It featured wooden ceiling beams fully two feet or more in width where we parked our bicycles and where the lone one stall bathroom with a single electric bulb kept the facility illuminated and away from the view of the guests. A very dingy place to say the least.

Entering from the back door of the golf shop locker room from the shipping area and hoping not to encounter Louis Forte, the long time golf pro, we made our way to the caddie pen, which was situated under the south front porch of the hotel.

Louis Forte was feared by the caddies for his intimidation of the staff and occasionally the caddies. He was a diminutive fellow and dressed in quite sporty clothes. He had been the golf professional at the Samoset as early the 1930s when my dad, Sanford F. Delano, caddied there.

A golf club (a one wood or driver) with Louis B. Forte engraved on it was in our family for a long time and won by my dad in a caddie tournament at the Samoset. It now resides, after much abuse from my brother, John, on loan to the Rockland Historical Society.

Our golf pro, Louis, was a martinet and reprimanded us at the slightest pretext. This usually included John "Jake" Alden, our caddie master, who was between semesters at Bowdoin College.

The Caddie Pen was open to the elements on the east under the porch and on foggy and rainy days the wind blew water into the caddy pen.

It was a raw wind and we only stuck around for fear of being dismissed for being absent. On really bad days with a poor forecast, Jake would send most of us home. It was still a wet bicycle ride to the south end of Rockland.

The caddy pen had a door in from the pro shop with a pair of windows on each side and steps out under the porch onto the lawn area leading to the first golf tee.

The boys sat on old wooden benches along the east and west side walls and played paper, scissors, and rock, as well as card games. My lunch was a couple of sandwiches in a paper bag and a quart of soda, usually Coke.

One day, we collectively decided that 50 cents for nine holes was too low and we all walked down to the Breakwater where we stayed for a couple of hours until our demand for 75 cents for nine holes was met.

It was two weeks of showing up, sitting around watching the older caddies like Neal Smith and Arthur Fish walk out with large bags on each shoulder.

One bright sunny day we were down to the last few caddies and Mrs. Moe Levine from New York City came in. I was handed her golf bag and followed her onto the course.

She was a middle-aged blonde who bathed in perfume, as you could smell her perfume 10 feet away. She helped me grasp the basics of the game and at the end of the nine holes she handed me a dollar and asked me to keep the change. I was ecstatic.

How that dollar bill survived the bicycle ride home intact I still wonder about to this day as it passed Sam Gray's store, Chisholm's candy store, three five and dimes with lunch counters, Goodnow's pharmacy, with its milk shakes, and Jack Green’s store with comic books and ice cream.

When my Dad arrived home he asked to see my dollar and disappeared into his workshop with it. Later he came up and handed me my dollar sandwiched between two pieces of glass with a wooden frame and a metal tag with the date and "the first dollar I ever earned" stamped in it.

Needless to say, I didn't appreciate it at the age of 13 and carried on about it until Dad said, break it if you want.

The next day, Mrs. Levine asked for my services again, as she did each time she played that summer, and I had another dollar bill, which I promptly spent. This saved the first one, which hangs on my office wall to this very day.

Her husband,Mr. Moe Levine, was a large barrel-chested dark haired man who wore movie star style sunglasses and looked like a movie producer. He sang in a loud and rich baritone voice while playing golf much to the disgust of nearby golfers.

Many local boys earned money for school clothes while caddying at the Samoset and several received serious money in tips and other opportunities from the "Rich Folks" staying at the Samoset.