We did have vehicles going up and down our street, tho'. They were horse-drawn, for a few years, until motorized vehicles took over. We'd hear vendors shouting their wares as they drove slowly by... "Apples, oranges, strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce..." , and "Rags, any old rags", from the guy who would buy not only rags, but newspapers, and odd things, like the big balls of string that my daddy would save and wind it all into a ball, and the aluminum foil liner from cigarette packs...he would collect them wherever he could and pack them all together to form a sort-of ball. The rag-man would come up to our third floor flat, and go into the little outside room that Daddy used to keep all that stuff. We used to love to watch, as the man would hold a big scale, and daddy would hook the bundles of newspaper onto the scale by the string he tied the bundles with, and then the guy would tell Daddy what the weight was and pay him. The same with the rags, and string, and foil, and whatever else Daddy had to sell to him. Of course, all the money he made from doing that went to Mamma to help with household expenses.
We also had an ice-man in the summertime, who would also yell, to let us know he was there, and all of the Moms on our street who needed ice, would put the square card in the window, so the guy could see who wanted ice as he drove by. He had to carry our chunk of ice all the way up 3 flights of stairs, on his back with a huge pair of ice tongs. He would have on a rubber poncho to keep his clothes dry. the cards had a place to write what size a chunk you wanted. I remember Mamma most often wrote 25 cents on hers. The ice-man would put the ice right inside our ice-box . If we happened to have any Milky Way bars, Daddy would put a couple of them right on top of the ice. He loved them that way!
During the summer, when the ice-man would chop off a chunk just the size Mamma needed, he would put on the poncho, grab the ice with the tongs and swing it over his shoulder, and then go up to our flat, and we kids were all standing there watching the procedure, and as soon as he was in the door and out of sight, my brother would hop up into the wagon and start tossing the chips of ice to all of us, so we could cool off, eating or sucking nice, cold ice ! There was nothing like feeling some of the smaller chips sliding down our throats... so cooling ! I'm sure the ice-man knew we did that, but he never scolded us. What was he going to do with all those small chips that came off the big chunks when he used the ice-pick to start the crack that made it so he could gauge the right size the customer wanted ? I think kids would do that all up and down his route, whenever he stopped to service a customer. That was one of the highlights of our summers . that and the sprinklers at the Savin St. clinic. All good, clean fun, and the best part was that it was free !!
Our parents never had a credit card...don't think they were even thought of yet. But we did have Mr. Schuster . He had a kittle old car, and in the back and in the trunk, he had merchandise . I guess he either bought it wholesale, then sold it at retail, or worked for someone who owned a store, and hired him to go and make a regular customer route. anyway, he would come and Mamma would buy whatever us kids happened to need, and pay him in installments, $ 3.00 a week, until it was paid off. That was a lot of money for my folks to pay out, too, b/c my Daddy only brought home $ 40.00 or so in his pay envelope each week, to support a family of 7 people, sometimes 8, when a family friend stayed with us. He didn't contribute anything. Big sister, Anne, worked, but I don't know what she gave toward household expenses. Later, Betty and Phyllis went to work at the Hotel Lenox, where our Daddy also worked. They all were elevator operators.
I know that Phyllis gave her whole pay to help out, but our sister, Betty, was probably not so inclined. I don't know that for a fact, but I think she kept at least most of her pay, if not all of it.
Anyway, the rent there at that particular flat was $ 25.00 a month, and it was hard for my folks to come up with it at times. There was a time when they must have been behind, and I happened to be out front playing, when Miss Egan, our old-maid landlady opened her window, on the 3rd floor opposite our flat, and yelled down to me something about my parents paying her. I forget what
she said, exactly, but it made me mad, and I spoke up to her and told her not to talk about my parents that way. I had been brought up to always respect my elders, and I was also horribly shy, so don't know where I got the courage to speak up like I did. Anyway, my mother happened to hear me yelling at the old bitty, and she yelled at me, and made me apologize to Miss Egan. I felt so bad, b/c I was just defending my folks against that mean, old bat ! Can ya tell I didn't like her ?
She was so mean to us kids, too. We had no grass in front, or in back, just dirt in back and cement out front, and the front stoop to sit on. She would sometimes yell at us to go in the back to play, but there was absolutely nothing to do out back. so sometimes, I'd go up the back stairs and out onto our porch. We had a porch swing to sit on, and I'd get a book and read there, or just look across the way to the back porches of the houses on Savin St. to see if anything interesting was going on over there.
Mamma used to hang the wet laundry there on the back porch, that we called a piazza. Daddy had strung a bunch of clotheslines there for her, so sometimes none of us had room to sit when the lines were full.
Once in a while, I could go over to my friend, Fay's house for a while, or just ask if she could come out to play. We would just talk and giggle or sometimes go the the 5 and 10 store. Some folks call those old time stores five and dimes. anyway, whether we had money or not, we liked to go and look at all the merchandise.
One time, we each stole something. We were 15 and knew better, but we were poor, and wanted what we took. I don't recall what she took, but my prize was a pair of shoe-skates for a little doll I had. I didn't put them on the doll, though, just tucked them in a drawer. Wouldn't ya know, when my Mom was putting my clean clothes in that drawer, she found the skates, and turned to me and asked where I got them. she knew she hadn't bought them, and also knew I had no money to buy them. I was so scared. I'd never lied to her before, but with her looking at me and demanding to know where they came from, I lied, and said 'Lillian took them' ! That girl was not one of my friends, but she was one of Fay's , and I didn't like her, so said she did it. I guess Mamma must have told me to go and get Lillian, because I remember going to the girl an BEGGING her to please tell my mother that she had stolen the skates. Of course, she didn't like me any more than
I did her, and she refused to do that for me. So, when I went back upstairs to face Mamma, I had to admit the lie, and that I had taken them. the look in my mother's eyes was so sad, that I broke down and cried. She never did hit me or yell or anything, just had that look. That hurt me more than any spanking would have. (Yes, we still got spankings at that age.)
Anyway, the punishment I got was to return the skates to the store. That was so hard...I had to watch to be sure no one was looking before I was able to put them back. I'm sure my mother must have meant for me to take them to the manager and confess what I'd done, but I was too afraid and embarrassed to do that. So, the crime was undone, so to speak, and I never stole again.
Well, not on my own, but I'll save that for the next installment.
I always thought I'd lived a dull childhood, but as I look back, and retell some of the things that went on, I don't think it was so dull, after all .
Hope you enjoy this. Until next time.
D
Oh Mom! This is wonderful! I feel like I was right there with you and Grammy and Grandpa and the rest of the family! Please write MORE, MORE!!!!!
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