MORE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

When we lived at 13 Maywood St., I went to Vacation Bible School during the summertime. That was at another church, Elliot Congregational Church. Our own Baptist church maybe didn't have that program, or maybe we went there, because it was closer than our own church.

Can't recall how often that was. don't think it was daily, but not sure. Whatever, it was only for a short while, no more than 2 hours, if that.

I liked it, because I learned how to do fun things. One I especially liked was when we had a piece of heavy paper, perhaps poster board, and one thing we learned was how to cut the colored paper into strips, then form a circle with it, a small circle, and glue the ends together, then making more of them and linking them together to form a chain. Another favorite was a plain piece of poster board, and I would place a pretty maple or oak leaf on it, then suspend a piece of screening over it and brush paint across the screen and it would make an outline of the leaf .

That was so pretty, I thought ! All of us in class would bring our treasures home. I was so excited to show them to my parents ! Another thing I remember doing was tracings of some of the fancy letterings in some big old Bible. The first letter of the first word of each chapter of the Bible were large letters, Olde English style, and in color, so after I traced all I wanted to, I'd then color in the letters with whatever colors I liked. Sounds boring now, but at the time, being 9 years old, I really liked doing that.

I gave my first kiss there at VBS. This really cute black boy named Roy was in class, and he was so nice, and handsome, that I went over to him as he sat in his tiny chair and just leaned

over and kissed him on the cheek ! Don't think he did anything but smile at me. Think that

was my first crush, or puppy love. We were nine years old .

Paul must have gone to those classes, too, I'm sure, but don't recall what he did. Maybe he and the other younger kids had a different class. Oh, he was more than 3 and a half years my junior, so maybe he didn't even go to the vacation Bible school .

I liked coloring so much, and was very good at staying within the lines. Loved choosing which colors to color the kids in my coloring books. Chose green and yellow for little girls' dresses, or sometimes another favorite combination, orange and yellow.

Daddy would sit and color the cardboard divider that came in the box of Nabisco shredded wheat, to keep the biscuits apart. They had nice pictures, just like the ones in coloring books, so Daddy would sit with me and help color them in. I loved getting his attention that way.

He did the same thing with Paul, too, sometimes. Loved those cardboard dividers. Wonder when they stopped using them.

Anne used to take me into downtown Boston, as I've mentioned before, and I had a little greyish fur coat, hat and muffler set, that Mamma would dress me up in during cold weather

so I'd look nice, going 'in town' , as we used to say.

Well, I don't actually remember this incident, but big sister, Anne, has spoken of it several times. She said that on one of our forays into Boston, ants somehow got on my fur coat. This must have been after she let me have some candy or ice cream, and it probably got on the coat, thereby attracting ants. Anyway, when we got home, she relates how our mother scolded and scolded her for allowing that to happen. Poor Anne !

We ate a lot of cereal for breakfasts. Kellogg's stuff was what we liked, corn flakes, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, too, I think, and Puffed Rice. That was not Kellogg's, though. Oh, yes, and the shredded wheat. Loved how Daddy would pour hot tap water onto the biscuits, then take the back of a large spoon and press the biscuits and squeeze all that water out, then put sugar and milk on it, and mmmmm, good !

In the cold weather, cereal was oatmeal, and cornmeal, or Farina. That last one was Phyllis's favorite. I never much cared for hot cereal, unless it was super-smooth, no lumps, and had a lot of sugar on it.

We never were given an allowance. Never heard of such a thing back then. I didn't even hear any of the kids from more affluent families speak of an 'allowance' . If they did have one, I didn't know anything about it. The kids in our neighborhood all seemed to be in the same situation we were in...families struggling to make ends meet. We kids all felt rich on the few occasions when we had a nickel. Mine would mostly come from singing for company we had in our home.

Mamma would have me come into the parlor or kitchen and tell me to sing for whoever it was. I seldom wanted to, didn't like that attention, but she would make me. Sometimes, 'whoever' would give me a nickel for singing, and then the pain and embarrassment would disappear soon, because now, I was rich !! But I never got over my shyness, and she would always have to practically drag me over to sing.

I did have a good singing voice when young, and into my young adult years, but for a long time now, can't sing worth a darn. Used to love to, and, even now, sitting in front of the TV, sometimes I'll attempt to sing along, but, between the voice and having to stop for running short of breath, it's not the same. I still enjoy the songs, though, and just mouth the words when it's too much for me. Doesn't take away my enjoyment of hearing someone else sing.

Mamma and Daddy had always wanted a chicken farm. Maybe that's how come Paul and I

were each given a baby chick once. Must have been Easter time. Anyway, guess Mamma was the one who fed and took care of them, and those little chicks would follow Mamma all over the house, peeping as they went. Thought she was their mother. Loved watching that. I don't know whatever happened to those chicks. They didn't get very big...maybe they died.

Anyway, our poor parents never realized their dream. There was never any money to save toward buying a home in the country.

I had a cat once. Had her for a couple of years, anyway. Don't remember her name, but she seemed to be a nice cat, until one day, she crawled under Mamma's bed, and when I tried to pull her out, she bit me, so soon she was gone, too.

Paul had a brown terrier dog, too, for a while, Boots. He got distemper, and it was so horrible to see him throw himself from the top landing across into the wall, over and over, until someone, probably Daddy, caught him and somehow calmed him down, I guess. Because then, Paul and I had him in Paul's wagon, and we were walking down to Northampton to the Humane Society, so they could put him to sleep, pulling him along in the wagon, when suddenly his eyes started looking really weird, like a film came over them or something, and we soon realized he was dead. We cried, but finished the walk and turned him over to the people there. That was so sad.

We didn't have any more animals after that . Except those tiny little turtles, think they're called 'box turtles' ? We liked them, also, loved any animals .

Mamma used to give us Ex-lax now and then, to keep us cleaned out, I guess. She also gave us

regular doses of cod-liver oil. I sometimes liked it and would try to get more, but only sometimes.

Lucky me, I also got doses of some kind of lime, lyme juice put into my milk, to strengthen my

bones, because of my being born with a bone disease. The only one in our family !

In those days, they didn't have a name for that disease. They called it' malformation of the bones'.

When Mamma would take me to Mass Memorial Hospital for checkups on it, the doctors would ask me to put my shoulders together, and when I was really young, it seemed as if my shoulders came close to touching each other. They would have me do that every time I saw them.

Mamma was told that my teeth would always rot, and so there was no sense in having me brush them. Can you imagine ?!!. They said my baby teeth would stay with me for years, and I might never get my second set, because of so many being in my jaw.

Anyway, due to their interest in my case, they had me stay in the hospital for 2 weeks, to observe this bone condition. I wasn't sick or anything. they just wanted to study it, being a hereditary disease, and congenital. so, there I was, at age 11, in the hospital for 2 long weeks. They took X-rays, they pumped my stomach ( what that was for, I was never told ), took blood from my fingers every day. Those hurt, and I got to hiding, when I saw the redheaded nurse coming in the ward. I'd hide behind the big pillars in that room, to try and avoid the finger-pricking. That hurt so much, but I didn't mind when they took blood from my arms. Got used to that, but to this day, don't like the finger-poking.

Once, they had poured something stinky over my head, because I had head lice at the time, and they wrapped my head in a towel. I was sitting in a wheelchair waiting for an X-ray that day, when some woman passed by, and when she saw the towel, and probably smelled what was on my head, she said, 'What's the matter, kid, got cooties?' . Oh, I was so embarrassed, and it made me cry.

In those days, we kids, most kids, seemed to get them over and over, they were so prevalent.

Our mother was very clean, so it wasn't anything she did or didn't do that caused them to come so often. Mothers everywhere had to fight the darn things, often. They were just a fact

of life in those days.

Anyway, back to my stay in the hospital. I did have some fun, because the nurses took a liking to me, and would show mw how to make a bed, hospital corners and all, and I loved learning that. It was sweet of them to take the time to teach me.

I never did hear what they learned about the bone disease, if anything. All I know is I was forbidden to run, because I might fall and hit my head, and that could be fatal. So, no more

tag, or any other game involving running. Of course, being a kid, I sometimes did, out of Mamma's sight.

Once, after school, I was still in the schoolyard for some reason, and I ran. why, I don't know,

all I remember is, I was running in the yard, nobody else around, and I tripped and fell, right on my face ! I started bawling, and hurrying home, all bloody, crying all the way, and when

Mamma saw me, she started yelling, accusing me of running, and that made me cry all the more, because it was hurting, and I was bleeding, and all Mamma could do was yell at me.

I could have DIED !! That's what I was thinking, and she didn't love me, because she was supposed to take me in her arms and make it all better, and here she was, yelling at me !!

Of course, she did take me in her arms, then, and got me all cleaned up.

I knew years later that the only reason she yelled was because it scared the bejeepers out of her, thinking of how close I maybe came to dying. That's what those stupid doctors did, made her afraid to let me act like a normal kid, because I might die from a fall on my head !

Geez, how backward thinking they were in those days.

And, of course, when I later had my first child, Linda, who inherited the same bone disease, I had those same fears for her.

I was told by her doctors that she might have to wear a helmet to protect her head, but I didn't want her to have to do that, and be 'different' from the other kids, and neither did she, so they gave us the option of her going to a 'handicapped' school, and not have to wear a helmet. So, we chose that. She only had to go for one year, because her fontanelles closed sufficiently for her to go to regular school.

Well, think this is enough for today. Have some more thoughts and memories to write here, and will do that soon, maybe tomorrow.

Hope you're still enjoying childhood exploits .

Stay well, count your blessings, and tune in again.

Love you.

D

HOLIDAY MEMORIES

Holidays were favorite times of the year. Although we didn't have much, my parents made them special .

My favorites were Thanksgiving and Christmas .

For Thanksgiving, when we could afford turkey, Mamma would make stuffing from boiled celery and onions, bread, all torn into pieces, the cut-up giblets, sage, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. She would put it all on a cutting board, and she used a special tool. It was a broad, curved blade, about maybe 5 inches long, and about 3 inches from top to bottom, with a strong metal handle.

She would start out with just the bread, cutting it as finely as she could, then slowly added the cooled veggies, cutting them in, then taking the blade and lifting it all over and cutting again, mixing, blending it all together, and adding the seasonings, and she worked that pile of stuffing, turning and turning it, and cutting between each turning. I was always fascinated, watching her work that blade with such dexterity ! Then she'd fill both ends of the bird, and lace it up. She'd then rub butter all over the outside of the turkey, and either right as she put it into the oven, or after it had been in for awhile, she would place a sausage link on each wing and on each leg, pressing them in between the limb and the body of the bird. then that would go into the oven. Daddy would help by putting it in the oven, then lifting it out when it was done. I always tried to get one of the sausages , they were so tasty !

Mamma made mashed potatoes, squash. sweet potatoes, mashed . she didn't make the candied kind . The carrots and turnip were mashed together. She boiled all her veggies, no steaming in those days, and seasoning for Mamma was nearly always salt and pepper. We had butter on most things, too, and we loved our veggies prepared that way. She also would buy little pearl onions and boil them to go with our dinner. The potatoes would have gravy on them, not butter.

I forget what we'd have for a green vegetable, but my guess is peas. Of course, we'd have

Mamma's delicious homemade gravy !! Cranberry sauce filled out the meal.

Then, for dessert, some of Mamma's homemade pie. She'd have squash and mince, for sure. Maybe she'd have an apple pie, also. We always had a piece of cheddar cheese with those pies. Never heard of whipped cream on pies, until we came to California !

To this day, I sometimes have a slice of cheese with my pie.

I believed in Santa Claus way past the age most kids do. when we moved to 61 Maywood St. I was 11, and, as I mentioned previously, turned 12 that November. So I looked forward to Santa's visit as much as the younger kids.

I'd go to bed on Christmas Eve., so excited, and, of course, had a hard time falling asleep. but I did, eventually, and woke up early, like 5:00 a.m. and all ready to open presents ! There were rules, though, and we weren't supposed to go out to the tree and touch the presents, but, being kids, we did, anyway. I had to see what Santa brought !! We were just supposed to get our stockings and take them back to our beds, and we were allowed to eat a few pieces of candy or some of our animal crackers. Our stockings were those long, brown ones we girls had to wear, but they were so long, Mamma and Daddy put lots of goodies in them to fill them up. I would bring mine back to bed, and take everything out of it, so I could get to that prized nickel in the toe !! that was a big deal, to get a nickel ! Then, after they put the nickel in, there was an apple, an orange or tangerine, a box of animal crackers, a box of filled Christmas candy, loose nuts, and at the top, maybe there would be some new barrettes, or bows for my hair, a coloring book and crayons a cut-out dolls book, things like that, and I was always so thrilled ! I sat and colored sometimes, and ate some of my goodies, passing the time, until we heard the adults up. We went to say Merry Christmas to our parents, and the family friend I have referred to several times. We called him 'Pal'. He would be there every Christmas to play Santa and hand out the presents. After our Holiday greetings, we went back into our rooms, until Mamma called us for breakfast.

Christmas breakfast was always the same...fried eggs, bacon and toast. Mamma would have a huge platter overflowing with the eggs, and she'd deftly lift each one onto our plates, without breaking a single one ! Amazing, that ! I always liked my bacon soft, not crisp, so got it that way. We kids could go to the stove and dip our toast into the warm bacon grease if we wanted, and I wanted. That was such a treat !

So, we'd finish our breakfast, and we kids had to go back to our rooms, while the adults sat and drank coffee or tea and talked . It was killing us to have to wait for them to finish, before we could get to the presents.

Finally, there they'd come. Mamma and Daddy would sit on the couch or a chair, Anne, being an adult already would also sit in a chair, and the rest of us kids would sit on the floor, and Pal would sit on the floor near the tree, so he could reach the gifts . He'd grab one, call out the

name and toss it to us. We couldn't see much of who got what, because we were all opening something at the same time, pretty much. The only one who didn't open his gifts was Daddy. He'd just sit and smile at all of us, enjoying our happiness, and it wasn't until everyone had opened all their presents, that he would open his. He always got clothes, ties, slippers, sweaters, a new belt, maybe a new pipe, stuff like that. We all got some clothing, not much, mostly small stuff, and games, puzzles, stuff like that, but it always made us happy . Actually, my sisters, all being older than me, got things like nail polish, lipstick, etc. But, it seemed like a lot, to us. so, we were happy, and now got to take our stuff into our rooms and play with some, if we wanted to, or we could go outside to play, if it wasn't snowing hard.

The 4th of July wasn't too big an occasion for us. We'd just go out front, and Betty and Phyllis would have those snake things, that when they put a match to them, a snake-like thing would come out and curl around. They got to have some fire-crackers, too, but Paul and I only had sparklers, and caps. We put those on the ground and dropped rocks on them to set them off.

Sometimes we, or at least Paul, had a cap-gun to shoot the caps. Anne wasn't around much, because, being 21 when we moved there, she worked during the day, then went out almost every night with friends, so she didn't participate in the festivities .

For Easter, Mamma colored some eggs and hid them in the house, so we could hunt for them.

There weren't many, but we had fun.

We kids went to church on Easter Sunday. We seldom had new outfits, but we liked to go to church, anyway, to hear Pastor Brooks, and sing, and see the ladies and kids who did have new outfits, and admire them.

Coming home to Mamma's ham or leg of lamb was a treat. As soon as we opened the door, the delicious, tantalizing aroma assailed our nostrils , and we couldn't wait to change our clothes and sit down to dinner ! Mamma cooked plain food, but she had a way with it that made it the best food ever !!

The next day, or the next, we had some of those Easter eggs for supper, as egg salad sandwiches.

They never went to waste.

Those were the main holidays where we did anything.

Valentine's Day was mostly observed at school, where the teacher had a decorated cardboard box with a slot in it for us to put the valentines in that we brought with us to school, to exchange with the other kids.

Mamma would go out with friends for New Year's Eve., and Daddy would stay home with us. Then the next day, Mamma would have noisemakers to give us, from the party she had gone to.

I liked those horns, some of which , when you blew, it would unroll, then roll up again, and then those things we held by a little handle, and turned round and around in our hand, and it made a noise . Didn't take much to make us happy .

So, you can see why Thanksgiving and Christmas were my absolutely favorite holidays.

I hope my memories triggered some happy holiday memories for all of you. My kids haven't

had many, as far as their childhood goes, because I didn't observe the holidays for years, and their Daddy went along with me, although he did not have the same beliefs I did. I feel badly about not giving my children those holidays to remember, but, at the time, I felt it was the right path to follow. I'm happy that, as they became adults and had children, they had their own celebrations, and in time, when I was ready, they included me. I'm thankful to them for their forgiving, generous hearts. I love you, my sweet kids.

D

MEMORIES FROM MAYWOOD STREET

I haven't mentioned the drinking fountain on Blue Hill Ave. yet. It was located right between Savin St. and Maywood St. It was green and was right on the sidewalk between the two streets. It worked, too ! Anyone could bend over and get a drink at any hour of the day. I didn't bend, though. Had to stand on tippy-toe to reach it. We kids sometimes used to squirt each other with it.

There were times when we would be playing out in front of our house, and sometimes got thirsty, so, rather than traipse up 3 flights of stairs for a drink, we would go down the street and around the corner to the fountain. Sometimes Phyllis didn't want to go, but she would be thirsty, so I went and got a mouthful of water, and brought it back to her and she'd open her mouth and I'd put my mouth on hers and let the water go from my mouth to hers . Vice-versa sometimes, when she'd be the one to transport my drink of water in her mouth.

Are you grossed out yet ?? I don't know how we ever did that awful thing ! I grew up not wanting to eat or drink after ANYONE ! Don't know if that had anything to do with it, though.

That's not the worst thing like that, that I did. Just me, on this next one. I would see a wad of gum on the sidewalk and pick it up, wipe off any dirt I could see, kiss it up to Heaven, and plop it right into my mouth !! Yuck, yuck, yucky !!! I can't imagine my doing that really disgusting thing, but guess it's because we kids seldom got money for candy, gum, or anything else, that I just figured it was ok to do that, and, since I'd kissed it up to Heaven, that God had taken all the germs out !

I had that friend I mentioned before, Phyllis Verrier, who lived on Maywood, down the street, in the last house, before the chain-link fence from the clinic. It was an old, wooden house, and looked in need of repair. She and her family lived on the first floor and a Mr. Reardon and his family were on the top floor. At one time, gypsies moved into that house and lived on the second floor. When I would go to her house to see if she could come outside, I'd knock, and she would come to the door, just open it a crack to see who was there, then step into the hallway to talk with me. Her parents never had me inside, so Phyllis and I would either stay in the hall, sitting on the staircase, or go outside and sit on those steps.

At one time, when we were both 13, she asked me if a girl could get pregnant from kissing a boy. She didn't use the word 'pregnant'... kids weren't as worldly-wise as today's kids. she said

'have a baby' . Well, me, being the know-it-all, who just KNEW that babies came from our stomachs, told her that no, you can't have a baby from kissing. I didn't yet know how they got into our bodies, but, since Phyllis told me they come out of our stomachs, HA ! that's what I

knew, or thought I did. I didn't tell her that part, just that you didn't have a baby from kissing.

Don't know how I knew that...guess Phyllis told me .

I also learned what Kotex looked like, because another friend from across the street, told me that she had looked in her mother's drawer, and the Kotex looked like a sort-of pair of panties. She had probably seen one of those old-fashioned sanitary belts that girls and women wore to hold the Kotex in place. See how smart we all were ? Hahaha...so innocent .

Heck, I was so uninformed, that my mother used to give me a note to take to Dewey Drugstore up at the top of Dewey St. on Blue Hill Ave. I didn't ever look at the note, because Mamma always told me not to, and to just hand it to the man in the drugstore. He would hand me a square box, all wrapped up like a gift, minus a ribbon, and for a few years, I never did know that I was buying pads for my sisters and Mamma . I was a late bloomer, so didn't know until soon after my onset of menses, at 14 and 1/2 . At first, Mamma pinned a rag to my underwear, without telling me why I was bleeding ! Some mothers back then didn't discuss it and you had to either learn it from your friends, or figure it out yourself.

We sure lived in the Dark Ages !!

For a short time, there was a store on the corner of Maywood and Blue Hill Ave. where they sold Boston baked beans, our favorite. They packed it in white boxes like Chinese restaurants use for takeout, with the wire handles. We would get however much Mamma would tell us to get, and we always asked for extra pork . Every one of us liked the pork, and there seldom was more than enough for one person. The cans has such a small piece, that we sometimes had to take turns from one week to the next, to see who got to have the prized pork ! Sometimes we shared, but that meant we only got a tiny taste of it.

The men at the bean store were very obliging and always gave us the extra piece of pork. Yummy !! Oh, just remembered...those men wore long, white wrap-around aprons and something like chef's toques !!

Can't recall how long that store stayed, but don't think it was for long.

I've already related how great the baked goods at Kasanov's bakery were. Well, there was another bakery, a chain of them, still existing today, called Drake's Bakery. they were on the next street over, not Savin St., ... or maybe two streets over, on the other side of Maywood. can't remember the name of it. Anyway, there was a Drake's plant, and as is probably the case in all bakeries, mishaps occur, so in order to not lose their profits, they sold, in the retail part of the plant, broken pieces of cake, a bag-ful for 15 cents ! the bags were a bit bigger than the ones sold today for packing lunches. We got all kinds of cake, and loved that. We sure had a sweet tooth !

Not only did we have goodies from the two bakeries, but Mamma made the most delicious pies, apple, custard, squash, mince...don't recall if she made blueberry or not, and, of course, lemon-meringue .Yummy ! In later years, she would add canned pineapple to the lemon.

Years later, when I met my husband, and he got to know my Mamma, he was privileged to have some of her lemon-pineapple meringue, and fell in love with it that way, so I started making it that way for him, myself. she also made apple turnovers, and the left-over crust from those and the pies were rolled again, and cut into cookie-sized pieces, odd shaped, and Mamma would put dabs of butter on each, and sugar, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of nutmeg, on them and bake them as cookies for us. Soooo good ! When my kids were younger, I made those for them, too. Linda, especially, liked them a lot.

Much of our lives centered around food. wonder if the sweet tooth we all had came from our English background . Hmmmm .

An incident happened while living at this address, but I'm not sure if a horse or truck was involved. My little brother was pretty young, and he somehow was run over and sustained a broken arm ! He had a cast for a while, but, in his childhood, I think that was the only bad injury he ever got.

He was a happy-go-lucky kid, and made friends easily. he was always going somewhere, unlike me, who, in our early years there, had to go places only if Paul was going, because Mamma was afraid I'd get hurt or picked on because of my small size, so I was more or less

baby-sat by my LITTLE brother !! Of course, he wasn't so little, always being a big kid .

But, if I wanted to get somewhere, he had to go with me. that was so embarrassing !

For years, Mamma would take me to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned, or for an extraction.

Had really bad teeth and lots and lots of toothaches !

Well, sometimes, when she took me to the dentist at Mass. Memorial Hospital, not to be confused with Mass. General hospital, after the work was done, if she had any money, she'd take me to this little restaurant down in the Northampton area, and let me order a grilled cheese sandwich and French fries . that was my reward for not carrying on too badly at the dentist's office. she , herself, would always, I think, order a club sandwich. There were times when big sister, Anne, would take me to this same little restaurant, think it was called Elite, but not sure. Anyway, she always ordered chicken croquettes, while I got my usual.

When Mamma would take us into downtown Boston, via the elevated train, we'd stop in at a restaurant on Tremont St. called Barney Scheff's. they had the best hot pastrami sandwich, served on a bokie( not sure of the spelling) which was like a Kaiser roll, all bumpy like that, but a bit firmer and it was yellow, a sort of egg roll, and the pastrami would be heaped on those, and they always served it with those special dill pickles !! Heaven !!

Well, now that you're all salivating, I'll quit for today, so you can all go and feed your faces !!

Hope you have enjoyed all these adventures, or mis-adventures of my young years. don't think there's much more to tell, but if anything comes to me, I'll be sure and write it here for all of you.

It's been fun !

Thanks for all your comments.

D

MORE PRE-WAR MEMORIES

Just a few more things from 13 Maywood st.

There was a family named Osmond , don't have any idea if they were related to THE

Osmond family. there were several kids, but the one that sticks in my memory is Betty.

She had one brown eye and one blue eye. I think she was my age, and that we played together, along with Cookie .

Mamma once helped one of our neighbors who was having a baby, right there in our building.

I didn't know anything about it, until my sisters told me. Guess Mamma acted like a midwife.

Mamma also used to work for a woman who lived across the street from us, named Mrs. O'Neil . She had a retarded son who needed care when his mother worked, or maybe it was just when she had to go to the store for something. Anyway, the boy loved Mamma and called her his pet name for her...'Chubby' .

There was an empty field across the street on the corner, and if you walked on Warren St. from our street, Maywood, it was just a few steps to the A&P store. The empty lot stretched out in back of the store, for the whole length of the store. Anyway, a bunch of us kids in the neighborhood sometimes got potatoes from our Mom's pantries, and some matches, and we'd all meet in the field and find bits of wood and paper, and build a small fire. O, yes, we took a few briquets of 'coke' from home, too. We'd get it nice and hot, until the briquets were glowing red, and then we'd each put our potatoes in, and let them cook till they were soft enough to eat. We must have looked like a little bunch of Indians all cross-legged there on the grass around the fire . We're lucky we didn't start a fire in that field, because the grass was dry !

I speak of how the movies depicted Native Americans...don't know if that's what they actually did, but that's how we kids looked.

Then we'd carefully take our potatoes out of the fire and as soon as they cooled off a little, we'd open them, add a bit of salt, then devour those delicious spuds !!

The next street up from Warren St., and running parallel to it and Blue Hill Ave. was

Humboldt Ave. I Don't recall having to go up there too often, but there was a Grants department store there, and a dry cleaner, called Bell's Dry Cleaners. One time, while walking

to one of these establishments, there was a horse and wagon parked at the curb, and as my sisters and I passed the horse, he bared his teeth, and scared the heck out of me. I was pretty

young, and scared of just about everything, so that was really frightening for me. Thank goodness a couple of my sisters were there to calm me down !

We moved from there to Blue Hill Ave., number 283A, over Kramer's Hardware. Think I've already mentioned that previously . Did I mention that my sister, Anne, went to work for Mr. Kramer ? She was done with school by then. This was 1940, I think, or possibly 1939 still.

Now I went to the school on Quincy St. , Phillips Brooks elementary. As I mentioned before, I met Fay there, and we became close friends. She was a Jewish girl . There were many Jewish people in that area, and all through the next, more affluent town of Dorchester. Fay lived

pretty far up on B.H. Ave. , almost to Dorchester, but still in our school district. I was certainly glad of that. I never had another childhood friend as close as she and I were. There was another girl, Phyllis Verrier, who also went to our school. she was blond and pretty, whereas Fay was like me, dark hair and eyes, and plain-looking . I never did get as close to Phyllis, but I liked her .

Besides all the Jewish people living in our area, there were many Italian Catholics and Irish Catholics. Don't think there were many like us, Protestants. Didn't matter, everybody all got along. Many of the businesses were owned by Jewish folks, the meat markets, and the fish markets. The meat and fish markets were separate. We had to go to both to get our meat or fish. Seems so odd, now, where everything is sold under one roof !

The outdoor produce stands seem to be run by Italians, and the police seemed to be mostly Irish .

We did have a supermarket up a ways on B.H. Ave. called the STOP and SHOP. Mamma would come home from there with 2 paper shopping bags that had rope or cord handles. By the time she walked all the way home with 2 heavy bags of groceries, the imprint of those handles would be all red, and sore-looking . Other times, if she was going to get a larger amount of groceries, she'd pull my brother's wagon . It was a really nice one, the base was red, and the sides were plain, wood-colored slats. She could carry a lot of food in that, and it was easier on her hands.

Once, on my was home from a matinee at the Shawmut, I was walking along, and saw a bill on the ground, and picked it up and just held it tightly in my hand until I got home and handed it to Mamma. It was a $ 2.oo bill ! That was quite a bit of money back then and she was so happy to get it.

That now reminds me of the time that Daddy was walking home from somewhere, and it had rained, but was dry now, and he spied a bill in the gutter, He bent down and discovered it was a $ 10.00 bill. He did the same thing, gave it to Mamma. She had to wipe it off with a damp rag, it was so dirty and muddy. That certainly bought a whole mess of food for our large family !!

Daddy had gotten us into the habit of walking along the edge of the sidewalk and looking for anything that would help our family, or stuff that could be used in the war effort during the wartime years, so we mostly walked with our eyes down, searching. We did find odd bits of wood and other things, sometimes handkerchiefs, which Mamma would wash and iron. these were used by everyone, until the advent of Kleenex. Even then, it was a long time before we could buy paper handkerchiefs ! Sometimes, not often, we'd find coins.

Phyllis and Betty made a few dollars while we lived at this address, by going up to the local meat store, Schaffner's, and 'candled' eggs in the back room of the market. I never saw them do it, but seem to remember them saying they actually had to hold each egg close enough to the candle so they could see whether it was a fertile egg or not. They also looked for double-yolk eggs. Guess they charged more for those. And the fertile ones ? they must have put those in an incubator to hatch into chicks .

At this house, there was no porch, so women had to go up to the roof to hang their wash.

Anne had a little white terrier named Teddy, and I have a picture of her and Teddy on a leash, standing together up on that roof. When I've spoken about Teddy, it seems to me that Anne doesn't remember him, so if I find that snapshot, will have to make a copy and send it to her.

She was 19 at the time.

Well, think I'll end this for today, and write more tomorrow. I hope you're still interested

in our family goings-on, and my part in them.

Until then.

D

MORE EARLY MEMORIES

The big hurricane of 1938 hit when we lived on Dewey St.

I was 8 at the time, and about 2 months before my 9th birthday. It struck on September 21st that year. It made landfall first on Long Island, New York. That's right next to Connecticut, and those areas sustained a lot of damage. We were hit nearly as hard . I don't really remember much about this storm , but, knowing me, I'm sure I was scared silly . It was devastating, and around 600 lives in total, were lost. This is info I just looked up. That must have been shortly before we moved to 13 Maywood St.

Sometime during the maybe 3 years we on Dewey, something terrible happened ! My father was using a butcher knife to carve a turkey, when the knife slipped and hit an artery in his forearm.

The blood shot out of his arm and hit the ceiling, it came out with such force ! We couldn't call for help, because we didn't have a telephone, and wouldn't have been able to pay for an ambulance, anyway.

It just so happened that that family friend who sometimes came to stay with us was there, but had had an accident and was on crutches, but the other friend, whom I've mentioned before, Louie West, was visiting us, and he came running into the kitchen when he heard Daddy's yell and grabbed Daddy and took him out to his car, and drove Daddy to the hospital. We have always been grateful to him for saving Daddy's life !

This man, Louie West, belonged to a Service organization known as the UAV, United American Veterans. This group put on a party for under-privileged kids every Christmas. Louie always took us younger kids to those parties. They had candy and ice cream and cookies, and a Santa Claus who handed out presents to all of us. Louie and Jenny West's kids also were there, and we all had such a good time. Christmas carols were sung while someone played them on the piano .

After the party was over, Louie would bring us back home again. We got to go to several of those Christmas parties, thanks to Louie, bless his heart. We sure loved that man. His wife was ok, but we didn't see her much. We played with some of his kids, the 3 girls, but not Junior, their only son. didn't like him much, for some reason I don't remember.

I do remember the song the UAV members sang, and the Post number, 241. The song was the same tune as one of the college songs, think it was Notre Dame , their Fighting song. The UAV made up their own words, and the Post number was in the words .

The UAV marched in parades. We had several in Boston. One was the Bunker Hill parade, don't remember if that was the one they had on April 19th every year, or a different one, but we seemed to have a lot of parades. I was taken to them, and most of the time it was that old family friend who took me, and, since I was so little, he would put me on his shoulders so I could see everything. I loved parades, and to this day, watch every one I can on TV. Always loved the marching music, and the drums.

The UAV, I think, sponsored a girl's Precision Drill Team, and I was too young for that, but Phyllis was in it, and I loved watching her learning to do all the different exercises . I think she marched in some of those parades with the rest of the Drill Team . I wasn't in it, as I said, but I was allowed to march in one of the parades. Only lasted a short time, though, because I got too tired, and went back to Mamma, who was there, watching it.

I don't think that veterans organization is still in existence. Too bad. It was great.

On Dewey St. there was a little store about half-way up the street, where we could go and get a grab-bag full of candy for a nickel. We hardly ever saw a nickel, so didn't get the grab-bags often. Never knew what kind of candy was in there, so it was fun anticipating . They also had sherbet, served in little, soft, white paper cups that had pleats all around .The sherbet was really good, and only cost 1 or 2 cents . I would lick mine, my favorite being lime, but I sometimes got the orange. It was good, too. I'd lick it down to where I'd have to sorta squeeze the cup to make it rise to the top, so I could lick some more, and that went on until the last of it, then I'd turn the cup inside-out and lick it to get every speck.

A couple of streets away from Dewey was called Ingleside St. There was a local store there named Mary's. It was pretty small, guess it could be called a Mom and Pop store. Mamma would send us there sometimes to get a few things, and I'd go alone sometimes to put a penny in the gum-ball machine, not only for a gum-ball, but to see if I could get one of the winning gum-balls, which were colored yellow with a red curvy stripe on it. I can't remember for the life of me, what we would win with one of those, but all us neighborhood kids tried to get one. Maybe it was a 5 cent candy bar, because to us, that would have been a BIG prize, since we seldom had a nickel to buy one for ourselves. But, even so, we could get a lot for a penny. There were bolsters, a candy bar much like the TWIX bars of today, and they were 2 for a penny. That was sister Phyllis's favorite, or several Tootsie Rolls, and Sugar Babies, several of those for a penny, so, even without the nickels for a big candy bar, we were happy with our penny's worth.

Well, on that sweet note, think I'll stop for tonight, and pick it up again tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying seeing some of the things that went on in the lives of not only me, but the other members of my family.

D

LIFE BEFORE THE WAR

When we lived on Dewey St. there came a time that we had to move again,

Daddy loaded up all the boxes and what-not that he and Mamma had packed, into a wagon,

horse-drawn, for the move. It was to be just a short distance from there . Daddy was an excellent packer. He fit everything so neatly, in all the little cubby-holes between boxes. I don't recall if he had to make another trip, or not, to get all our stuff.

Anyway, he took Mamma with him to get there and start setting up housekeeping, as we kids

walked to the new house. I was nine, maybe, or close to it. Our new place was also on Maywood St. on the other end, 13 Maywood, another 6-family place. The flats in those days were nice and big, although I don't really have much in the way of memories about this flat. We stayed for maybe a year only .

The school my brother and I went to, was Julia Ward Howe elementary. It wasn't too far from a family friend's home, and we sometimes got to go over there. I forget if we went after school or

not, but I remember going there, by myself sometimes. I loved Nellie Lambert, whom we called 'Nana' Lambert. No relation, tho' . Her husband, George, looked like some guys on old TV shows... heavy-set, sitting around in an old-fashioned undershirt that sort-of looked something like tank tops that we have today, only they were thin and always white. We younger kids called him Grandpa Lambert. Don't recall if he drank beer, though . The TV guys always had a beer in their hands. Anyway, they were very good to us . They had a brown, smooth-haired dog named Peggy, and she got pregnant. Well, I, for one, maybe my sibs, was there the day she had her puppies, and I was thrilled to see that happen . No, we didn't get a puppy, in case you were wondering.

There was an A&P supermarket on the opposite corner across the street ( we lived in the last house on that end of Maywood ) , well, not exactly on the CORNER, but just around the corner, on Warren St. I sometimes was sent to the store, and I remember buying a bag of coffee for 24

cents ! It was a full pound, too . The bags were pre-packaged, we didn't grind our own in those days. I don't recall what else I would have to buy there, but the coffee has always stayed in my mind, probably because as I started getting older, I noticed the price climbing.

There was our local theater there on Warren St., and we kids got to go on Saturdays to a free matinee, where they gave us free Hoodsies, an ice-cream cup made by Hood Milk Company, and sometimes, we could have a second cup. these came with little, flat wooden spoons, and boy, were they good !! The movies in those days were double feature, and we saw at least one cartoon, coming attractions, the weekly serial. I think they saved the newsreels for the later audiences of adults. Kids were never seen during the evening shows. We had bedtimes, and we

didn't get to stay up past that time. We had strict rules back then. Didn't matter if it was still light outside, when it was time to go to bed, we went, no whining or arguing .

Actually, we went to the free matinees when we lived on Dewey St., also. I enjoyed those movies so much. We saw a lot of cowboy movies...Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Hop-a-long Cassidy, and the 'singing cowboy', Gene Autry . Roy and Dale sang, too, but it was Autry who was billed that way. Loved their horses, too. Roy had Trigger, Dale had Buttercup, but can't seem to recall the others. Oh, and we also saw the Lone Ranger, on his horse, Silver, with his faithful friend, Tonto.

I had a friend there at that house, named Cookie. Never did know her real name . she must have lived in the same building, I think . There was an older girl, Bertha, who lived on the top floor, and we lived , I think, on the first floor. She would sometimes, during the night, come in the bedroom window, that Betty, Phyllis and I shared, and sit and talk to my sisters. She was their friend . she must have left to go back to her own bedroom before it turned daylight.

My sisters shared a bed, while I, being such a tiny girl, still slept in a crib...no kidding !! I was really tiny. the doctors said I was malnourished, but I don't know if that was true or just a guess on their part, because of my being so petite. that didn't last long...once I hit puberty, I suddenly got heavier. That wasn't for too long a time, because by the time I was 14, I'd slimmed down.

So, ok, we lived there when I was 9, then when I was 10, we moved to 283A Blue Hill Ave. It

was above Kramer's Plumbing, and there was a drugstore on that corner, Finklestein's, and another drugstore kitty-corner to that, called Katz. Two drugstores so close together . We were close to the corner of Quincy St. and we went to Phillips Brooks elementary, right down on Quincy St. I think that, by that time, my sister, Phyllis was going to Jr. High. School. That was

Patrick T. Campbell Jr. High, on Lawrence Ave. I went there myself when time to enter 7th grade . Phyllis had a teacher there named Miss Purcell, who was pretty, with nice, pink cheeks.

She used to have Phyllis go to her home sometimes, to do little things or errands for her. Then, when Phyllis was paid, she would walk home and stop at the butcher shop, Schaffner's, I think

it was, and buy two pounds of hamburger for dinner, for 25 cents ! Two pounds !! I'm not sure if that was just before the war started, or just after. Kinda think it was before, so it was beef still.

anne was already in High School, Roxbury Memorial High School, located up on Warren St, and the side was on Quincy St. They had their own library, to which all three of we girls took full advantage when we went to school there. Betty never went to the same schools with us beyond the elementary grades. she was slow, and had a hearing problem, so she had to go to Horace Mann School for years. Paul didn't go to the same Jr. High or High School, because we moved from that area of Roxbury to a place in the South End, not a real nice area. It was a temporary move, though, because Phyllis and the man she married at 18 bought a duplex in Malden, in a nice location . Think she paid a pittance for it, a few thousand, but, at that time, 1947, or maybe 1948, that was a lot of money. They didn't pay cash, of course .

Back to our home on Blue Hill Ave. That's where we lived when I met the girl who became my best friend, Fay Sodekson. We went to school together, played together after school, sometimes got to go to the show together, at the theater there on Blue Hill Ave, quite a ways up the street, which was a main thoroughfare, as was Warren St. also. Anyway our movie house

was called the Shawmut theater.

Lots of places had that name there in Roxbury. The Shawmut Indian tribe lived there in Massachusetts many years ago.

So, Fay and I were pals for years, doing everything we could together. She had a brother, Popeye we called him. He was slow, too, and he developed a crush on Phyllis. He would bring her cigarettes to show that he cared for her. Remember, in those days no one knew the dangers of cigarette smoking . She was kind to him, but didn't have romantic feelings for him.

After living on B.H. Ave. for maybe a year and a half, we moved to 61 Maywood St. on the other end. A big Catholic church was on B.H.Ave, and it faced our street. We weren't Catholic, as already explained, but I loved that church, even though I went in it only once, with Barbara Hurley, and drank from the fountain. She saw that and gasped, telling me that I'd just drunk the Holy Water ! Guess that was a sin, but I didn't know. I was thirsty and there was a fountain...

I could sit at our bay window, and look down to the church and see the parishoners coming and going . I liked the little coverings the girls and women wore on their heads.

Well, I think this is enough for this posting. I'll add more tomorrow, maybe.

Hope you're enjoying all my little adventures. and there's more to tell, and I'll be skipping back and forth from one place we lived to another, as the memories come to me. Hope you won't mind that, but I keep remembering stuff after thinking I'd told all from each address, so hope you won't mind.

Until next time.

D

MORE WARTIME MEMORIES

I did forget to mention that when we kids were at school, we were taught to duck under our desks if the sirens went off during school hours.

Some families, if they could afford it, built, or had someone build for them, bomb shelters. These were underground rooms dug fairly deep, and I believe, since I never actually saw one,

except in the newsreels, that they were encased with thick layers of concrete, floor, ceiling and walls. They were big enough for all the members of that family to sit and eat, or whatever, and had sleeping quarters for all. they had to have a good supply of non-perishable food and lots of bottles, big ones, full of water, and some bathroom accommodations, at least a toilet of some kind, if nothing else. And, a radio, 2-way, if possible. and flashlights, in case their power went off. first-aid supplies were laid-in, too.

The door that led down into this room had to be reinforced concrete, also, to withstand the explosions of any bombs, and also, to prevent anyone from trying to get in there with that family. It was speculated that during a bombing, people would panic and try to seek safety with the neighbors who had one of the shelters, and might storm the shelter in their panicked state. It was also thought that if people weren't prepared and had no food, that might be another reason that the 'sheltered' families would be sort of 'under seige' by their neighbors.

We, personally, didn't know of anyone with one of those.

I'm not sure whether any of our cities built shelters for city dwellers. I do know that other countries did. Even in some of the movies, especially those made after the war, the bomb shelters were depicted .

Anyway, the war had everyone on edge.

Some of the parents of the soldiers and sailors who got killed, had a 'GOLD STAR' in their windows. We had at least one on our street, probably more farther up the street. These 'stars' were a square piece of fabric, I think, either dark blue or purple, and a gold star was in the middle. It had a frame around the edge, with a little gold fringe, I think, along the bottom, and they were hung with a golden cord with which to display it in their front-room windows.

It was so sad to see that, to know that those folks had lost a son to war .

There was a young woman on our side of the street who joined the Marines. I don't know if women Marines had any kind of 'auxiliary, but the Army had WACS, which stood for Womens' Army Corps. the Navy had WAVES, but don't remember if that was an acronym or not. There were women in all branches of our Military. Some saw combat, but, generally, they were given comparatively 'safer' positions in their respective units. Many served as nurses.

Yes, wartime is a frightening thing, but, as a child, until I saw a 'Gold Star', or heard FDR on the radio, giving us encouragement, much like Winston Churchill did in England, I still had

fun, doing all the things I already mentioned . We kids played our games with a ball, or hide and seek, or tag, or Mother, may I ? or some of us liked to play a game of marbles, or Aggies, as we in our neighborhood called them, or a game of 'jacks' , or we jump-roped. I was pretty good at that, plain jump-roping or 'double-dutch' jumprope . Had good coordination.

Of course, our parents gave us encouragement, not so much with words, but by just being there, helping all of us to live our lives as normally as we could. Daddy went to work, except for when he got sick during wintertime with pneumonia. Then Mamma would have to stop the alarm from going off, in order for him to stay home, where she could take care of him. they couldn't afford hospital care, so he would be home, after waking up later than usual and finding out that Mamma tricked him into staying home, and fussing with her. He DID need to work, so he could support his family, but she figured a couple of days, where she fed him good, nourishing food, and gave him a tonic, which was either port or muscatel wine, with a raw egg in it, would help him to get well, and get his strength back. It did help some, but Daddy was so determined to take care of his family, that he got upset with Mamma. and went right back to work, after those days off, and he wasn't always much better .

We kids went to school, Mamma would go out for food, or other stuff, and life was as normal as they could make it. the whole neighborhood was like that.

Every night, we would gather around the old radio in the living room, and listen to the different programs that were broadcast. We especially loved the funny ones that made all of us laugh. Some of those were Fibber McGee and Molly, who had a closet so crammed full, that every time Fibber opened it, all kinds of stuff would come tumbling out. He would laugh, and she would say, "'Tain't funny, McGee' ! That was like their 'tag line'. Another one was Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy . Charlie was a ventriloquist dummy, and his 'tag line' was ,

"I'll mow ya down" ! Abbott and Costello was another funny one, and Jack Benny. There were so many of them. some of the mystery programs were, "I Love a Mystery" . with 3 guys, buddies, named Jack, Doc, and Reggie. I loved their adventures. "The Shadow" was another

really good show, where the good guy, 'Lamont Cranston, wealthy man about town' was one of my favorites also. He was a rich, debonair society guy, who, under cover of darkness, fought crime. He was invisible to those he pursued . He always got his man, and solved every case ! 'Inner Sanctum' was one of the scary shows...a huge door would creak open and a voice would say something creepy. The voice belonged to a character named, Rigor Mortis . that was a little too scary for me. think I didn't stay around to hear that one. There were lots of musical shows, with some really great bands playing, Glen Miller being my personal favorite, although I loved to hear all of them...Artie Shaw, brothers Jimmy and tommy Dorsey, each with their own band, and style, Woody Herman, Harry James, who was married to THE pin-up girl during WWII. A picture or poster of her and her 'million dollar legs' hung in so many servicemen's lockers. Betty Grable actually had her legs insured for that amount by Lloyds

of London, a very prestigious insurance company . Too many great bands to list.

Detective type shows were, 'Mr. Keene, Tracer of Lost Persons' , and yet another, 'Sam Spade, another, Philip Marlowe. Many good shows, too many to list all of them here.

So, that's what our family, parents included, did most evenings. It only took our imagination to 'SEE' each show. They made us forget, for a little while, that our country was at war.

The war lasted from 1941 until 1945 . Many lives lost, many sacrifices made, many tears shed over the loss of so many fathers, sons, husbands, brothers . Some of the losses were women, but it was mostly the boys and men who gave up their lives on the battlefield .

That was indeed, a war that started with 'A Day that will Live in INFAMY ', as then President,

Franklin D. roosevelt put it. That day was December 7, 1941 .

We now, also have experienced another 'Day that will Live in INFAMY , September 11, 2001 .

Let us pray that the war that has been raging on since then, will end soon, please God, and that all nations will put down their weapons and wage war no more . Let love for our fellow man come into all hearts, so we can act like decent human beings once again.

I leave you with this thought.

D