(1990s memoirs)
[What Martha's children did:] Frank took up gardening for wealthy families; Lois made wigs, did tailoring and housekeeping; Mary worked in a shoe factory and did dressmaking; and Bill, the baby of the family, went off to work for the railroad, taking his lunch.
November 14, 2012
November 13, 2012
Picking up chips
(1990s memoirs)
My father, Frank Parsons, lived as a boy in Waupun, Wisconsin.... The family was poor and his earliest memory was "picking up chips" for his mother, Martha, to get an early morning fire going for the family breakfast.
My father, Frank Parsons, lived as a boy in Waupun, Wisconsin.... The family was poor and his earliest memory was "picking up chips" for his mother, Martha, to get an early morning fire going for the family breakfast.
November 12, 2012
School clothes
(1990s memoirs)
One day my mother told me to close my eyes and keep them closed. Then she put me in a coat. When I opened my eyes, I was in a long gray rain coat she had sent for. Beautiful. Once my Aunt Lois gave me a scarf she made. It was about 2 feet wide and 5 feet long. I looked odd in it and was stared at. I don't think I wore it very much, and my mother understood and didn't make me. I wore long underwear and over it long black or tan stockings. Sometimes high laced shoes. I saw my mother decorate a straw hat with old roses.
One day my mother told me to close my eyes and keep them closed. Then she put me in a coat. When I opened my eyes, I was in a long gray rain coat she had sent for. Beautiful. Once my Aunt Lois gave me a scarf she made. It was about 2 feet wide and 5 feet long. I looked odd in it and was stared at. I don't think I wore it very much, and my mother understood and didn't make me. I wore long underwear and over it long black or tan stockings. Sometimes high laced shoes. I saw my mother decorate a straw hat with old roses.
November 11, 2012
Hot potato
(1990s memoirs)
When I went to 8th grade [in Green Lake], I walked about a mile and a half and had a hot potato in my black muff to keep my fingers from freezing. Coming home I was called for by a chauffeur sometimes or walked too. One time I walked to a pier where a covered launch picked us up and took us to school.
When I went to 8th grade [in Green Lake], I walked about a mile and a half and had a hot potato in my black muff to keep my fingers from freezing. Coming home I was called for by a chauffeur sometimes or walked too. One time I walked to a pier where a covered launch picked us up and took us to school.
November 10, 2012
Preoccupied
(1990s memoirs)
One day Lorin got on a sreet car [in Milwaukee] with someone on the seat near the window; he was obliged to ride [a short distance] from office to court house. Then looked up and saw he had been sitting all along with his Auntie Mabel.
One day Lorin got on a sreet car [in Milwaukee] with someone on the seat near the window; he was obliged to ride [a short distance] from office to court house. Then looked up and saw he had been sitting all along with his Auntie Mabel.
November 9, 2012
Street cars
(1990s memoirs)
I often got on the street car in Milwaukee and rode to town, sometimes holding Skip if car was crowded. ... I could buy a street car ticket and ask for a transfer ticket, which I could use to change cars and go in a different direction. One family could use the same ticket but was not supposed to do so, but we did not have our pictures on them.
I often got on the street car in Milwaukee and rode to town, sometimes holding Skip if car was crowded. ... I could buy a street car ticket and ask for a transfer ticket, which I could use to change cars and go in a different direction. One family could use the same ticket but was not supposed to do so, but we did not have our pictures on them.
November 8, 2012
Rural rides
When young I once lived on the Lawson Estate in Green Lake, Wis., and rode to school in a bob sled with straw on the floor where we sat; or in a cutter with horse and bells; also, but not to school, in a lumber wagon. Never on horse back.
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