So coming back from my trip in Ohio, I was packing and I found a folder my mom had stashed in the closet of my old things from high school. I had never opened it up at the house, I brought it home and finally went through it the next morning over coffee, I was so happy with what I found, and article I wrote about my grandfather some 17 years ago! It was so old, it was printed out on a dot-matrix printer paper! I had to laugh out loud! So in the corner Sr. Lousie (my AP History teacher) had written in the comments... "Christy, by all rights you should have lost points for being late but this was excellent...100"!
Again, I had to laugh, because I realized, at least my whole life I have been consistent! So, I wanted to share this with you, words my grandfather shared with me, about the Depression, what he thought of the world 17 years ago, and how it hasn't changed in recent years, the world has only gotten worse, and although he passed away in 2007, he knew so much, and knew exactly where the world was headed even back then....
I remember sitting and interviewing him for this article, I remember thinking how one day, I would look back at this and be happy I did it, I am! That day has come, and so I hope you enjoy reading a piece of history, of my history, and history that was shared by my grandfather. He was a Lt. Col. in the Army, served his country proud, and is what I believe to be a true American Hero!
"My life during the Depression was an interesting experience," Manny commented. He proceeded to say, "At the time I was most affected, I was a teenager." While I sat across from him, he told me his views of how he saw that critical period in time. When I was talking to him, he seemed to remember some things and laugh. He talked of how he was a boy in the family of eight children and two parents who immigrated to the U.S from Italy.
"Jobs were very scarce in that time, so whatever job was open we took. I remember how one summer I worked on a golf course and was a caddy. I would wake up at 3am, walk 5 or 6 miles and only get paid $1 for the whole day. At the time I was 13 years old. My family was poor and so whatever job the children could get they took to help out. For awhile my dad was out of work and there was no welfare back then. My dad had the WPA with him so they soon got him a job. For $12 a week they put him to work. He did different jobs each time." I laughed when I heard him say the WPA, for recently I had learned about that. "Of course, at the time, everything was cheaper, why you could ride the trolley car for $.05!"
He explained that for food most of the mother's would make a huge pot of pasta and beans. It could feed 9 people for three meals a day, for three days, "not to mention for only $.50". I was surprised when he said that but then he said, "that's how it was back then".
"For the entertainment on the weekends we would go to an open field and play football, stick ball and basketball". I said, "Poppop, that's what they do now too". He laughed and said that when you lived in the city it was different. The girls would play jump rope or hopscotch, the boys would play stick ball in the street or play handball against the wall of a building. Sometimes they would play hockey on skates if they were lucky enough to get a pair for Christmas. When it would rain or it was gloomy out, they would go to the movies for $.05 a person. As he got older once or twice a week the town at night would become, I guess you would say, the "major hang-out". The town square would convert into a street dance for the kids to dance and have fun. He commented it was good because the kids would stay out of trouble. Imagine, in today's world you could never do that without the gangs or trouble starting.
He told me that everyday his mother gave him $.10 a day. Five cents for the trolley to school and back. Only instead he would ride the trolley to school and walk home. On their way home they would stop by the bakery and buy what they called "stale bread" and buy a big bag for five cents. On the weekends, they would hitch the back of the trolley cars and sometimes disconnect cables that made the trolley run. When the conductor would chase them, they would run.
One time he mentioned, he jumped off and a taxi ran over him. He was bruised but nothing serious. When his dad came home he spanked him for his actions then asked how he was feeling. He said it was fun, but he always hated getting caught!
Getting back to a serious note, he said, "Back then you never had calculators or machines to figure out the bills. Everything would be written down on paper and added mentally. Also, nothing was packaged. Everything had to be weighed out. We packaged them ourselves at the counter. So you had to be good in math. You know when your grandmother was younger, she went to the store and the little Italian lady had a list there. The list was called a 'trust'. When you didn't have enough money to buy food, you wrote down the amount owed and signed your name. She would always be embarrassed because they were so behind. The lady would say...'Anita, tell your momma she need to pay'...Now you could never do that!"
He continued to speak about the schooling. "When I was younger, I went to a Slovish Catholic school. Of course since I lived with so many sisters they thought it was cute that I wore shorts to school. So everyday they forced me to wear shorts. Now I must tell you, that now it's no big deal, but back then and most importantly in a Slovish school, wearing shorts meant you were a sissy! So that was my nickname. Wearing pants proved your masculinity. Since I had the nickname of a sissy, I used to be tough. I always got into fights and the nuns used to send me out of the classroom. ....
....to be continued.......
this was a three page essay so I decided to break it down into 2 parts. again, remember this was written by my 14 year old self, so if the reading and writing is young...you understand why! LOL!
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