Document text
Piritten byt
mabol V. Jons,
307 First Mende
nofie, Gsorglh.
dome, Georgia,
February lot 1939
(Mrs.) harguerite R. Thomas.
mist Seventh StrApt, Rome, Ga.
Recreational Center
Gladys Metealf, although reared without a mother, lived a life
of ease and indulgence in her early youth. her father commended a
salary quite adequate to oar* for his two daughters, and to assist his
aged mother and father, who, in turn, oared for his two motherless girls,
indulging them rather more then was neoessary, or quite good for their
character building, as they considered thht life was to be ladled out
to them on a golden platter, at their command.
Gladys attended boarding **boo', where she graduated with honors.
3Le is quite an artist, and also writes poetry. Mile she has never taken
any lessons in art, she draws quite well, and her poems, which she writes
on all occasions, *lid on many subjects, but mostly about children, are
qaite worthy of .:antion, and Good Housekeeping and other magazines of
note have told her they considered them good, but not quite in line
for tiAA.r magazines. 3he is very persistent, and kesps hoping to be able
to at them published some day. Below is given one which she wrote one
evening, after having received a soar* over a misadventure of one of the
boys:
40RXIMG 1601H.410;;;
le with my little boys, dear God, I prey;
I mast leave them with You hors again today
Those ever —racing, reckless little fest--
Go with thee when they chase across the street
To search for balls that have bounced out of si6ht
Please, God, stay here 'tn. I get hem* tonight:
Pour little hands, God, on two little boys
Choose danger often when they choose their toys--
Those jagged, rusty cant), the broken jars
That by child —magic tern to trains and ears,
The many things they handle thoughtlessly
Amuse keep those four hands safe today for me:
I know Toere busy, God, but the dmsign
Of all that Universe seems works g fine
And runniad smoothly, so Toe won't forget
My boys :-.-They are such little fellows yet,
And You're so wise. 0101, Ton must ~sly knee
How very &miens mothers' thougitts San grew.
And then, when work is through and I can some
hack whore my heart has been all day -...at home
In thanks to Ten, I'll say on bonded knit*,
"Dear God. Toeve been so very good to mei;
--And, even 'Omagh they',. safe within my
'Please, God, stag with as through the night':
Married at an early age, not realising that the man she married
was irresponsible, or rater, not t&Aing the matter into consideration
as of any importance) whatsoever, she fonnd sovsrai pears of her life
rather atom. Although her husband was %nit* faithful to her. and was
kind and pleasant at hose, willin6 worker, and a pleasant compaaioa,
without the assistance, of air husband's people, and sometimes that of
her own father, al,a would have had very bard rows, as he could sot
resist the temptation to drink, and mew in his pocket meant self ladulioince
to Bush an extent that the family moods were negleetssi.
tt a very alert mind, having come of a family she poeeesseu unusually
bri,ht milAdes and were outsvamiisig in literary and 1001 professions, she
was yet without any experience as to wade and means of makIng msaay for
horsalf and her two small boys, ofwLum she is very proud. rho welfare
of tier childrsh is tno most important intrest in life to her, and no
sacrifice is too 7eat to sake for them.
her disposition id pleasant, r.na although her hair is "red", the
usual application of a fiery temper sappoeed to aceompang it falls to
materialise, as sue is so la and rwisonable in all her dealinbs, and her
piatienes with her children is reel4 rare.
After trying variohl places fr rk in which aie had no experiehce,
she was finally able to Aware emdloh- ent throa4 the Governhant on u A.
Project, being pieced in the office of the Recreational Center. When first
entering the off be sue had no experience whatsoever, except that one had
learned to type on a borrowed machine, used at hohe. her work waa not so
hard and her employer kind and. helpful, uhd she Learnen very quickly, and
is now quite able to handle all matters pertaining to her work without
difficulty. Sne is now studyinh short -hand, alone, having secured a marn.4
ahn learned the fundamentals of the study, and taking as much dictation as
possible in her routine work.
Limn tuou,h Gladys, all of 'Ler husband's people, aad all of his friends
(for he has a charlahnh. personality ad makes friends easily) tried to hal,
him overcome hia drinkinh, he allowed the habit to grow, and it eventaally
affected his disposition, his ability to work, and life beeame a nidhtmare
of worry, fear and uncertainty. inaily, reallaing that it was unfair to
ter children, to her mother --in-law, .ho was loyally standing by to help her
in her fight to Care for her children, and to herself, she eecuren a divorce.
;Mil caring deeply for his, not only as ,hr hu...4aand and the father of her
children, but as a diseased, rather than a self -indulged rsoh, she carries
the load of maintainin, the home, edaoating her boys and hiviah them the high
ideals of a Christian home, with chin up, and a smile for all, although an
ache is doe h in _er neat.
Her greateat burden is having tier chil'.en ask fur their "daddy".
fatLar, though very weak, was devote, to his family, sad was never toe
busy to build a toy for his buyJ, ur oho* them the rules of a game, or enter
their play with them. He was hlways a "'pal" to his sons, mina if he is
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never able to be with them agnit,„
ey will always treasure the aweery of
their fittheroas they only saw hit jentleness, and were igotected from the
unpleas Alleys that -it,nt w:Lth the life he was living.
Throagh her work ehe hem :J. tible to secure rowan for herself, her
mothhr-in-lem find har children at 4 much eheaper rental than iihe Gould
otherwiee get it, beihg neer the 44:an:pa/Ad with whisk the is connected
in her work. The ehildren go to the pleygreand, and are under the super-
vision of a very able director, who is also friend of Gladys. The environ-
ment of her home is not of the standard to whieh she is aeoastomed, or that
she desire*, q4 the children are thrown with ohildren of illiterate Glasses
to some extent, an they quite easily acquire their vereasuler of speech,
and other manneri&Ao. bilAy, the yo6inger soh, only six years old in his
baby days aseu vary correet iditaish, very unusual to a chid of his years.
ulnae moving into this commit:UV, ea Lax adopted the shmisier of speech of the
children he playa with. few daie ae;u, tbe playground bein6 closet, as
the leaders had gone biome, am* children came to the door. ILUy, in a
very courteoue maim. r, 'Ai:A to the dmiir and saids"The plsrtmonnd is closed,
Xis* colloek haw already "oama wad weht:
The mother often worries lest, by tryinos to iiive them tbe material
thint they need, she 6ives them an environment that will be detrimental
to their character bull,iihg; then., She will try to firura that the hest in
them will develop with h-rlohi,Js, alLo. sue wa.ally str,ys 'oh the fence as to
whether sue is right or wroh.
Yor a person who flee had no hardships in youth, and nothihg to bring
out the steel in her character durihg early days, Gladye hem develohod
a wonderful strength of endurance, and with it all she carries a pleasantness
that is rather contagious to those with whoa she comes in cohtact. (The usual
romt,rk thht is made when speaking of her is that she is "trGetwarthe oegood")
b
Ilse older bey, "oney-, Who is nearly ten yours old, is very large
for hie age, and in oonsiderad by anyone who doesn't knliv; his age, to be
about twelve or fourtLen. Re is larger than some of the foarteen year
old boy* who are his associates. Els 4ind lo very briJ,and he Lusters
his etmdies easily. 'i.uring the first thrco jot.re uf ischool, lie was au
honer papil almost every month, iles4 opt out by illness. Anae moving
to the present location, iphough his marks are hitl, hie average being
WC, to 94.42, he Las not been able to attain the honor roll. at. mother
will be elated %be first of the month, being coafident that he will'make it
this month; and when the curd comes at the end of the tenth with one or
two demerits, she slusk,s, for nit disposition is to be either in the heights
or the depths.--ithero is 40 middle course. Jler talking the matter over
with the teachers in that ward, she h.e boon eivisod that it is hard for
any bey to make the honor roll in this partieular grade, as a, certain element
in in the aseendeht tij4ch demorall.ies the whole grade, and "jenny" is not
Arfevet--just a boy. This month he meg' "A" ou every subject, 100 in Attendanse
sing R9 in deportment. A note from tie teacher said:"This beautiful card v.1001104
chewing gum" and it was learned that an the last day, "60nny" had a mouth
full (almost a whole packace) of cow, and did nGt try to keep the teacher from
seeing it, bat rather displayed it, so the general oc,nolasioa is that he is
afraid of being called a ast/ by the boys in the grade, and deliberately
failed to make the honor roll.
Billy is net oats so Wright in his studies; it is herder for him to grasp
a omejost, or oleo he is too enarostie ;or norvouls to eoncentrate. Es was
rather handicapped in startinc out, no hio booko not some and the other
°leases were ahead of him f4n4 he coold not ofttoh up easily; than too, his
teacher said he was very sensitive. ai it io rots o in the home that his
feelings ean be hari rely easily. Be is bright, small uf statue, white-hairod
by
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and freokled faced, with his front teeth widttpart; in fact, a freckled
faced boy, shown on a magazine cover.
The mother-in-law and daughter -irk -law are very close companions; each
striving at all times to do somethin that wili nelp tne other, and praise
for the otner being constantly given. It is quite unusual to find such
companionship existing between mother -in -lam and daughter-in-law. The work
of the hem is carried on ki each of them, the grandmother oaring for the
home and the children while the mother works, she doing quite a lot of the
work at home after her office hours. Gladys prepares breakfast in the
morning, dresses the children for school, prepares their lunch, and does
an much as possible to "clean house" before she leaves, as the grandmother
dose not rest well at nieht, and sleeps late. The grandmother prepares the
dinner, sews, and sometimes does tne washing on the washing machine that
is furnished by the Community Chest, but as it is rather hard for her, and
sS is suscentible t. cold, Gladys does much of this work after she returns
at night. The ironine and other work is divided between them, the one having
the most leisure doing the Job.
On Saturday, most of the house-cleaning is done, and everything laid
aside for Sunday morning, when Gladys dresses the two children ad herself
for :iundey school and church, which is missed only on the reilMst occasions,
and the aLildren consider it a part of their weekly to attend; ;Andel school
is Jim:A as essential to them as day school, and they carry their Bibles to
resell the standard of excellence. when the mills are served, Grace is always
said at the table by "Sonny", but Billy will not allow anyone to begin eating
antil it is over.
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The general health of the family iv good. The ehildren have had the
Mitlai ailments of measles, mumps, oometimes tonsilitim in a light form.
At this time :;onny has the camps, but ie getting along nicely, and exceot
for being out of school, it is of little consequence. The grandmother
had very serious throat infeution about a yuar ago, but her sister took
ner to the hos1tal for treatment, takin pare of the expanses entailed.
.he was fed thron,h the veins fur a wee ahe recuperated from this
illnesu, but is not very strong. 41e hau other children who are in mach
better oircumstances financially, who could give her every care and at
and are wtliin tau anxilus to do so, but she feels that SIM
can be of use to Gladye v.tai her children, and will not leave her to
go to her pen children to live.
The diet f6r the fandly is voried. The smn it,m on the mean
being milk and 'Witter. The grandmother and smoller son, Billy, both
depend almost entirely topn milk as a diet. iiometimes Biily will ent
nothing bat milk and bread. About three years ago the situation wial
rather acute, as the family bnaget would not allow for a. sufficient
amount of milk for the family. Au aunt bought a cow, pain6 5.00 for
her, end found her to be a five -gallon a de,y cow, when ,proper4 fed.
At the present time they are unable to keep her at home, as there ix no
barn at the Reereational Center, where thej fir4 now livie6, 30 a man in
the country iu feeding and caring for her, .rid giving the family a gallon
of sweet o,iik per dgy, which care fur the situation very nicel;f. They
have been of iero4 a nice eum for this cow, but are uawil,ing to sell her.
Ther also have green vegetables (Ltite often, aha most of the time they
ke.i) a smal.i. gnrden, with turn, ,f;reeho, collard, onions aad lettuce.
At this time t,ey /ire minus the garden, also, but they manage to det the
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facilities, all having to sleep in PAO room, but with plenty of venti-
lation. They have a nice, new, gas stove, but their quarters are too small
to care for their furniture, heviht; the use of only two rooms (although
they have access to e large ohs parlor, for,.erly a glassed -in sleeping porch
for the children at the Open Door) with furniture for five. They have placed
their piano in Cie recreational hall for the supervisors to use in their
plays; their machine in the sun parlor, where the leaders sometimes make
clothed for needy children in the community; their dining table is also
in the sun parlor, and magazines and other articles are kept on this,
and in this way they are well eared for.
Insurance is kept on all the family. The mother-in-law's insurance is
kept paid by her sister, and Gladys keeps small policies on both the children
and herself, also one on her former husband, knowing that if misfortune should
over him the family would have to meet the expenses.
Gladys is very loyal to the administration, feeling that she is very
fortunate to live in a country where the leaders are interested in the masses
to the extent that our government is, and is confident that now, that ahe has
Lad some experience in the business world, she will be able to carry on.