Document text
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Blia Bortlett New Enelang
Gentility
STATE Massachusetts
NAME OF WORKER Lose G. Bassett
ADDRESS Brookfield, Massachusetts
DATE March 28, 1939
SUBJECT Living Lore
NAME OF INFORMANT Ella Bartlett
ADDRESS Brookfield, Massachusetts
Name Louise G. Bassett
Title Diving Lore
Assignment j=2,s1
Topic Ella Bartlett New
England Gentility
As I swept off the snow left by the last and very unwelcome
storm, I looked down the street and saw a weary little figure fighting
the strong wind that was literally tossing it from one side of the walk
to the other. It was Ella Bartlett, red of nose and blue of cheek.
*For goodness sake, come in this house this minute before
you freeze to death,* I cried.
In she came, numb from the cold, and meekly let us take off
wraps and galoshes and fuss over her generally as we tried to make
her comfortable. It was not like Ella Bartlett to be meek and we
wondered.
Finally she spoke, *Well, I guess I'm a mite warmer now.*
*Where did you have to go that you got yourself in this
condition?* I scolded.
*Didn't have to go anywhere, I jest went. I was feelin'
mopish an' I went across th' river to see how th' old house looked
an' that made me bluer an bluer an, I jest been walkin' 'round.*
Sensing that she wanted to talk I lead her on to tell me about
this big old house that used to be her home.
"It was a beautiful home, my home, 'bout till prettiest
anywherestround here. It was made of weatherboards, inlaid with
bricks, that's what made th' walls thick, it was painted white.
Course in those days white houses stayed white, didn't have so much
smoke an, dust, like today.
-2
Name Louise G. Bassett.
Title Llving Lore
Pacer 5
Assignment Brookfie14
Topic pla Bartlett New
England Gentility
"All,round th' house there was a fence that was called a
'post an' rail' fence, that's made with places cut in th' posts an'
th' railed be made all smooth an' nice an' they'd fit in th' places
cut in th' posts, then it was whitewashed.
"There was a great big porch that had a railin' all 'round
it. We used to sit out there every time we could. There was a wide
hall that ran right from th' porch to th' back of th' house.
"On one side was a big lisin' room, we called it a settin'
room those days. It had a great big fireplace in it, and then th'
kitchen was back of that an' back of that again, was a good-sized
room that had a stove in it an' when it got hot in th' summer time
they'd cook out there, an' that room was hitched onto th' barns so's
th' men didn't have to go out doors in th' winter time.
"Right across th' hall from th' settin' room was th' 'best'
room. We never called it th' parlor. Then upstairs was th' sleepin'
rooms, of course an' on top of th' hule house was th' attic an' how
I loved that attic, full of all kinds of things that us children
would play with all day long.
"We had th' loveliest carpet in th' beet room, sort of pink,
only a little deeper then pink, with big scroll like figures that had
flowers kindto fallin' out of 'em. It was a Brussels carpet. I
remember goin' to school one day when I was about ten an' boastint
Name Ionise G. Bassett
Title DiVira Lork
Paver 6
Assignment Brookfield
Topic 41a BoIlett New
England Gentility'
that we had Brussels carpet in every bedroom in our house. Wasn't
that dreadful but we did have them.
We had such pretty furniture in that room, too, two big
sofas, covered with a dark red velvet that had little baskets of gay
flowers all over it. There was a big rockin, chair an' a little one
an' they both had th' prettiest cushions on th' seats. Then there
was a high boy an' a low boy an, three of th' awNlest uncomfortable
straight back chairs you ever set in. Then there was two tables,
marble top on one. Th' one in th' middle of th' room was big an'
among th' things on it was a beautiful bouquet of flowers made of
feathers under a glass case an' there was two big glass lamps with
prisms.
*There was some foot stools scattered around with 'petty' point
covers an' there was three big portraits with heavy gold frames,
hangin' on th' walls.
"Th' curtains was hardly ever raised in that room, except
on special occasions Thanksgivings an' Christmas's an' funerals.
I used to sneak in there an' play I was a grand lady come to call,
I'd sit there alone in th' dark for hours, Mother always knew where
to find me if I disappeared.
"Th' settin' room didn't have a carpet, t had wide, wide
boards that was almost white an' it used to be wiped about twice
a day with a clean, damp mpp an' then th' mop 'd have to be washed all
clean so's it would be all right to use th' next time.
Name LQUiSe G. Bassett
Title Diving Lore
Paper 5
Assignment Brookfield
Topic B2nlanrzialicu
wrh, chairs in that room was of th' kind they called Windsor,
well, they do yet, if it comes to that. Th' chairs was cherry. You
don't see much cherry, nowadays, I used to think it was a right pretty
wood. There was a beautiful bureau stood in one corner. It has a lot
of fancy work on it, big claw feet and lovely glass knobs, you've seen
it, in my room an' th' high boy an' th' low boy, too.
"The melodeon was in that room, so's I could practice. The'
walls was white, there wasn't any pictures, th' window shades was made
of green paper an' there was white curtains at th' windows. Irmay not
sound so good to you but honest, it was awful nice.
*Honest, I've yet to see any place as nice as ours, inside
or out. Everything was so neat. In those days we didn't have any
springs on our bedsteads, so, we'd have a straw bed under our feather
beds to make 'em springy. Every spring th' ticksid be washed an'
new straw put inet an' I remember how my father would follow long to
watch so's none of th' straw would fall on th' ground an' make th'
yard look untidy.
"My, but it was a nice house. My grandmother always used
to say it was one of the best in Brookfield and I guess it was.
My father was awful- proud about his home and awfully fussy to have
things nice. He was a wonderful man my father and he knew so much.
I don't believe there was anybody in Brookfield knew any more than he
did.
Name Louise G. Bassett
Title Living Lore
EMMA
Assignment Brookfield
Topic Ella Baillett New
&Eland Gentility
*Goodness, here I been talkin' on all about myself and
braggin' like anythin'. But it's all true every word of it."
Miss Ella's voice held a note of defiance and her black eyes looked
squarely at me as she arose and prepared to depart.
*I know it is," I answered in what I hoped was a soothing
tone. "W. Kinne has told me about your father what a splendid
man he was, and about your lovely home."
"Mr. Kinne was most kind to say such things," was her prim
reply. "I have always thought fr. Kinne a most intelligent and
fair-minded man. Good -day, and thank you."
As I stood at the window and watched Miss Ella, in her
outmoded black coat/struggling against the wind, I thought of the
small cold room where she was spending the last years of a life that
had begun so happily in the big white house across the river.