Document text
:T1E Massachusetts
rALE OF JORKER Louise G. Bassett
ADDRESS Brookfield2 Massachusetts
DATE December 12 1938
SUBJECT Living Lore
PLACE OF INTERVIEW
The interview took place in Alan
Wallace's rattletrap Ford in which
he and the worker were rattling
home from the postoffice. It was
a colc_ d4y2 the roaCe rutty and rough
froL Le recent &tom—, but Alan
drove ft rzneuvering his ancient
conveyance with the skill of an
artist and talking steadily all
tie time.
Ki`mav-sz,,
/1-5g
Name: Louise G. Bassett Assignment: Brookfield
Title: Living Lore Topic: Alan Wallace
"Hello, you're just the one I want to see", so said Alan Wallace,
as he came out of the post office with his arms full of a big box.
"that's fine", I answered, "I don't mind seeing you."
"That's finer," he said, "Come along with me while I put this thing
in the car and then I'll tell you what I want to see you about. Want
to know what's in this box?" Of course I did.
"Well, I'm getting ready for Christmas and tills is full of gadgets.
I send every year to a mail order house for all sorts and kinds of
tricks and then I start getting my presents ready."
"There's nothing like being in time." I ventured to say.
"Yap, that's what my mother always said, You see, when she was a
kid she was porn oh, I guess about eighteen hundred and fifty seven
or eight, I'm not sure just when exactly out along there somewhere, her
family made practically all thtr presents. The Civil War came and they
couldn't afford to spend money on anything but food. The habit stuck
to her and so, when my brothers and I came along she taught us to
do many things that ever since makes Christmas to me."
Being of an inquring nature I asked, "What, for instance?"
"Well, we boys used to gather things to make fancy pillows, we'd
start as early as August so when kother was ready to use them they were
dry and fragrant, things like fir tips, pine needles and sweet fern
leaves.
Page 2
Name: Louise G. Bassett Assignment: Brookfield
Title: Living Lore Topic: Alan Wallace
"Os usually went to the sea,shore for two weeks every summer
and half the fun of going was the finding of shells to take home to
make into Christmas presents. We'd pick up the prettiest clam shells
and scallop shells, a whole uasket full, and then when we got back home,
we'd. paint them in the evenings make ash trays, pin trays and and
oh, yes, paper weights and sometimes door stops.
"As I look back on it now I realize that some of them were pretty
awful out iviother always seemed delighted with our efforts, no matter
how feeble they proved to be. honestly we got so we could all paint
fairly well you know, birds and butterflies and flowers.
"We had scads of relatives and by the time we had painted some-
thing for everybody we should have peen fairly proficent. We used
to make canes for Father and w4ht an assortment he had, there was,
of course, always a great deal of rivalry among us as to which cane
he would like the best, so, to spare our feelings, he would carry
mine today, 6tuarts'l my oldest brother, the next day and Jim's,
the youngest brother, the third day and he would be equally enthui-
astic auout each one.
"We always save him something for his desk. He finally accumulated
so many of our gifts he put a good-sized table in his room and all of
our efforts were laid out to show them to the oest advantage. I
dont mind telling you we were mighty proud of that collection.
Name: Louise G. Bassett
Page 3
Assignment: Brookfield
Title: Living Lore Topic: Alan Wallace
"Mother taught us each to knit and I realize as I look back how
patient she was for we were so clumsy but we got so we could knit
wristlets that really looked all right.
"I remember one night Mother had the dining room table strewn
with clothes pins and some paint cans and brushes. She was making
dolls out of the pins. She put dresses on them and she painted the
end where the little knob is that was the head, you know. We were
wild to try our hand on painting the faces and she finally let us
we thought we had done pretty well out we were very crestfallen when
kother remarked that it was most evident there were no portrait
painters in her family.
"We all three learned to crochet and we had more fun than you
can imaeine crocheting riobons to tie around our packages.
"The evenings would fly by all too fast and how sensible my Mother
was keeping three oig boys so enthused over Christmas that they rarely
wanted to go out at night. We were boys, too, real tough 'he, boys,
and the funniest part of the whole thing was, none of the boys in the
nei6hborhood ever kidded us. In fact, most of them spent half their
time at our house.
"Mother always caught the Christmas spirit early and she used to
spread it around which made our Christmas last longer than most people.
bo many don't commence to think anything aoout it until two or three
days before aristmas Eve.
Page 4
Name: Louise G. Bassett Assignment: Brookfield
Title: Living Lore Topic: Alan Wallace
"114 used to cut our trees out in some nearby pasture and was
that a ceremony. :.ometimes we would spend weeks making the proper
selection and there were many serious arguments before we were all
satisfied- We would be all ready to set it up a week or ten days
before Christmas.
"We decorated it with strings of cranberries and pop corn, then
we'd paint silver stars and tuck them in and out of the branches. We
put a few little candles, here and there. Not many, loother had a
deadly fear of fire. Everybody had a stocking bung on the tree, even
our anim:-.1s.
"We had our gifts Christmas morning but Christmas Eve we always
had a 'taffy pulling'. All our pals were invited, no one was allowed
to bring a present. A number of the older people would come, too2
and sometimes bring something for kother and Dads (We didn't call him
Dad in those days.at would have been considered aisrespectfui)but
they didn't count, it was our party.
"We had our gifts early in the morning and then we'd pitch in
and help with the last minute preparations for dinner and what a
dinner it would be. The table fairly groaned as the newspapers say.
"And no one seemed to hurry no one rushing and dashing
around like mad as they do today. Everybody was smiling. To Father
and iv,other)christmas meant love and love means happiness doesn't it?
Page 5
Name: Louise G. Bassett Assignment: Brookfield
Title: Living Lore Topic: Alan Wallace
"If we can always keep the spirit of Christmas alive this old
world of ours will never go entirely wrong. Always after dinner, on
christmas Day, Father would read idckens Christmas Carol, we never
grew tired of,listening to it we felt the Cratchit's, Scrooge and
Tiny Tim were people who belonged to us and came to visit us every
Christmas.
"After we had listened to the Christmas Carol and dinner was
cleared away, we'd put on warm clothing and go sliding or skating,
and would we bring home an appetite you could hardly believe we
had just eaten a big Christmas dinner. lother'd have sandwiches and
cake and we'd pop corn and crack hickory nuts and chestnuts and we'd
sing everything we knew and Father would tell us stories that would
seem unbelievably funny and how we would laugh.
"I have heard my kother say that laughter in the house was more
precious than gold plate. What a kother mine was, there never was
one like her."
Alan sat for a full two minutes, looking off into space, thinking
I am sure, of the dear days that are gone.
suddenly, shaking himself, he laughed softly, "It's grand to have
days like that to remember, isn't it?" Without waiting for my answer,
°I suppose you'd like to know what's in my box, wouldn't you? Well
it's more or less a secret, I'll show you some of the things when I
get them together, they're not ready to be looked at yet.
Page 6
Name: Louise G. Bassett
Assignment: Brookfield
Title: Living Lore Topic: Alan Wallace
"What I said I w,nted to talk to you about is that I want to give
a little party bionday or Tuesday of the week before Christmas, will
you come?*
*Would I come?* Ind4ed and indeed I would.
"Well, I've got to get along, I'm leaving some day the week before
Christmas, for Detroit only belthere a few uays my brother Stuart
lives there. He's a very successful' dentist and has a considerable
amount of money. Think's I'm crazy because I dont try to made some
out I'm happier than he is, I'll bet my hat.
"I'm anxious to go for two reasons, I want to see him, of course,
but I'm itching to do some ice fishing, I'm hoping there'll be ice
there, you know it's much calder4here than it is %here. Speaking of
fishing, I wonder if this will seem funny to you it does to me now
out -oh-oh how i suffered once.
"When I was a kid about twelve I fished in the ice every chance I
had but I was terribly unlucky, could hardly ever catch anything.
one day, I asked one of the town's best fishermen what I ought to do.
*Walt* he said, shifting his very large plug of 'abacco from one
side of his mouth to the other, *jest kut yer tole in thl ice, then
put yer net dewn in th' water and s -let hit stay kinder long then
holler per net: Away I dashed with this advice from an expert I was
sure to get a big catch.
Page 7
Name: Louise G. Bassett Assignment: Brookfield
Title: Living Lore Topic: Alan Wallace
"I cut the hole in the ice I let my net down into the water,
then, stanaing over the hole I hollered as loud as I was capable of
hollering,, per net per net/again, is time the sound I made was
closely related to a scream per net, per net.
"I pulled up my net there were no fish I was bitterly disap-
pointed and as I stood there it suddenly came to me that what he had
said behind that plug of tobacco was, 'Haul up your net.' I could
feel myself plush down to my toes and I was thirty years old before
I had the courage to tell the joke on myself.
"Well, that's that, I'll drive you home and then I'm on my way."
Dropping me practically in a mountain of snow he waved gayly, "I'll
be seeing you," and away went Alan in his funny wheezy little car,
on his way to get things "together" so that his friends can have a
"kerry Christmas."