Document text
Mrs. Marie Haggerty
Paper 5
Jut 6, j9ae
STATE MASSACHUSETTS
NADI OF WORIM EMILY B. MOORE
ADDRESS 84 rT,TA STREET,
WORCESTER, MASS.
DATE OF TETILAVIEW JUNE 20, 1939
SUBJECT LIVING LOPE
NLYIE OF INFORMANT MRS. MARIE HAGGERTY
ADDRESS WORCESTE7., MASS.
Names fails B. Moor. Assignments Worcester
Titles 'living Lore
Topics Mrs. marie Haggerty
parer 5
"I guess I was bout 16 when I rent to Boston, but
I can't remember how old I was when I left school. Maybe I was 12
or 13, for we never went beyond the grade school. I don't even
recollect if they had High School, but if they did, it must have been
only for the rich people, although my uncle was considered to be in
comfortable means. I do know well, that I vent to school only in
the 11 and winter, and that my uncle had to drive me there, and I
had to carry my dinner. You see, we lived on the outskirts of the
town, and I was too little to walk, he said. I didn't like school
but it was better than staling home and doing farm work, and there
was plenty of that when I got home. Manys the time my aunts would be
in town for some errands and they'd stop at school and get me dismissed
and make me ride home with them, and they hardly give me time to get
my school clothes off, to get to work. They sure was Itarters' for
work. They always said 'a idle mind was a devil's workshop' and
they never let me have time to get my mind idle. It was smart enough
in school, and I know my uncle wanted me to get a good enough educa-
tion so's I could take the job of postmaster, but my aunts saws said
if a. woman could read and write she TIMAA lucky, and if they got a
better education, it'd keep them from doing the things they were in-
tended for; that a woman was a homemaker and a housekeeper and if
she did that, it was all she was expected to do. Many good hard
fights they'd have about me. Sometimes I think they hated me, but
other times I could see a kind side to them. They had to work hard
Ma: eil B. Moore Assignment: aireester
Titles Living Ler, Topics Mrs. Marie HaggertY
for women, and of course they thought all women should work like they
did. About 10 ago I went back to New Brunswick, and it didn't look
the same to me. My aunts and uncle was dead, and the relations I had
living there then didn't remember much about me, only hearing them
talk of me. I was never sorry I left there, for the young people
that was living there was just plain farmers, where I had been to
the city practically all my life, and had city ways. The women all
had large families, and pone of them got as much education or exper-
ience as I had. One thing I saw made me laugh, and that was the old
grind stone that I had to work to sharpen the knives. I had to pump
that derned thing with my foot, till I'd like to break a leg, and
the poor things are still using it, but I noticed the men run it, not
the women. I suppose they lived up to what my aunts wanted, that is
the women folks, for they was all good housekeepers, and two of my
cousins was practical nurses. I was glad when I got home and looked
at my Marie, and her nice ways. I always wanted my children to have
good educations, and John and Bill graduated from High School, but
Marie never cared much about school. Kitty graduated from Normal
School, but, just like my aunts said, education didn't do her no good
for she gotaarried as soon as she got out of school. Nell, mebbe
its good to fall back on, like with you, who knows, mebbe someday
Kitty'13have to work, too. One thing that is out in my mind pretty
strong is what they used to tell me when I MIA young; they always
Name: Emily B. Moore Assignments Worcester
Title: Living Lore Topic: mrs. HaggertY
said the 'man' was head of the house, and women always looked up to
them, and did what they was told. Now, they still do that in New
Brunswick, but it ain't so here. I was always the boss in our house
and poor ;44 he never crossed me onct in the whole time we was
married. I got all his wages and did all the buying and payin' of
bills. If I wanted to move, we moved, and pa never said a, word. No,
I never regretted comm' to Boston, for, like I told you, I always
had good jobs, and was never considered like a maid, but more like a
murse or companion"
*Well, I don't remember much about my mother, only that she
was little and dainty and very pretty, but not like my aunts that was
bill and clumsy. They never talked much about her, but than they never
talked much anyway, only when they was givin' orders. My uncle often
talked about my mother and from what I 8,ot from hiz, she must have been
'quality', for he said she was a lady every inch and my father was a
gentleman. I never saw my father at all, and what little I remember of
my mother, she was quiet and never had much to say. Oh, yea, the aunts
told me stories sometimes at night when I was holding the wool and they
was spinning it on the wheel, but the stories they told always had some
sort of a moral, or if anything happened and they wanted to teach me a
lesson, they'd tell a story and work it around as if they knowed the
person, and it always endedrin somethin' awful or terrible happening.
Someone near us once cheated another party out of something, and I sever
Name: Smils B. Mere Assignment: Worcester
Titles Livina are Topic: Mrs. HamertY
forget the story they told. My blood like to run cold. Oh, yes, I re-
member it: well, it ieems that there's two engineers, and each one has
a large family, and they decide to throw their money together and buy
a large farm and have someone work it and sell the vegetables and the
like, and each have half of the profits. Well they did that for a long
time, but then one of the engineers got killed, and before he died he
called his friend and told him to keep on with the farm and divide the
profits with his family) so they wouldn't starve. The first engineer
dies, and the other one promised he'd look out for his family. He did
for a while, but then go got greedy, and decided he'd keep all the money
for himself. The first month that he didn't give the widow her share,
as he would drive his engine past the farm, it went by aii•ight. The
second month as he passed the farm, the engine slowed down; each time
he went by it would go slower. He made his fireman put all the steam
he had, on as he passed the farm, but no matter what he done, the engine
would slow down, and almost stop. After awhile, as he went by the
farm, the engine stopped completely. He tried everything, but no
use. Finally, some of his friends told him to go to a certain for
time teller and see what she had to say about it. Well, sir, he
went to the woman, and she asked him what it was, that he had done
something to the dead and they couldn't rest. Will, he like to died,
but she couldn't help him until he told her. He told her about the
farm and cheating the widow out of her share of the profits. Well,
the fortune teller told him to get on his engine, and go alone, and
Name:Nails B. Moore Assignment: Worcester
Title: Livinit Lore Topic: Mrs. Haggerty
as he got to the farm and the engine stopped, to take a white hand-
kerchief out and hold it up in the air and says 'In the name of the
Lord, 4hat do you want?' The engineer knowed he couldn't go by, so
be got the handkerchief and got on his engine and as he stopped at
the farm, he said, shaking almost to death, 'In the name of the Lord,
what do you want?' and a voice out of the darkness said, 'I want half.'
Well, he vent home and made out the window l share, and from that time
on, he could go about his work, and always could pa's the farm. Can
you imagine how I would shivver when they told me that story. Of course
that meant never to cheat anybody, not even the dead. There was always
a story like that, with a lesson.w
"There are lots of things that are different now, that we
did when I was young. Why, we never wore the same clothes on Sunday
that we wore during the week. With the men, their clothes would some-
times last until they was green with age. The woman always had hats
to match their dresses, and my aunts always woreJ4After I got to
Boston, I soon dressed like the other girls, but I must have looked
funny when I landed, for all my clothes was home-made. Then, about
eatie, we always at hearty food. Uncle always said to start the day
off with a hearty breakfast, for a. good filled belly would ward off
any kind of sickness. None of us was ever sick. We et logs of ham,
and that'd make you drink plenty of water, and water kept your innerts
washed out well. We always had lots of hearty vegetables, and when we'd
set the table, we always put on big deep dishes of potatoes and ves-
Nis*: gaily B. Moore Assignments Worcester
Titles Living Lore Topics Mrs. HaggertY
Set the table, we always put on big deep dishes of potatoes and vegetableg2
and a body could help themselves till they got their fill. We generally
had ham or smoked meet or boiled beef for suppers, but on Sundays, we
always had chicken, and it was nothin, to kill two or three chickens for
Sunday dinner. They boiled them or fried them, but I don't think they
ever roasted them. We only had fruit, depending on the time of the
year it was, and if it was fall or winter, or winter it vas grapes or
apples, and in the summer it was berries or pears. No, we didn't
do much with grapes but make jelly and wine and we used to dry the
apples and berries. Oh, no, we'd cut the apples in slices and put
them in the sun to dry and then when they got dried out, weld pack
them away. We'd do the same with berries. We had atioutside, bake
oven and we used to dry the berries out in that. We salted away
pork and beef and used that in the winter. We'd sell as many eggs
as we could, but when we couldn't sell, veld salt away. We buried
cabbage and potatoes to keep for the winter. Oh, when I think of
the work I had to do, it was terrible. When I worked at Boston, I
worked hard, and we worked usually from early morning until about dusk,
but when you left, you was done for the night. That was when I was
working for the dressmaker, and I only stayed about two years. When
I think of my uncle's place, we'd be up at the crack of dawn and work
till dark, and then when I'd cum in, I'd have to help the aunts, and
many's the time I fell asleep holding the wool for them. We never worked
by the clock, and we never got one job done. No, I never wanted to cling
to any old customs, all I wanted to do was to forget them. Now, when
I go riding and see a farm, I can never see the beauty of it like some
Name: gaily B. Moore Assignment: Worcester
Titles Living Lore Topic: Mrs. BaggertY
people do. I always think of how the poor women of the family have to
work. I hates Saturdays in New Brunswick for every Saturday I had to
black the boots of everyone, including my uncle. He always helped me
and we'd make fun, but it wasn't to my liking to have to clean my aunt's
shoes. No, dear, child, no, I'm glad I'm living in a different place,
where they do things different."'
"I think we have a wonderful government here, and I think its
grand for a woman to be able to vote, and it is good' that men have pat-
ience with the women in politics. I'd never like it myself but some
women's smarter than men, and they know what its all about. I've heard
many women making speeches that was lots better than some men. I think
women make more honest politicians than men, for men seem to always see
the money side of things, and don't have a conscience like women do. Did
you ever notice if a woman got some thin' in her mind, the devil himself
couldn't get it out? Well, that's the may with them in politics, they
make up their mind slow, but when it's made up, its hard to change them.
I think they keep the men straight, for a woman hates scandal, and won't
become mixed in it publicly, and men knows that, and they get ashamed
sometimes of the things they're thinkin, of doing. My goodness, yes, I
think the Old Age Pension is wonderful for old people. It makes them
feel that even if they're old, there is still some place in the world for
them. I know since I've had mine, my children are not so impudent and
when I can bring in some thin' each month, I think it makes me more inde-
pendent. I've always had a fear of the poorhouse or home farm, and while
Names Emily B. Moore Assignments Worcester
Titles Living Lore Topic: Mrs. Haggerty
I know my children would never let me go there, you can't tell what will
happen to them they might'nt be here to help me. If all I had was my
pension and a little extra work from you and others, well I guess I
could get by alight. It is a very comfortable feeling to know you're
.not a pauper."