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FOLKLORE
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
NEW YORK
0/
FORMA
Circumstances of Interview
STATE New York
NAME OF WORKER Wayne Walden
ADDRESS51 Bank St. New York City
DATE Aug. 26, 1938
SUBJECT MUD, FLOWERS AND PARENTAL PROBLEMS
1. Date and time of interview Aug. 26, 1938
2. Place of interview 1616 Hering Ave. Bronx, N. Y.
3. Name and address of informant Mrs. Beatrice L. Stalter,
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you None.
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
The upper of a two -storied cottage neatly and tastefully furnished.
In the back yard are several trees known as the Royal Paulownia,
native of Japan or China, and said to be very rare in the United States
This property is situated on a quiet street, of similarly comforatble
dwellings, at about the cityts edge and the beginning of farming district.
Nearest subway station is Westchester Sq., fully a mile distant on
the Pelham Bay Line.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FORM 0
Personal History of Informant
STATE N.Y.
SAKE OF WORKER W.Walclen
gmAgs Bank
DATE Aug 26,1938
SUBJECT MUdpetc.
1. Ancestry American
2. Place and date of birth New York City,L900
a. Family Three;father,mother and son.
4. Places lived in, with dates 1616 Hering Ave -years.
5. Education, with dates
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
7. Special skills and interests
S. Community and religious activities
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9. Description of informant Mrs.B .L.Stalter appears to be more than
ordinary in educational and cultural bearing,is attractive and
V). Other Points gained in interview
of an affability rarely encountered
among women nowadays pestered by numerous salesmen.
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
STATE New York
NAME OF WORKER lame Walden
ADDRESS 81 Bank St, New Mork City
DATE killgUlt 26, 1938
SUBJECT Ap4). 1140118t8 AJOD PAMINUL PIMIRLIMMt.
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When, as a school girl, I attended F. 8. 18 I doubt that
gay children in all New York had to contend with such muddy roods
as did we. I had actually to wade in mud to and from school, mud
that was often kneeodeep and impossible to avoid except by plunging
into mud that was even deeper. The removal of the surd from our shoes
and stockings was a job that required much time and patience, and an
equipment of old rags. Rags reposed in nearly every place around the
school in which it were possible to hide one* There was mud out here
in 'them days' and I doubt if the mud of thirty years earlier was
deeper or dirtier* We aro said to be still living out in the Gauntry 41
but the present sidewalks and paved roads were not here when I was
a girl. We no longer are compelled to wade in mud, and that, I believe
is a progress to which we may point with some pride* I don't suppose
that a tale of mud is precisely what you are after* Flowers would to
a prettier subject*in fact the memory I have of the many kinds of
flowers that used to grow around here is certainly more pleasant than
of the mud we endured.
By the way, the school I attended, F. N. 12, was the one with
which Dr* Condon, thetafsies spoken of during the Lindbergh ease, was
associated. Whatever may have been said of him, I remember him as
a fine man. Be, I imagine* would be a good one for you to see. Be
is an oldotimer here in the Bronx, and would remember so much of
earlier times and events. Be always seemed a kindly sort of man and
as having a sense of humor. I am sure that he would have been amused
at the dilemma I found myself in not long ago. My son, now a boy
of seventeen years of age, bad his heart set up on a gun. Be implored
us to give him a gun as a birthday present. We, being rather 'modern'
and against lethal firearms as a means of developing youngsters, were
opposed to giving him a gun and at last persuaded 'him that a‘bicycle
were a better prasentoeven though it cost us more. But our neighbor's
ease was different. Their son, a chum of our boy* wanted a bicycle.
The mother* however* remembering a bad accident that once happened
to someone she knew, was in fear of a bicycle but had no objection
to a gun. So their boy, wanting a bicycle* got a gun. Our's venting
a gun, got a bicycle. Both boys, as things turned out, were quite
pleased, for by ezobanging their gifts each had, frequently enough,
the present he at first desired. And we* baffled parents, had no
alternative but to philosophise upon the irony of things.
On April 10* 1910* the ball game was just over at Cannon's,
Who remembers Cannon's, at Tremont and Castle MA Ave.., opposite
St. Raymond's Ohuroh? I was a little girl* clinging to my father's
hand* homeward bound* when we noticed smoke 'over the tracks*' as
we referred to the old Norris Park Race Track grounds,
my father suggested going over to see what it was, and over
the No Y. WO Bo and Nartford tracks Invent. We trudged through the
fields, not making much progress because the wind was blaming a gale.
Pretty soon we beard the clang of the fire engines and turning
around we beheld the most spectacular sight I have ever witnessed.
Noriarity's house was a sheet of flame that seemed to reach to the
very heavens. Our own house on Poplar St., was almost directly
opposite that blase and instinctively we started for homes
When we reached there, neiabhors were running in all directions
with safe deposit boxes and my mother was frantically trying to account
for the family. (There were eight of us children.) Some of the
firemen went through the streets calling for every house•holder to
play the hose on his roof. I can still see my father and brother
pouring pails of water over the roof.
There was so much to watch as to exceed the Ringling Bros,.
Circus for diversified interest, and for the first time I had a box
seat at a big show. It was a threem.alarm fire. Anginas clams from
Belmont Avenue and, that was quite a distance from our hot**. The
only way to got the hose near the blase was across the railroad tracks.
All trains were halted and this added to the excitement.
The steeple of the old Westchester I. N. Church, on N. Tremont
Avenue, caught fire. Not =eh damage was done to the church, but the
water Just about ruined its new green carpet. I often think how many
quilting parties the Ladies' Aid Sooietymust have given to buy that
carpet,
Word got around that P. 8. 12 was burning. /bung hearts
beat high, hoping it would burn to the ground. However, it was only
the school fence that burned.
And who mamma:ors the cow *Daisy* who grazed fbr years
in the lots next to the barns slurs the police horses were kept on
Williamsbridge Rd.? I have just been told that *Daisy° escaped
the fire* having been found wandering around a fire days later by
policemen,
a
Would you be interested in trees outside our door? They
are the royal paulawnia* a native of Japan or China For years this
property was a large estate owned by a wealthy family* Which accounts
for these unusual tropes.
In the spring When other trees are budding* the royal paulownia
looks quite barren, Then before the loaves appear the tree is covered
with clusters of purple flowers that might rival orchids at a distance.
These last for awhile before the leaves oome out* and I hardly believe
there is another local tree that can boast of loaves of such proportion.
measured one this morning* and it was nineteen inches across.
In the Fall* When the leaves have soot* there appear what
look like groat bunches of nuts, There aro only a dozen tries loft
now. They are so old that neighbors chopped them down for firewood*
saying they Were ready to fall anyway,
The paulawnia was named for ths Russian Princess Anna Pavlovna*
a daughter of Paul 1* and has showy violotftpurple fox..glovo*like
flavors in pyramidal paniolese
a.
FOii.N:
gx tra Ccmment
STATE NEW YORK
NAME OF WORKER MU WALDEN
ADDRESS 51 Bank St., Bw York City
DATEAUValit 26, 1938
SUBJECT ETD* maws AID PARIINTAZ. PROWS
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The foregoing interview with Mrs. Btalter is substantially
correct and given as literally as sgr notes and nonory make it possible.
The appended two articles, typed !Ur as by the author, the obliging
Ira. Stator are given for whatever interest they may contain.