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FOLKLORE
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
STATE New York
N‘AE OF WOIRER
W.Walden.
ADDRESS 51 Bank St.N.Y.City.
DATE August 26,1938
SUBJECT
Mud,Flowers and Parental Problems.
NEW YORK
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S1A
As for-reminiscdi that may be of interest to you,I suppose my birth
into this world was about thirty years too late.I was born in L900,
and likely the Race Track Fire,printed in the Bronx Home News,stands
out as one of the most vivid of my early recollections.
When,as a school girl,I attended P.S 12,1 doubt that any children
in all New lork had to contend with such muddy roads as did we.I had
actually to wade in mud to and from schooyud that was often knee-
deep and impossible to avoid except by plunging into mud that was
even deeper.The removal of the mud from our shoes and stockings was
a job that required much time and patience,,-nd 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 dayd'
and I doubt if the mud of thirty years earlier was deeper or dirtier.
We are said to be still living out in the country,but the present
sidewalks and paved roads were not here when I was a girl.We no lon-
ger are compelled to wade in mud,and that,I bereve 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 be a prettier
subject -in fact the memory I have of the many kinds of flowers that
used to grow aroud here is certainly more pleasant than of the mud
we endured.
-2f Continue from form C
FOR 0
Extra C mune nt
STATE New York
NAME OF WORIMR Wayne Walden
ADDRESS 51 Bank St.R Y. City.
DATE August 26,1938
gmmETA Mud,Flowers and Parental Problems.
F01,1(PRE
NO YORK
By the way,the school I attended,P.S 12,was the one with which Dr.
Condon,the "Jalfie" spoken ot during the Lindbergh case,was asso-
ciated.Whatever may have been said of him,I remember him as a fine
man.He,I imagine,would be a good one for you to see.He is an old-
timer here in the Bronx,and would reme mber so much of earlier times
and events.He 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 di-
lemma I found myself in not long ago.My son,now a boy of seventeen
years of ageohad his heart setu8n a gun.He implored us to give him
a gun as a birthday present.We,being rather 'modern'and against leth-
al firearms as a means of developing youngsters,were opposed to giv-
ing him a gun and at last persuaded him that a bicycle were a better
present -even though it cost us more.But our neighbor's case was dif-
ferent.Their son,a chum of our boy,wanted a bicycle.The mother,how-
ever,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,wanting a gun,got a bicycle.
Both boystas things turned out,were quite pleased,for by exchanging
their gifts each had frequently enoUgh.the present he at first de-
sired.And we,baffled parents,had no alternative but to philosophise
upon the irony of things.
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The Race Track Fire
121-len I read tI-Te--flo_liemeribers" letters recalling Incidents back in
1871, I realize I as 1'),O -r -n.---30 years_too_late to Permit of some real
reminiscing._But e,ven with such powerful Cormetition, vto rererers
'The 'Race Track Fire?"
On iipril. 10, 1910, the ball game was just over at i?,!annon's. 7ho re-
members annon's, at Tremont and Castle Kill Lves., opposite Ray-
mond's Church? I was a little girl, clinrini7 to my father's hand, home-
ward bound, when we noticed smoke "over the tracks," as we referred
to the old Tlorris Park Race Track grounds.
My father su;-,-ested going over to see what it was, and over the
I. Y. N. H. and lartford tracks we went. 'e trudged through the fields,
not making much progress because the wind was blowing a gale.
Pretty soon we heard the clang of the fire engines and turning around
we beheld the most spectacular sight I have ever itnessed.
T:oriarity's house was a sheet of flame that seemed to reach to the
very heavens. Our own house on Poplar Q,t., was almost directly op-
posite that blaze and instinctively we started for home.
when -e reached there, neighbors were running in all direct'ons with
safe deposit boxes and my mother was frantically trying to account
for the family. (71)ere were eight of us clildren.) Some of the firemen
went throurrh the streets calling for every house -holder to play the
hose on his r,if. I can still see my father and brother pouring pails
of water over the 2oLf.
There was so much to watch as to exceed the Ringling Eros. Circus
for diversified interest, and for tine first time I had a box seat at
a big show. It was a three -alarm fire. Engine s came from Felmont
that was quite a distance from our louse. The only way to get the hose
near the blaze was across the railroad tracks. all trains were halted
and this added to the excitement.
The steeple of the old westchester I. F. C' urch, on F. Treront
caught fire. Not much damage was none to the church, but the water
just about ruined its new green carnet. T often think how many
ouilting parties the Ladies' /lid Society wrist have i'iven to buy that
carnet.
Word got around that 7 12 was burning. Young hearts beat high,
hoping it would burn to the ground. However, it was only the school
fence that burned.
rInd who remembers the cow "Daisy" who grazed for years in the lots
next to the barns where the police horses were kept on Williamsbridge
Rd.? I have just been told that "Daisy" escaped the fire, having been
$ound wandering around a few days later by policmen.
S/f'77-*5&2_,-/‘/‘
7
News ettide the Door A Otis Swift of the
'orld-melegram.
Your "News Outside the I r"e. is very interesting to me,
14
especially when you g i_fied Kunters Isl," writes
Beatrice L. Staltelof Hering,ve., l_ron( T_ould you be
interested in trees outside our door? They are the royal
paulownia, a native of Jpan or China. For years this
property was a large estate owned by a wealthy family,
which accounts for these unusual trees.
In the spring when other trees are budding, the royal
Pa'lownia looks quite barren. Then before the leaves appear
the tree is covered with clusters of Purple flowers that might
rival orchids at a distance. These last for a wine before the
leaves cone out, and I hardly believe there is another local
tree that can boast of leaves of such proportion. I measured
one this morning, and it was nineteen inches across.
°In the Fall, when the leaves have gone, there apnear what
look like great hunches of nuts. There are only a. dozen trees
left now. They are so old that neighbors chopped then down for
firewood, saying they were ready to fall anyway.
°The pallownia was named for the t-easeian Pr'neess hnna Pavlovna,
a dau^hter of 'aul I, and has slowy violet -purple foxglovelike
flo—ers in pyrari'dal panicle s.°