GOING TO BOSTON

The first time I remember going to Boston was with my father on Saturdays when he went to by music for the band. After he bought the music we would go out to eat. Sometimes we would go to the top of the tall buildings. I remember going to Perones (sp) which was an old time Italian resteraunt. I evidently found something to eat. We would make pretty much the entire day of it seeing the ride down and back took quite a while. My mother would sometimes go to Boston to buy clothes for me. She would also go down to visit her sister in West Newton and they would go into the city.

I would drive myself into Boston to pick up my sister at Massachusetts General Hospital. I knew my way to and from Boston pretty well but even back then it was no treat.

I always liked to go to Boston. I would drive down to a parking garage and take the subway around. I would usually do a little shopping and tour around different places. I liked shopping at Jordan Marsh. Sometimes I would go down to the waterfront and sometimes I would go to a museum. I liked going to the different historic sites. I got quite accustomed to Boston. I liked Boston Garden. Once Weston and I toured all around Boston Garden. Once some guy had a bottle of liquer which was forbidden in Boston Garden and it was tossed aside and Weston picked it up.

On a very few occassions I took the train to Boston. One I bought Mary a little carpet sweeper and she swept up and down the train car all the way home.

When I worked for the library I took classes at Simmons College. I went down once a week. Sometimes I would take a bus down. Between classes I would go to the Arboretum to eat my lunch.

Weston and I spent our honeymoon in Boston. I think we stayed at the Parker House.

I remeber going to Boston with Jean and Mary to see the play Three Tall Women and it was wonderful.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY

Tomorrow is Mary's birthday. She was the apple of her father's eye (as were the others of course). As far as I now she was a good baby. Of course I left her under the tree in her carriage, of course because it was healthy for her and it kept her out of the way. On the way to the hospital a police officer threw a snowball at our car, just imagine. Mary was born at 7:01 in the morning which upset the nurses shift plans. Dr. Fairfield was on vacation so Dr. Flagg delivered her. I am sure her sisters liked her. I don't remember who took care of the other girls but Ellen was 7 so she could have taken care of Jean just fine. There must have been something delightful about Mary, I think she was a very happy baby. Mary was baptized on children's Sunday. I don't remember having big birthday parties but we always celebrated birthdays. I think Mary was a rather easy child.

Mary was good for a refrigerator. Before Mary was born I told Weston I would not bring home a new baby without a refrigerator in the house (we had an icebox at the time). So Weston hitchhiked to New York because I had seen an ad in the paper that Macy's had refrigerators for sale. He purchased the refrigerator, hitchhiked back to Nashua and borrowed a truck to go pick up the refrigerator.

DANCING WITHOUT THE STARS

There were usually dances that had something to do with the school. Not usually in a public dancing place. There would be live music from a band or orchestra and we would get dressed in the best we had. I showed about enough interest in it to get by, I may have just made believe that I didn't like to dance but it may have been that I just didn't get invited. Because I was smart in math and stuff the boys hated me.

Most of the dances would be waltzes or fox trots. Sometimes it would be the charleston for the daring young people (the fast bunch). There was a fast bunch even back then. They probably had punch and cookies but I don't really remember. There may also have been church dances but not for the Methodists. You notice how all the Methodists grew up so pure and holy!

My father's orchestra played for dances in different halls where special groups would hire them. I don't think he ever organized the dance but was hired to play for them. I believe my mother loved to go to the dances (it got her out of the house).

I took dancing lessons with my brother. He had a girlfriend who liked to dance so he had to learn. The dancing lessons were held right here in Nashua and the dance instructor was a man. I sorta liked the dancing lessons but I guess I really just suffered through them to be like the rest of the girls. My sister did not take dance class she just sort of knew how.

When I was in college they also had dances but I don't think I ever went to any. I don't remember Weston ever dancing.

MY BROTHER RALPH

My brother Ralph was 6 years older than I was. He was the best big brother. He was a good babysitter because he taught me to drive a car and to shoot a gun (just a rifle).He liked to do mechanical and experimental types of things. He never had any interest in hunting but he did like practicing with the rifle (not really a lethal weapon depending on how it is used and aimed). At a time when radios were just beginning to come in he was building them. He had the big bedroom upstairs on Chester Street which was actually the enire L to the house and it had a huge closet in it and then outside his door there was another huge storage closet. He must have had 5 million Scientific American magazines and any other scientific or making things types of magazines. He had a lot of friends who would come over and they would go upstairs to his room to build things. I think my parents were very free about letting him have friends over and to do things.

Ralph wanted to go to the military academy. He got a recommendation from a senator but he did not pass the necessary examination. He went to a military prep school (something on the Hudson) and then went to UNH. He and Ruth were in college at the same time.

I remeber that he always had an automobile and even had a job chauferring Mrs. Barnett. He would take her anywhere she wanted. She was a Christian Scientist and he would drive her down to Boston to church. He would do that on Sunday so he had an excuse not to go to church. He was in a way required to be at my mother's beck and call to drive her around. Ralph taught me to drive and a bicycle. To teach me to ride a bicycle he took me to the top of a hill and put me on a bike and pushed me down the hill. I rode a bicycle very well after that.

Sometimes we thought that my father was pretty tough on Ralph. And he would bawl him out if he didn't do what he was supposed to.

FAMILY VACATIONS

I remember going camping with my family (the famous trip). The family included my dog name Chummy. Chummy had to ride on the running board closed in with an expandable bar and be tied into one of the seats. I think we went somewhere in Mont Vernon. We stopped at a farm house and asked permission to camp in their field and they said yes. We had a good size temt but I did not sleep in it. I slept stretched out on the rear seat of the car all by myself. We did not have sleeping bags so we just brought blankets. I was very comfortable. My mother camped with us, I don't understand how she did it. They probably had a mattress of some sort to sleep on. I think we had permission to use the farm house toilet. We must have started a little fire to cook over. I wore what we would call a gym outfit - big wool serge pants like bloomers. I don't understand how my mother stood camping, she was brought up in a rather dignified family. My mother was ahead of her time in women's clothing so she would have been wearing something sensible although not pants.

I remember another family trip to the mountains. We went to the Basin where my father fell in. He got all wet and had to take off his clothes down to his Union Suit, long arms and long legs, to get his clothes dried out. This was also an overnight trip where we camped. There is a picture of him somewhere standing in his Union Suit. If we find it we will post it later.

We would go to the beach in the summer when my father was in summer camp for the National Guard. We would stay at the Villa Mer. I think my sister Ruthie found a boyfriend one year while we were there. My Auntie Vic could not go because she was "allergic". We would see my father sometimes because part of his duty was to lead band concerts and we would go to them. I think my father liked the times when he would go off to camp without us.

After awhile my brother could not go with us because he got a job for Mrs. Barnett as her chauffeur during the summer. He would live upstairs over the garage so he could be on call for her whenever she wanted to go someplace.