Name - Jane K. Leary
Subject - An Irish Shoemaker in Lynn
Section - #3. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}Copy - 1{End handwritten}{End note}
My {Begin deleted text}wendering{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}wandering{End handwritten}{End inserted text} conversation with Uncle Jimmie led us to a discussion of the changing complexities that intermarriage of various racial groups is bringing about in Lynn. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}C {Begin deleted text}S{End deleted text}{End handwritten}{End note}
"Well, a course when two young people that gets married, has been brought up entirely diffrunt, it makes it sorta hard fur 'em {Begin deleted text}to{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}ta{End handwritten}{End inserted text} learn how ta get along tagether. But {Begin deleted text}yo{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}ya{End handwritten}{End inserted text} know too, that if the same marries the same fur too long, it sometimes makes fur a poor strain. Why there's idiots came from some a the best families in America, all because they married their cousins or second cousins. Children need fresh blood. It don't pay ta let families go ta seed, no matter how high up they are. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}Uncle Jimmie re marriage [The ?] [?]{End handwritten}{End note}
"Them old guys in England, years ago in history, knew what they wuz doin' when they made a nobleman outa a guy that pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Then he married one a them and that put new blood in that family.
"Funny, we knew that's true of horses, but we often forget it's true of human creatures. This here intermarriage 'll make bright children, I'm a thinkin' {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten},{End handwritten}{End inserted text} and they're Americans jest as much as them pure bred Yankees.
{Begin page no. 2}Anyway, pure blood gets dang impure if ya don't match it.
"Jest the same too, there's a lot in inheritance. Ya take that there sons a Man a War. Ain't they doin' something {Begin deleted text}new{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}now{End handwritten}{End inserted text}? That's the other side of this here question, fur this goes ta prove that 'blood will tell {Begin deleted text}.{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}[.'"?]{End handwritten}{End inserted text}
"There's a lot in that subject of intermarriage that none of us knows nothin' about. We all get a lot ta learn about {Begin deleted text}as{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}sa{End handwritten}{End inserted text} many things and our life ain't long enough ta learn it in.
"There is one thing about marriage that I'm certain of though, and that is that ya ought ta stay married after ya take that step. Now look at Hollywood. I ain't get nothin' against {Begin deleted text}acters{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}actors{End handwritten}{End inserted text}. But don't it kinda make ya sick at your stomach, the way they get divorced? Ain't hardly a one a them that's stayed married.
"That the [thing?] about the Catholic Church I like. If ya get married and don't like it, ya get ta take your medicine. Ya know that way, folks think a long while 'fore they take that step. And if they think a long while, they ain't {Begin deleted text}as{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}sa{End handwritten}{End inserted text} likely ta get tired a their bargain." {Begin deleted text}"{End deleted text} Aunt Mary gave me further bits of insight into the life of this family, for her philosophy reflected this life.
{Begin page no. 3}"In the years when Jim wuz {Begin deleted text}werkin'{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}wirkin'{End handwritten}{End inserted text} in the shops, I wuz alone with the children all day and I had most of the raisin' of 'em ta do. Had ta, for he went {Begin deleted text}to{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}ta{End handwritten}{End inserted text} work early and he came home late. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}Aunt Mary's story - No. D{End handwritten}{End note}
"'Twas hard work and besides I always did what I could ta earn an extra dollar 'r {Begin deleted text}se{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}so{End handwritten}{End inserted text}. Sometimes I had a boarder. But Jim always brought his {Begin deleted text}envelop{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}envelope{End handwritten}{End inserted text} home regular.
"I wuz good ta my children and I'm glad I wuz. I always tried ta make as much a one as I did another. Why even when I made a rice puddin' with raisins, I always put as many raisins in one dish as another. Sometimes I even counted 'em. It's an awful thing ta favor one child, when another's standin' at your elboe hankerin' for the same kind of love. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}[?]{End handwritten}{End note}
"Why once I saw a mother bein' partial ta one child and she clean forgot another little girl watching her. There {Begin deleted text}was{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}wuz{End handwritten}{End inserted text} tears in that child's eyes. When a child get tears in her eyes, she's {Begin deleted text}hut{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}hurt{End handwritten}{End inserted text} inside. If it jest yells, that don't mean much. But tears. You watch a child when it has tears in its eyes. It'll remember that hurt.
{Begin page no. 4}{Begin note}{Begin handwritten}No.B.{End handwritten}{End note}
"I never wuz one to make a favorite of a child. I tried ta treat 'em all alike. And I didn't dress 'em all up in starched clothes either so's they thought they had ta walk stiff and stay clean. Children wuz meant to romp and play. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}to Page 5{End handwritten}{End note}
"After they went ta school though, I always tried to see they wuz dressed as good as the others they went with.
"I think young parents are too hard an their children taday. They havta live. What if they do not have table manners? They'll learn. It's better they should spill a little on the table cloth, than ta grow up ta be a nervous wreck because {Begin deleted text}tome{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}some{End handwritten}{End inserted text} one is always at 'em. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}[S?]{End handwritten}{End note}
"What if they don't sit so still at table? Most children wriggle around and I don't blame 'em much, considerin' what they havta listen to while they eat, the stupid talk that most a us big ones use. They often have more sense than them that's scoldin' 'em.
{Begin page no. 5}"I had good children, every one of 'em. I never had ta tell my boys ta change their clothes and put on their overalls after school. They'd come right in the house and first thing I'd know, I'd see 'em with their old clothes {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}on{End handwritten}{End inserted text} and ready ta go out and play 'till supper time. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}No.C.fromP.4{End handwritten}{End note}
"We {Begin deleted text}lives{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}lived{End handwritten}{End inserted text} in West Lynn then, near where the River Works of the G. E.[^?] is. Oft' times the children would get their little wagon after school and go off with the other kids of West Lynn to where the G. E. unloaded their coal. They'd pick up the coal that wuz dropped when the unloadin' wuz done, or sometimes they'd pick up the half burned chunks that the G. E. throwed away. Ya could burn it over again in the furnace and often we'd get enough to last us half the winter that way. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}(General Electric)/{End handwritten}{End note}
"Sometimes they bring home wood too, for the G.E. threw all the wood away, that the things sent the company was packed in. Taday they sell it[,?] {Begin deleted text}but them they{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}threwd{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}{Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}throwed{End handwritten}{End inserted text}{End deleted text} {Begin deleted text}it away, and boys from West Lynn would carry it home.{End deleted text} Lotta homes in West Lynn been kept warm that way. Most alway get enough for the kitchen stoves anyway. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}[?] to Page 3{End handwritten}{End note}
{Begin page no. 6}"Before the children wuz born, when I {Begin deleted text}werked{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}worked{End handwritten}{End inserted text} in the shop, I usta bring home those big spools that the thread comes on for the stitchin' room. That wuz good wood to burn. A couple of 'em would burn bright for an hour. I often brought a couple home every night. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}A. Begin here{End handwritten}{End note}{Begin deleted text}"But we wuz talkin' about children.{End deleted text}
"It's just as clear as if 'twas yesterday, when each a mine come. It's no wonder we love 'em {Begin deleted text}se{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}so{End handwritten}{End inserted text}, fer we go right up ta the doors a death to get each one of 'em, and then we wait them long months before they come, and we wonder if we havta die and leave the little ones we have behind us, and prayin' that we'll come through all right. Its no wonder we love 'em {Begin deleted text}se{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}so{End handwritten}{End inserted text}.
"Sometimes I think that the only real love, that is the love that gives all and expects nothin' back is mother love, There's no feelin' that's deeper and the mother that don't love her child, no matter what comes up, ain't fit ta be alive. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}[?]{End handwritten}{End note}
"Ya owe your children everything ya can do for 'em, as long as ya live. That's what mothers are {Begin deleted text}for{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}fur{End handwritten}{End inserted text}. They din't ask to be born. You brought 'em here. So ya ought ta do fur 'em.
{Begin page no. 7}"An ya always love the weakest the most. Seems like the one that needs ya the most has your heart strings tuggin' towards 'em. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}[?]{End handwritten}{End note}
"An no matter how many ya have, you'll find a place for 'em in your heart. And you'll love each one of 'em in a diffrunt way. According to the way they have need a love, I guess. Anyway it will be diffrunt with each one.
"And no matter what happened to me, I'd never stand in the way a one a mine, after they wuz grown up. If they wanted ta get married, and was marrying right, I'd step aside if I had ta go to the poor house.
"But I guess I wouldn't go ta the poor house taday, 'count a the Old Age. That's a good thing, that Old Age, 'cause it saves the pride of poor old creatures that in the old days would havta go 'over the hill' or else live on their children and mabbe not be welcome to the bit they'd eat. {Begin handwritten}Turn to No.B.,page4.{End handwritten}
{Begin page no. 8}But there's another side to this Old Age business, that a lotta people don't consider much. It's got a bad side to it too. It's makin' people think they don't hafta save for their old age, 'cause they {Begin deleted text}knew{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}know{End handwritten}{End inserted text} they'll get taken care of, that they won't be hungry and they won't be cold. So they just spend all they get and never think a the {Begin deleted text}rain{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}rainy{End handwritten}{End inserted text} day. Think Uncle Sam'll have ta hold a umbrella over 'em. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}[?]{End handwritten}{End note}
"No, such alaw ain't exactly fair to them that's saved all their life for their old age, so they won't need be a burden on their chidren or make 'em shamed 'cause they havata take charity.
"Just the same it's a good thing for them as deserve it. Only I'm thankful I don't havta take it. I earned my old age and so did Jimmie Murray. {Begin deleted text}"An' we're enjoyin' it to."{End deleted text}{Begin page}{Begin handwritten}[?] 3 - 15{End handwritten}