There were two houses just alike, except one had a little iron fence and gate, and the other one doesn't.

While I was staying with Mabel, I had a date to go dancing. I wasn't going to miss it just because my sister was going to be alone. I told him he couldn't come to the house because, "my father didn't feel very good". I was very young and wouldn't have been allowed if I had been at home. So I met him at the corner. We went to the dance and had a great time. But after the dance, the poor guy had to walk me all the way home from Barrett St., where the dance hall was, to Davis Terrace, because it was too late for the last trolley! First I said I would go home, (Ferry St.), and make my mother happy. But he said "No, I'm going to take you right up to the door, nothing's going to happen to you.", and he did. When I went up to the door, Mabel didn't want to let me in. She yelled, "Who is it?" I said, "It's Me!". She opened the door and said, "You little Snit, you scared the life out of me!". I said, "You knew I was coming ... I wasn't going to miss that dance, I really wanted to go!". She told my mother anyway, and my mother bawled me out. But I just kept my mouth shut.

My sister Helen had a lot of friends, because she was one of these jolly, smiley, good natured people. She loved company. She could have a pile of dirty clothes lying there and if some of her lady friends came in and wanted to play cards or something, she could push that laundry over to one side, and sit down to play cards, and laugh. She belonged to a lot of clubs, and loved people. She lived in Dunkirk, but came to visit us in Schenectady for about nine months one time, when her husband was out of work, and then went back, when work picked up again. But with all of her friends, there wasn't a single person that came to her wake when she was laid out ! But she had a smile on her face!

Helen's wedding was a real Polish Wedding ... everybody got drunk!! It was in a big building with two floors, one for eating, and one for dancing. Every time one of the men wanted a drink, they'd send one of the kids, (Eddie or Al), down to the cook, to ask for a bottle. Al went down and got the bottle of liquor, but before he gave it to the men who sent him, he gave a swig of it to some of the kids. Al also gave the kids "rides", on a big floor broom. We'd sit on the brush part and hang on to the handle, while he pushed us around the room. Between the swigs and the rides, I guess the kids got a bit drunk too. Eddie fell down the steep stairs, all the way to the bottom without getting hurt. Then, I went to the bathroom, fell off the toilet seat into the bathtub, and went fast asleep. Someone found me there later. I must have been 3 or 4 years old at the time.

Another wedding I remember, was a cousin's, out on a big farm on Albany Road. That was a big wedding! It lasted from Saturday 'till Monday. The women were cooking, and the custom was, one cook would come out with a towel around her wrist, and holding a big long handled dipper. She'd say "the cook has burned her hand", and go around the table for everyone to