put money in the dipper. All that money went to the bride and groom. When the bride took off her veil, before the eating and dancing, they put the veil into a big glass bowl, and passed that around. That money also went to the bride and groom. Some people gave gifts, but most of them dropped money, in bill no change.

That's when my father taught me to dance. I was only 10 years old. He was the one who taught me how to polka. There were so many people there, and when someone got tired or drunk, they'd go up to the hayloft to sleep. There was no room in the house, even though it was a big house, with a lot of bedrooms. The groom was a member of the Knights of Columbus, and there were a lot of people beyond family members. One of the things they did was put a square cloth on a small table, and the corners of the cloth were held up by two men, (usually the fathers of the bride and groom), so the center of the cloth lay on the table. As the music continued to play, anyone who wanted to dance with the bride threw money into the table cloth. More money for the bride and groom! My father called me over and gave me a handful of nickels, and said, "Every time a man stops dancing, you grab him and say, Now here's a nickel ... to dance". They must have gotten an awful lot of money with so many people there. When the kids got tired, and wanted to sleep, they were sent upstairs to find a bed or some place. Two of us peeked into a door that was not quite shut, and there were the bride and groom, on the bed, counting the money in the two tablecloths!!

We liked holidays, especially Christmas, but Easter seemed more important with cooking and getting the house ready for the holiday. There were special foods ... a tin mold for shaping butter to look like a chicken, always a ham with little green leaves to decorate it, and the ring of kielbasa surrounding it all on the platter, and special Easter bread. And a pure white tablecloth for the table. When the table was all decorated and the food laid out it was beautiful. That's when the priest and choir boys would come. On the corner of the table there would be something that looked like a little mop, with a wooden handle, and wood shaving curls at the end. The door was open and the priest would come in, dip the little "mop" in Holy water, and bless the table. Then he would pick up the two dollar bills on the table, and go on to the next house. My smart alec brother Eddie said, "I could do that!", But he'd have to climb 3 flights of stairs to do it!

We always had all new clothes at Easter time. New panties, a new slip, very clean and starched, new shoes and stockings, and a new dress. It was very expensive. My mother would lay out the new dress on the couch so it would stay nice ... nobody could touch it. I had black patent leather shoes, about 3" high, with several patent leather straps and shoe buttons. You had to have a button hook. And your hair was all done up. We had our hair washed every Saturday anyway, but for special occasions she'd tie a piece of cloth on a bunch of hair and roll it up like a sausage, (rag curls). I used to call it a "baloney curl". I'd get up in the morning and it was all curly, with long curls. The next night I didn't want to go to sleep and ruin my new curls.