Memoirs

of Germaine Bouffard Bastille

Born August 1, 1917

written on July 1, 1982

      I have given much thought to what could possibly be my earliest recollections of home. I thought maybe my very earliest would be at a time we lived at 1152 Slade Street, Fall River, Massachusetts.

      To begin with I was born in Canada. I was one year old when all the family immigrated to the United States, by then the oldest ones of the family had established a home here by coming to the U.S. during the winter months to work.

      Well I seem to remember at one time my mother was sick in bed and her bed faced the bedroom door and the priest Pere Machildon would have all us children kneel facing my mother’s room and say prayers for her. I was the youngest so I was first in line, then he would pick me up on his lap and he would say "You must be eating your molasses because you have rosy cheeks" and I would immediately go and eat more of it. At that time we would carry an empty milk quart bottle to the store and they would fill it from a barrel, nothing was pre-packaged.

      After that I remember being flower girl, I was five years old and they would have me recite poems and one of them was "C’est la poulette grise qui a pond dans l’eglise, elle a pond un ti coco pour le petit qui va faire do..do". And I remember eating a lot and drinking lots of tonic. Then I remember starting first grade in a small building teaching first three grades only. I think I only went there one year because they had built and opened a new catholic school, we walked to school always, a couple of miles, and during the severe winter my mother  would wrap our scarves over our mouth and nose, when it got warmer we would come home for lunch and sometimes we would have to carry lunches to the mill workers, come home and eat our lunch, and go back to school, that was at least five miles at lunch time.

      We had many chores to do and we had to do those first, then we had some play time. Springtime was strawberry season and my mother would buy crates of them, then comes tomatoes, peaches, then fall would be piccalilli.

      We were a very religious family, and every night after supper we would dim the lights and all kneel and say the rosary. If there was anything going on at church, such as a mission, Sunday vespers, we always had to go. In the summertime I remember going with my mother, then stopping to visit her sister, then at the store for an ice cream cone.

      We always had lots of company, we were always anxious to get home to see who was there, then we would double up on beds, and sometimes sleep on the floor in the living room.

      In the summertime after our work was done , usually afternoon we would gather all the little ones and go to a playground, my mother would give us a few coins and we could buy a bottle or two of tonic, they would take it out of a big bin and all the bottles were covered with ice. That was our treat for the afternoon.

      We had a bakery truck that would come early in the morning, groceries were delivered at home, the wagon with fresh fruit and vegetables were peddled down the street every day, even the fish truck would come down at least every Friday. Sometimes  for a snack we would cook half a dozen crabs at night and eat them. A block from our home, in a store (sort of) there was a blacksmith (farrier) we would stop and watch them put on horseshoes (pettig) and I was always amazed at the heat and pounding, and the horses didn’t seem to mind.

      On Shrone Tuesday my mother would make taffy, the living room was closed off in winter and we would go into that room and butter our hands and pull the taffy, twist it and cut it into bite size pieces. We would do it again on mid-lent when the restrictions for eating were lifted.

      In the summer we had to do a lot of canning. We would buy crates of strawberries, tomatoes, peaches and spend many summer days just canning, then came fall and it was time for piccalilli. When we had to carry money to school or store , we had to take a handkerchief (we made our own) and tie the coin in the corner, we couldn’t afford to lose a penny. I remember being given a beautiful crystal candy horse of clear sugar, fairly large it was, too beautiful to eat so my mother suggested I put it on the piano in the closed up living room where it was cool. Everyday I would go and look at it. One day when I went to look the head was gone, my brother Henry had eaten it off. It was a disaster!

      Either for breakfast or to make lunches, I would have to go across the street to the owner’s house and wake him up. The store opened at 7 but the workers left before that, he would come to the door pulling on his pants. Then at rosary time my mother would suddenly remember something she needed before the store closed at 6, so as she prayed and while the others answered she would say "don’t forget to bring this", then she would say hail Mary and on she went, then she’d say "now hurry before they close".

      A big treat was meeting the returning mill workers with their lunch bucket of metal, with small dividers fit on top and see what was left because they were allowed treats we weren’t allowed to have.

      My brother Albert was very good to all of us, he would furnish transportation to most of the neighborhood because few families had cars, and of course my mother would collect others from the area to furnish transportation. When there were missions during Lent in mid winter when he couldn’t pick up the ladies at the end of the service, he would sometimes arrange for one of his friends to do it. Sometimes letting them use his car or their own.

      We made all our own clothes except shoes, good outgrown clothes or partially worn clothes was taken apart and the good sections used over. We made our dolls with rags, and scooters with old skates and orange crates. Of course the boys would make those. The boys would save their coins to buy a used bike but we young girls were not allowed to ride them, not lady-like, no slacks then.

      The winter my mother came to the states to work (Eva’s letter), she came so she could earn some money working at the mills to have money to have dental plates made.

      Rose and I did a lot of baby sitting for our older brothers and sisters. I remember doing big baskets of ironing,  there was no "wash and wear" in those days, so everything was starched and sprinkled so there was always ironing waiting to be done.

      With a large family there was always an occasion to celebrate, showers, weddings, birthdays, etc., everyone pitched in, most family members lived in the same neighborhood. I think we all worked hard and helped each other when it was needed, it was a united family.

Germaine

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