When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Our modest, first-floor tenement located at 179 Ludlam St. in Lower Centalville, Lowell, MA, was fully equipped with all the usual amenities found in similar homes built in the 1910s before WWI.
Included were such household items as:
A) indoor plumbing with a flushing toilet and a large bathtub for Saturday afternoon cleanups – no more outdoor privies, a great relief!
B) a handy set-tube placed under the removable kitchen counter cover, which was used to wash and scrub dirty clothes and linens before Maytag made our lives happier
C) a dangling, 100-watt, GE light bulb adorning the center of the kitchen ceiling
D) a large, white icebox well stocked with favorite foods of a Franco-American family
E) a pedal-driven Singer sewing machine
F) a large cast iron, enamel-coated, oil-fired stove for cooking and heating the entire tenement
G) many, built-in cabinets and drawers for storing plates, silverware and canned goods plus linens, towels and rags for emergencies
H) a central arrangement of a main kitchen table with the associated four chairs
I) a tiny, three-inch diameter, automobile fan for cooling the kitchen during heat waves
J) a standard, New England hurricane lamp, filled with oil for the hurricane season
K) a second, wooden kitchen table placed to one side and used for changing the diapers of the two girls when they were still babies
L) an old-fashion, black, wooden, rocking chair for the relaxation needs of our Mom and Dad and, also, for rocking Michelle and Denise to sleep when they were young
M) a spare, metallic, white, storage cabinet bought at the Bon-Marche Store in downtown Lowell
N) a hand cranked, kitchen clock placed on the wall above the icebox
O) a standard, black-colored AT&T, wall-mounted telephone with its rotary dial placed at eye level
P) a refurbished, red-painted linoleum kitchen floor covering, which I saved from the trash heap
Q) Finally, we must not forget the counterweight, sash, single-pane windows that kept the snow and rain out, but improperly kept the cold air out from November to early April
Keep house dark on hot summer days
Open all windows to the “cooler” outside air at night
Use roll-out, sticky fly paper to catch those flies. This is stuck to the ceiling
Play in shade of the maple and chestnut trees when Dana Street sizzle becomes too much
Go play baseball at McPherson’s off Richardson Road in the early part of the day
Greet the milkman and the iceman on Dana St. since vendors did not usually stop their carts on Ludlam
Rag man and fresh vegetable/fruit vendor would also drop by