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It seems like this might be a good time to clear the cobwebs out of the attic and see how many out there lived through the Great Depression and can still recall what it was like living through that event, getting by on next to nothing and what it took to keep the family together. It might help the younger readers who have no idea how harsh it was and what it took just to survive it.
As for myself, I was born shortly after World War II ended
and am one of the early "baby boomers" but my two brothers and sister did go through it, and we got to talking about it the other night on a conference call, while wishing my sister a happy 79th birthday. I also remember stories my dad use to tell about it and how they were down to their last 50 cents at one point. He was an artist and painter and his talents were well known through out the Cleveland, Ohio area, as a home decorator, a painter of murals and the user of goldleaf. Some of his work is still evident at Severence Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra.
But, like so many others, he couldn't find work and was barely able to hold on to the family house. The house was one of those Sears kit homes that he and some
of the neighbors helped construct a year before the crash.
My oldest brother, Jack was born in '27 and my sister, Maxine was born Sept 29th, 1929, exactly one month away
from the crash. My other brother, Ron, was born in '35
so my dad had to be very creative in finding jobs, just to bring in a few coins enough for food. He told me that at one point, he had to swallow his pride and take a job painting industrial smoke stacks for 50 cents. My mom's
brother lived next door to us and her mother and father lived in the house behind us, and her mom and dad moved in with her brother, so that they could rent out their house to raise a little monthly income. While we were on the phone
Jack was recalling breakfast before heading off to school
and emphasizing that we had it better than many of the rest of the neighbors, but still his breakfast consisted of two slices of bread, torn into little pieces in a bowl, with a little milk added and a light sprinkle of sugar. And he recalled our cousins next door, would make lard sandwiches to take to school.
And just as it sounds, they would slather lard between two slices of bread. The other family that lived behind us had a very small farm, and there was a lot of bartering going on trading one persons skills for another's, and with the Bremont family, it was for some food stuffs from his farm.
Life in our neighborhood was tough, but my brother and sister recall that as children, the times were never dwelled upon,at least in their presence, and life managed to go on.
A lot of their clothes were hand made and patched and later saved for the next child to wear when he reached the same age.
The same held true for any toys in the house, and many of those were also hand made, again through neighbor bartering
for their various skills.
And even though I came after those hard times, the lessons learned from it were passed down to me, or more like hammered into my head, about the importance of money and saving, and paying cash for something, and if you didn't have enough, you just had to wait until you did. My dad
said the only thing worthy of taking out a loan was for a house. Can you imagine people of today trying to live up to those rules? Dad taught self worth and self sufficiency, and to thine own self be true. Your word is your bond and if you work for someone, you give that person more than he expects...an honest days work for an honest day's wage. And honor above all is everything. The three most important things in life, he said, were your word, keeping your name clean and having good credit.
It's funny, but all of my favorite meals prepared by mom
were also the favorites of my brothers and sister, and they
all were Depression-era meals,consisting of a heavy use of potatos and vegetables.
Something called hodge-podge that was nothing more than mashed potatoes with some small pieces of vegetables added
and mixed with some bacon fat. Using a heavy cast iron meat grinder, we shoved through potatoes and onions into a very coarse pulp,added a little flour and formed the best tasting potato pancakes, ever. And there was a recipe from my German born grandmother for hot German potato salad, that
involved topping it off with little pieces of bacon spread
on top, and the fat from the bacon heated in the fry pan where an egg was whisked and poured into the hot grease along with a little sugar and vinegar with all that poured on the potatoes. Unbelievably fantastic tasting. Well,
you get the idea.
Without a doubt, they were hard times, but if you were fortunate to be part of a family, it seemed to pull everyone together tighter. And if you were a child living through it, you would find odd jobs where you could, as it was personally important for you to contribute to the family pickle jar. We were fortunate to live in a neighborhood
where many people used their hands in their chosen trades,
such as a stone mason, carpenter, painter and it certainly didn't hurt to have a farmer living behind us. Plus there
was a never ending stream of "bums" who would trade their handy-man skills for a hot meal. "Go to the back-door, bum"
was an expression heard often as people were willing to share what food scraps they had for those less fortunate, but didn't want it getting around, for fear of a line forming in front of their house.
I really fear that if something like that were to happen
again, things would be much worse. People today are just not like the people of yesterday. Not as independent or as resourceful. Not the same in temperment or as friendly.
In fact, the majority of people today don't even know their neighbors, or have skills that could be bartered, let alone know how to garden or do canning. At any rate, I think people should at least take a moment and think it over...
what if?
How about you? Have any memories to share from that era?
Did you have to go it alone, or were you growing up in a
family support system? How important were the neighbors?
What special meals do you recall? Anyone want to share
recipes from that era? Did you experience it in the city or the country? What region?
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