The cold, cold Winter!

The cold, cold Winter! I doubt kids today could imagine what it was like in the wintertime in the mid to late 1930’s. The flat we lived in on the 2nd. Floor had no electricity; we used what we called coal oil lamps, now called kerosene lamps for light. There was no furnace, we had a wood burning/coal stove in the kitchen which we used for heat as well as cooking. There was a small potbelly stove in the combination living room/bedroom. When we could afford it we had a ton of coal delivered and they dumped it on the sidewalk in front of the house, it then had to be shoveled through a low window which led into the basement. Every time we needed coal for the stove which was often, we had to carry it from the basement to the second floor. The windows in our flat were single pane which offered almost no insulation from the cold, frigid air blew in from around the edges and ice crystals completely covered the glass. My mom used to hang an old blanket over the window to help keep out the cold. Many a time we all sat in the kitchen in a circle around the oven door which was left open to provide more heat. This is where we did our homework, by the light of the coal oil lamp with a blanket over our backs as we felt the warmth from the coal stoves but our backs were cold. Sometimes when we were low on coal we used to walk the railroad tracks that passed right by our house with a bucket picking up small pieces of coal that dropped from the coal cars as they passed. We also did not have a bathroom or toilet in the flat. In the hall was a community toilet which was not much better than an outhouse, as a matter of fact it was an outhouse since it was in a hall that was open to the outside, I’m not sure if it flushed or not but I suppose it did. The alternative to using this toilet was is what every family used in the winter, A Slop Jar, or a Thunder Mug were several names for this Pot that usually resided under the bed; I think it was also a commode. When you had to use it you just slid it out and did your business and then return it. I remember that sometimes the odor was very strong. I think this is where the term “going to the potty” came from. Since we did not have a refrigerator, what we used to keep or food from spoiling was a window box. This was a galvanized metal box about 3 ft wide 2ft. high and 2ft. deep. This sat on a window ledge just outside a window. The side that faced the window was on hinges and when you raised the window you could lower this side for access to put in or take out food. This worked fine most days in the winter unless it dipped to below zero. The food of course would then freeze, One odd thing was if you put a bottle (They were glass in those days) of milk in it and it froze, the cream in the milk which always rose to the top of the bottle would ooze out of the top about 2 or 3 inches with the paper bottle cap still attached to it, This frozen cream tasted just like ice cream. In those days when you went to pour a glass of milk you would have to shake it before you poured it to mix the cream with the milk. I remember one summer we got an icebox somewhere; this was an insulated wooden affair that resembled a refrigerator but had a compartment which held a 25 to 50 lb. block of ice. This kept food cold in the other compartments and when you wanted ice for a drink you could chisel a piece from the block of ice. We had a sign that we could hang in the front window that had 4 weights on it 25lbs on the top and the other 3 sides were 50-75-100 lbs. When the ice man came down the street in his horse drawn wagon he would look for these signs, which ever number was at the top of the sign you hung in your window was what he would bring to your flat, I remember these guys always had a burlap bag over one shoulder and they would dig the ice tongs into a block of ice and heft it up to his shoulder and carry it into the house. In the wagon were huge blocks of ice covered with burlap and covered with straw. They were probably about 200 lbs but had serrated lines in the ice that indicated the size of a 25lb. block, all he had to do was chip along these lines with an ice pick to separate a 25lb. block, if he wanted 50lbs he chipped on the 2nd line. We kids would always run to the cart because there were always chips of ice in the bed of the cart where he had chipped off a block. Next….Our furniture and clothing.