IN THE COLD, COLD, COLD OF THE MORNINGS…

And the evenings too!

Living on Hull Street in the 1950’s required a certain stamina and fortitude. Comforts were unheard of. I’ve already written about the heat of the summer, but the cold of winter was brutal! Getting up in a house that had no central heating system, and only an oil-burning stove in the last room in the house, the kitchen was hard.

This was a turn of the century apartment house. The 19th century saw Hull Street building my home. Heat WAS an oil-burning stove, that you pour oil into to heat up five rooms. My room was the furthest from the stove.

At night, Dad would heat up a brick and put it in the foot of the bed. Big deal, it still wasn’t enough. We went to bed with socks on and sometimes our clothes, it was so cold. In the morning, Mom would put our cloths on the top of the black caste iron stove to warm them up. We would dress by the stove, and Mon would then put out oatmeal or farina for breakfast. Hot cereals only on cold mornings were the order of the day.

Your body would warm up a little but your nose stayed cold. Then we gathered our school bag, with Roy Rogers metal lunch box and off we walked in the frigid air, about four blocks to Our Lady Of Lourdes School. We would stand in the wide open school yard, waiting to hear the assembly bell ring to line up for your individual classrooms.

Once on line, you were greeted with the cold icy stare of Old Miss Langon, or Miss Goodsight, or mean old Mrs. Walsh, a real witch. The brothers would patrol the boy’s side of the school yard and the nuns the girl’s side. Boys occupied one side of the building, girls the other, just like a prison.

Starting with the first grade, each class entered the building and went to their respective classroom. As you entered, you could smell the steam from the radiators, and as you settled into your classroom, tears and a running nose began your day as you warmed up.

In spite of the cold days, we never got too sick to stay home from school. Mom ran a tight ship, and you better be bleeding with an arm or leg missing, before you stayed home. Then if you did, my sister would bring home the homework for me! God, how I could hate her for doing that!

During this holiday season, please remember my pals Joan and DD, and all those that are need of our prayers.