Worst Job

One of the more remarkable changes in the social and economic life of the nation over the last two centuries (1800's and 1900's) is the minimal role of child labor in the United States. Congress passed an amendment in 1924 (the year of my birth) but conservative groups feared that the Federal Gov. would have too much power in areas related to children so many states failed to ratify it.

The Great Depression changed political attitudes in the U.S. significantly , and child labor reform benefited. In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act placed limitations on child labor. However, that was not soon enough!

When I was about 11 or 12 years old we were still in the throes of the Great Depression, the NRA had not yet accomplished full recovery and money was very tight or nonexistent in my realm. We had a neighbor that ran a small dairy out of their home. The dairy was in the back part of the house. The dad had a milk route and the mom ran the dairy sales there at the house.

The Valley's had six children that were all just a year or so apart. Rosalie, the mother, was about 30 pounds over weight, she had red hair and she was a jovial, happy go lucky woman who most of the time looked like a slattern. She had no concept of organization or discipline. Everyone loved her and enjoyed her company but her house keeping skills were nonexistent. She decided she needed help so she appealed to my mother. She said she wanted help with the dishes after supper. I was the sacrificial lamb. Doesn't sound too daunting does it? BUT... (note the ellipsis)

The house was actually very large, especially the kitchen. The kitchen was huge and they had remodeled it to accommodate their large family. A door opened out of the back wall of the room into the dairy. The stove and counter space was on one side of the door and the sink and more counter space was on the other side of the door. The counter extended around the corner of the side wall for about six or eight feet. The cupboards above the counters contained the dishes etc.

Rosalie, good mother that she was, cooked oat meal for breakfast each morning, the pan that she cooked it in stayed on the stove for the rest of the day, the dishes that she served it in were placed on the counters along with the milk glasses and any thing else that was used. Lunch could be soup, sandwiches etc. and same deal, leave all the implements and serving dishes on the stove or counter, dinner... you get the point. By day's end dirty dishes, cutlery, pots and pans and garbage filled all of the 10 or 12 feet of counter space plus the stove surface and the sink.

My job, first ever job for money, was to wash all of the dishes, pots and pans, mop the floor, (had to be done on hands and knees) scour the sink, clean the stove, dry the dishes and put away in the cupboards, which I could not reach other than by chair or stool and if any dairy customers came I had to alert Rosalie, and some nights I had to babysit the kids while I was there. I was a scullery maid, at the age of 12. Sounds Dickensian, doesn't it? I started the job about 5:30 or 6:00 and finished around 8:00 or 8:30. My pay? One quarter a night! .25 measly cents!

One time the two older children, maybe eight or nine years old, went out into the dairy and got pounds of butter, butter came in one pound chunks, and had a competition to see which one of them could throw it up to the ceiling and make it stick! I must admit it was on my watch but I was busy scraping dried food off of pots and pans and doing my other odious tasks. When the parents came home they were a little mystified at the grease marks on the living room ceiling. Oh well.

One of the six children was named Gregg and he was my absolute favorite! Incidentally,he was not one of the butter throwers. I vowed at that time that I would name one of my children Gregg when I grew up. True to my plan, I did.

I saved all of my quarters until I had enough to go down town and pick out a skirt and blouse that had never been worn by anyone else! I had to go shopping with Mart, she was three years older than I. We walked down town. We shopped at Wren's and I still remember my outfit. The skirt was powder blue wool and the blouse was yellow silk. I paid for it all by myself!! Life was tough and we didn't even live in a river town.

Fortunately, we finally moved to the other end of town and my job ended. Thank God.

Rosalie was the person that said Mart was a true Irish Beauty but I was just cute. The nerve! Come to think of it maybe she was 40 pounds over weight!