Vol. 3-Interview-Timko

A. Varesano interviewing Anna Timko -18- 6/23/72 Tape 16-2

you'll catch fire. So practically every two years - I said that was very expensive, you know, for maybe say five, eight dollars, one, see it cost you, you know, for once. In them days that was awful lot of money! So then when the plasterboard came out, that was wonderful. You put that up once already and there it was. AV: When did it come out, that plasterboard? AT: I don't know when it came out. But it wasn't when, I said, for the longest time I was using the material. Not only I, everybody else was, you know, to cover the ceiling, because first it was just exposed beams, that's all. AV: When was the first time that you remember that anyone put up any of this print material? AT: Oh, well most people were using it, you know? Somebody wanted a change, so they would just put that. Then some of them tried table oil cloth, you know. But that was awful hard to put up. Because you take, say, for a whole room, take like that room, maybe you needed about eighteen yards. Well, to put that up, that's so heavy, you couldn't stretch it or anything, because it was too heavy, it was hard to handle. But some people had it, though. AV: Who had it that you know of? AT: I think my sister-in-law had it, too. AV: Was she living here? AT: Yes, the one, I believe that, was it her or was it my mother, I don't remember. And a neighbor had it. She's dead already, they're dead already, the neighbors that were living next door here. Gyurko. AV: When did they first get the idea, what year was that, to put up the material? AT: I don't know. AV: Was it after the first war, or before the war? AT: I don't know, I couldn't really tell exactly when it was. AV: No? Did you put any up yourself? AT: Yes. AV: After you were married. AT: Well, I didn't put it up, that's what I'm telling you, I was living here already. And when they just started. Well, then we had to get ladies to do it, because we didn't know how to do it ourselves. But then when we seen how the other ones were doing it, then you'd get the act of it and you'd try it yourself. AV: Printed material. You mean like wall-paper-type pring? AT: Yeah. Something like that, with some kind of flowers on it, or something like that, you know. AV: Who were the first ladies in town to help you out? AT: Mrs. Brunowski, and...I think it was only Mrs. Brunowski. She's dead a long time ago. Or was it Mrs. [?] helped, but I don't know, I remember Mrs. Brunowski's name. I rememeber her. She was the one that used to put most of them up. And then after while, they seen how she was doing it, well then people started doing it themselves. Who couldn't do it for themselves, they'd get some relative or a friend or somebody to help them, and they'd put it up. Because, see, this lady had to pay her, you know, she couldn't expect her to spend her time and doing that strong. But for herself, she did a wonderful job for the women, you know, she did a wonderful job. AV: Well, how much was she paid? AT: Oh, maybe a dollar or so, I don't know exactly, but it wasn't much she was paid, because money wasn't plentiful, so nobody got too much, because there wasn't enough to go around! AV: And who were the ladies who helpedyou out, to put up the ceiling?

A. Varesano interviewing Anna Timko -19- 6/23/72 Tape 16-2

AT: To what? AV: To put up your ceiling. Who were the ladies? AT: You mean to paper it? AV: To put up the material? AT: Anyone! Any of the friends. Anybody would come. I used to do it with my husband, though. He and I would put it up. We used to do it ourselves. AV: Well what kind of material - that came in yard length, or 36 inches long? AT: Well, it depends. Usually they were 36 inch. Well then, throught that, you had to figure how much you needed for the room, the width of the material. The yardage was all right, out then you had to sew it together. Take it like you do a sheet or something else. So you had to figure it for yourself, how much you needed. Because the width of the material, well then, how many widths you needed for the whole room, and the length of it. So you had to figure out youself how many yards you needed. Sometimes sixteen, like for the living room it was sixteen, or it would be eighteen yards, it depended on the width, because some was 32 inches, some was 36 inches, it depened on the width of the material. AV: How did you measure the shape of the ceiling? AT: Well you didn't. No, you just, you know, measured it so long and made it so wide. So you didn't have to measure the shape of it. The width and the length of it, you know. So you had enough pieces in it, length in it, to make it wide enough. And the first piece, you would just measure it for the length. But then the others you had to, you know, add, til you had the fill width for the size of the room. AV: And the rooms were kind of a rectangular shape, right? AT: Well, no, but like the one in the other room, see that corner there, where you had the stairway, well that was a little difficul. Where, a straight room liek this one here, you know, square, it's not too bad, but them kind, it's more difficult. AV: How did you do it? AT: Well, you just had to measure out what to there, and how much you needed, you know, for one part, and then cut the others shorter. AV: What kind of tacks did you use? AT: Oh, some kind of short nails with a broad head on it, I don't know. Was it carpet tacks, or what it was, I don't even remember what kind they were. I think they were carpet tacks. But you had to get the longer ones, you know, because these shorter ones, this was heavy, and it would, you know, should it spin back, it would pull it out. AV: And who held the corners? Were two people enough to hold the corners up there? AT: Oh, no, sometimes you needed more. But if you knew how to do it, well, then you'd tack it in one corner and then the other, and maybe you could nail the one here and there, to get it on. Well then you could go to the other side already, and pull it in certain parts, and get that just here and there, and then go in between it, and get it on firm, you know, put more nails later on. But first, just enough to hold it up in space. AV: And then, you say these things lasted about two years? AT: Well, some people's lasted a long time, but I couldn't in my kitchen. That was my kitchen, there. I couldn't because, like I'm telling you, the flooring upstairs wasn't really firm. It was packed like I was telling you, with that little cuby-hole (cooby) that we had up there. And the breeze, you know, would be swaying it back and forth. And then, we tried to paper over the top of that. Well then, it would get too heavy, well then, it wouldn't last nearly as much. Where they didn't have that, you know, that it was just like, say, in

A. Varesano interviewing Anna Timko -20- 6/23/72 Tape 16-2

the living room, well that would last longer there, because it didn't have that pressure on it. AV: So, these bottom rooms here, where you had just a bare ceiling - and these were beams across here, right - and you didn't want the beams to show? AT: That's right. Well, and it looked neater, too, and the whitewash, you know, the lime, would be coming down through the beams, because that would get loose like everything else, and you'd be whitewashing it every year, every year, every year. But you had to, because it would be dusty and dirty, so you had to whitewash it every year, you know, to make it look good, just like painting you do, or something, but you don't do painting every year. And then that would accumulate so much, so then crusts that thick would be falling off, it was not too long ago, before we had the plasterboard there, it used to be falling off. Or like, take upstairs, well then, people didn't paper those staris over here on this street, you know, because we didn't have plaster on these walls. Ours was just boards, there was no plaster. So, I often used to laugh, you know, because when you had it papered, well, you had to pull the paper off, because it would be hanging, it didn't stick to the wood, it would be hanging. And you'd take it off, and, the way they cut the tree down and slice it on the saw, that's the way they'd tack it on the wall, with the bark and everything on it, and then that bark would dry and come off, and when you were papering again, and you were pulling off the paper to the bare wood, well probably that bark would come off with it, too! You could stick you hand on the neighbor's side, there were holes in there! So everybody had to be tacking it themselves, you know, fixing it up themselves to cover up these holes! And they'd crack, they'd break up and crack, and you never had any place, no matter how much you'd paper. The plasterboard is good, you put plasterboard on already, why then...We did all this. These homes never would have been standing here. That closet back there that we have, we built that. We bought the plasterboard for all these rooms here. And once you'd pay for it, when you had the plasterboard, it would last. I don't have any in this room, so this room doesn't look good at all. But when they painted the front room for m, then there was some paint left, I said, well paint this one. ANd, see I had a paper with a flower on it, designed, you know, and these cracks and crinkles in it didn't show. And now with the paint on it, it shows. But even my daughter-in-law was telling me, she says, Ma, why don't you get paper? I don't like that room. I said, I don't either, but it's gonna stay that way. She says, Why don't you get paper some time, and we'll come over and paper it for you. Because they painted this for me last July, painted the ceiling and that closet and this other closet over here for m, and the table and the chairs, that was my son and his wife did all this work for me. So, I said, Well, it would be alright, liek it was once, you just could go to a store and pick out what kind of paper you wanted, and they had it. Buty now, no. You have to pick it out and they send for it. I guess people don't buy enough paper, because everybody's painting now, not everybody - most people are painting. So they don't keep it on hand. And one time they used to have it on hand. They had books, you know, samples, like they do rugs, you know, so this was the same way. They had patches of paper, and you could pick up what kind you wanted. AV: At the country store? AT: No, not here. In Freeland, wallpaper stores, they were. So then, you would just pick out what you wanted, and the had it right in the store, they'd trim it for you and sell it. But now you have to order it. I had to order two rolls, I didn't have any use for them, but I had to have two rolls, becaause one isn't enough. It was two double rolls, and it is very expensive now.

A. Varesano interviewing Anna Timko -216/23/72 Tape16-2

965 Them days, you know, they'd just call it a roll, and it was a double roll. And now already, well they tell you they're selling it to you by the single roll, but double the price with half the roll, might as well say!

AV: How much was it in the old days?

AT: Well, you could get it different prices, you could get it real cheap, and you could get it a little more expensive.

AV: How cheap?

AT: Oh, sometimes ten cents a roll, that's a doble roll yu could get. And if you wanted some, say like for a living room, so maybe it would be twenty-five cents or thirty-five cents or fifty cents a roll.

AV: Oh, why?

AT: You know what I paid for this? Two dollars and, I don't know was it ten cents a single roll! Not a double roll like we used to buy one time, that was four dollars. I think I still have the bill someplace. It was four dollars something. So this little room here - and then I wanted border for it. This cost me eleven dollars.

AV: And how much would that room cost in the old time?

AT: Oh, maybe about two dollars or so, I guess.

AV: So, that was quite a bargain, to get your houses clean that way. How else did you clean your houses? Did you scrub your floors with soap?

AT: Um-hmm.

AV: What kind of soap? That home-made stuff?

AT: Well, home-made stuff, or maybe you even put some lye in the water or something to make the floors look better.

AV: How would they look better?

AT: Well, they'd be brighter. They'd take some of that dirt out, but it wouldn't last too long, because, you're going in and out, in and out, well the dirt gets carried in to it right away again. So, it's the same old way, you always 990 have to be cleaning it.

AV: What did you use for washcloths and things like that?

AT: Rags.

AV: Dress rags?

AT: Any kind of rags, from any kind of old clothing, you know, you make a rag out of anything. I often said, it costs lots more to live now, because you buy papers for everything. You buy paper diapers, you buy paper towels, you buy paper napkins, everything you buy today. Even I often mention, I said, in our days, we didn't buy that Kotex. We used rags, and made our own pants. Sure. I don't even know if they sold them then. I says, today you have to buy everything. You need an awful lot of money. Same thing with babies. We used to nurse our babies. Today you have to buy the baby food, you have to buy the formula, you have to buy everything, so it takes a lot more money to live nowadays, you know with all that stuff that you have to buy. In them days, it was everything rags, you'd wash them and use them over again. Now you 1006 throw it away and you have to buy other ones again.

AV: Did you make your own clothes?

AT: I did.

AV: How?

AT: What do you think I had a machine for? To look at me? It was my first piece of furniture that I bought, was the machine after we were married.

AV: My goodness! Where did you get the material?

AT: We could buy them at the stores, they had dry goods stores.

AV: Here in Eckley?

AT: They had some here, but we didn't do too much buying at the company store. We used to go to Freeland, and buy our stuff in there mostly. Everything was

A. Varesano interviewing Anna Timko -226/23/72 Tape 16-2

1013 much more expensive here. Most people did, you know, they used to buy it here. It wasn't a company store. It was just some other people. Maybe, years ago it might have been, I don't know if it was a company store or what not, but now it wasn't. The coal company didn't own this store. It was another party had it. Mr. Reese had that store . Some kind of Keller, I think, first had it. That I don't remember real well. It must have been when I was real young yet, I don't remember too well. But then I remember Mr. Reese had 1023 that store. He was there, too, but he had people working for him.

AV: And, did you use a pattern?

AT: Oh, yes.

AV: Oh, where did you get the dress pattern, make it yourself?

AT: You could buy it. Sometimes you'd make it yourself, from another dress. And if you wanted to, you could buy it. There wasn't much of a choice, I guess, but nobody was fancy!

AV: What kind of style dress did you make?

AT: Well, it was just like now, changing styles. Sometimes they would have them with the waist, and then later on one time they had something like the shifts are today. That's the kind they had in them days. Because up about here, 1032 there was one lady living up there, she was pregnant and nobody knew she was pregnant, not even her mother! And her mother lived across the street, and she was at her place every day. She didn't know her daughter was expecting a baby. Because she was on the heavy side, and she had one of those loose dresses, like a nightgown, you know, something like the shifts are today. Well then, who knew she was pregnant? So her friend was there when she went into labor. See, because they didn't go into the hospital to have babies then, they were born at home. So, when she went into labor, well they called for the doctor, she was sick and her friend was there. So her friend went home because the doctor was gonna come, and her friend was sick, so she went home. Next day, she hears her friend had a baby! She was struck dumb! She says, I was there so many times, she says, I didn't know she was pregnant! And the girl, this lady's girl, went up to tell the grandmother, you know, that they have a baby. She said, Are you crazy? Her own mother didn't know she was expecting! It was loose, you know, so you couldn't tell on her, whether she was fat, or whether she was pregnant, or what. She was on the heavy side. She's dead already. Now they moved, they built a home down in Buck Mountain someplace, both their parents are dead. So, one of the boys I think is a state trooper. Teddy, was it Teddy Nagle? I think it's Teddy.

AV: Nagle, did you say? His mother?

AT: The boy is the son. He's married already. The parents are dead. But the son is married and I think he's a state trooper, stationed in the Poconos someplace.

AV: Any relation to this William Nagle here?

AT: Yes. This one up here was a brother. And then these are his children already now. They were brothers.

AV: And they were living back here....

AT: Well, Willy Nagle first lived on the Back Street down here at lower end, too. Well, first they lived on the lower end here, in the second block, in the small houses, and then they went down to the bigger houses, down there, too. They lived near Fedorshas some place, when Fedorshas were living down there.

AV: Yeah, I think she- I remember that.

AT: Yeah, this is Willy, and this guy's name was Teddy.

AV: And, did you make the clothes for the kids, too?

AT: Even little suits for John, when he was going to school. And material, just plain, you know, like dress material, only more like for boys. You had to