My Life as it was in the Late 20's

My name is Mozelle. I was born in 1928. Times were very hard back in those days and especially hard for me. You see I was raised in a Soldiers and Sailors Home in Normal Illinois. It was not only hard but terribly lonely time in my life.

My father had just lost his wife, my mother, and he was stricken with so much grief he couldn't really care for any of us and we had no one else my dad could trust to see we were taken good care of. So he placed me, my sister and two brothers in this home. It broke his heart to do so but he didn't have a choice. He knew he wasn't capable of doing so and he loved us dearly and wanted us well provided for.

We all lived in cottages. There were boys and girls cottages. There was also a baby cottage. Some of the names of the cottages were Lincoln, Grant, Washington, Adams and a few more which I cant remember. I lived in Grant cottage.

We had on the premises our own school, laundry, and farm to raise meat and vegetables. Each cottage had their own dinning room. Each person in the cottage was assigned a chore to do. One would set the table, another cleared the table, someone would wash dishes and another would dry. No such thing as dishwasher in those days. We each made our own beds each morning too. Everyone worked together.

My best friend lived in my cottage and we would pal around together. We would swim, and play board games together. There wasn't a whole lot of things to do. I guess that's how I always managed to get into some kind of trouble. Oh nothing really bad, just minor stuff.

I was an argumentative person and always in trouble. I remember one time I was playing around on the trapeze and was told not to do it. it was time to go in. I didn't listen and went ahead and played on it any way. I fell and hurt myself, not badly though, just enough to get a good scolding.

There were good times as well as bad times, but seems like there were more bad than good times. I remember when my friend was just fooling around. She was swinging upside down hanging from the shower stall door and she fell. She was rushed to the hospital. She was told not to do this but she did it anyway when no one was looking.

Back in those days you could get a Hugh sack of candy for 5 cents. My sister and I went to get us each a sack. I would make mine last a very long time. She would eat hers all up and start on mine. I would share mine with her. The next day she asked me to go get her another sack of candy which I did. When I got back I asked her If I could have a piece as she had eaten all mine. She said to me in a hateful voice "No, get away from me. You cant have any of mine." I cried for days over her treatment of me.

I developed rheumatic fever back then. In those days there wasn't much modern medicines to combat illness so you just suffered. I developed a heart problem, I have an enlarged heart because of this. I was out of school more than I was in school.

Our dad would come to see us about 4 times a year. He would have come more often but he couldn't afford it. He worked on the WPA. This really hurt him because he wanted to visit more often. He would often cry when leaving.

I was affected most by his leaving. I would just beg him to take me with him. I would cry for days after he left. It didn't seem to affect my sister and 2 brothers as much. I guess I was a Daddy's Girl. I really never could get adjusted to living there. I just took one day at a time. But I was so lonely and hurt all the time.

Upon the age of 16 you could leave if you had someone to supervise you. I got my first job at a hospital in Effingham, IL after I left. Then I moved to a better job in Mt Carmel IL at the Albion Coil Company making airplane parts.

Today I am a very shy person and uncomfortable around people and I think it is all because of this up bringing. I wish I could be more out going but I'm not, I'm just me.