Anna And Rosie: 6 - Anna And Rosie
...We are still living in Jamestown. Moma thinks Pa should be using his team of horses and wagon and plough some of the neighbour’s gardens to make some extra money and have something to do.
But Pa said it would not be at all suitable for a landowner such as he to do such a menial thing...
Jean Day brings a taste of life in the Mid West in early 20th Century America by presenting letters by two sisters, the daughters of Polish immigrants.
Christmas 1907
Dear Aunt Anna,
We are still living in Jamestown. Moma thinks Pa should be using his team of horses and wagon and plough some of the neighbour’s gardens to make some extra money and have something to do.
But Pa said it would not be at all suitable for a landowner such as he to do such a menial thing. So he drinks beer, chews tobacoo and plays cards, especially poker.
He has a new best friend, Mr. Hamm, who runs the meat market. He belongs to the German Working Man’s Club and Pa has taken to going with him. Pa said he wasn’t ever going to play cards for money but one day Ma was going through his pockets when she was getting his clothes ready to wash and found some extra money and she didn’t know where it had come from, so she suspected that he did play cards for money, at least sometimes.
And Mr. Hamm got Pa really mad at him. One day he said, “You know John, I like you very much but there is just one thing about you that I don’t like. And that is that you are Polish.”
Love
Rosie
