One thing I remember about my sisters is that there would always be me and one other, never Lily and Thelma, never Esther and Lily, nor Thelma and Mabel, Thelma and Esther, Mabel and Lily, oh! so many combinations, but it was always one of these and me.
My brothers, however, were most of the time in twos, or threes, or even fours. I don't know why this was so. But it was very special if I had one brother to myself -- say,
Eddie, who lived next door let me watch his fingers as he strummed his banjo, let me pick cherries from his cherry tree,
Leo, who taught me to play the violin, who let me spin his records of overtures to The Barber of Seville, Aida, Tosca and others, the Greats: Beethovan, Chopin, Handel, Grieg, Tschaikowski, the opera tenors and other great music treats. Leo had a Victrola and I had to kneel on a chair to reach the record player. He taught me how to place the needle down carefully so as not to damage the record, and who leaned over my shoulder while I struggled with bookkeeping and accounting, giving me some really good pointers that made me understand what I was doing,
Tommy, who would watch an insect with me, or show me the roots of a tree, or a serated leaf, or take me in the canoe and let me paddle up front,
Jimmy, who listened to me "play" the violin, and then played something for me to listen to, and who loaned me a dollar one day when I was desperate to buy some school card with my name on it which we couldn't afford, nor could he,
Charlie, who would also let me paddle the canoe, or would look up from a book he was reading to talk and tell me what he had just learned from it, or hand me something he thought I would like to read, or just talk
Joe, who would have me touch his pet, a turtle, a skunk, , a rooster, a crow or a birddog and tell me they were my friend and not to be afraid.
Ernie, of course, was just a kid like myself, but he too was fun to be with, alone or with others. Ernie was always pushing me away, but I was more than willing to "go get" anything he wanted, and listened to him and hung on to his every word.
My sisters? I think mostly I was in the way, when they were learning to cook, sew, or doing their own thing. Except for my sister, Mabel who took "us kids" (Esther, Ernie, myself and younger brother Richard) for rides in her car, and showed us what to look for, like cows, horses, churches with their towers and crosses, out-of-state number plates on cars, water and boats on a river when we crossed over a bridge.
Brothers, I had 8 of them. My younger brother, Richard, died at the age of l0, when I think I was about l2. Sisters, I had 6, but only knew 5. A sister who died before she was a year old, had she lived would have been another older sisters.
What a wonderful family I grew up in.
