Chapter Two
Early the next morning, Lila woke up and realized that it had really happened—they were in the new house. She was in her new bedroom, sharing a bed with her two older sisters, Izro and Veda. It was cozy and warm under the quilt. Last night they had taken their clothes out of the trunks, hanging them on nails around the bedroom. Lila’s doll, Elizabeth, was waiting patiently on a bench next to the bed, along with Veda’s doll, Francine. It was still quite cold at night, so Izro had closed the window before they went to bed. The house smelled like fresh wood, but there was another good smell; her mother was cooking eggs and bacon. Her older brothers were laughing. Lila slipped out of bed and walked to the bathroom next door. She could hardly believe that they lived in a place where it was no longer necessary to use the outhouse—they didn’t even have an outhouse! In the back there was just a garden, waiting for them to plant new seeds. The night before, Izro told her that she should wash her hands every time she went to the bathroom. There was a bar of soap sitting in a bowl next to the sink and a piece of cloth hanging on the wall. It was a thrill to turn the taps and watch the water rushing into the basin. Lila had played in the creek behind their old house, diverting the water with sticks and mud and watching it rush back out when the dam
broke. It was fun, but most of the year it was too cold to play in the creek. The sink had one tap for cold water and one for hot water. How did the water get hot?
When she went back to the bedroom, Izro and Veda were starting to wake up. Izro said, Let’s get both of you dressed.
Lila and Veda dutifully took off their nightclothes and put on their dresses. Izro combed Lila’s hair and tied it back with a strip of cloth. Lila and Veda were wearing nearly identical dresses; their mother had made them from the same pattern, using blue fabric for Lila’s dress and green fabric for Veda’s. They fit loosely and had strings at the top to adjust the neckline. At the bottom, they had neat lines made by hemming extra lengths of fabric. The hems could be removed as necessary to make the dress longer. Izro had recently removed two of the lines from Veda’s dress because she was having a growth spurt. It wouldn’t be ladylike to wear a dress that was too short. Since it was not very warm yet, they would have to put on their stockings, shoes, and sweaters before going outside. Lila hated all the layers because the wool was so itchy. Inside, their dresses were enough.
Veda had beautiful hair that was nearly golden and liked to have it braided, so Izro did that, and then the two younger girls skipped off for breakfast. Izro stayed behind to change her clothes and comb her own hair. She would join them soon. Lila sometimes let Izro braid her hair, but it was a challenge to sit still. She preferred to leave it loose, even though Izro teased her that she looked like a wild animal
with her hair down.
Later that morning, while Izro was helping her mother clean up from breakfast and start preparations for lunch, Lila and Veda went outside to explore the neighborhood. Earl was too young to go with them and Cecil was too old—he was eleven and wanted to see what his older brothers were doing; he didn’t want to spend the day with two girls. That first day, they were only brave enough to walk around the block. By the end of the week, they were crossing the street and exploring the neighboring blocks. There were so many houses! Some were tiny and some were large; they had many different colors and shapes. A few had fences, but mostly Lila and Veda could see into their yards. Many of the houses had gardens and lines for hanging wet laundry; a few had an extra building for a car. One of their neighbors even had a little house just for his dog. It was a big black dog with curly hair, and he was not very friendly. When he started barking, they would walk as quickly as they could until that house was behind them. One day the dog’s owner came out and yelled, Stop bothering the dog!
Lila thought it wasn’t fair—she wasn’t doing anything to make the dog act that way—but good girls didn’t talk back. She and Veda put their heads down and walked a little faster. They said nothing to their parents. Veda was always ashamed to be scolded and did her best to avoid it.
As the weeks passed, they started discovering other children. Edith and Margot’s parents were very strict and spoke German. Lila and Veda could visit, but Edith and Margot were never allowed to go beyond the family’s yard without their parents unless they were walking to school. Their father was a beer maker who lost his job because of Prohibition. Ruth, Anna, and Magnus had recently come from Norway. Their mother didn’t speak any English, but she made delicious cookies. Margaret didn’t have any brothers or sisters. What a surprise! She lived in a tiny blue house and had several pets: a cat, a dog, and a pair of yellow birds that lived in a beautiful cage. Lila was jealous. She missed her cat, Annabelle, and wondered how she was doing. Margaret’s mother was a sweet woman who always invited the girls in for sandwiches. Some days, Lila and Veda forgot to go home for lunch. The first few times their mother scolded them, but eventually she decided that it was fine as long as they were back in time for dinner.
Izro had warned them to stay away from the river. It wasn’t like the creek behind their house on the farm. The section closest to their neighborhood was the Black River and not the Mississippi (it joined the Mississippi at French Island), but the current was still very strong, and it was not safe to play around. One hot day that summer, Lila and Veda decided to go down to the water and dip their toes in. What could it hurt? The cool water felt delicious on their feet. Veda stayed at the edge, but Lila started splashing and wading in a bit deeper. Veda said, Lila, what are you doing? We’re not even supposed to be here!
but it was like her voice was muffled. It was so pleasant to feel the water swirling around her legs and wetting the hem of her dress. All of a sudden, she was completely under the surface. The water instantly filled her mouth and nose, but her eyes were still open. Not that it mattered, because the river was so murky that Lila could barely see anything. Before she could panic, Lila felt a tug on the back of her dress. A man living on a houseboat had noticed the girls playing by the river and sprinted over as soon as Lila disappeared. What are you doing here?
he yelled. Go home and don’t come back! It’s not safe!
The girls both started running.
As soon as they were out of the man’s sight, Veda burst into tears. She kneeled on the ground and covered her face with her hands. The water from Lila’s dress and hair was pooling at her feet, turning the dust into mud. What were they going to tell their parents? Once Veda had calmed down, she decided they should stand there until Lila was dry. If the neighbors see you like that, someone will tell Mom and Dad for sure.
Notes
From Zillow, I learned that the house Lila grew up in (which is still standing) was built in 1928. That’s where the family was living in 1930; I assume my great-grandfather built it. His brother, Elmer, was a builder and could have easily given him advice. I used Zillow to look at nearby houses to imagine a floor plan. At the time, the neighborhood was on the very northern edge of the city. I used historic plat maps to get a sense of how the city was growing in the early 1900s. The blocks were only partially filled with houses; many were inhabited by migrants from rural areas and other countries (mostly Germany, Ireland, and Scandinavia).
A lot of this chapter draws from things I know as a fashion historian or experienced as a small child growing up in Wisconsin. In the early 1900s, working-class families owned very little clothing—often just one or two outfits to wear on a daily basis and one nice outfit for church. Most houses did not have closets. Adjustability was essential for children’s clothing. I’m sure my mother had dresses with extra tucks as a child. When I was growing up, she pointed them out to me repeatedly with a nostalgic tone of voice. Layering is essential in Wisconsin, where the winter (snow on the ground) essentially lasts from November to April. As a child, I hated itchy wool sweaters, scarves, and mittens.
Until I was in fourth grade, I always had long hair. My mother spent a lot of time making it look just right. If I resisted, she told me that I looked wild
or like a banshee.
When I was two years old, I nearly drowned in the Eau Claire River. It was springtime and my father was an avid fisherman. The current was very fast. The riverbank where I was standing collapsed, and I fell in. I don’t remember falling in, but I remember my father pulling me out and how cold it was! He wrapped me in a blanket and turned up the heat in the car. I remember the look on my mother’s face when my father explained why I was drenched. To this day, I have a healthy fear of fast-moving water.
When I was in elementary school, my family went camping sometimes. A lot of campgrounds and cabins in northern Wisconsin still had outhouses. Like Veda and Lila, my sister and I were close in age and spent a lot of time together exploring the neighborhood. The story of the black dog who wouldn’t stop barking is based on one of my childhood experiences.
For more information, see Susan Porter Benson1, Andrew J. Cherlin2, and Jane Farrell-Beck and Jean Parsons3.
Household Accounts: Working-Class Family Economies in the Interwar United States (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007).↩︎
Labor’s Love Lost: The Rise and Fall of the Working-Class Family in America (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2014).↩︎
20\(^{th}\)-Century Dress in the United States (New York: Fairchild, 2007).↩︎