Living In Indian Castle

We moved again. This time to a little area called Indian Castle. Down past Little Falls, on Route 5-S. My father went to work for a farmer named Paul Wagner. We lived in the "farmer's helper" house, down the road a piece from the big farm. I liked living there for the most part. We had lots of room to play and we seemed to have lots of fun there. We even had a telephone but only for incoming calls. My mother could not call out. There was a nice yard with a Pear tree in it too! And there was room for a big garden out back, which my mother used. We helped plant the seeds.
There was an old barn on the property which old Paul Wagner used to butcher his cows. We used to watch him and he would give my mother the heart and tongue. Sometimes he'd put that heart onto my little brother, Steve's hand, all dripping with warm blood and tell him to take it into the house to my mother. Yuck! But at least we had meat all the time and I liked cow's tongue. Wouldn't eat it now though!
The NYS Thruway was just being built at that time and it was right behind our house. Dad used to take us across the dirt roadway to the canal to watch the boats go through. He'd fish sometimes and there was a small pond nearby and I'd catch polliwogs and frogs. I brought twelve frogs back to the house one time. I'd put them in the old rinse tub that was outside to catch rain water. My mom asked me what I was going to do with them. Eventually, after I got done studying them close up, I'd take them back to the pond. I'd keep a few Polliwogs sometimes and watch them grow legs. That was neat! I kept them in a container inside the house.
I got a pet turtle one time and had him in his turtle pond. One day I came home from school and he was missing. We found him later on all dried up. Poor thing. I cried over that and buried him outside. in a little grave. It was one of those little dime turtles that you could buy at Woolworth's. Not sure who bought it for me. I presume my Aunt Dorothy did. One Easter, she brought us all an Easter present. A baby chick for each one of us. Since we lived in the country it was okay to have them. But eventually they grew up to be big Chickens and my parents killed them for meals. I lucked out. My chick turned out to be a Rooster! Ha! He was given to the Wagner's when we moved.
There was this wild cat that would come around now and then. She only had three legs. We could never get near her. She eventually had a little of kittens in the old barn. We'd go out there and watch and play with them and we ended up keeping them. The mother cat got used to us and would always hang around for food. I guess she had plenty with all the slaughtering going on in that barn.
I remember dropping one of the kittens on the cement porch and crying and crying. It lived though.
We were all out in the barn one day playing. There was this beam up over our heads and my cat and Christine's cat were walking along it. My cat jumped down and landed right on Chris's head and either scratched her or bit her. Well, my mother got so nervous, thinking the cat might have had Rabies. After my incident at two years old, she was always afraid of Rabies. So she walked up to the Wagner's house and old Emma, the farmer's wife, let her use the phone to call the State Troopers. They showed up and said they had to shoot the cat. This was my cat they wanted to shoot. And the cat would not come near them and was way out in the garden. My mother made me go get him by luring him with a pan of food. The cat would always come to me. It came right away because it trusted me. Then I had to carry it to the front yard and put it down. The trooper shot it right in front of me. Boy! Did I cry and cry. I always blamed that on my sister because she had been teasing my cat before that incident happened. But of course it wasn't really her fault. Things just happen sometimes that we have no control over.
They took the cat away and when they got the results back it did not have rabies, which I knew it wouldn't.
It was my mother's birthday. I was seven years old. She was very sick and lying down in the other room. I told her I wanted to bake her a birthday cake. So she let me. She called out from the other room just what to put into the bowl and how much. That cake came out so good. I was real proud of myself that day. I never forgot it.
My mother always baked her own bread and would make plenty of loaves. She'd always save one special for the lady down the road. Her name was Bessie. So while the bread was still warm out of the oven, us little girls would walk down the road to give it to her. She and her husband, Ray, ran a little gas station outside their barn. A one pumper. They were very nice people. We'd always sit on her lawn swing or glider. Not sure what they called them back then. She'd give us lemonade and chat with us.
Wherever we lived, my mother would always have an extra loaf of bread for an elderly neighbor. There is nothing that beats the aroma of home made bread!
Sometimes our father would let us go up to the Wagner's barn with him to watch him milk the cows. He'd always squirt that milk in our faces. It tasted good though. We always had fresh milk.
Old Emma Wagner would sometimes let one of us girls sleep over night at their house. It was so nice and comfortable in that feather bed. And in the morning she'd make a huge breakfast. It always smelled so good. It was a treat for me!
There was always this old man around it seemed. I think he must have worked for some farm around there or maybe he worked for Bessie and Ray. I don't remember. But he was always drunk and dirty looking. Sometimes we'd see him sleeping in the ditch along the side of that road. He'd come visit dad now and then and I'll never forget my sister, Chris. She'd sit right up on his lap, not caring how he smelled or looked. We laughed about that for years. Ha! Ha! My sister, Jeanne and I couldn't stand him. We'd stand far away. But Chris didn't care.
We had to ride the bus to the St. Johnsville School every day. There was an old bridge that we'd have to cross. It wasn't very safe so the bus driver would stop and tell all the kids to get out and walk across. He'd pick them up on the other side. Well, because I had crutches, he'd tell me I could stay in the bus and ride with him. I really always wanted to get out with the other kids. I knew if the bus crashed through I'd go with it. But we always made it safely and continued on our way.
I was in second grade at that time. I'll always remember the nice principal. His name was Mr. Fransisco. We'd have a milk and cookie break each day and that nice looking man would come to the door of our class room and get me and we'd walk down to the cafeteria before the other kids. I always think of that. He must have been a very nice and thoughtful man. I'll never forget him.
While we lived at that place, I learned how to ride that bike that was given to me by the waitresses at the March of Dimes Dinner. My cousin, Jack, took off the training wheels and pushed me down the driveway till I finally went on my own. That was so neat! I never had to have those training wheels on again!
I also learned there was really no Santa Claus while living there. All of us kids were upstairs, all excited because it was Christmas Eve. We were peeking through the grates in the floor when we saw someone bringing our presents in the house. It was Bessie and her husband bringing in this beautiful doll cradle with a doll in it. I guess I was disappointed to learn there was really no Santa but we all have to grow up sometime.. I always wished I had never peeked through that grate that night. It was like losing a part of your childhood that you'd never have again.
I also found out there was no Tooth Fairy that year. I caught my mother putting a nickle under my pillow.
We never had a TV in those days but we sure had a lot of fun listening to the radio! We'd huddle around that tall piece of furniture every Saturday night to listen to the shows. They were great! Our imaginations could take us anywhere. I loved "Our Miss Brooks" and "Only The Shadow Knows" and "Dragnet" and so many others. I can't recall all of them.
My little sister, Jane, was born while we lived there. She was the only one that wasn't born in Ilion Hospital. She was born in The Little Falls Hospital. Now there were six of us kids.