Vol. 4-Interview-Zahay

A. Varesano interviewing Helen Fedorsha Page 11 6/15/72 Tape 14-2

of girls got married, but they married American-born fellows, not foreigners. American-born fellows. And they had a terrible life with them. They drank too heavily. There's one in particular that I know, that, God, the poor soul got a beating on her wedding night. The bridesmaids all sitting in the room, and he came upstairs with something - our Mary was one of the bridesmaids, my sister, Mary was one of the bridesmaids - and, I don't know, he had a couple drinks, well, maybe more than a couple. Well, they used to have big weddings. It wasn't anything fancy, it wasn't platter and all those fancy-dressed meats and everything, it was, no wedding cake, it was cookies, you had cookies on the table. And, he came into the room, I don't know for what, but the bridesmaids were all sitting there, and she said something to him and she had her face slapped. Right on her wedding day. She didn't leave him, though. Today, if a fellow did that, that would be the last he saw of her. She'd leave him. And she had a very miserable life for years. He drank heavily, and he believed in a wife being a servant, and she had her children quite close. She raised a nice family. And she used to get her beating from him. Because I used to friend with her sister, and I used to go to her house. And we used to walk home from church. Well, I guess on his way home he would visit every saloon that is around. By the time he got home, he was pretty well loaded, and when he'd get home, he'd start hollering for no reason at all. And if she answered, then she got it. So one Sunday afternoon, my neighbor saved her. He was chasing her down the alley, and there were, the Banks were down at the end of the street, and the neighbor stepped out and he stopped it. He waited until he knew that she was far enough away that he wouldn't get her. So that kind of life you had. But, tell that to the kids today, they'd say, You don't know what you're talking about. That could never happen here, never. It happened. AV: What king of courtship practices did they have? Was there a customary walk, or something:? HF: They used to go out for a little walk, but there was no, well then in later years when they had picnics, well they would meet the girls at the picnics or they would take them to the picnic. But there wasn't this going out for drives and all that stuff. That didn't go on. After a little while the fellow would ask the girl to marry him and she would. Especially if she didn't have parents here. Because she had to look out for herself. AV: Did they meet at certain places or talk together in the living room, or something? HF: Well, I doubt if they really came into one another's home that way. They usually stayed out. and take a walk around, and sh'ed go home. Because, even when I already was working, and there wasn't bus service, well, where are you gonna walk, to Freeland, and then be coming home at all hours of the night. So we used to stay in town, and it just seems that the home town, the girls here in town all went with their home town boys. They would pair off. Whether it was serious or not, it didn't matter. You would pair off with someone, and you didn't go to a movie, you didn't go to a beer joint, you didn't go anywhere but you'd walk around, down, I showed you where the Back Street is, Suzy Fatula was living right on the corner there. There was a flat board on that fence, we used to sit there. Today, if you did that they'd scold you! We'd be sitting on that fence, and we'd be talking, and not quiet, we'd be talking loud, and many times then we would sit there singing, on that fence. And her bedroom was right there in the parlor, and she never came out to holler at us. Today, I think you'd be shot at. Well, we'd all, everyone was kids, the boys weren't much older than we were. And you'd pair off, and walk down the Back Street and around, down there where the bakery is

A. Varesano interviewing Helen Fedorsha -128/15/72 Tape 14-2

574 now, you'd walk, that was the road that they used to go up to the colliery with. There was no name for it. And then you'd start walking up the Main Street. As you were walking up, maybe there was a couple couples coming down Main Street and then they'd go up Back Street! And, well, "Hello", "Hello"! I can't tell you how many rounds you'd make around the town, because around here it was an alley, where the street is now, that was an alley. And you'd walk up that way, and you'd start going down the Back Street again. And the couples that you met, you met them I don't know how many times a night, and every time, "Hello", "Hello"!

AV How late would you do this?

HP Oh, we were supposed to be in the house by nine o'clock or a little after nine, and 592 then if you would go out later you had to give an account of yourself. Today, my God, if you told the kids to do that, they'd think you're crazy! And one night we were out - our mother and dad were out to a wake - and, oh, it was a beautiful moonlight night, and me and our Anna were out, and we were out later than we would otherwise be, and we're comin' home and we had that small window in the back room, and we used to keep a screen in there, but I guess the screen was taken out, the window was open, so, the curtains were short curtains, but they were blowing out the window. We're coming down the street, and we can see this, and we thought, our daddy is waiting for us to come home, sitting at the window. So we came down to the house, and I didn't want to try the door, our Anna didn't want to try the door. But my mother used to leave the door open for us to come in. And we'd close the door after - well, usually my dad would come in after we came in the house and he would close up the door for the night. So I said to our Anna, Somebody's sitting at that window! And the curtains were blowing out, there must have been another window open in the place, and there was a draft and the curtains were blowing out. So we come to the house, and we are afraid to try the door. We're sitting around outside. We finally came to the conclusion, it doesn't help to sit outside. No matter how early we came down, and we're gonna sit outside, we're gonna be out there late. So then they won't believe us that we came home at that time. They'll think we just came home when we rap at the door. We finally tried the door and the door was locked. And I said, well, I guess they are waiting for us. So we tried the door again, because I said to Anna, I said, You know, Anna, the longer we stay here, the later it's gonna get, they aren't gonna believe that we were here so long, they'll think we just came home. And we tried the door again. My mother heard us. And she said she gave my daddy a nudge and she said, did you lock that door? And see, it was my mother's job to fix things up for the night. My daddy never did, so he wasn't used to it. And she said, Did you lock that door? And he said, I don't know. And it was just a habit for him to slip the latch. She says, I hear somebody. And she said, I wonder if the girls are home? My daddy gets out of bed, looks in the back room, we weren't there. So, he came down, and he opened the door, and of course we thought we were going to get a ripping out, because it was late already. Well, late in those days, today it wouldn't be. Today maybe they wouldn't be going out yet. And he said, how long were you girls out here. And we told him how long, and we were afraid to rap at the door. Well, he said, I was down, and when I was down, it just slipped my mind and I just slipped the latch and that's it. You weren't being watched!

AV You mean, they would go in bed and trust you to come home?

HP Oh yes, an order was an order. You were told what time you were expected 644 home and you, there were very few that disobeyed that order, very few. Because, you didn't question them on it. They gave you an order, you didn't

A. Varesano interviewing Helen Fedorsha -136/15/72 Tape 14-2

647 say anything about, well, why should I, or anything of that sort. You didn't say anything, you made sure that you were going to try to be home at that time. If you weren't, you had to have a good explanation of why you weren't.

AV: They would be in bed already?

HP: Oh, yes, they would go to bed. And like that night, my dad had to come down and open the door for us.

AV: How much older than the girls were these boys that were starting to court?

HP: Oh, they'd be old enough to be working. They didnt get married unless they'd be working.

AV: Unless they were full-fledged miners, or?

HP: Well, I don't know, I would say the men, the men usually were in around twenty 656 or twenty-one when they'd marry.

AV: Would they be married if they were miner's laborers, instead of full-fledged miners?

HP: Oh, yes. Oh, sometimes they worked for years before they'd be, before they'd get a promotion to something else. My brother-in-law was married and he was still driving a mules. He wasn't a miner, he was still driving mules, then from that he went on to being a laborer, and from that he got to be a miner.

AV: So advancement to the position of miner requires not only training as a laborer but a position....

HP: Oh, you couldn't be a miner unless you passed an examination. You had to get a miner's certificate. You had to go to a board, and you were asked questions you had to pass your mner's test. Then you would get a certificate if you passed the test you got a certificate, and if you didn't pass the test, then you couldn't mine until you took another test. Until you would pass it. And.

AV: When they'd pass this test and get a certificate, were they automatically assigned a miner's job?

HP: When they asked for a job as a miner, well, if there was an opening, he would get a job as a miner. If there wasn't any opening, then he would have to wait his turn.

AV: And still work as a laborer.

HP: Yeah.

AV: Oh, what the woman's role in getting some more food for the house? How 678 would she feed the family?

HP: Well, there were grocers that came into town. You didn't have to go out of town to buy anything. Like now, if you need a loaf of bread, you don't have it at home, you have to run to Freeland to get it, because nobody comes into town with the exception of that baker on Monday morning, and on Friday. But if during the week you would run out of something, you didn't run to Freeland to get it, there was a baker came into town, there were grocers came into town, they'd come in one day, and they would ask you what you had to order. Well, you told him what all you wanted to order, he would mark it into an order book The next day he would deliver it for you.

AV: Was this when you were small, too?

HP: Oh, that went on till I was, I guess I was out of school Because when those wagons stopped coming here they came in what they called a store on wheels. Then they didn't take your order, but they used to come in every day. You walked through it, they had shelves in there, they had everything displayed just like they do in a store. You would 698 pick out whatever you wanted.

AV: What about huckleberry picking" When did you start thaat?

HP: Oh we started that when we were just kids. About seven. We were going to school, and I think when you were going to school already, then you were old enough to go for berries.

AV: Oh, yeah!

A. Varesano interviewing Helen Fedorsha -146/15/72 Tape 14-2

703 Oh, yes!! When the mother was going for them, you were going. You didn't say no. They didn't know what no was. If you said no, they didn't know what it was. At least they let on they didn't. After you got out to the woods, if you loafed, all right, but if you didn't have your can full when they were ready to leave for home, then you really had to hurry to get your can filled

AV: You did't eat the huckleberries!

HP: Oh, yes, yes, we used to eat huckleberries. But we tried not to, because if you did start eating berries, then well, you were hungry for them, and instead of putting them in the can, you'd put them in your mouth. and that didn't pay, because you couldn't sell them! And you were out there because you had to help out the family. It wasn't that you went out there, and whatever you picked and sold, that was for you. That went into the family kitty. Whatever was needed then, it was bought. You bought whatever....if you didn't need anything, you didn't get it. If you needed something, you got it.

AV: How much could a kid bring back?

HP: Oh, some of the kids were good pickers. They could bring back as high as five quarts, if they were good pickers and there was a good spot to pick.

AV: Did little boys go out, too?

HP: Oh, yes, Boys and girls, made no difference.

AV; The mother went with them?

HP: Um-hum.

AV: When were the kids allowed to go alone?

HP: Well, if they knew their way around the woods, you know, if they knew how to get out. All right getting into the woods, but if you don't lose your bearngs when you are ready to get out. So you really knew how to get around.

AV: When was the first time you went out alone?

HP: I never went alone, never. I'd be afraid. I never went alone. I always went with, if our Anna was going with someone, or Mrs. Dragonosky was going, I used to go with them. But I never went out to the woods alone. In the first place, I'd lose my bearings. I can lose sense of direction right away. And I could be going the opposite direction instead of coming out. Then I would lose myself, and there wouldn't be anyone 740 to make a tape for you!

This tape is made on June 20, 1972 Frank Zahay Angela V. Side 1 tape 13

AV So tell me about your first job in the mines here, when did you start work

FZ Oh I started in the mines when I was about 18 I labored for my father and after that I quit and that's when I got a job with the carpenters

AV How long did you labor for your father

FZ Oh not too long, too tough, tough when I was young so that wasn't very good

AV How did they fix you up to labor for your father did you ask for it did you ask to be his laborer

FZ No the foreman asked my father and then my father asked me if I wanted to go in the mines

AV And that was your choice of jobs at the time

FZ There was nothing else around here but the mines, either in the mines or on the outside, run a car

AV So what did you do as a laborer

FZ Load cars and helped my father put timber across, drill holes

AV Did you put in the dynamite

FZ Oh yes the last we had what we called, you remember I mentioned them squibbs they're not like a fuse [recorder off and on again] well do you want me to start

AV Sure

FZ We drilled holes and them in those days we didn't have augers we had what they called drills, fish-tail drill, just like a fish tail, you worked it this way almost like hammering you worked it this way by hand the drill to make the hole and as you were doing that you had to turn it, see, maybe a drill about 6 ft. long and it was so heavy you didn't have to hammer it you would just do this and everytime you bumped a call you you cut a call (or cawl) your turned it and that made the hole and when you were done enough to make powder bags, a regular round piece of wood maybe an inch or so in diameter maybe 16, 18 inches long and you'd wrap paper around that and then we had what they called miner's