Thursday, September 10, 1925
Rain and cooler
It rained most of the night but Gilbert got along very well. He stayed here most of the morning to be sure he wasn’t going to be affected and finally went and got along okay. Mama came over about noon for a little while. We got our first load of coke for the winter. I ironed most of the day and felt as if it were too much for me.
(Gilbert seemed to suffer quite a bit from his hay fever/allergies/asthma, or whatever he had. Fall was an especially bad time for him, based on what Grandma wrote in the diaries.
They used coke in the furnace to heat the house. The coke was dumped through a small opening straight into the basement. I don't know if the pile of coke was in a separate room down there, or if it just sat in the middle of the floor in the same room with the washer. I also assume that their clothes washer was in the basement, but I guess don't really know that for sure. That's where I remember it being when I visited as a kid.
Based on what Grandma wrote in earlier diary entries, they had to tend to the furnace quite bit, to keep the fire going. )
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For one crazy winter I had a pot belly stove. That monster took a lot of work..attention..and coal. I think of the movie "Christmas Story" and how the Dad fought with the furnace all winter. Of course, that was 30 years into the future where you Grandma is concerned.
ReplyDeleteFrom Eleanor; The coal furnace was in the basement, along with the washer. A lot of times I had to put a shovel full of coal in the furnace. I don't remember if the coal bin was a separate room. I have the feeling there was a low wall to keep the coal contained. I got coal dust in my eye & had to go to the eye dr. to get it removed. For years I had a tiny white scar on my brown iris. Every Friday I had to help carry out a galvinized tub full of ashes & cinders to be picked up. The washer was in the basement with the coal furnace. In winter the clean clothes were hung in the basement (with the coal furnace) and any other place in the house where there was room. In the spring we cleaned the wallpaper with a dough made for that purpose. In winter we put newspapers between our blankets to keep warm. Newspapers are a great insulater. That was life with a coal furnace.
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