Willie Forsythe: The Galesburg Years

To our daughter Mary Phyllis:

You have read the A Book of Memories: Vol. 1 [1] and now you have asked me to write a book [ 2 ] about your father's boyhood. Although I did not know him until about a year before we were married, living with him for almost fifty-seven years I have learned much about those years that I did not share. I will attempt to write a biography of his early life.

Before we were married, I only knew your father as "Bill" but his mother, father, grandparents, relatives and friends called him "Willie". So will I.

Your father, William Henry Forsythe, was born February 25, 1893, in a small house that his parents owned on the north east corner of Third Street and Liberty Street, in #Galesburg, Illinois. His mother was Margaret Scully, and his father was William Marion Forsythe. His father was not a Catholic, but they were married in the Rectory of St. Patrick Church, by the Pastor, Father Louis Selva, on April 26, 1892.

Before 1866 there was no Catholic Church in Galesburg, but about this time a small flimsy Church, St. Raphael, was built in the seventh ward to serve the Catholic people in and around Galesburg. Galesburg was then in the Chicago Diocese. After a big wind storm had demolished this small edifice, a new Church was being erected on the corner of Academy and Third Street. It was being built in Gothic style. There were about five hundred Catholics in and around Galesburg at that time. By 1877 the congregation had increased to one thousand. This was St. Patrick Church.

Several Priests had served at the little Church while it was being built. In 1877 the Diocese of Peoria was formed. Father Joseph Costa was pastor of St. Patrick's at that time. A new Church was now being erected at the corner of South and Prairie Streets. This was Corpus Christi Church. Also Corpus Christi Lyceum was being erected on the corner of Tompkins and Prairie Streets. This was to be a grade and High School for boys. In 1879 a new Catholic School for girls was opened at Academy and Knox Streets. This was St. Joseph Academy, taught by Sisters of Providence.

Willie's father and his father's brother Joel had inherited considerable rich farm land from their father's estate. The brothers came to Galesburg from LaPrairie, Illinois, to work on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Willie's father was a Brakeman and his Uncle Joel was a Conductor on this railroad. They both married Galesburg girls and had purchased homes in the city.

In 1893, Father Tonello came to St. Patrick's as the new Pastor. That was the year that Willie was born. Father Tonello was a musician and a teacher at Corpus Christi Lyceum. In addition to being pastor of St. Patrick's Church, he was also his own janitor. The little Church was heated with a coal heating stove at that time. Father carried in the coal and carried out the ashes. There was an open well between the Church and the rectory for drinking water. Willie was baptised by Father Tonello in 1893.

Willie's maternal Grandparents lived close by on Abingdon Street. His Grandfather was a blacksmith for the C.B.&Q. Railroad. When Willie was a few months old, his father purchased property in a far east section of the city, at 1363 East Knox Street, and they moved to their new home. His mother continued to be a member of St. Patrick's Church.

The New Home

There's was a beautiful two and one half story eight room house facing south on the property. There was both a front and back porch, and also a little porch on the second floor in front. A large window in the parlor faced the street, and a large bay window in the dining room facing east. There was also a window in the attic, in front. The street in front of the property was paved with "Purington" brick (from the Purington Brick Yards east of Galesburg). There was also a public brick sidewalk in front of the place. A private brick sidewalk led to the front porch. There was a nice lawn in front with several elm trees. Baltimore Oriole birds nests suspended from forked branches of the trees.

In the back was a large barn and a fenced in barn yard where Willie's father kept his fine horse and surry. His father also owned another lot on the street behind them. There were several cherry trees in the back yard and a privy at the rear of the lot. There were wren nests in the privy and if you sat quietly you could watch the mother wren feed her young.

The house was heated with a coal furnace, which was a luxury in those days, as most houses were heated by heating stoves. Coal oil lamps were used for light, and his mother cooked on a coal range in her large kitchen. She had built in cupboards and a sink. There was a pump in the back yard for drinking water, and a cistern for 'soft water' which was used for washing clothes, dishes, baths, and hair. Water was carried in buckets. This was a modern home in those days. His mother scrubbed their laundry on a "washboard" and boiled the white things in a copper boiler on the kitchen range. The coal was delivered by a team of horses and a wagon, and put into the coal room in the basement near the furnace. The coal for the range in the kitchen was carried up from the basement in a "coal hod". His mother did her ironing with "sad irons" that she heated on the range. A woman's work was not easy in those "Good old days."

Willie's first baby sister, Edna Margaret, was born on his second birthday, February 25, 1895. Their parents called Willie "Bunny" and Edna "Ducky".

When Willie and Edna were little, their mother would let them play under one of the several cherry trees in their back yard in the Summer time. Their father, being a brakeman on the railroad, was gone from home on "runs" to Chicago, Peoria, or Quincy, sometimes a day or two and sometimes as long as a week at a time. Willie's mother kept close watch over her little ones. On lonely evenings, and there were many of them, she would hold Willie and Edna on her lap and rock them and sing to them. He remembers the song that she sang, "Daisies won't tell."

Willie's First Dog

Willie's father and mother discussed the idea of getting a little dog for Willie, who was about three or four years old. His father decided on a cute little English Mastiff pup. When Willie's father would be purchasing meat at the butcher shop, he would ask the butcher to throw in a few bones for the little pup. The butcher would even throw in some scraps of meat for him also. People did not buy canned dog food in those days. In fact, there was no such thing on the market. Willie liked his little dog. Sometimes Willie would try to take a bone out of the dog's mouth and the dog would growl and snarl at him.

The little English Mastiff didn't stay little very long since an English Mastiff is a very large dog when matured. Willie's father got a little farm wagon with sides, and with shafts and harness, to hitch the dog to the wagon, so Willie could ride. Once when the dog was hitched to the wagon, his dog saw another dog passing by the house. The English Mastiff took off after the other dog, with Willie riding in the wagon, chasing him, -- Willie, wagon and all. The dog went up and down curbings giving Willie a very rough and dangerous ride.

Willie's father decided that the big dog wasn't a good dog for Willie. There was another discussion by his mother and father, and his mother wondered how they would get rid of the dog since Willie was so fond of him. In those days there were not pet shelters or places like they have in these modern days where you can take your unwanted pet. His father hitched up the horse to the surry and he and the dog went for a ride in the country. Willie never knew for sure what became of his dog, but his father probably gave him to Willie's Uncle Will Scully, who liked dogs, and lived in the country. Willie felt very bad about losing his dog. Later, as Willie grew older, he had other dogs.

A Visit to the Farm

One time, when Willie was very young, his folks were visiting the Sipe's Farm. Willie's father, who weighed close to two-hundred pounds, picked Willie's Uncle Jack Sipes up in his arms like he was a baby. Jack Sipes was a short man, but very strong. Jack wiggled out of the arms of Willie's father and soon had Willie's father down and was sitting on him. Little Willie thought that his Daddy was being hurt, and decided to help him. Willie picked up a croquet mallet and was about to hit Jack on the head when his Daddy saw him and called to him to stop. That ended the horse-play that day.

The Sipes family owned a large tent and Jack Sipes would take Willie's father and family, and his family, and sometimes others, and they would drive to the Spoon River in wagons to fish. The men would fish all night. The women would cook the food and take care of the children. These were exciting trips for Willie.

Home Again

One night Willie was sleeping in a back bedroom with his father. He awoke hearing the eerie sound of a barn owl hooting "Whoo Whoo". He was frightened and woke his Daddy who explained to him that it was only a barn owl. He looked out the window and he could see the owl sitting on the tip of a pointed roof.

When Willie's father was not out on a run, or trip, he would spend much time shining his beautiful surry and greasing the wheels so they would run smoothly. He would also curry his beautiful horse. One afternoon while he was doing these chores, he started a fire with papers and rubbish where he could watch it from the barn yard. Willie and Edna were playing in the yard. Little four year old Edna backed very close to the fire. She was wearing a woolen skirt which could have caught on fire easily. Willie's father proceeded to spank six year old Willie for not watching his sister. Willie thought that he didn't deserve that spanking, since his Daddy was there to watch her also.

A "Trip with Dad"

Very early one morning, while it was still dark, Willie's father awakened him and told him to get dressed, he was taking him to work with him that day. It seemed like the middle of the night to Willie when they left home to walk a mile and a half to the Railroad Station. There his father took him into the Lunch Room for breakfast. His father ordered a stack of pancakes for him. It was too early, Willie wasn't hungry, and he couldn't eat them.

They had another mile or so to go to Davis Street where they were to board a caboose. While they were walking along the tracks, a Yard Steam Engine was nearing them and Willie's father stepped on the foot-board of the engine and pulled Willie with him and they rode for a short distance.

His father had a Way Freight Run from Galesburg to Quincy that day. The Way Freight consisted of a steam engine, a few freight cars, on passenger coach, and a caboose. The train stopped at every station between Galesburg and Quincy to pick up freight and passengers. He watched his Daddy pick up tickets and call stations. When they reached Bushnell, there was some switching to do and Willie's father went over to a store and came back with fresh buns with ham and mustard. This was a treat for Willie as he was now hungry, as he didn't eat his breakfast.

After a short lay over in Quincy, they made a return trip back to Galesburg, arriving late at night and they walked from the railroad yards back home. Willie was tired and Home never looked so good. It was an experience for him to remember.

At Great Aunt Ellen Hickey's Farm

When Willie was a little boy, his folks sometimes drove to Willie's Great Aunt Ellen's farm. Aunt Ellen was Willie's Grandmother Scully's sister. She was a widow and lived on the farm near Abingdon. She had two adult sons, Lawrence and John, and two teenage daughters, Francis and Katherine.

The Hickey Farm was not good farm land, but hilly and much timber land. The farm was quite isolated and no near neighbors. They had a two story house and few out buildings. There was nothing modern about the place. They used wood that the boys would cut from the timber for fuel in their kitchen range.

Willie's Great Aunt Ellen raised chickens, and Great Bronze Turkeys. It was an ideal place to raise turkeys. Some of the gobblers weighed fifty pounds. At Thanksgiving and Christmas time she would sell some of her flock. She depended on their annual income from the turkey crop. They were raised for that purpose. Johnny would also drive their two mules and wagon into Galesburg to the Hay Market with a load of cord wood and sell it for about two dollars a cord. All the farmers brought their farm products to the Hay Market to sell.

They had two or three cows and the boys did the farm work. This was really wild timber with no fences. Willie's cousins told him that sometimes they would hear a wild cat screaming, but that could have been a "tall story".

If a farmer spotted a "bee tree" in the forest, he would put his initials on it and it would be his, even if it was on another man's property. No one would bother it. He would have the privilege of cutting it down to get the honey. Willie's cousin Johnny found a bee tree and initialed it. He invited Willie's father to come and assist him in the project. So Willie's family drove out in their surry and Willie's father and Johnny went out at night and cut the tree down. This was done at night because the bees couldn't see to fly as well at night. The girls and Willie went along to observe. The men got the honey but in the process Willie's father got stung. The bees would fight to save their honey as it was their supply of food for the Winter. The men took the honey back to the farm to be strained for use.

In later years that farm was sold along with other adjoining property and it is now a private Country Club with many nice cottages around an artificial lake. It is called "Lake Bracken" and is quite scenic.

Willie liked to roam in the woods, punching into Ground Hog and Rabbit burrows. In fooling around in the bushes he stirred up a black snake about five feet long. It was a non-poisonous snake but he did now know that. He should not have killed the snake because they kill rattle snakes, but he did. He knew the path that his cousin Johnny would be coming down after the cows in the evening, so he coiled the snake up with sticks, (not his hands), and made a nice neat coil in the path. Then he went back to the house and kept quiet.

When Johnny went after the cows he asked Willie to come along. They went down the path when all of a sudden they came upon the coiled snake. Johnny pushed Willie back to safety. He got a big stick and hit the snake and discovered it was already dead. He turned and looked at Willie, but Willie was running back toward the house for safety. Johnny was mad. Willie told his Aunt Ellen what he had done, and that Johnny was mad at him. She scolded him and said that he shouldn't do those things to Johnny. Johnny had cooled off by the time he returned from his chores. Willie's mother and father had driven on home and left Willie to stay for a few days. Some of his Aunt Ellen's children called him "Bunt" but Johnny called him "Bunditty".

When it was time to retire for the night, his Aunt Ellen asked Willie who he wanted to sleep with, the boys or the girls. To Johnny's disgust, Willie chose the girls, and he slept between them.

One of the girls had a boy friend who would come and call on her. They would go out for a walk in the woods and Willie would tag along after them. If they hinted that he was not wanted, he did not know it. The girls liked him and were good to him.

One morning one of the girls was ironing in the kitchen, heating her sad irons on the wood stove. She would put potatoes in the oven to bake and when they were done she would put salt on one and eat it. She offered one to Willie, be he declined. He had never eaten a potato like that. She urged him to try one and he did. To his surprise, it tasted delicious.

Family Gatherings

Willie's mother was quiet and shy but her husband was quite the opposite. The Scully family would get together often at "Grandma Scully's". Willie's father was young and full of life. The youngest of the Scully girls was Katherine. She was a single girl and Willie's father would grab her and hug her and she would squeal. He called her "Cobby".

The Grandmother and her daughters would cook big meals for her husband and children and their families. Grandma Scully was noted for her delicious home made bread. The grandchildren would ask for, and get, a large slice of fresh bread with real butter and sugar, whenever they were at their grandmother's.

Willie's Uncle Dan, who was a teenager, would tease Willie and the Grandfather would call Willie the "Forsythe Devel". The Scully's had a two story house, a horse, two or three pigs, a cow, chickens and large gardens. There was a barn and several small buildings on the place. Willie, usually being the only little boy there, would wander through the barn to see what interesting little "goodies" he might find. His grandfather had many old cigar boxes on shelves that contained nuts, bolts, etc. stored in the barn. He also had stubs of soap stone pencils that he used at work. Sometimes Willie would help himself to one.

Sometimes when he was at his Grandmother Scully's his Uncle Dan would take him with him over to the Stock Yards. There were about 250, more or less, stock pens. There was a walk about one and one-half feet wide on top of the fences and they would walk around and look at the animals. There were wild horses, pigs, sheep, goats, etc. Occasionally a caretaker at the Stock Yards would give Dan a baby lamb that Dan would raise on a bottle.

Willie's father took his family in the surrey many times to visit relatives. They visited Willie's Aunt Mary Wilson and family who lived on South Academy Street. His Uncle Charlie had a Camera, and would take flash pictures. To take flash pictures he would put flash powder in a container on a stand and everyone had to sit quietly while he focused them in and lit the powder, which went up in a puff, lighting the room for an instant. He developed his own pictures, and they usually turned out very good.

First Communion

Willie made his First Holy Communion at St. Patrick's Church. The children were prepared for that event on Sunday's after Mass. Usually he and his folks spent these Sundays at his Grandparents.

Pre School Days

Willie had been having a toothache. He had a cavity in a molar and his Dad took him down town to a Dentist. The dentist put some medicine in his gums and told them to come back in an hour or so. His Dad took him to a Bowling Alley to watch the bowling while they were waiting. That was the first time Willie ever saw a bowling alley.

Sometimes in the afternoon, Willie's mother would dress Edna and Willie in clean clothes and they and some friends would go for a walk. One afternoon they and the two Willsie girls, Marjorie and Florence, walked east beyond the pavement as far as Farnham Street, which was the City Limits. There was a bridge there that went over a small stream. Beyond the bridge was empty lots where city folks would drive out in their buggies or wagons and dump refuse. In the stream, which was only inches deep in water, was rubbish, cans, bricks, and rocks. The girls would walk under the bridge, stepping from brick to brick. When a wagon would go over the bridge, Willie was showered with dirt.

On rainy days in the Summer, sometimes Willie and Edna would take off their shoes and stockings and Willie would roll up the legs of this overalls, and they would wade in the water as it ran along the curbing, on the pavement in front of their house.

One of their neighbors, Mr. Mason, had a small dairy, and Willie's mother purchased milk from him. Willie would take a quart milk pail from home and go after the milk. Usually he would get there early and would have to wait for the neighbor to come in from milking. This family had two girls, Margurite and Marion, and while he was waiting they would tease him. Margurite was about Willie's age, eight or nine years, but Marion was younger. Marion would climb on Willie's lap and he would try to push her off. He was shy and wished the people would hurry with the milk. Mrs. Mason would strain the milk and measure a quart in a measuring utensil and then pour it into his bucket, and would run home.

Willie and his friends would take their dogs to the pastures and chase rabbits. One boy had a greyhound dog and Willie had his shaggy little dog "Lake". He had name his dog "Lake" after "Lake W. Sanborn" who was the mayor of Galesburg at that time. The greyhound would chase the rabbit and knock it down, but he was running so fast that he couldn't stop and he would run on by it. Willie's little dog would pounce on the rabbit and kill it. Another time the boys went to a dump that was near a truck garden and were trying to catch and kill rats with sticks. Finally a policeman came and sent the boys home and forbid them to chase rats there anymore.

Neighbors

Because the Forsythe's residence was so near to Lombard College, many of their neighbors were College professors. Willie's special playmate was Ted Wright, whose mother and father were both College professors. The boys played around the Campus, and once Ted left a window unlocked at the College and once Sunday afternoon Ted and Willie entered. There was no one around so they wandered through the Science rooms to see what they could see. They saw rocks, butterflies, bird eggs, and even a human skeleton. They were very careful not to touch anything.

Another time they walked all around the building on an outside ledge above the second story. They thought they were being very brave, but they were really foolish. They tried many stunts. Once they dropped a cat from the third floor window of the Wright's house to see if it would land on it's feet. It did, and swiftly scampered away. They tried to see who could jump from the highest place and they jumped from a high porch roof. Willie made a record by jumping twenty-two feet from a tree. One of Ted's older brothers saw them and told them that that was not an intelligent test, or feat, anyone could jump from a high building. It took no skill. They were just stupid, and they could get hurt. They didn't try that stunt anymore. They tried to see who could drink the most water, and found that a quart was all they could handle at one sitting.

Wright's had a housekeeper. Occasionally Ted would bring Willie into their house to play. Wright's had a library, and Willie liked to read their books about animals. Ted would take Willie into the pantry and they would help themselves to powdered or confectioners sugar. The housekeeper paid no attention to them. Once Ted slid down the laundry shoot from the third floor to the basement but Willie would not try that.

Ted's mother and father, both professors, and their three sons, Sewell, Quincy and Ted, would take hikes in the woods, and many times Willie would go with them. They would stop to look at a tree, bush, plant, flower, leaf, or bug. Then they would discuss it. They were teaching their sons science. Willie enjoyed these hikes, called it "bugging", and even absorbed some knowledge. Later he and Ted would hunt bird eggs and also butterflies and bugs, which they would mount. Willie eventually had a fine collection of each.

In the Spring the boys were flying home-made kites. Wright's lived in a three story house, the third floor which was meant to be a Ball room was a work shop. They had all kinds of tools, anything one would need to make anything they desired to make. The tow older boys, who were in High School and College, used the workshop to make things and experiment. They, Sewell and Quincy, made a Box Kite. They could afford to buy the wood they needed at the Lumber Yard. The kit was six feet high and three feet square. The "kite string" was cord almost as big as clothes line rope. They attached a parachute to the kite with a bent pin so when the kite was high in the air they would jerk the cord and the pin would slide off and the parachute would float down. Ted and Willie would run to rescue the parachute if it didn't land in a tree or on a roof top. There was a large vacant lot across the street from Wright's with no trees or wires, an ideal place to fly their box kite.

Sewell was kind but Quincy had a cruel streak. One day Quincy asked Willie if he would like to hold the kite string. Willie was elated, to be allowed to hold the kite as it was soaring high in the wind. When it was high in the air, one ordinary boy could not hold it alone. Willie was young, eight or nine years. As soon as he took hold the string, it started dragging him along the ground. He was frightened. He thought it was going to lift him and take him with the kite. He was about to let go when Sewell came to his rescue. The big boys got a king size laugh. The Wright boys made many beautiful kites.

Colonel Willsie lived about a block from Willie's folks. He had been a Colonel in the Union Army in the Civil War. He was an old man, and he had three cows. When he would go out after the cows, he would whistle patriotic songs. He could whistle loud and clear, and could be heard for blocks. Willie's mother took milk from him for a time. Willie would usually get over there early, while the Colonel's wife had set out his evening meal and Willie would sit and watch him eat. Willie's mother purchased her mile from someone in the neighborhood, where Willie could go for it, and she would get it from whoever would give her more tickets for her dollar. Usually milk tickets were twenty for a dollar. His mother was very frugal. She needn't have been that frugal as her home and the extra lot were paid for in full, and she rented out the extra lot to a neighbor.

Next door east lived Professor Rich and his family. Their son was a young man attending Lombard College. Between their two lots was an apple tree with small apples that were not good for eating, but excellent for throwing. Willie, and a boy fired, Hallie Reimer, would fill their pockets with the little apples when Willis Rich would come home from College, they would meet him with a barrage of apples, which he would throw back at them. Each day they would have their sham battle, with the small boys retreating to Rich's barn, and they would climb to the hay loft and continue throwing from the hay loft doors. Willis, being a College athlete, could aim much better and throw harder. When occasionally one of the boys was hit, it hurt as the apples were hard as rocks. This was a daily game which the College boy seemed to enjoy as much as Willie and Hallie did.

There were no garbage disposal trucks in those days and most people had a hole dug in their back yard where they dumped garbage and cans. However, very few cans were used. Women canned their own fruit and tomatoes, and made their own jellies, jams, pickles and relishes. Any woman that used canned goods was considered "lazy". The Rich's next door, had a large barrel back of their barn for "slop" and a large turtle lived in the barrel.

There was a hedge fence between the Forsyth and Rich property which extended down past their barn. Wild grape vines grew in the hedge and on the barn. The boys thought the wild grapes were sweet and delicious.

Willie's folks had some chickens, a big Plymouth Rock Rooster and a few hens. Willie had a Bantum hen and rooster. The little bantum rooster spent his waking hours chasing the big Plymouth Rock rooster around the chicken yard. Bantums are naturally a wild fowl and he wanted to fight.

One time Willie brought home a duck egg from his Uncle Jack Sipes farm and put it under the little Bantum hen. She was read to set, and she perched herself over the egg, barely covering it. After twenty to thirty days, the egg hatched and out came the little duck. The Bantum mothered it and the little duck would come when she clucked. She was the only mother the little duck ever knew. Before long, the duck was almost as large as the Bantum hen.

Another Professor by the name of Grubb lived on-half block east of Willie's home. The children all became acquainted with him because every time he would pass by he would stop and talk with them and have them stand up straight and have them inhale and expand their chests. He told them to do that frequently during the day at play and they would grow to be strong and healthy men and women. Willie was around nine years old. When his father was plating the garden for Summer, we would send Willie over to Professor Grubb to purchase a few tomato and cabbage plants.

Professor Grubb must have like Willie because while he was over there, he would show Willie how he had grafted twigs from a pear tree to branches of an apple tree. It was strange to see pears growing on the apple tree. Being a Professor at Lombard College, he would do lots of experimenting at his home.

Besides being a Professor at Lombard, he also owned and operated a milk route. Jake Rodman, as well as several other men, worked for him because he didn't do too much of the work himself. Jake would hire Willie to go on his milk route with him so he could get through early. Willie would deliver on one side of the street while Jake delivered the other side. The horse didn't require driving, he just went along with Jake. If Jake wanted the horse to stop, he would just say "whoa", and then when Jake moved on to the next house, so did the horse. They would carry big cans of milk and measuring cups and measure out quarts. There was not bottled milk. Jake and Willie just poured the milk into a pan or other container that would be left on the porch. Willie could do that as well as Jake could. And, he enjoyed it. They watched to see that the milk was covered so that the neighbors cats or dogs wouldn't come and lap up the milk. The milk was delivered very early in the morning, and some folks were not up.

Mr. Grubb owned a large number of cows, probably twenty or thirty and they had to be milked by hand. No one knew about milking machines in those days. Everything was done by hand. It was an enormous amount of work. His large herd of cows had to be kept outside the City limits in a large pasture. The men would drive out there with a wagon and equipment and milk the cows out there. They couldn't very well drive thirty cows down the paved street, to the barn.

Professor Grubb's basement in his house was equipped for a dairy. There was plenty of windows for light, concrete floors, and it was clean. He owned much land, orchards in the city, as well as land outside the city limits. He was a grand man, Willie thought.

One day, the neighborhood was shocked to hear that Professor Grubb had committed suicide by slashing his wrists. Jake was working in the large barn when a drop of blood dropped through the floor above his hand. Jake went up to the loft and found the Professor dead. He had seemed to be so happy and was doing so well. That ended the milk route and the Grubb Dynasty. His wife continued to live on the property.

Paint Episode

Ludwig's were neighbors of Willie's folks. They had two children Myrtle and Archie. Archie was several years older than Willie and was a friend of Percy Reimer, who was about the same age. One afternoon, Willie's mother cleaned Willie and Edna up and went to visit Mrs. Ludwig. While the ladies and Edna were visiting, in the house, Willie was playing outside, and looking for something to do. Ludwig's had just recently painted their house and barn. Willie went into the barn and saw buckets of paint and several paint brushes. He though the stalls in the barn looked as though they needed paint, so he proceeded to paint them, dobbing paint everywhere. Willie's mother went outside looking for him, wondering what he was doing, and Mrs. Ludwig came following her. They found him in the barn, and the mess he had made. Mrs. Ludwig was angry and told him she was going to call the police and have him arrested. This, of course, was to scare Willie. His mother took him home. Mrs. Ludwig and Willie's mother ceased their afternoon visits after that episode. Once, after that, Willie called Myrtle "Mud Turtle" and she surprised him with by slapping his face with a pretty hefty blow.

Reimers lived on a small acreage about four blocks from Willie's folks. They had two sons, Pearcy and Hallie. Hallie was Willie's friend, Percy was several years older. This was a small acreage with a little stream running through the property. It was a nice place, away from neighbors, and a good place to raise boys. There was no pavement by their place, only dirt road, and no residences south of their house as far as you could see. The Reimer boys had a cave, and they would go down in the cave and smoke cubeb cigarettes. In the afternoon, after school, Mrs. Reimer would give her boys sandwiches with ham, mustard, and pickles. Usually Willie was there with them, and she would make a sandwich for him also. This was a delicious treat for him as his mother never made sandwiches like that for him. Willie like Mrs. Reimer, he thought she was super.

Reimers had moved from the acreage to a house on East Knox Street, next door to Willie's folks. The acreage was unoccupied as Reimer's had not sold it yet. The neighbors on the acreage next to their place had a flock of ducks, which often would swim around in Reimer's part of the stream. Percy had acquired a 22 rifle, by foul or fair means, no one knew. He wanted to show off his rifle to the neighborhood boys. The boys, Archie and Willie, met at Reimer's recent home, which was vacant. They were looking around for a target, and there before their eyes was a flock of the neighbor's ducks swimming around in the stream. Percy told the boys that didn't know anything about law or rules or regulations, that when a person's live stock of any kind trespassed on his land he was allowed to shoot them.

The boys were under Reimer's barn, which was up about four feet off the ground. He selected Willie, who was the youngest and most gullible, to do the shooting. Willie shot several ducks and the boys followed them where they were floating down the stream toward a little bridge. By laying on their bellies they could reach the stream. When the ducks came within range, Willie was catching them and he took them out of the water and threw them under the bridge on dry land.

All of a sudden it got very quiet, and Willie looked up just in time to see his companions fleeing in great haste, and the last boy was just running behind the corner of Ludwig's barn. Willie quickly looked the other direction to see what was causing them to flee, and he was a big policeman waving a billy club and hollering. Willie immediately jumped to his feet and pursued his companions as fast as he could go. They crawled under Ludwig's barn, and from there they could see Reimer's back door on Knox Street. They didn't have to wait long until they was the policeman go up to Reimer's back door, and Mrs. Reimer came to the door. What took place there no one knew. The policeman left and on one was arrested. Mrs. Reimer probably paid for the slaughtered ducks.

Sometimes when Willie would be out with the neighborhood boys, and one of the older boys would start to tell a dirty story or say a bad word, one of the other boys would say, "Cut it out, the kid is with us".

Reimer's now lived next door to Willie's folks. Willie's father had given his horse and surrey to his brother, Joel, so the barn was not in use. Hallie had a Shetland pony that he kept in Forsyth's barn and barn yard. Hallie would put an ear of corn in his hip pocket and the pony would follow him all over the barn yard trying to get it. The pony was a pet. Once the pony jumped with his two feet over Willie's shoulders, from the rear. That wasn't so much fun.

Hallie had a Trap, a small buggy with seats back to back, and harness of the pony. He would have the harness fixed overhead, as they did in the Fire Department, and the pony would back under it, and Hallie would pull a rope and the harness would drop onto the pony. He and Willie would hitch him quickly to a wagon and pretend they were firemen. Willie's father had taken him to visit the City Fire Department once and the Firemen rang the fire bell, the firemen slid down the pole, the horses ran into place and the harness was dropped on them. Of course, as there was really no fire, the horses were unhitched and returned to their stalls. It was exciting.

The older Reimer boy, Percy, did many unethical things. In fact, he would steal. One time he went with a friend delivering papers, and on the route they saw some beautiful pigeons. They asked the owner if they could look at them, and he showed them to the boys. That night, his pigeons disappeared and Percy had pigeons in his basement. They were Pouter pigeons. All the neighbor boys went down in Percy's basement to see them. When a boy would put the pigeon's beak in his mouth and blow, the pigeon's chest would swell up like a balloon. Percy had many things in his basement, like storage batteries that h would hook up to his inventions.

One time a man came from the telephone office and when he asked Mrs. Reimer if she had an extra phone in the house, she assured him that she did not, and she let him come in to look. He found a phone in the basement that had been stolen from the Railroad and was hooked up for use. Mrs. Reimer was surprised, she didn't know it was there. She was a good woman but she evidently paid for Percy's escapades, as he was never arrested.

You would expect him to turn out bad, but he didn't. He became an expert on X-rays, worked in a Hospital in that capacity in Davenport, Iowa, and he wrote a book on X-rays that was published.

Winter Sports

Before there were automobiles, many folks had sleighs, or cutters, or bob-sleds. In the Winter when there would be a heavy snow fall, (and it seemed as though there were many heavy snow falls in those days), the snow would settle on the pavements to a base of three or four inches thick, and ice and snow covered the pavements.

Willie's folks did not have a sleigh, just the surrey. One time Willie's Dad and family had been out shopping, and Willie was sitting on his sled tied on behind the surrey. They went around a corner so fast his sled tipped over, dumping Willie in the street. No one noticed his plight. His father kept on driving, and Willie was lying in the street crying. He was gone the whole length of Lombard College grounds, which was two blocks. Willie thought they would come back after him, but they didn't. He had to walk home. Of course, when they got home they found that they had a sled and no little boy. The folks were shook up a little, and Willie's feelings were hurt because they had ran away from him.

In the afternoon, after school, the boys would hop sleighs, or bob-sleds, or anything that moved. Drivers would try to keep the boys off, and they would drive very fast. After Willie started to school, he would hop rides on his sled also. Sometimes when he would grab on to a sleigh, it would throw him across the street. When he would catch on to a sleigh, he would ride several blocks. It was a popular sport for little boys in those days.

In the Winter, Willie, Edna and their mother would walk to Mass. They usually went to Corpus Christi, as it was not so far as St. Particks. One Holy Day, Willie wanted to go ice skating with the boys at "Lady Washington" Lake. The boys would swim at that Lake in the Summer, and skate there in the Winter. His mother refused to let him go, and insisted that he go to Mass with her. He protested, but he went to Mass. That Morning, one of his friends broke through the ice, and was drowned.

Visits with Grandmother

Willie often visited his Grandmother Forsyth in LaPrairie, Illinois, when he was a little boy. When his Grandmother was a young widow with her three little boys, she had lived in a small farm house with an apple orchard. This house had burned down many years before, and another house had been built in another location on her farm. She did not farm anymore, but she had tenant farmers who farmed her land. She and Willie would walk to the site of the old farm and sit in the grass and talk. There were delicious yellow applies on her apple trees.

There was an iron fence around her place and if company came, she could hear the iron gate clang shut when they entered the yard. Of course, she didn't have much company. The folks that lived "down the pike" from her had peacocks, and Willie and his grandmother would walk down to see them.

It was only about two blocks to the town of LaPrairie and she and Willie would walk to town. In the very center of the little town was a public pump and everyone that passes by took a drink of water, cold and delicious, out of the tin cup that hung on the well. People didn't know to much about germs. Willie and his Grandmother had a cool drink also.

One day Willie found a young blackbird that couldn't fly. He brought it into the house to show his grandmother. She notices that the bird was full of lice and Willie had them on him too, even in his hair. She immediately got rid of the bird, filled up the tub in her laundry room and stripped Willie to the nude and gave him a bath and hair wash with good old strong yellow laundry soap, and got rid of the lice.

His Grandmother moved to Quincy and Willie visited her there. You probably have noticed that he was her favorite grandchild. Perhaps he reminder her of her boys when they were little. In Quincy her home was high on a hill. One would walk up a few steps, a short landing, few more steps, etc. until you reach the top. She rented this place, just north of the Court House in Downtown Quincy. Willie got a thrill out of riding on the open air Street Cars. His grandmother would take him to Indian Mound Park on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. There was a square in the center of the town with a Drinking Fountain on each corner. They would sit in the park and watch the many pigeons and squirrels, and eat the peanuts that she would buy for him.

Amusements

Almost every Summer the Ringling Brothers Three Ring Circus would come to Galesburg. The Circus would unload at night from a Railroad siding. The elephants would proceed to a large vacant lot on East Main Street. The workers would put up an enormous tent. When Willie's father's horse was in the barn yard, he would jump around and snort and do all sorts of capers. Willie asked his daddy what was the matter with the horse and his father explained to him that the horse could smell the elephants and other wild animals, although they were a half mile from their house. The horse was disturbed.

The next day there would be a parade down Main Street, around the Public Square and back to the Circus grounds. In the parade there would be horses with fancy dressed ladies riding them, many very fancy wagons with bars carrying lions, tigers, etc. Men or ladies were riding the elephants. Baby elephants were following. There were also people riding camels or ponies. There were band wagons here and there through the parade with bands playing, and many, many clowns, some walking and some riding in funny wagons or on silly looking bikes. There were no automobiles in those days. At the very end came the calliope with a man playing it loud and clear.

On Circus day, Willie's Aunt Nell Sipes and her children would come in, Cousin Ed driving them in a wagon with a team of horses. Ed would put the horses in the barn, and Willie's folks and the Sipes' would all go to see the parade. Willie's Aunt Net would purchase bananas and peanuts, etc., for the party. It was a gale day for Willie and his cousins from the country.

Another Circus would come to Galesburg also. This was a Wild West Show. As usual Willie went with his folks to see the parade. He saw Buffalo Bill (William Cody) in person all dressed in white and glittering western attire. His hair was white and flowing and he rode a white stallion. Buffalo Bill would throw white balls, resembling ping-pong balls, in the air and shoot them down while riding in the parade. The parade consisted mostly of Cow Boys and Cow Girls, horses and bands. Buffalo Bill was the main attraction.

The famed evangelist, "Billy Sunday" came to Galesburg, also. A huge tent, like a Circus tent, was set up on a vacant lot, and many people flocked to see and hear him. Willie's father persuaded Willie's mother to bring the children and they all went one evening. Billy Sunday was not only an evangelist, but also a "showman". As he preached he did all kinds of antics to hold the attention of the audience. He, Bill Sunday, was a sight to behold. He called the people to come forward the repent. Many people responded. Willie enjoyed the "show" but his mother felt that she should not have been there.

Mary Faye's death

On January 31, 1903, Willie's baby sister, Mary Faye died from pneumonia. There were no wonder drugs in those days. She was only a year old. After a mass of the Angels, she was buried in Linwood cemetery, Galesburg, Illinois. This was a sad event in Willie's life.

Now Willie was ten years old. Sometimes he would play out in the evening with the other boys, playing "duck on the rock", "run sheep run", "chalk the corner", and other games under the Arc Light on the corner.

Sometimes, in the Summer, his dad would drive the family to LaPrairie to visit his Grandmother Forsythe. Although it was only a hundred miles, it was a day's journey by horse and surrey. Willie's Grandmother was of Scotch decent. Her maiden name was Martha Larinda McFarland. These were always enjoyable trips for Willie. He was his Grandmother's favorite grandchild.

The Square Dance

Once when Willie's father and mother were visiting the Sipes' Farm, and Willie was staying at his Great Aunt Ellen's Farm, his cousin George Sipes rode his horse several miles to the Hickey farm to give them an invitation to a Square Dance the Sipes were going to have the next day. Willie's Uncle Jack and Willie's father purchased boards to make a platform for the Square Dance. Willie's Aunt Ellen's daughters, Francis and Katherine, were delighted to get the invitation, glad for a chance to have a good time. They were lonely teenagers, on the farm. Willie watched the girls getting ready, curling their hair with a curling iron heated in the chimney of a coal oil lamp, and putting dime store perfume on them. Willie went over to the Sipes Farm with them in a horse and buggy.

Farmers and their families attended the Square Dance. One man played "Turkey on the Straw" on his fiddle, and he also called the dances. There were freezers of ice cream, both vanilla and chocolate. George and Willie discovered where the ice cream freezers were deposited under tables, where they would be safe from "poachers". While the folds were dancing, George and Willie got "hands full" of chocolate ice cream. It was so delicious that they came back several times for more hands full. The didn't get caught. After the dance, Willie wouldn't go home with the Hickey girls, although they begged and pleaded with him. He stayed and went home with his mother and father.

On the Sipes Farm there was a tree with a trunk that leaned at a tremendous angle. George and Willie were about the same age. George could run up the tree clear up into the branches. Willie wouldn't even try that.

Grade School Days

In 1901, when Willie was eight and one-half years old, and Edna was six and one-half, their parents entered them into the first grade in the Fourth Ward public school, Weston School. Willie knew his numbers and letters before he started to school. His Grandmother Forsyth spent her Winters with her son, Willie's father, and she would read to Willie. He learned from her and from his boy friends. His first grade teacher was Miss Heath, a crabby middle aged woman. Naturally he didn't like her. He was two years older than any of the other children, and another grade later. He and Edna walked to and from school, but not usually together as each had their own friends. The school was about a mile from their home, and they came home for lunch at noon.

Willie went to Weston until he was through the sixth grade. In the lower grades, reading arithmetic, spelling and penmanship was stressed. Later, perhaps the fourth or fifth grade, history and geography was added. There were about forty pupils in each room. The teacher was always a single woman, and she wore a shirtwaist and a long skirt. She usually was kind but strict. If a child was unruly, she would punish him, or her. Sometimes she would shake him or use a ruler on the palm of his hand. No one complained. This was expected, it was the rule. There were A, B, and C classes in each grade. If an A student didn't pass his or her test at the end of the month, he was put in the B class. If he or she didn't pass the final exams, at the end of the year, he or she was kept in the grade another year. The children respected their teachers, and worked at their lessons. Willie never had to be punished and he was never set back. In fact, he skipped grades. There were no "Parent-Teachers" Associations.

The boys and girls each had their own play yard at recess. There was a water faucet in the rear of the school, with a tin cup where the children could get a drink of water. There were both black and white students at the school.

There were no Boy Scout Troops in those days, the Boy Scout Organization was formed in 1910. And, the schools did not take students on tours. School was a place to learn to read, write and figure.

One afternoon Willie's parents drove in their fine surrey to the school to pick up Willie and Edna. Edna ran and got into the surrey but Willie tried to hide. He didn't succeed, of course, but went with them. He was ashamed to be picked up. He thought the kids would think he was a sissy.

One noon Willie went with one of his school friends to Olsen's Grocery and later he saw his friend eating a luscious orange. He asked his friend where he got it and the boy told him "at Olsen's Grocery". "It's easy," he said. "Just pick one out of the basket when Mr. Olsen isn't looking." Most produce fruit, vegetables, and even crackers and cookies, were in open boxes or baskets in stores in those days. Willie decided to try it. He sauntered into the store, stood around until he thought Mr. Olsen wasn't looking, and he picked up an orange, thought it was so easy that he took several and put them in his blouse. Boy's wore blouse shirts in those days, tight at the waist. Mr. Olsen called him over and told him to put the oranges back into their basket. Then he gave Willie a lecture. He said, "What if I told your father that you were stealing oranges." "You know he buys all his groceries from me. If you asked him for oranges, he would tell you to purchase one and have it put on his bill." That was Willie's first and last adventure in stealing.

Galesburg Race Track

At that time, Galesburg had the finest Race Track in Illinois. Horses were brought from all over the country to race. There were Sulky Races. Willie saw the noted horse "Dan Patch" break a record on that track. He even had a rose from the winner wreath of Dan Patch. He had many other roses from wreaths from other winning horses, which he pressed in a book and saved. Willie would go to the races, usually sneaking in by crawling through a window in a horse stall, go by the strange horse, and into the grounds.

Of course there was an admission fee at the gate to enter the grounds. Once when Willie's father had paid his fee, and was entering the grounds, he heard a voice from above him. "Hey Dad" "Come on up here in the Grand Stand. It's easy. Just climb up that pole." His father was embarrassed to discover that it was his little son calling to him.

Father's Death

Willie's father had left the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, and was working as a Brakeman on the Santa Fe Railroad. Willie's mother called Willie and Edna to her one day and she told them to get ready to go to the Santa Fe Freight House as their Daddy was coming through Galesburg, and if they would be at the Freight House, they would see him at work. Edna was elated, but Willie didn't want to go. He wanted to play ball with the boys. His mother insisted, and they went. They saw his Dad working the cars and they waved to him. His dad showed off a little for them. That was the last time he or his Mother or Edna saw his dad alive.

On November 26, 1904, his father was killed in a Santa Fe Railroad train accident at Pontoosic, Illinois. The boiler on the engine exploded, and his father, who was the brakeman, and the fireman were killed instantly. The engineer was found wandering in a daze in a field nearby, where he had been blown by the explosion. His dad was thirty-three years old. This was a very hard time for his mother.

His father belonged to the B. of R.T., a railroad lodge. The wake was in the home and the room was banked with flowers from relatives, friends, and railroad men. His father was such a fun loving man that he was like by everyone. Of course it was a closed casket. He was buried beside his little baby girl, Mary Faye, in Linwood Cemetery.

Willie's Aunt Anne, came and stayed a short time with her sister, but Willie's mother carried on alone. She accepted a settlement from the railroad. Her home was clear, and she also owned a lot on the street behind her. She also had several thousand dollars in the bank.

Willie, now at the age of eleven, was the man of the house. Of course, he wasn't much of a man at eleven years, but he could mow the lawn, carry coal from the basement, and do other chores. The little family was adjusting. The house was large and during the school year she rented two rooms to Lombard College students.

In the Spring, following his father's death, Willie planted the garden, and he went over to Professor Grubb's and purchased tomato and cabbage plants, as his father did in the past. (Professor Grubb was still alive at this time.)

Helpful Neighbors

The neighbors were kind to Willie's mother. One neighbor thought she would help them by giving Willie a "little' job to do. She had a water tank in her attic for soft water. She hired Willie to pump the water from the cistern to the attic "by hand", no electricity. He pumped and pumped and pumped. It seemed like hours and it was hard work for such a young boy. When he finished she thanked him and she gave him a dime for all that effort. He never saw such a thin dime. He went home and cried, and he didn't do that job again.

Another neighbor hired him to mow her lawn. The grass had not been cut for so long that he could barely cut it with the hand mower, using all his strength. It was a hot sultry day and the lady came out and brought him a glass of ice cold lemonade. He drank it, it tasted so good, but he was too hot and tired and it made him sick, so sick that he regurgitated. He rested a bit, and finished the job, for a quarter. The neighbors thought they were doing favors for the Forsyth's.

Confirmation

Willie made his confirmation at St. Patrick's Church. His mother had continued to belong to St. Patrick's even though they lived in Corpus Christi Parish. Willie would have permission to leave class and go to St. Patrick's for instructions. He was the only child from Weston School being confirmed that year. He would ride his bicycle to the wooden viaduct that spanned the whole C.B. &Q. Yards. It was a narrow walking bridge. He would have to carry his bike up many, many steps, ride across, then carry it down on the other side. The viaduct was on-half mile wide crossing the whole Q. Yards.

There was one little girl, Catherine Williams, who attended the Seventh Ward School, that was also being confirmed. After instructions, "Kit" would walk all the way to Weston School with Willie, blocks out of her way, and then on to her school. She must have had a little crush on Willie.

Drill Team

Willie's mother belonged to the B of R.T. auxiliary and when she attended the meetings downtown, Willie and Edna accompanied her. After the meeting there was always a program. There was a Drill Team, sons and daughters of members. They would do intricate drilling, Willie leading the boys and a girl, Irma Burke, leading the girls.

Summer at Sipes' Farm

The Sipes Farm was on the Narrow Gauge Railroad. Jack Sipes had four hundred acres of farm land. Willie rode his bicycle out the Narrow Gauge tracks to the farm. This was a railroad where the tracks were not as far apart as on the standard railroads.

The nearest neighbor to Sipes was about one and a half miles. One evening Willie's cousin George said, "Let's go over to see Art Johnson." He was a young man renting that farm. Johnson's had company, a girl about the same age as George and Willie. She had been in the same room with Willie at Weston School. That was a surprise. The boys visited and went back home.

On the Fourth of July that summer, the Narrow Gauge train, as it went through Knoxville, threw sparks from the engine, and Jack's hay field caught on fire. It burned the whole hay field. It was like a prairie fire. Eventually, the railroad paid for the hay that was destroyed.

Willie enjoyed his summers that he spent at the Sipes Farm. He could buddy with his cousins Ed and George. His uncle Jack had a hired man, an old fellow sixty or so old, that roomed with them. One night George put shoes under the sheets of the hired man's bed and he and Willie crawled into their bed and pretended to be asleep. They heard him throwing the shoes out and swearing a little. Of course, he knew who the culprits were.

Willie was collecting bird eggs and his cousin George was interested also. They saw a large Chicken Hawk's nest in a tree that was growing high on a creek bank. The limbs grew far out over a deep gully. They both climbed the tree but when they got near the next two chicken hawks came after them. They fought the large birds with their pocket knives, frightened of the hawks and also for fear of falling into the gully so far below them. They didn't even get to see in the nest. They were just lucky to reach terra firma intact.

Long Day

Jack Sipes had thirty steers parked in a distant pasture, several miles from the farm. Jack sent George and Willie on their horses, with their dog, to count the steers to see if any of them had been killed on account of the bad electrical storm the night before, and the steers were insured. On the way, George and Willie were having a race and they came to a sharp turn in the road. Willie's horse slipped in the mud and fell down. Willie didn't lose his seat in the saddle when he fell, so when the horse started to regain her feet, Willie regained his position and kept on the upper side of the horse. He never left the saddle.

While they were trying to get the count of the steers, they tied their horses up and went rabbit hunting as they had their guns with them. They were hunting on a corn field that had been picked and was muddy. They came to a deserted barn, and they leaned against it to rest because it was hard walking in the mud. The sun was shining brightly. It was very quiet, when all of a sudden the silence was shattered by a most terrifying sound nearly in arms length from them. To say that they were startled would be stating it mildly. They were terrified momentarily. Willie didn't know what the sound was but George soon told him it was coming from a jackass inside the old barn. After Willie gained his composure, the question that came to his mind was, "Why was this beast stalled away out there ten miles from no where?" George answered by asking a question, "How would you like to be awakened by that critter making a noise like that in the middle of the night?" George said that that was the reason.

They had completed their errand and they got on their horses and headed back home. They came upon a wild cherry tree loaded with wild cherries. If you have never tasted any wild cherries, they are pretty to look at but bitter to the taste. So they stopped again, and decided to paint up like Indians. They smeared the fruit on their faces and painted them red. It was now about noon and they had to hurry home for dinner.

However, on the way home they passed a large pasture where a neighbor had thirty or forty steers pastured out. They tied their horses outside the fence and they and their dog went in to see if they could see any dead steers. Where the steers were pastured was cut-down timber land some years previously, and young trees had been plated. Where old trees were cut out there were new trees ten or twelve feet high. When the steers saw the boys and the dog, they charged them. They didn't worry about the dog, he could take care of himself, but George and Willie climbed the nearest tree they could find. The steers congregated around the tree. The boys were in a precarious position perched up there. The steers really were not trying to attack the boys, but were after the dog. George was trying to get the dog to go home and leave them there and then they would be alright. After it seemed like ages, the dog finally left the big pasture and the steers followed him to the fence. George and Willie came down from their perch, and headed for a higher tree, so if the steers did try to attack them they would have another tree to climb for a retreat. They made short runs from tree to tree, until they finally reached the fence. They got on their horses again and headed for home.

On their way home, they stopped on a bridge that spanned a beautiful little creek, about twelve feet wide. They looked down the creek a ways and saw a fishing pole stuck in the creek bank with a line hanging in the water. George said, "Can you cut that line in two with a rifle bullet from here sitting on your horse?" Willie said, "I can try." Willie took careful aim at the line and pressed the trigger. A terrible noise erupted from the gun, frightened the horses, and he missed the line. They got the horses quieted down, and started for home again. They reached home at last, barely in time for supper.

Thomas Edison said, "The happiest time in a boy's life is when he is twelve years old, old enough to have a good time in the world but not old enough to understand any of its troubles." Willie and George were more than twelve years old, but both boys were still in their teens.

While Willie was visiting at the Sipes, his Uncle Jack would allow him to take his gun and ammunition and got into the woods to hunt. One day when he was in the woods alone looking for something to shoot at, he saw two little bright eyes looking at him from under a clump of bushes. He took careful aim and shot the animal between the eyes. He didn't know what he had shot, but a city boy didn't know all the animals like his country cousins did. He took the animal by the tail and went to the road and hung it on the fence where either Ed or George would see it when they would be going by, and he would ask them what it was. He came back to the farm in time for dinner. He met George in the yard and he told him what he had done and that he didn't know what it was that he had shot. "I know now" said George, "you better wash your hands good before you eat." "That smell is pretty bad." Willie hadn't noticed any smell. It was either a young skunk or he shot it before it had time to lift it's tail and put out the vapor, the real skunk odor which is their protection. After that escapade, Willie knew what a skunk looked like. It is a pretty animal but best to leave alone.

George and Willie were driving from Sipe's farm to Hickey's farm which was a distance of ten miles or so. It was a very pretty day and they took the back road through the timber land. They were driving George's horse, "Buster", and they were hunting rabbits on the way. George had the horse going at a slow walk. They would keep looking, each on their side of the road, and when one of them would spot a rabbit sitting in the weeds, he would say "Whoa" and Buster would stop, and he would shoot the rabbit and throw it in the cart.

Going through the forest, the branches on the big trees almost met above them like an archway. They saw a dead tree that had been hit in a wind storm and had fallen, and it was full of prairie chickens perched on the limbs. It was a beautiful site. They went over hills and through valleys and finally came to Hickey's farm. They had so many rabbits that they gave their Aunt Ellen a half dozen or so and took the rest back to the farm when they returned home.

These were the years that Willie enjoyed and talked so much about in his later years.

Wilson Farm

Willie's Uncle Charlie Wilson and his family were living on a Farm now. This was his Uncle Charlie's mother's farm, which at one time was a section of land. Some of the land had been sold but they still had a large farm. One time Willie's mother and Edna and he were visiting them. There was a skunk that had been going into the cellar and Uncle Charlie had tried to catch him with no success. He would let Willie hunt with his ten-gauge shot gun, and he told Willie that they would get the skunk that night. Uncle Charlie sprinkled flour on the cellar steps so they could spot the big black skunk and told Willie to sit with the gun by the window and shoot him on sight. Willie sat there all night but fell asleep and in the morning there were the tracks where Mr. Skunk had gone in and out while he slept.

A trip with Father Baines

Willie's Aunt Nell Sipes became very sick and Willie was chosen to bring a Priest from Galesburg to anoint her. This was in the late Fall of the year. Willie and Father Baines, from St. Patrick's Church, boarded an intra-urban street car that went from Galesburg to Abingdon, Father, of course, was carrying the Host. Willie's cousin, George Sipes, met them in Abingdon with a horse and two wheel cart. Father Baines climbed in the cart and Willie drove to the Farm, several miles. There was snow, and the roads were frozen hard with deep ruts. It was a very bumpy and uncomfortable ride for the Priest. George walked home across the fields. Aunt Nell recovered from her illness.

The Lyceum

When Willie finished the sixth grade at Weston School, his mother decided to send him to "The Lyceum", Corpus Christi School for boys. He entered the seventh grade. The school was on South Prairie Street, about one and a half miles from his home on East Knox Street. He rode to and from school on his bicycle. This was a big change for him. He now had English and Irish priest for teachers instead of ladies, and religion was taught in the school. Willie was pleased with the change. Father George Doubleday was Dead of the school. He made some new friends, but continued to keep his old friends as he still lived near them.

At recess time the boys and the Priests played soccer on the cinder playground. It was the only game the English and Irish priest knew. The tuition was one dollar a month. In High School, if you took typing, it was two dollars a month.

In High School Willie took a business course. Sometimes Father Doubleday would get disgusted with the boys, and he would tell them that they would all be "Dung Sweepers" in the Street. He didn't look too far ahead, as horses became scarce and automobiles took over. There would be no "Dung Sweepers".

Father Lyons was an Irish Priest. When the boys tramped in with their heavy shoes on the wooden floors, he said they sounded like "Cavelry Hosses to be sure."

Each year there would be a school play and Irish songs were sung. Father Baines told the boys to sing well so their parents from the "Old Sod' would be proud of them. Few of the boys parents were from Ireland, but most of their Grandparents were.

On Columbus Day there was a parade in Galesburg, with many pretty floats. Corpus Christi entered with a white float depicting Columbus' ship, the Santa Maria. There were no cars, so the float was pulled by two horses, and a boy all in white, with white plumes in his hat, rode in front on a white horse. Corpus Christi boys, all in white, walked along side of the float. Willie was one of the boys. They won First prize. This was quite a feat, as Galesburg was a protestant town.

At Corpus Christi, the only place they had to play was on the cinder playground, behind the school. There were high fences around the school yard but very often a ball would be lofted beyond the fence. A Brother would put the window in after the boys would pay for it.

The Corpus Christi boys had a ball team, and they played teams from small nearby towns. They were invited to play a team in St. Augustine. Some of the boarders at Corpus Christi played on that team.

The Ball field was a pasture. Willie played with the Corpus Christi team. He was the first on up to bat and he hit the ball a good solid hit into an apple orchard. He got to second base. Fr. Markely, of St. Augustine, was second baseman. Willie was thinking he was going on to third base and led off too far from the base. The ball was pitched to second and there was Father Markley standing blocking second base. Willie didn't want to slide into him because he was a Priest. That was the only hit of the game by Corpus Christi, so they lost the game.

St. Augustine was an old Catholic settlement, and the people were very friendly. After the game, the ladies from the Catholic Church in St. Augustine served the team a large delicious meal.

Boys will be boys and sometimes they aggravated the good Fathers. One morning a boy, John McGrath, brought a kitten in the class room and put it in an empty desk. The desks were the kind that you lifted the top to put your books inside. During class, the kitten had a fit. Father Phelan, the teacher, just walked out of the room. The boy opened the window and dropped the kitten outside. When the Priest returned, there was good order. But the boy who caused the disturbance looked a little mussed up as the other boys in the room had roughed him up. The boys were supposed to be men, and they all liked the Priest.

Hickey's again

Mrs. McGrath was a good friend of Willie's mother and also a good friend of Aunt Ellen Hickey. She had a son, John, the one in the kitten episode, about Willie's age. She invited Willie to ride out to the Hickey Farm with her son and her in their surrey as they were going out for a visit. Willie was always ready to go to the farm and he went with them. There was a beautiful creek with sparkling clear water that ran through the valley and a little bridge spanned the creek. The deepest place in the creek was about one or two feet deep. In the afternoon the boys decided to go fishing. Mrs. McGrath and the Hickey girls went along. They sat along the bank holding poles and drowning fish worms. There were no fish in the creek.

The spot Willie chose to sit on was a yellow-jacket nest. Yellow-Jackets are a species of bees that have their next in a hill in the ground. All at once he got two stings on his rump which was very painful. Willie was pretty disturbed. Mrs. McGrath was a very forceful woman, and when she discovered there was something wrong with Willie, since he was jumping around gold his seat, like an Indian Chief on the War Path, he had him loosen his pants and she examined the wound. She gather up hand full of wet clay from the creek and stuck it on Willie over the wound. It was a very doubtful remedy. But he got over it eventually, anyway.

The McGraths moved to New York later, and John McGrath became a noted physician. He had none of those qualities at that time.

Moving

Willie's mother and her little family, Willie and Edna, lived about four years after his father's death on East Knox Street. When Willie was fifteen, she decided to sell the property and move to the First Ward, closer to her folks. She purchased a house at 543 South Cedar Street, one-half block from Knox College Campus. Willie was unhappy when he was the property. The house was old and unoccupied. There were old green shutters on the windows. High untrimmed bushes almost hid the old house. There was a shed at the rear of the house, and a barn of a sort and a privy at the end of the four by twelve lot. There was a furnace in the basement for heat. The back yard was a bramble of blackberry bushes. He felt a little better about the move when he discovered a nice girl, Irma Burke, lived next door. She was the girl who led the girls in the B. of R.T. Auxiliary Drill team when Willie led the boys.

Willie removed the old shutters and the house was renovated, painted and cleaned inside and out. The rooms were all papered anew. Thee were five rooms and two pantries downstairs, and fours rooms and numerous closets upstairs. Willie's mother rented out three rooms downstairs, and one bedroom upstairs. She was happy to be near her folks and the church, and schools. Edna had transferred to St. Patrick's Academy.

Willie grubbed out the unsightly bushes in front, and all the blackberry bushes in back, and he planted a garden. His mother raised some chickens. It gradually became a nice home. There was gas for cooking and gas lights. She still washed on the board, and boiled the white clothes. She also kept her coal range in the kitchen.

Willie occupied the front bedroom upstairs, and his mother and Edna occupied two in the rear, also upstairs. There was no running water or bathroom, but there was a well for drinking water near the back door and a cistern for soft water. In the Winter, Willie arose at six in the morning, started the fire in the cook stove, which he had set the night before so all it required was a match to get it started. He started the oatmeal for breakfast. He then went to the basement and got the furnace fire going. There was no heat upstairs except what seeped through the registers in the floors, and sometimes it was very cold when he rolled out of bed. But his mother was a widow and he, at fifteen, was the man of the house.

Willie had stored his fine collection of Bird eggs, Butterflies, and Bugs in a shed at the rear of the house, and they were destroyed.

After Willie's father's death, his mother would have Kate Farrell, her sister, who was a high school graduate and had gone to Business College, figure up how much interest she would have coming from her money that she had in the Loan. Kate lived across the street from her on South Cedar Street.

When Willie was about sixteen or so, he began to get curious abut things, and he would ask her "Why this and why that." He asked her, "How much interest do you get?" She told him "six percent." He asked her "How much money have you got in the Loan?" She told him "six thousand dollars." Willie told her "You don't have to take it to Kate to figure." She asked, "How do you know?" He told her, "The man in the Loan Company can figure it up, and he won't cheat you. And another thing, if you have six thousand dollars in the Loan, your interest is Three hundred sixty dollars." She asked, "How do you know?" He said, "What do you think I have been going to school for all these years, huh?" His mother had not gone to school beyond the sixth grade. She couldn't believe that he knew how to figure the interest in his head.

She lived on three hundred sixty dollars a year, and the fifteen dollars she got from the rooms she rented paid her taxes from this money. Her home was fully paid for. While Willie was still in school, he got an allowance of twenty-five cents a week. He had to stretch it pretty much to be able to get in a game of pool occasionally.

School Days

After school the boys would walk around town and talk. There was a girl, Nina Cowan, who lived one-half block from Corpus Christi School. She had an Indian Pony, (they are much like a small horse,) and a Trap. A "Trap" is a cute little buggy with seats back to back. Usually she and a girl friend would be driving around and they would pick up a couple of the boys and give them a ride. Willie had a ride or two in the Trap with Nina and her girl friend. She was popular and there was often a group of boys and girls on her front porch. Sometimes Willie was with the group.

The Depot Fire

In 1911, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Station burned down. The Fire Station was a few blocks west of Corpus Christi School. The antiquated Fire Department Wagons were pulled by horses. The clatter of the horses iron shoes on the pavement and the nosy fire wagons, rushed by the School. The Father had left the room, probably to see where the fire was, and the boys opened the windows and dropped several feet to the ground the fled to the fire. The Depot was burned down completely to the ground.

New Friends

Now that Willie was living in the First Ward, he did not hobnob with his friends in the East end. His friends now were the Irish boys from his new neighborhood. They played on Knox Campus. He was older, and they would go out evenings.

There was not watchman at Knox College, and they would congregate on the College grounds. It was their meeting place. Some of the boys could sing, especially one boy who had a good tenor voice. They would try to harmonize.

The College was quite a meeting place for lovers, also. When a couple would come they had to come under the light and the boys scattered and hid, and they would watch them spooning. Willie's friends were all good Irish boys.

There were two doors on the south side of Knox Theatre. It was light as day. A young man and his girl sat on the steps of the Theatre. They were high steps, probably twenty or twenty-five steps high. At the foot of the steps the boys formed a half circle below them. They boys had them ringed in. The fellow stayed where he was, with his girl, and tried to talk the boys into going away. One boy, who was usually not with the group, blurted out a bad word, loud and clear. That was a dirty trick. The man started down the steps. The fifteen or twenty boys ran home as fast as they could run. All ran, laughing, towards their homes. Willie ran across the Campus through the old Tennis courts. The old back-stops had been neglected, and some of the wires were hanging in ribbons. Willie went right through but one of the boys ran by him right into the wire. He got up and ran straight into it again, like a Charlie Chaplin movie. The man didn't chase them, but returned to his girl. Willie was highly amused that the boy ran into the same place twice.

A new Methodist Church was being erected in Galesburg. Willie and his Irish friends, Tom Marry, Ralph Lane (who later became a priest), and other boys, went over to the building one Sunday afternoon to see what they could see. They went up on the balcony, which was only partly completed. A big rope was hanging in the center of the Church from the top. Willie got it over where he could reach it from the balcony. He seized the rope in both hands and ran along the scaffolding to get speed, holding onto the rope, so he would wing out over the middle of the Church. He thought it would make a big arch and come back to where he started but that wasn't so. Farther and farther he went. He discovered that he was losing altitude. He was not going to come back to where he started at all. He was going to strike where the beams stuck out like spears. He was going to hit them chest high handing onto the rope. His mind was working rapidly. He saw he had made a drastic mistake. He knew if he crashed into the two-by-four like spears, he would be injured, and fall to the main floor. He let loose of the rope just before he got to the spears and dropped a full story to the floor below.; He was not injured, but he learned a lesson.

Call Boy

During one Summer, vacation from High School, Willie worked as a Call Boy for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. A Call Boy took the place of a telephone as not many people had phones. Railroad men that went out on trains were called to go out whenever the trains were made up. A Call Boy would go out and call people that had no phone. The Call Boy would tell them that they were called for an Extra train. They would get about two hours notice.

When Willie was the Call Boy, he would have to go to their house and pound on the door, savage dogs would growl at him while he was pounding on the door. He kept a book between hin and the dog. He would give the man his call and the man had to sign the book. Many Brakemen that were working for the railroad were more or less "boomers", no home, and stayed in rooming houses. Sometimes six or seven men slept in one room, working from seven at night until seven the next morning. It was a job sometimes to find which man he wanted in the dark room. When he found him, he would ask, "Is this John Jones"? and the man would answer him, "Who wants to know?" They were a rough tough bunch of men.

This particular man that Willie was to notify that he was called at that certain time was very difficult to awaken. Willie shook him, called him, but no response. His back wide was very handy to Willie, so he took his book that was about four inches by eight inches long and an inch thick, and since he couldn't awaken him any other way, he smacked him across the seat a hard blow. He was a tough man. It sounded like a rifle shot. The man came alive in an explosive jump. Willie was about down to the bottom of the stairs when the main said, "Come back and I will sign the book." Willie said, "This morning, you won't have to sign it." Later on, when the man showed up at the yard Office, Willie had to watch out for him. Willie told the Chief Clerk that the man said he would go. "I don't know what he looked like in the day time," Willie said. The Chief Clerk said that he would give the man the order when he showed up. When the man came to the Yard Office, he asked, "Where is that little S.O.B. that called me". "You mean Willie?" the Clerk asked. "He is out on a call." So Willie escaped.

The hours Willie worked on this job were from seven at night until seven in the morning. While he was out on calls he would go by his mother's house and stop under the window and whistle to her. She would come to the window and they would say a few words and he would go back to work.

Graduation

There were only seventy pupils in Corpus Christi School from the fifth grade through High School. Willie graduated from Corpus Christi High School in 1911 with a class of seven boys.

Each boy in the class had to give, or read, an oration. The subject Willie chose was "The Panama Canal" which was under construction at that time. He received his diploma, which read Corpus Christi College, although it was only a High School.

There was a boy name, Buel Sherwood, who went to Corpus Christi High School. He was not a Catholic. He graduated with the class. Willie heard him on Graduation Day make a little speech and he thanked Father Doubleday, the Dean of the School, for the courtesy extended him during the time he was in the Catholic School.

Sipes Farm Again

Willie worked for his Uncle Jack Sipes during the Summer. Willie did his share of the work on the farm, with his cousins, George and Ed and a hired man. They cultivated corn, cut weeds, made hay, and milked cows. One day when they were pitching hay an accident occurred. The hired man was on top of the load of hay while George and Willie were pitching the hay to him with pitch forks. He happened to have his back toward Willie and the stack was getting high. Willie couldn't see the hired man very well, and he stabbed him in the rear end with the pitch fork. That was very painful. The hired man took down his pants and put a cud of tobacco n the wound/ Although the boys knew it was painful, it struck them as funny, and they hid and laughed.

Willie drove an old part Arabian horse on a hay fork, putting the hay in the hay loft in the barn. A hay fork is a piece of machinery with forks to lift the hay off the hay rack and up into a loft. Several teams would bring in the hay. Willie handled the old horse and hay fork. The loads were heavy and sometimes it was almost more than the horse could do and he would lean until there was danger of the horse falling over. Willie would help hold the old horse up. Willie and the others would work doing this over and over until the job was done, which would take all day.

When the Summer works had been completed, the next job was to reap the harvest. The cultivators and plows had to be stored away until next year. They were to be put in a loft over the corn crib. Ed told George and Willie that his father had assigned them to do it that day. He said, "I will get a team of horses to do it." Willie asked him, "What do we need a team of horses for." Ed said "Because the cultivators are heavy and you would need a team of horses to pull them up into the loft." Willie said, "You really don't need horses. We can put them up there ourselves." Ed thought willing was talking foolish. Willie told them "If you have enough pulleys, one man can pull them where they belong." They decided to try it. They had plenty of pulleys and plenty of rope. They used several pulley's ran the rope up and down through the pulley's then the boys pulled them up by pulling the free end of the rope. Neither Ed nor George knew that could be done. They were astounded. They had only a few grades of schooling, and Willie was a High School graduate. They thought he was pretty smart. (Someone said you could lift the world with enough levers.) Willie's Uncle Jack was a very patient man, and he let the boys do the work their own way, just so they got it done.

After the day's work was done and after the supper meal was over, someone would have to help Aunt Nell with the dishes. Of course, no one wanted that job. So, Uncle Jack would have the boys doing some stunt, like high jump, standing still and jump, push-ups, etc. He would change the stunt each night so on one could practice. The loser helped with the dishes.

On hot Summer days, George and Willie would take two wash tubs out behind the chicken house in the morning and fill them with water. The bus would stand in the sun all day so when the day's work was done, the water would be warm. George and Willie would take their bath. There were no houses in the vicinity.

Aunt Nell Sipes was known as a match maker. She like to make matches. She must have had Ed in on this escapade because she had a date made for Willie and a farmer girl, whom he had never met. She was Cora Krause, who lived about a mile away. Ed loaned Willie his fancy mare and fancy buggy. Willie and Cora drove to Galesburg, rode around a while, then came back to Sipes. Both she and Willie said but a few words. It was a very boring date. It was a wonder that Ed loaned his mare and buggy to Willie. They said he thought more of the mare than he did of his mother. She was a fine mare. He would enter this mare in County Fairs and he won prizes with her. She could pace a mile in 220.

Going to Work

Now that Willie was through school, he was looking for work. His Uncle Dan Scully was working at Frost Foundry. Willie went to work there heating rivets. Frost Foundry was making steam boilers. Later, he was promoted to Assistant Electrician to John Hoben. Willie operated a twenty-ton crane.

Since he was working with electricity, he decided to take a Correspondence Course in Electrical Engineering, which he did.

When Lent came, John Hoben did not eat meat all during Lent. He was a very holy man. He ate eggs day after day. Willie, who was operating the crane, would slide down a post to the floor about noon and he would get a steel plate, put it in a rivet heater, and here John would put his coffee pot to heat. Willie hated his job, would rather be out of doors than in the smoky foundry. He could see the corn fields through the window.

One noon he was called to the front office. He thought he was going to be reprimanded for something, he didn't know what. A friend, "Frank Neylon" was there and asked Willie if he would want to go to work in the C.B. & Q. Machine Shop. This would be better work and better wages. The job was open and Willie told him he would be to work tomorrow morning. He went to work at the Q Shops as an apprentice, learning a trade. He operated a drill press, drilling holes in pieces of iron. He was green to start with. He still had schooling coming to him from the Correspondence Course, so he transferred from Electrical Engineering to Mechanical Drawing.

Willie heard that they were hiring men at Adams Express Company, delivering goods that came over the railroad. He applied, was hired, driving a horse and wagon. His route was the whole city of Galesburg. He would come early in the morning, get the horse at Marsh's Barn, near the Santa Fe Depot. The horse had been fed and harnessed. Willie would fasten him to the wagon and drive to the Q Depot. Men loaded the wagon full of packages, paid no attention to addresses. Willie couldn't get the horse to go faster than a slow walk, back and forth across town he delivered the last package, it was dark, even though it was Summer.

He was told he would receive thirty dollars a month. He worked a whole month and instead of thirty dollars, they gave him twenty dollars. He was disappointed and angry. He told the boss he promised thirty dollars, and he was told he would get that after several months work. Willie quit then and there. He was told he would have to give them more notice, but Willie said, "Not one more minute."

He went back to the Q Shops and got his job back, this time operating a lathe. He received two-dollars a day in wages. He worked as an apprentice at the Machine Shops for a year or so.

Another friend, Tim King, asked him to come to work for Sulzberger & Sons, Meat Packing Company, helping him as Assistant Bookkeeper. He had more schooling coming to him from the Correspondence Course, and this time he transferred to Poultry Husbandry. He completed this course. After some months Sulzberger & Sons Meat Packing Company was sold out to Wilson and Company. They made changes, and decided that they did not need Tim or Willie. He was out of work again.

After two or three days, he met Ed Tobin, Chief Clerk to the Division Superintendent of the C.B.&Q., and he asked Willie if he was unemployed. Willie said he was. He asked Willie if he would like to work in his office. Willie said he would. He gave Willie a job checking cars out around the yards, the coal yards, railroad yards, Humps, etc. locating cars, foreign cars that were being held there.

In 1913, he transferred from Car Checker to a desk in the Division Superintendent's office keeping time of trains.

Bill, as the boys at the office called him belonged to the Knights of Columbus, he sang in their Glee Club, took vocal lessons from Mr. Frank Kells, played in several Home Talent Shows, sang a solo in one program, and in the choir at St. Patrick's Church for several years.

He played ball on the Knights of Columbus Ball team. He was First Baseman on the team. Their manager, who didn't know too much about ball himself, hired a pitcher and paid him twenty-five dollars, to pitch one game for them, when they played a team in Macomb, Illinois. This fellow as knows as a Speed Ball pitcher. The Macomb team was made up of ex-Bush League ball players, much better than the Knights of Columbus team. These men on the Macomb team were really too old to play on the Bush Leagues any more. They only played pick-up teams.

The last thing a ball player loses in baseball is their batting. They were excellent batters. They loved fast straight balls but not curves. They pounced on those straight balls knocking them out of the County, until the seventh inning. The score was ten to nothing, in their favor.

Starting the seventh inning, their first man to bat got a home run, which disgusted the fast ball pitcher. He threw his ball and glove down and gave up, walking off the diamond.

At this occurrence, the manager of the K. of C. team walked over to Bill at first base and said, "Bill, you will have to go in and pitch. Do the best you can do." But there was a difference between the twenty-five dollar pitcher and Bill pitching. Bill threw sinkers. The other pitcher threw hard balls. From then on, no more scores were made because they could not hit the sinkers.

After the game, the Macomb Manager came up to the Knights of Columbus Manager and asked, "Tell me one thing, why did you wait until the game was lost before you put n your best pitcher?' Bill felt by that compliment that he was amply paid.

Bill and his sister Edna attended Farrell's Dancing School and dances. There was a District Fair each year in Galesburg, and Bill sang with the Knights of Columbus Glee Club, at the entertainment at the Fair. There was a stock show, many booths, Sulky races, and Fancy Driving High School Horses. Also, there was a Dance Pavilion and Bill and his fellow members of the Glee Club danced with the girls there.

Sometimes on Sunday afternoon, he and a buddy would ride the open air trolley cars to Highland Park, and occasionally they would take girls for row boat rides on Highland Park Lake.

The C.B. & Q. Clerks originated a Soft Ball Team and they entered the City Tournament. They played ten games and did not lose a game. Bill played first base in all the games. They won the City Championship and received a trophy.

Bill got promoted to Timekeeper of Railroad Switchmen. Later he was promoted to keeping time for Brakemen and Conductors. He was working on that job when a little Floosey came to work as stenographer for Ed Tobin. She was the first and only girl in that office. She sat with her back to the other workers, as her desk, next to the Chief Clerk, faced the wall.

Bill got acquainted with her, walked at noon with her to her Aunt's house for lunch, as it was on his way home. He asked her for a date and soon was going steady. They were engaged to be married. He transferred to the Yards as Switch tender, and on June 25, 1917, they married in Corpus Christi Church. The Floosie was me, Minnie Humphrey.

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