Grandpap sat on that double car seat he had on the lower porch . I also remember taking my shoes down to him for him to fix the soles. He had a last on which you put your shoe upside down and he would fix the sole for me so it didn't flap anymore.
He could do anything. He built houses, no small feat, and his lasted 100 years until some careless soul started a fire. He made baskets, knew every plant and animal alive by name.
Harold (BARNES) and I used to play on that inside stair case off the upper porch on to the lower porch which led to the downstairs kitchen. And the door in the kitchen that led to the cellar where the apples were kept in barrels and all those things Grandma canned rested on shelves.
When Paul (LEWIS) got married, they made that his kitchen and opened up the back bedroom so that they had a combination living room/bedroom. I remember that Aunt Sue (nee CONN)was often too sick to even make the bed back into a couch. She had asthma
When the kitchen was downstairs, I used to watch Grandma (Rosa Kirby LEWIS) make sauerkraut in a large crock. She kept it right by the coal stove with a plate on top of it. She always invited me to eat with her. After dinner, she would get down a candy dish in a beautiful small glass candy dish from the top shelf of that cupboard and say I could have one piece. She used to send Harold and me down to Debolt's store to get a loaf of bread or something and she would give us a penny or two to spend for us. We could buy a bunch with those pennies.
She would put newspaper down for Grandpap's place at the table because he was blind, ever the neat one. She once told me that when you were cleaning the table, you should never sweep off the crumbs onto the floor because you just have to clean them up again. Funny how those things stay with you. I loved the salt dishes she put out for Grandpap. Wonder what ever happened to them.
AND FROM ANOTHER COUSIN
Grandpap was surely a wonderful man. He could do anything - and all those plants he grew. One of those pictures is Lois by the well and the gooseberry bush. He had fruit trees of every kind, rhubarb, that big garden all the way to George KLINK’S house. We have such strong roots and I feel so blessed to have been part of the LEWIS clan.
Mom said Grandpap went blind before Tillie LEWIS and I were born in 1936. He knew we were coming but was blind by the time Tillie was born March 2 and I was born June 9. He could tell us apart - he knew which one we were by the sound of our voices but that was early on. He sang his songs and we watched him go thru the orchard using his cane and his wires to guide him. We watched him carry his apples to the basement and eat them on that double car seat. He didn't carry on very many conversations with us.
I remember eating one time at Grandmother's table with Grandpap there too and was amazed at how he could find his jelly and everything he needed - all because Grandmother had it placed the same way each time. I don't remember the salt dips you mentioned. He used salt shakers.
Grandmother was always good to me and Tillie while we were playing there. She never thought we were in the way. I can remember playing on those steps that went down to the basement from the living room door onto the porch and she would carefully step over our paper dolls we had there. I would have a landing and Tillie would have a landing and we spent hours and hours there. Another Grandmother might have told us not to play there but she was pleasant and didn't seem to mind making her way down those steps between paper dolls with her trusty cane and black heeled tie-up shoes.
Grandmother was always good to me and Tillie while we were playing there. She never thought we were in the way. I can remember playing on those steps that went down to the basement from the living room door onto the porch and she would carefully step over our paper dolls we had there. I would have a landing and Tillie would have a landing and we spent hours and hours there. Another Grandmother might have told us not to play there but she was pleasant and didn't seem to mind making her way down those steps between paper dolls with her trusty cane and black heeled tie-up shoes.
The box of candy that Dessie LEWIS brought on the Sundays she came to visit Grandmother was a Sampler box with 2 layers and we were not limited to one. I guess there were one 2 of us and so she didn't feel she needed to save any for the other grandkids. I remember biting into one and thinking I wish that was a nut or a caramel and carefully placing it back into the box - upside down - thinking it would not be noticed. Guess I thought everyone ate them in one gulp like I did. She never said anything about those little "disturbed and broken open" chocolates.
She would look in on us when we were playing up in the orchard - climbing trees and eating green apples with the salt shaker. But we thought she was just taking a walk -
She would look in on us when we were playing up in the orchard - climbing trees and eating green apples with the salt shaker. But we thought she was just taking a walk -
I remember Grandpap as a happy soul. And I remember Grandmother as serene with a quick smile. Don't think we could have had finer grandparents. We felt accepted even though it was not expressed in words. No, I do not remember the songs Grandpap sang. Was he the one who told the Taily Pole story? I heard it from my dad. I have the book you sent and keep it with other Pennsylvania memories.
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