1938 Hurricane (part 3)
New Ipswich Historical Society
Marion Davis Audio-Tape Transcriptions
Sometime before her death in 1986, Marion Davis recorded her memories at the encouragement of her brother, Walter Buck. The recordings were transcribed by a secretary.
The Friends of Wapack have made these available to the Historical Society. Marion was born on February 8, 1894 in Fitchburg, MA.
The Swedish Girl
That summer Mr. & Mrs. Ullrich had been to Sweden and they had brought a girl back with them to help with the housework. She was crying: she was frightened to death. I picked up little Britta and carried her, and they came down to the Lodge. They wouldn't go upstairs to go to bed so we hauled mattresses down onto the dining room floor. At 1 o'clock that night somebody rapped at the door. I'd been in bed but I went down to the door. It was a professor from a a girl's school in Peterborough. He had gone down the road and couldn't get by: there was so much brush and trees down so he came back to know if he could stay overnight. I said, "We have no electricity: that means no water, no lights". He said "I don't need either one. All I want is a place to lay down until daylight". the morning we all tried to get a bite to eat; the professor had left. Then we went up onto the knoll, the pine grove. We could see that the trees were pretty flat up there. We went up onto the hill to see what had happened and checked everything. Then Mr. Robbins said, I guess we'd better go to the farm". First we had to see that the women in the Annex were all right. They were. We gave them some breakfast and asked them if they could wait until we got back in the afternoon; then we would see what we could do about their car. They were willing.
Photo Archives
1938 Hurricane blocked road
James Roger diary entry
27th January 1913
Dull and drizzly forenoon; growing colder; wind west to northwest. David and Daniel clearing up round Ames (Fox) place. I swept vestry and filled lamps, etc. Got letter from Hamish filled with the name and praise of Priscilla. Meeting of Finns in vestry tonight. David swapped a rooster with Daniel today.
So Marion somehow concocts a breakfast for all these people. Perhaps like the miracle of the loaves and fishes. As kids in the central school cafeteria we had no idea of her experience in feeding the hungry let alone giving shelter to the weary in times of trouble. There seemed always to be room at the Lodge.
Now about this rooster swap. Sounds as though it could be a premise for game show. Did the owners of these birds feel so dissatisfied with the personalities of these irritating creatures that they decided to trade them to see if everyone could all get along better? Or did one rooster get swapped for some pullets, who haven’t enjoyed much air time lately? If all else fails, swap roosters. Sounds like a proverb.