Friday, January 31, 2020

A Lesson for Life


A Lesson for Life

Grandma's brother died
on Ferry Street, a trolley car hit him.
Relatives and friends gathered to grieve.
The family wore mourning clothes
for weeks and months after.
It was 1920.

Soon after, my mother, then seven year old,
went back to school. She was happy
to see her classmates and teacher again.

At the end of the school day the teacher
called mom aside. In a soft pleasant voice
she ask mom to give her mother a message,
- in this country little girls don't wear black.

This was an important lesson for mom
and for the family about becoming
Americans.




Queen Victoria and family in mourning clothes.  It was about the same in 1920. 


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