Chapter 5 Version 2
1940
The dark skin girl who thought her name was Aurelia sat down
in the front row of seats in the front of the class. It was the first day of
high school for the class of 1944. The girl was well dressed with a stylish
dress and silver earrings. She looked back to survey the other freshmen in the
room looking for familiar face from her grammar school. She saw no one she
recognized but a girl in the back row smiled at her. Disappointed she scowled
and swung around to the front of the class where the teacher was standing.
The girl at the back of the class made a mental note to
avoid the girl she concluded might be Spanish by her looks. Jane was looking to
make some new friends in high school but the Spanish girl should be avoided she
concluded from her initial contact. Jane was from the Polish grammar school,
Sacred Heart School, one of three Catholic schools in Easthampton. There were
distinct areas in the town where there were ethnic enclaves. The Polish, French
and Irish were clustered around the company built housing for workers in the
mills with three separate and distinct churches that were at the center of
their community lives. For Protestants there was the usual large white
Congregational Church in the center of town. There was a smaller but
architecturally inviting Episcopal Church next-door, a red brick Methodist
church next to the town hall, and finally a small grey stone Lutheran Church
located near the Majestic theater at the end of Cottage Street. Generally, the
public grammar schools were predominantly protestant but mixing the ethnicities
and religious affiliations began in earnest in high school. There were no
Negroes or Orientals and as far as Jane knew no Spanish in Easthampton except
for maybe one sitting in the front row. Jane shared no other classes with the
Spanish girl that Friday.
On Monday, Jane wore a hand me down gym suit to class. In 1940 new school colors were adopted – maroon
and white at Easthampton High School. The new colors replaced old blue and white
colors that Jane was wearing. A few others were also wearing the old colors and
that was okay with the school allowing some time for the transition. Jane
looked around and saw the Spanish looking girl’s brand-new maroon and white
uniform. Jane moved to get farther away from the Spanish girl. But when she
looked back the Spanish looking girl was standing next to her.
”Hi” said the Spanish looking girl “did you do anything
exciting over the weekend?”.
Jane was surprised she was being very friendly. “Not really…
but I did go to the movies” said Jane.
” I wanted to go to the movies but didn’t have anyone to go
with… and I don’t like going to the movies by myself” said the girl who Jane
now thought might not be Spanish after all. “Do you want to go to the movies
together next weekend?”
Jane was hardly expecting this and blurted out “OK”.
” You can come to my house and we can catch a bus to the
theater” said the girl who thought her name was Aurelia.
“Where is your house?” Jane inquired.
” 112 Ferry St.”
That was in the French part of town. This girl didn’t look
French.
” I live near the theater so why don’t you come to my
house–27 Maple St.” said Jane.
” Okay–1 o’clock and we can go to the matinee”
” By the way, I’m Jane Borsuk”
” Aurelia Zywar” pronouncing her name like Zi’ver with an
“i” from igloo.
Aurelia arrived on Saturday earlier than Jane expected. She
knocked the front door but no one was listening for her arrival. Aurelia
knocked again harder. No response. She went down to the side door into the
kitchen where Jane and her sisters were cleaning up after lunch. When Jane saw
Aurelia she thought fast.
“Hi Aurelia” said Jane. “I’m not quite ready so I will let
you sit in the front room while I finish up.” Jane led Aurelia from the kitchen
through her grandmother’s room and into the hallway that ran from side to side
in the middle of the house rather than front to back. Going across the hall and
into the front room, Jane said “I’ll be right back - have a seat.”
Jane raced up the stairs to Helen’s room. “Quick I need a nice
dress for the movies now!” Helen was an older sister the same size as Jane who
would let Jane wear any of her clothes she didn’t currently have on. “I need
earrings and lipstick too!” Aurelia had come dressed up for the movies and Jane
needed to step up her clothing plans. “Is your friend wearing high heels?”
asked Helen. Jane nodded. “Here, wear these but don’t kill yourself!” and Helen
handed her a pair of shoes that went with the dress. Jane had never worn a pair
of high heels before and slipped them on.
Aurelia sat on the loveseat and looked around. The furniture
was almost new as Jane’s grandmother, Teofila Wroblewska, had passed on three
years before. The life insurance money had paid for a new set of front room
furniture, a refrigerator and a vacuum cleaner. The three tree stumps that had
been in the front room being used as chairs had been good wood for the stove as
they had many years to dry. The orange crates were also gone. There was a spinet
piano that Jane’s older sister Mary bought for herself. There was also a table
top radio with a rounded top that Jane’s father Louis used to listen to the
baseball games and his children listened to Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks.
Jane’s makeover was quick but effective. She clung to the
banister as she maneuvered the shoes down the stairs for the first time.
Mission accomplished as she was down to leave with Aurelia on the original time
schedule. Off they went to see a movie and to be seen.
“So how many sisters do you have?” asked Aurelia as they
walked toward Cottage Street.
“Six” said Jane.
“Beats my four. You the youngest?” asked Aurelia.
“No – but almost” said Jane.
“ I am the youngest girl in my family” stated Aurelia taking
some pride in that accomplishment.
“Is Zywar Polish?” asked Jane to confirm what she thought to
be the answer.
“Yes, both my mother and father are from Galicia.” said
Aurelia. Galicia is a region that is now part of southern Poland that was a
province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until after World War I. Galicia includes Krakow and the northern
slopes of the Carpathian Mountains including the Dukla Pass. In the late 1700’s
Poland as a nation was partitioned by Austria, Germany and Russia until it was
totally consumed only to be reconstituted as a nation in 1919 from the
thirteenth of Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points at the end of WWI. So documents
like ship’s manifests would list a Galician as an Austrian by nationality but
would list Polish as the race or ethnicity.
“Both of my parents came from Russia Poland” said Jane. Russia
Poland includes Warsaw and east to Lublin on Poland’s eastern border. Jane’s older sister Frances, who also
answered to Franny or Faye at various times in her life, was taken to task by
Jane’s mother when she told people she was Russian. In no uncertain terms
Frances was told that she was Polish and not Russian.
The two high school freshmen paid their quarters for their
movie tickets. “I like movies that make me laugh.” said Jane pleased that
she had actually made it to the theater in the high heels. They went inside to
enjoy I Love You Again starring Myrna
Loy, William Powell and Asta the Dog.
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