WEBVTT
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Speaker1: What's the first question you want?
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Speaker2: The first question is your name.
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Speaker1: Oh. Mrs. Harry Lachman, Mary Lachman, whichever way you want to
put it. I like Mrs. Harry better. Okay.
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Speaker2: And your age?
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Speaker1: 86.
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Speaker2: And your birthday.
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Speaker1: Is in September. What year? 1889. Is that it? Yeah. Are you
trying to catch me?
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Speaker2: September. What?
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Speaker1: I don't never give my age, you know. I never give my birthday. I
don't want people to know it.
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Speaker2: Okay.
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Speaker1: September. It's registered. It's registered down in the here in
the courthouse.
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Speaker2: And your place of birth?
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Speaker1: Pittsburgh.
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Speaker2: What part of Pittsburgh?
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Speaker1: Downtown.
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Speaker2: Could it be a bit more specific about downtown? You mean? Honey,
let.
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Speaker1: Me tell you this. This. This is out of the thing. But I want to
tell you this. Mother and father were married in Sheffield, England. They
weren't. They're not English. They're from Russia. Mother had two children
over there. One died and the older one. And she became pregnant with me. My
father decided to come to America, and he came over first. And before he
came over, they wanted to come before the bad weather. So she got on the
boat and they prepared for me. It was good luck to have a baby born on the
boat. This may take too much for this, dear. No, no, it's fine. They expect
the baby. You want to know. Whereas where I lived, where I lived at. So. So
the baby was. That was good luck. And they prepared. And the mother spoke
English, and she did everything for all these here. Other people coming
over, so translated for them. So they were prepared, prepared, prepared.
And I wouldn't come at all. And it took you know, it took a month almost to
come over in those days and those ships. So whatever whatever flag that
that boat carried, that's what that's what country I belong to.
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Speaker1: And as long as that was in existence, I could get free rides on
it. But I decided to wait till I got to Pittsburgh. My mother was here a
short time and my father met her. And I was born here. See here. So then we
lived downtown on Tunnel Street, if you know where that's at. We used to
play at the courthouse down there, Tunnel Street, and our neighbors next
door was the Harris's. Harris's was a he was a first man that had the first
Nickelodeon. His father used to go around with a Punch and Judy show, which
was very popular in those days, a punch and Judy and traveled to different
places for entertainment. So one son, Frank, was a politician. Denny was an
actor. They had a they had a company here. It was every week they'd play a
different I forget what you call it. And then the other John was had the
first Nickelodeon in America, and that was very, very prominent family.
Yes. That they their.
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Speaker2: First Nickelodeon.
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Speaker1: America. Yes. First Nickelodeon in America. Here it was in
Pittsburgh. Yes. The. And that's where we lived. And what else do you want
to know? Ah, we lived in. Then we got going out and out and out and out.
This was the country already, right? Oh, we moved out to Oakland. Everybody
beat us. Goodbye. Yeah, we were very poor people. Very poor people. My
father was a Orthodox Jew. We were raised very well, but very poor.
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Speaker2: When did you move from downtown?
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Speaker1: I wouldn't know. No, no. It was a job as a born then. That time.
Just born in. No, I don't know. I'll tell you where I went to school. The
Hancock School up on Webster Avenue. In those days, there were two schools
popular. The grant school was downtown that way, and the Hancock School was
on Webster Avenue towards town. It's a very prominent people were there,
went to school in those days there at all.
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Speaker2: This was grade school.
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Speaker1: Grade school? Yes.
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Speaker2: And where did you go to high school?
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Speaker1: Fifth Avenue. Just for a short, short time. It was too poor to
go to high school. That was if you made eighth grade. In those days, you
were like going to college. People only worked a certain time. Every kid
went out to work. Every kid was growing up, went out to work at all in
those days at all. So so that was the then I went to Fifth Avenue. There
was only two there was only two high schools in town. There was the
commercial up on the hill and the business one on on Fifth Avenue. It was
for only one there was at the time. Right. So I had didn't have a lot of
schooling, but I did very good for myself, though. Every way.
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Speaker2: Okay. We'll get into.
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Speaker1: So. So what do you want about the old timers then?
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Speaker2: Well, we'll just go through a few, uh, informative questions.
First background. Do you know the maiden name of your mother? The Block.
Block. Block, Block.
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Speaker1: Yes. A. Either way. Yes.
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Speaker2: And she was Russian.
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Speaker1: Yes. But she was married young. And she went over to England, to
Sheffield, England there. And that's where she met my father. Her parents
had died and she had a rich relative over there. She went over there and
they were married over there. Then they came here to Pittsburgh.
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Speaker2: Do you know if they changed their name?
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Speaker1: No. No. Same way. Brody was their name. Brody? Yes.
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Speaker2: Okay. Whose name? Brody.
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Speaker1: My maiden name. My father's name. Maiden name? Yes. Mother's
name was blocked. But Mother. But we never knew any of her relatives much
at all. We had relatives here. She had two sisters here. I don't know if
you know Dr. Frankenstein, a surgeon. He's a nephew. Cousin. But but the
old timers, when they came over, then mother taught us, always had these
puzzle boxes in the kitchen, you know, where you put your money in. After a
good dinner on Friday night, you put money in there. That was for
Jerusalem. In those days, we had about three on the wall. And after every
year, after every meal, we were brought up that way at all. And mother
always says, always give to charity. Never be ashamed of what you give,
what you can afford, but give never refuse at all. We were brought up like
that. You see it all. And we had there was the mother had eight children.
She raised six, five girls and one boy we raised and.
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Speaker2: The other two.
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Speaker1: The one died. One died in England and one died over here. Yes.
He was born here. Yes. And all. But. But our life isn't the part of
Pittsburgh at all. We didn't do anything at all. Only when I grew older was
able to was able to help in other ways. When I was married, then I did a
lot of wonderful work at all. Okay. Yes. There the in back of you on that
table. Pick up that first thing there. Yeah, pick up that. All right. That
was this last summer out of the at the at the club at all awning for 50
years service at the monitor Hospital. Yes. Yes, dear. Yes.
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Speaker2: Well, then you remember. That's good. You can answer some
questions a bit later on about that. Oh, yes.
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Speaker1: That's my life, dear. That's all I did at all. And then when the
war broke out, we went to Red Cross, a whole group of us Jewish women. And
we learned how to to instruct the others. That's before we were in the war.
This was the this was the bundles for Britain. We were taught how to make
the bandages and how to pack them. And everything had to be packed just so
down at the Y we worked then. And then when the and then when the old
timers came over from old country at that time they had a Hebrew lending
society. If you didn't have any money for the Jewish people would lend you
money. You'd buy a horse and a wagon or so and go out peddling or buy some
merchandise and a a and wrap it up and sell it, go out the country and sell
it. Then we had a house, a shelter where anybody going through town that
didn't have a place to stay or needed some food or something. This house,
the shelter, took care of them. Is that that was up on the hill somewhere?
Yes. I don't.
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Speaker2: Remember. What street?
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Speaker1: Yes, Locust Street. Up on Locust Street. Yes, indeed. It was a
very good place. A house of shelter. Yes.
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Speaker2: And do you remember about about what date that existed?
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Speaker1: Oh, that's many, many years ago at all. When I was a kid, when I
was still a child. It was there. Yes. And all the way back. Um.
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Speaker2: Can you we'll just get a few of these questions out of the way.
Okay. More into Pittsburgh, I think, uh, what you consider your ethnic
origin and identity for.
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Speaker1: In what way do you mean, dear?
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Speaker2: I guess you can. You have Russian Jewish heritage?
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Speaker1: No, no, nothing like that. No, My husband was a I have to tell
you about my husband, too. That he was in the the orphanage. I must tell
you that he was the first boy in there. I'll tell you how they on the north
side. North side. That's done away with already very prominent people. That
Louis Kaplan, big attorney here, was raised in the same room with my
husband and so forth. But he was very, very patriotic. We didn't believe in
those Zionism. We didn't believe in that. His his was he was an American.
And that's all he cared about at all. Flags everywhere. You went to the
every holiday we had, we had bungalows and everything was always, always
America first, you know, that's the way he used to tell people when they'd
go out for positions and they'd say, What is your nationality? You say,
people will put down Jewish. You say, Don't ever do that. Your religion is
Jewish, but your nationality is American. You know, which is true, you
know, And all the people always just took it that way. So we were as far as
this Jewish businesses are, we belonged to Temple for 50 years, wrote off
Sholom at all. Harry was president of the B'nai B'rith Organization.
Everything Jewish, you know that way. But a limit to those things. You see,
I was brought up very orthodox, but I never lived that way at all. So. So
what else? So what else?
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Speaker2: You do you speak or understand any languages other than English?
Jewish. Yiddish. Yiddish.
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Speaker1: Yiddish. Yiddish?
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Speaker2: Yes. That's what your parents spoke at home?
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Speaker1: No. They spoke more English than Yiddish. But we did speak a lot
of Yiddish, too. Yes, a lot of Yiddish. And of course, they had some very
funny expressions which the the the Londoners, English people speak
different now. He would say, shut the door. Shut the window. Oh, you know,
a fat lot. You know, you know that kind of expression. But we never
followed it because we went to school and we went according to what? Yes.
He taught us the ABCs. He taught us the the the tables, the multiplication
tables, all those things at all. Yes. We were always very much interested
in those kind of things. But as far as your background, that didn't mean a
thing to me at all. No, I never knew my grandparents. I never knew anybody
at all. No, we were just Americans.
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Speaker2: Okay. And did you have an occupation outside of the home?
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Speaker1: I was not. No, not now. No, never. I was never allowed to work.
Oh, no. That was a little below my husband's dignity. You know, he was just
a salesman in the electrical line. He worked for General Electric and
Westinghouse and had very. Then we were in business for ourselves in
Greensburg, too. He had an electric store up there at all. Then the
depression came along, you know what that did and so forth. But no, I
worked before I got married. I used to I was a buyer for ready ready to
wear clothes for a wholesale house. Burtons are not in business now.
Burton's on Penn Avenue. They were.
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Speaker2: Can you give dates for that?
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Speaker1: About when? Well, I started as a kid. I was about 17, 18 years
old, and I worked for them for ten years.
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Speaker2: So you were born in 1888? Yeah.
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Speaker1: Whatever the date is there.
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Speaker2: It's 12, so about 1905, I guess.
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Speaker1: I wouldn't know, dearie. I never would go back to that at all
because I. I got myself a job going to school and I left my books and went
went to work in a little store of some kind. And then I saw an ad in the
paper where this area they want a model from the ready to wear. And I had a
shape like this. And I went in and asked for that job and they laughed at
me. Both men did. Then one of the men says, one of the bosses says, Oh, I
know her family. She'll be all right. We'll break her in. She'll be all
right. So the next day I get in, I got a whisk broom to brush all the
clothes off to get acquainted, you know. I did very well. Had a very, very
successful life. My single life popular. I got better, got a better shape
and everything else and had a lot of boyfriends and all that and kept
myself nice and respectable.
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Speaker2: So you eventually moved into modeling.
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Speaker1: Or, you know, I say yes. I finally got into it. Yes. My shape as
I got older, naturally, you know, you develop more, you know. Sure. Yes.
Good model and wonderful. But at my age today and I married this nice man
and had a very good life, had no children, but a very good life with him at
all.
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Speaker2: Okay. Now, you were raised Orthodox, but you practiced
conservative. Yes. In 1921. We mentioned this last time I met you when
Eugene Debs was running for president. Yes. Yes. Do you remember who your
family would have voted for then?
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Speaker1: Not for him, No. We were no, we were against that. We were
against that.
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Speaker2: What didn't you like about Debs?
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Speaker1: Well, more in a communist type of person. We thought at the time
or so. Of course I left that all the. Yes. No, we didn't. We? No, no.
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Speaker2: And so now your membership in organizations for Jewish people
you belong to.
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Speaker1: What about the Temple, The Sisterhood and the Ladies Hospital
aid? Montefiore Hospital. Now it is. And then the. Then the veterans I
belong to. That's all.
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Speaker2: The veterans?
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Speaker1: Yes. Spanish war veterans. And my husband was in. I see. Okay.
He. He was a he was raised out of the orphanage. His people died. They they
were lighting the stove and they had some gasoline there. And there were
four children. And the thing they they mother and father were burnt to
death. The children were saved. The Jewish people didn't know what to do
with them at all. There was no orphanage. There was no nothing. So they put
them into a Catholic place. Then the German Jew. See, there was two classes
in those days, Germans and the Orthodox. You see it all. And the Germans
were the ones that had more money than the other. And they said, that's a
disgrace to have Jewish children into a Catholic organization. So they went
around. There was a big store in town called Guskey's, very wealthy man at
all, and they went out on North Side and bought a big house and they named
it Guskey and they turned into an orphanage. And Harry was the first boy in
there at all. And he was raised out there. And they took took all the four
children in there. You see it all. And of course, lots of others came in
after we had a Jewish orphanage, which was a marvelous thing, you know, for
Pittsburgh and all.
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Speaker2: Now, was your husband around your age. So it would have been
about.
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Speaker1: No, he's much he was ten years older.
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Speaker2: It would have been about 1878, I guess.
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Speaker1: So I just got his birth certificate there somewhere. So then
they when he got older and got out, they gave him a job, got a job of some
kind. And.
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Speaker2: So he had his schooling in there.
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Speaker1: He had. So he, he had to go to the they had no places for him.
So they had somebody downtown near Horne's that had a big house there. And
she took him in as a rumor. And in those days, there were no gas. That was
all. There was no electricity. You had to you had to read or had to live by
lamplight. So anyhow, he was an ardent reader. He made made ardent reading.
He read all night and they just put gas in that place. And she went to the
women who had charge and says, I can't afford to have a boy sitting up all
night using using the using the gas is too expensive. So this woman says,
well, if he's such a reader, I don't want to spoil it for him. So they
bought him a they bought him a lamp and they bought him some oil to go in
the lamp. And that's what he would use at all.
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Speaker2: This was a woman from the orphanage who did that.
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Speaker1: No, the woman was was had was made a living where they had a
house down there and rented out for rumors. They did that in the old days
at all and took him in as a rumor they paid for it. No doubt the the women
from the orphanage has paid for it.
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Speaker2: And he had a job then also.
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Speaker1: Well, that he gave up. And then he joined the Army
Spanish-American War in 19 1898. He was in for three years and that made a
man out of him. He said, if he's a man that he is, he made a man out of
him.
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Speaker2: And you met him after that?
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Speaker1: Oh, yes. Way after that? Oh, sure way after I was I was a kid
when that war was. Was that.
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Speaker2: So? He was in the war. Then he came back and he went to work
then.
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Speaker1: Oh yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
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Speaker2: He was for him. How Well, what did he do it?
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Speaker1: He was a salesman. He got into the electric line. Yes. Yes. Got
into the electric line.
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Speaker2: Do you have any idea if your parents came into America through
New York or.
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Speaker1: Baltimore or New York? They came in.
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Speaker2: They planned on.
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Speaker1: Living. Yes. Yes. They had a sister. My mother had a sister
here. And that's why they came here. You see.
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Speaker2: In Pittsburgh.
Speaker1: In Pittsburgh. Lansing, Yes. They had a grocery store here.
Okay.
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Speaker2: And why did they leave Russia?
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Speaker1: Oh, because my father wanted to get away from the from the from
the army. That's why they all left there. They all wanted a certain age.
You had to get in the army and he didn't want to. And he got That's why he
ran away from there, you see.
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Speaker2: And they moved when they came to Pittsburgh. They first went to
stay with your aunt.
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Speaker1: Well, I guess so. My aunt I was wasn't born yet. I don't know.
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Speaker2: Okay. I might just. And what was your father's occupation? Oh,
he was just a.
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Speaker1: Norton peddler, just like everybody else. It hardly made a
living. His. His life was the synagogue. You know, those old time I didn't
anything, you know or not, but.
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Speaker2: What sort of things did he peddle?
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Speaker1: Merchandise they would peddle? Yes.
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Speaker2: Merchandise Like dry goods? Yes.
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Speaker1: Yes. Anything at all.
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Speaker2: Did your mother work outside of the home? No. No. Did you did
you ever take boarders in your parents ever taken? No. No.
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Speaker1: We never lived in too big. We we need every inch of space we had
for the family. That way at all.
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Speaker2: And all your sisters sort of followed in your steps. Only went
up to about the eighth grade or so.
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Speaker1: And then. Oh, no, some went further. Yes. Oh, yes, they were.
They went the younger ones. Yes, the younger ones all had better
educations. Yes. But I never regretted it at all. I learned plenty when I
was out in the world. You can learn an awful lot out in the world, you know
at all. I was a very good scholar in school. Very, very good scholar. I
think I was, wasn't. It was 12 years old when I made the eighth grade, so
it was pretty good. Of course, they taught you different in those days and
they do today. But. But that's got nothing to do with me, dearie. I want to
know more about the old timers in Pittsburgh. I thought that's what you're
interested. Well, our family means nothing.
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Speaker2: We are nothing. We like to get a well rounded interview. No, no,
no, no.
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Speaker1: There's nothing there at all. Nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing
like that at all.
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Speaker2: Okay, well, what? When you first started working, did your
income go to support your parents?
00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:54.000
Speaker1: Sure. Every cent was into the family. Yes, Every cent.
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Speaker2: And then you met your husband when?
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Speaker1: Oh, I can't remember the years at all. We went around for a
couple of years and I wouldn't marry him because I had such a good
position. I didn't want to marry him at all.
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Speaker2: You had a good position?
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:13.000
Speaker1: Yes, it made me yeah, I was buyer. I used to go to New York all
around this year. I was in big, big, big money at all.
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Speaker2: But we finally talked you into it. Did he?
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Speaker1: Finally. I made a I. Yes. At all. So that's that's over the dam
at all.
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Speaker2: Okay. What was the nationality or ethnic background of most of
the people in downtown when you were growing up there?
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Speaker1: Well, me growing up there, we were kikes, we were Jews, we were
Jesus Christ, You killed our Christ. You were a sheeny. You were everything
in the world. You were the dirtiest thing there ever was. The Jews were all
going to school and everything else. Come home crying to my mother.
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Speaker2: But everybody in your neighborhood was Jewish then?
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Speaker1: No, no, no, no. Mother didn't like to live with her. We were all
Jews at all. She liked it. She didn't. That Hill district didn't come until
years later. Then when they started coming, they all the Romanian Jews got
together and all the Hungarians got together. Now my mother avoided that.
We lived on this side of the track.
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:10.000
Speaker2: And what what was the nationality of most of those people? Were
they Italian?
00:23:10.000 --> 00:24:27.000
Speaker1: They were Irish. They were the who's there. The most of them
were Irish, and they're the ones who always called you. They're the ones
that always called you the they called you Sheeny and the Celtic Christ,
all those kind of things. You see, we were we were slapped terribly. We
were all slapped terribly in the old days here. Yes. And did you take even
even my husband when he went into the army and in those days, the army. The
army wasn't the army wasn't wasn't drafted. They they volunteered the
volunteer army. You see it all. And most of the guys were these big Irish
guys and all. And he was a tall, skinny guy at all. So they changed all
their when they their regular clothes, when they got their uniforms, they
all changed and put on their regular put the uniforms on. So they started
calling them Ike. He was the only Jew in the place then at all. So they
took all their clothes and put it in front of his tent. But I have a I have
a fire sale now. Let them sell all this stuff at all because that's what
they were known for the Jews in those days. They made their own fire
sales.
00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:37.000
Speaker2: Yeah. Mhm. So you found you had trouble because you were
Jewish?
00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:38.000
Speaker1: Oh, yes, we all did.
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:45.000
Speaker2: Did you ever have any trouble with people. Vandalizing your home
or anything?
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:50.000
Speaker1: No, nothing like that at all. But the dirty Jews always were
dirty Jews and all.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.000
Speaker2: And did you did you see a change? Did I eventually stop at some
point?
00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:21.000
Speaker1: And naturally, people got to know you better. Yeah, sure. They
classed everybody. All the Jews. They were all crooked. They were all in
the old days. They all set their places on fire. They got insurance. They
did all. They had terrible reputations at all. Then there was two classes.
There was a German and the Orthodox Jews and the the Germans all lived over
in the North side is where they all lived. And we lived on this side. But
the Hill District didn't come until years later.
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:26.000
Speaker2: I see. But it was mostly down in the Lower Hill district that
was populated that.
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:34.000
Speaker1: Oh, everybody lived there. This was country out here right? No
houses out here. The people didn't live out here. It was all country people
had farms out here.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.000
Speaker2: So when did you move from downtown to Oakland?
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:42.000
Speaker1: I wouldn't know at all. I wouldn't know the years at all.
00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.000
Speaker2: Well, when you left home, when you got married, where did you
move to?
00:25:47.000 --> 00:26:02.000
Speaker1: Do you remember? Oh, we lived at Oakland. Different places. Oh,
down on fourth Street, the 2200. Then we went to then we come out to
Welsford Street out here. I can't remember those things. Streets.
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:08.000
Speaker2: Okay. Now, what was the first organization of Jewish people you
remember being organized?
00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:10.000
Speaker1: Council of Jewish Women Council.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.000
Speaker2: Do you have any idea about.
00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:26.000
Speaker1: When I should know? When Council. Jewish. When I joined the
Catholic Jewish Women? No, I couldn't tell you that at all. Yeah. Okay.
They were a wonderful organization.
00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Speaker2: Do you remember who the most important member was?
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:58.000
Speaker1: I can't think of her name. They had the one woman. She was paid,
though, for doing this. She used to meet all these here foreigners coming
in on the boat wherever they came in on. And she took care of them. Found
me a place to sleep and a place to eat and give them a start and all. And
the Constitution paid for all that. She was known for that. She used to
meet all these these ships that came in and took care of that. Oh, you
could find that out from the Council of Jewish Women. I'll tell you that.
They'll tell you that. Wonderful work. Wonderful work. The Council of
Jewish Women.
00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:00.000
Speaker2: So the organization was.
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:02.000
Speaker1: Yeah.
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:03.000
Speaker2: Mrs. Enoch Brown.
00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:11.000
Speaker1: Rho, RH Very prominent family in Pittsburgh. Okay. She was a she
was the first president. Yes.
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:14.000
Speaker2: And they organized themselves to help immigrants.
00:27:14.000 --> 00:28:03.000
Speaker1: Everybody. Yes, everybody. Then they, then they then they they
did wonderful. Good for the Sunday schools in the small towns. Later at
all, the Jamarion Schonfield came in. Yes. She took care of the Sunday
schools in the in the outlying districts because the Orthodox the Orthodox
shuls, Orthodox Orthodox schools didn't have Sunday schools. Only the boys
went to see. So. So here the reformed Jews got together with the got a very
wonderful woman and she organized them in the small towns. And they were
they were just crazy about her and just loved it all the Sunday school, the
modern way, you know, at all. And they accepted it. They accepted it. All
right.
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:04.000
Speaker2: The Orthodox accepted it.
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:21.000
Speaker1: Yes. Accepted. Very well. Yes. Then she used to get these
college boys to come out and teach. They used to pay them about 7 or $8 a
day or something like the way you made the Jewish the Jewish Council up at
Greensburg. Oh, this is different. This is still talking about Pittsburgh.
00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:30.000
Speaker2: Do you know what the most important or important organization
for Jewish people was? Now you say that's the first one. You remember
being.
00:28:30.000 --> 00:29:07.000
Speaker1: Organized. Yes, but my mother worked for the for the Montefiore
Hospital. Montefiore Hospital. It was called a Sick Relief Society. And the
women organized that. The old Jewish women here in Pittsburgh organized it.
And I remember she had a handkerchief and that's how she'd go to collect in
the handkerchief. People would put their money in the handkerchief. So and
Mrs. Barney Davis was the head one. She was the president of the whole
thing. And then then she then they started to get a hospital money. Then
that's how they start forming. Miss Barney Davis is the one who started the
Montefiore Hospital at all.
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:09.000
Speaker2: So it came out of the sick.
00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:12.000
Speaker1: Relief come the sick. Relief, Yes. At all.
00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:19.000
Speaker2: And I'm sorry to harp back to date, but was that in the was that
before the First World War or.
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:45.000
Speaker1: Oh, yes, Way, way back. Way back, Way back. You see, I worked
for them for 50 years and this was way before that at all. I was a child
and my mother was. I think my mother's dead about 40 years at all. And she
used to go around with the handkerchief, with the sea collecting $0.10 a
week. I think they paid for it at all. The Jews took care of all their
poor. Very well. Very well here in Pittsburgh.
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.000
Speaker2: Do you think that was the most important organization? The sick
relief?
00:29:48.000 --> 00:30:05.000
Speaker1: Oh, sure. No, They were all they were all important. The Hebrew
Loan Society was a wonderful thing. The of the House of Shelter was a
wonderful thing for people didn't come over, didn't know what to do, and
they would take them up there and give them shelter and feed them and so
forth. Oh, there was charity all the time.
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:16.000
Speaker2: That's good. And did you ever find you needed assistance from
any of these organizations? No, no, no.
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:25.000
Speaker1: No. When I was sick, the sister would send me flowers, but no,
other than nothing else. Assistance. Oh.
00:30:25.000 --> 00:31:25.000
Speaker2: I think.
