Play at first was riding my tricycle. Somewhat later, I learned to roller skate:
I started by coasting a few feet down the slightly graded sidewalk, then a few feet
more and so on, until finally, after many Sundays’ trials, I experienced the thrill of
making it to the end of the block without stopping! I never did graduate to a two-
wheeled bike. But not many young kids in those days had one.
Taking pictures was often a pleasant diversion on sunny Sunday afternoons.
Mother and “the girls" to look their best would still be wearing their church clothes.
Sometimes they would take turns being snapped in a coat or bathing suit that one of
them had just acquired. I was always included in the picture-taking and more often
than not I “hammed it up." Then there were the hikes on nearby Haystack Mountain
which Mother and two or more of my aunts took and I tagged along.
During summer vacations, I sometimes went swimming with my Wallace
relatives in Patterson Creek, about ten miles away across the state line in West
Virginia. Every year we rode the street car the two miles to the church picnic at
Narrows Park, where we went on the roller coaster and merry-go-round and watched
the organized games. Later, Blue Beach on the south branch of the Potomac River
near Springfield, West Virginia, twenty or so miles from Cumberland, was the
Wallaces’ favorite place for family outings, memorable events if only for Grandma
Wallace’s wonderful food. On one, perhaps two, occasions I was included in the
annual weekend at the cottage of Uncle Georgie (my grandmother Wallace’s brother),
also on the south branch. The car ride to get there was fun, but after arriving I wished
I didn’t have to remain! The foul-smelling outhouse, the long walk through a
cornfield to go swimming in the muddy river and the dusty, corn-husk mattresses that
aggravated my hayfever and asthma were not my idea of fun.
For the most part, I felt very contented in the midst of my mother’s folks. I
was equally contented at home on Baltimore Avenue. Ma and Jeanette took good care
of me, coping well enough, I suppose, with my bratty tendencies. Ma had a soft,
comfortable lap and she spoiled me with sweets and was easy on me when I was bad.
Jeanette on the contrary was skinny and angular and quick to smack my bottom.
I often sat in the midst of adult discussions, or more than likely gossip
sessions, which Jeanette dominated. Amused by my absorption, she would wink at
the others and say, “Billy, is the conversation good today." I doubt if I understood
anything that was said but adult attitudes undoubtedly rubbed off and went into the
formation of my personality. How much influence Jeanette actually had on my early
upbringing is not easy to determine. I only know that she was good to me and I had
a great deal of affection for her.
So I suppose I can say that I had two pretty good worlds, one on the east side
of town and one on the west.
24
