Margaret tells the story of her family attending a Methodist summer camp. She wandered into a dining tent at the camp and, without her parents knowing it, had a meal. They had to pay for the meal, which they thought was too expensive and so Margaret…
Margaret was introduced to sports in fourth grade, especially softball. She learned to play volleyball in fifth or sixth grade. In seventh grade she began playing tennis.
In 1913 the Mortensons bought a new house at 2400 Harrison St., just a couple of blocks from 2218 Central St. This was a comfortable, plain, square house, like so many throughout the Midwest in those days. The family lived there until 1923 when they…
The Lincolnwood School was a very nice building, with excellent teachers, especially in music and arts. Seventh grade kids all participated in the Evanston Music Festival. Margaret remembers the great musician John McCormack who often sang drunk, and…
Margaret remembers living in her neighborhood of children. There seemed to be children in every family. It might have been a community of middle aged couples.
Betty was born in 1912 by C-section, a very serious operation in those days. It was a miracle that Adelle survived. Grandmother came down from Racine to help. A.D. took wrote notes hour by hour throughout the ordeal
Margaret recalls games the kids played on Harrison St. A child named Paul owned toboggans, with which the kids would sweep on the ice during winter. One girl owned a pony but was stingy about it. Everyone owned bicycles.
Betty was a rascal very early in her childhood. Mother, at least in part because of the operation, began to have some health problems, and she wasn't allowed to go upstairs very much. Elizabeth would get into mischief and run upstairs, in defiance of…
On Lincoln Street lived a woman named Lucy Fitch Perkins, whose son Larry was about Evangeline's age. She was a very popular writer of children's books. She would call the neighborhood kids to read them her stories, trying out her new books.
Adelle had a sense of style when she was young, but the dresses she sewed for her daughters didn't seem very nice to Margaret. Adelle also did the girls' hair, and their father, A.D., wanted them to keep their hair long--it was a biblical thing.
Evangeline had a gift for style and art. Her parents sent her to an art institute and she began taking lessons when she was young. She began sewing when she was four, and at age eleven she sewed herself a dress so nice that a woman stopped her in the…
In the summer of 1914 Adelle took the girls to Michigan to stay at a cottage near Green Lake. A.D. joined them later and they had a nice time. Margaret recalls hunting for Petoskey stones and, still that summer, eating so many blueberry muffins that…
A.D. preached to Margaret an awful lot, though she was very religious from an early age. She eventually avoided him when she could. He was very cold, although he didn't want to be. He would give up his lunch to do something for the girls, and he…
Adelle's health began to be a matter of concern. In 1917 she had an operation at the Mayo Clinic, which left her with other heart related problems. She later was admitted again to the Evanston Hospital for a long bout. She would spend many long hours…
Margaret and her sisters grew up in a musical family, and they all had music lessons. Evangeline and Betty were talented musically, Margaret had no gift. Betty had a very brilliant teacher at Northwestern University, but lost it all when she came to…
Margaret reads from her diary about her decision to take a bath every day, hot summer days when she played softball, her practice of violin, and her mom's return from the hospital.
Margaret continues reading from her diary about the club of twelve boys and twelve girls, skating, getting angry at a tall boy who threw ice cream to Evangeline, and other things that happened at school.
Margaret recalls being addicted to reading, going frequently to the library to hunt for books. At home she would go into the living room where there was a library table and perch on the chair arm to read. An hour later she would still be perched…
By the time she was fourteen Margaret was endlessly busy. She was in the church choir, practiced two musical instruments, went to school, played sports, participated in a club, spent time with special friends, and participated in various family…
Margaret wasn't allowed to go to plays, movies, and dances. All the kids at her school went to dance lessons, but she wasn't allowed to, although she was the best dancer of her class. Her father was so strict
Margaret tells about her turn to put on a program for the children. It took a lot of preparation, but the children in those days had a great deal of initiative. They were always putting on programs of entertainment.
Margaret and her sisters decided to put on Cinderella for their father's birthday. The kids made their costumes. Family members were invited so that they could have an audience.
Margaret tells about a male neighbor that was held up by a man with a pistol in Evanston. The man struck him on the head and he was bleeding. This shows that crime was in their neighborhood.