Page 164 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

A new baby and a new business

she herself wore pleated skirts, and could better understand the
problem. She was also learning how to handle a needle in sewing her
future progeny’s outfits. I did know how to handle a needle and,
fortunately, Ben at that time had found a job as a presser of altered
garments at Bullocks through some people who worked there. They
would stop by my shop, nearby on Seventh Street, and one of them,
a tailor from Europe, showed me how to sew and handle the repair
work. Ladies’ clothing came in more often for cleaning, but the work
was harder. Skirts at that time were not as short as we see now, as
men desired and married women without having the female expose
her limbs to show where they were rooted, or wear a tight-fitting skirt
to prove she had a navel.
Pressing those pleats looks like a small matter to one who is not in
the business, but when you deal with women customers you have
aggravation when the job is poor—with the pleats crooked, one
narrow, the next wide, and the material puffy and fuzzy. Yet it was
better than the junk or the fruit business. I did not get rich in that
cleaning business, but it saved me from poverty and starvation. When
one took in thirty dollars’ worth of work a week, there was twenty
dollars left clear. I was in that business five months when the baby
came on March 14, 1909. Before the new arrival came, we were able
to save enough for hospital expenses, which were not as high as
nowadays: eight dollars a day plus small items. The doctor waited for
his fee, and we paid in time.
We also saved a bit on transportation, as we had plenty of time
that evening, and the Good Samaritan Hospital was then on Seventh
Street in a fine wooden building. Fannie thought it was time to
prepare lodging for the young arrival, so we took a fast walk down
Seventh Street and she immediately went into a bed. I went home. In
the morning I went to see her in the hospital and there, who did I
find: Hilda, the new arrival. To say it was a great moment would not
be saying too much; it is the greatest moment in animal life. Man as
well as beast, bird or insect, all feel the same bewilderment when their
progeny is reproduced. Those who are unfortunate in not having a
child do not know the joy—and the suffering, which is also a joy,
when suffered for a child. Marriage without a child is just a contract;
with a child, it is a binding contract.
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