April 1, 2009
Hopedale History
No. 129
James Roberts
Hopedale in March
Franny Spadoni � Pictures from the Pacific, World War II.
Looms return to the Little Red Shop
Larry Bird visits Little Red Shop.
See a Draper loom in action at the Slater Mill � a YouTube video. Thanks to Sue Ciaramicoli for sending this.
�Rabies Day� - Saturday, April 4, at the town highway barn, Depot Street. Dogs, 1:30 � 2:30. Cats, 2:30 � 3.
The Friends of Upton State Forest website
<><><><><><><><><><>
James Roberts
I recently received the following from Elinor Roberts:
I am the lucky inheritor of some diaries kept by my grandparents, James Percival Roberts (1874 - 1960) and Myrtle (Freeman) Roberts (1884 - 1981). They lived in Hopedale from sometime in the 1930�s through Grampa Jim�s death in 1960. My grandmother kept her apartment there until 1979 or 1980. My grandfather worked for Drapers as well as for the G&U Railroad at different times.
My grandfather was trained as a lawyer so he was an excellent writer and a keen observer of detail. He also had a wry sense of humor and lots of interests. All these are qualities I learned about from the diaries -- he died when I was 5, so all I remember was his �enormous� height (probably 6 feet), bald head, and that he liked hot cereal. I treasure these crumbling diaries -- not only because he�s a wonderful source of my family�s history, but also because I find the same joy in the ordinary details of life that he apparently did. (Oh, and I�m trained as a lawyer, too -- probably just a coincidence.)
A note on November 16, 1946 caught my eye: �38th Free Saturday.� He went on to write about attending the funeral of Freeman Lowell (of Lowell�s Dairy.) I paged back through 1946 and every Saturday was counted as �Free� until Saturday, March 2, 1946 -- the first Saturday holiday for Draper employees. He wrote about his first Saturday off! What�s so cool about this is the impact of big events on daily life in Hopedale: the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1939 -- also known as the �40-hour work week� -- wasn�t implemented until after the war because of labor shortages -- my grandfather would have known the enormity of this change and he cherished its benefits.
Here is a little key to some of the references:
Alan = Alan Roberts, his grandson (died as a toddler)
Myrtle = Myrtle F. Roberts, his wife (my grandmother)
Paul = Paul Roberts, his son (my father)
Philip = Philip Roberts II, his first grandchild (my brother)
Virginia = Virginia B. Roberts, Paul�s wife (my mother)
penthouse = their 4th floor unit in the Apartment Building (he used �penthouse� tongue-in-cheek)
SS = Sunday School; (he taught it at Union Church)
Saturday, March 2, 1946
Here beginneth the first, full Saturday holiday for me in many years -- say from H.S. days, back in 1892. For Draper Corp. at Hopedale, where we now are, begins today a regular, 40-hour, 5-day week. Myrtle and I used it as follows: Rose before 8; started breakfast of orange, toast with (eggs for me) and coffee. Then I walked to Hopedale P.O., got mail -- chiefly the Plymouth Record -- and then down RR Street to the G.&U.R.R. station where Paul�s Dodge stood waiting. Then with Jim Smith of Brae Burn Inn as a passenger drove to Milford. Dropped him at S. Bow St.; then down it to the Railway Express office where Agent LaBounty (h. of Mrs. LaBounty of Draper office) had a bushel of Florida oranges @ $4.00 ready for us. Paid for �em; drove home to 37 Dutcher Street and our penthouse (Apt. 7). Found 128 oranges to the bu. Then I took Myrtle to 62 Bancroft Park so she could stay with Philip and Alan. Took Virginia to Patrick�s shopping (I read in the car while she shopped) [I bought a gallon of Puerto Rican molasses at Pat�s Corner store on my first trip to Milford @ $1.05.] Chauffeured V. home; got Myrtle and took her shopping to the A&P and Stop & Shop in Milford. The �lady� at A&P slipped Myrtle, without a word, � lb. of butter, now very scarce!
Soon after 12 N. I took Myrtle for dinner at the Quality Restaurant in Milford. She ate baked ham; I scallops. Then home with the groceries. Put in 5 gals. of gas at Fred Woolhiser�s (Draper Corp.) station across Dutcher St., took the car to P. and V. in the Park before 2 P.M. [They drove Alan to an M.D. in Framingham as he as a �rupture.� ? M. and I then had naps; at 3 P.M. to Bancroft Library where we read the London Illustrated News, Life, Harper�s, Am. Homes, etc.
Supper at 6: oyster stew with crackers; green salad with mayonnaise (Hellman�s), coffee rolls (bakery), peanut brittle and chocolate peppermints. At 5:30 had listened to John W. Vandercook on WBZ on the Russian and Asiatic situation and the UNO. Studied the Sunday School lesson (Joshua entering the Promised Land), read till 9 or more -- and so to bed -- completing my first, free Saturday since the gay �90s.
(signed with a flourish) James P. Roberts
Saturday, November 16, 1946 - 38th Free Sat.
Went to Freeman Lowell�s funeral in Mendon�s Unit. Church. He was very friendly man, a great Granger; amazed himself by the money he made in his dairy biz. as our �milk man� and in his immense servings of ice cream at �Lowell�s.� He would have been 73 today. He was a State Deputy Patrons of Husbandry [the Grange] when I first met him 20 years ago; I was then Chaplain of Dedham Grange.
In eve., Myrtle and I went to the movies -- wild Western -- at Ideal in Milford.
Sunday we moved back to our penthouse after church & Senior Class and dinner of tenderloin steak (the first post-war) at Paul�s.
<><><><><><><><><><>
Recent death:
Fred L. Sprague, 85, March 23, 2009.
Hopedale History Email Stories Menu HOME