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A. Varesano interviewing Mary Marshlik -18- 8/22/72 Tape 28-2
MM: Yes, in the floor, there was an opening. Before you put the ham into smoke, you soaked them in salt water for a few days, and then you put them in to smoke. That much I remember! And I remember my father made sausage. I know he even bought a sausage grinder, and it even had the tube on there where you would pull the casing on, and as he would be grinding the meat and putting the seasoning inall at the same time, and then the casing would get filled up, then when it'd get to a certain point, then he would tie a string in there, as long as he wanted, and then he'd keep that up, and that saved a lot of time, because before they used to stuff it by hand, before my father found the grinder, why they used to stuff all that by hand. Well the people used to get together, men and women used to get together, and they used to prepare the mean and then they would be stuffing it. They would clean the casings and then they would stuff, so that kind of project whenever anybody did anything like that, there was a group get together and they would do it. It wasn't just that the family alone did it, the group would get together, because sometimes not everybody had a smokehouse, so other people would bring theirs into your smokehouse, and it done in your smokehouse. AV: So they would help you do it? MM: Yes. AV: Now, in front of this opening, you used to stuff logs down here periodically? MM: Well, you had to keep acareful watch on it. I know my father even used to get up at nighttime to go and watch so that the fire wouldn't go out completely. They would be embers there, but they were still hot. And then you would put some more logs inthere. AV: DId you have this closed with anything, so that the smoke wouldn't get out through this hole? MM: I don't remember just what they used to put over top, but it had to be closed so that the smoke would go up into the smokehouse. AV: There were holes in the floor so that the smoke would go up, or what? MM: Well, yes, see. there was a hole right in here, just in this part of the floor right here, there would be a piece cut out so that the smoke would go up into it. AV: So that like this is the door...And what is the usual place that people kept outhouses in teh garden - uh, smokehouess - in the garden? MM: Well, they didn't always have them in the same place. Some of them had them closer up to the house, some of them further down in the back. Not everybody had them in the same place. Ours, I don't know what was down there. Now, the neighbor that I said, theirs was on fire, well, theirs wasn't too far behind the shanty. AV: About ten feet behind the shanty? MM: About ten, twelve feet behind the shanty, they had theirs. It wasn't very far behind the shanty, their smokehouse. AV: What family was this? MM: Menchik AV: At what number were they? MM: Number 37. AV: And do you remember any other people on Back Street having smokehouses? And where they were located? MM: Well, that I wouldn't know, I couldn't help you on that. I know that there were people had smokehouses, but just where they would have them I don't know. Menchik's I remember because it was on fire. So that one I remember pretty well. AV: Would you say that most of them had it towards the back?
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A. Varesano interviewing Mary Marshlik -19- 8/22/72 Tape 28-2
MM: Yes, towards the back? AV: And remember yesterday, I asked you about bake ovens. Did you remember anyone on Back Street having bake ovens. MM: No, not to my knowledge I don't remember. AV: Somebody mentioned the Machala's having a bake oven. MM: They probably did because Mrs. Machala kept a lot of boarders, so I know that she may have had one, but I didn't go down into that section. My father never allowed us out too much out of the yard, so I didn't get downtown so much. AV: And do you remember anything else about bake ovens on Main Street? Did the people at one time all have them, do you know? MM: No, no, because it's just like the smoke houses, if anybody had one, and if somebody wanted to bake bread, they would ask you could they use your oven. Sometimes you'd give them permission, but it depended, because some people were very careless. If you let them use it one and then they didn't clean it, they wouldn't clean up after themselves, they wouldn't get a chance to use it again, because you had to clean out all the ashes from the wood that was burning underneath, you had to clean the bricks out, all that had to be brushed out. So if you didn't clean up after yourself, then you didn't get a chance to use the oven again, they wouldn't let you do it, which was only fair, because if they gave you the privilage of using it, then you should be nice enough and clean it. AV: So you don't think that everybody on Main Street had bake ovens at one time? MM: I can only remember the two that was, my husband's grandmother, and then I believe Mrs. Cushner. I believe they were, they were the only two that I can remember. AV: Where was Mrs. Cushner living then? MM: Well, you know where Mrs. Yenshaw lived? Well, there was a house right over across that road there, on the same side of the street, and I believe she had one. AV: Do you know where shehad it? MM: No, but I remember them say that she had one. AV: And they didnt' say whether it was in back of the shanty, or back farther... MM: It probably was back of the shanty, because that's where they generally had them.
