Evening star., 1951-08-19

AS THE CENSUS BUREAU SCI
census tracts" for the purpo.
tracts numbered 73, ~ and 7S
week. They ate dried beans, bread
Imacaroni, dry cereal with canned
milk, cabbage, potatoes. They
never had fruit or des us. Fol
meat they had hamburger once q
week. The children carried jelly
sandwiches to school for lunch.
Hope to Buy Clothes.
ANY spending money for rec
reation the children have is
earned. The boys have a shoe.
shine box and the daughter gets
an occasional opportunity to baby
sit. Now that the family is indie
pendent again they are taking
more part in the community life
Mrs. Nixon and the older boy and
girl have good singing voices and
sing at their own and other
churches. All the family goes to
church.
"Mr. and Mrs. Nixon have taken
out a 20-year endowment policy
of $3.50 on each child, for which
they pay total premiums of $11.40
monthly. One of the boys wants
to be either printer or a farmer
and the other has a burning de-
sire to be a doctor. They are
worried about the daughter though
because she wants to go to work
SO she can have pretty clothes. "
LAS soon as they get the fur
niture paid for, the family plans
to buy clothes. For the five years
since Mr.. Nixon's heart attack and
before he got this job, their
clothes were donated by volun-
tary agency"
Three Live on S1,O4O.
The third Washington family
reported on was the Thompsons,
consisting of Charles, SO, the IA
ther; Elsie, SO, the mother, and
Ethel, Is. their daughter. Their
1949 income was $1,040. Mr..
Thompson is an iceman. The re-
port says:
Eight years after they were
married, Elsie's mother and father
died and left their home to the
family. Although located in the
heart of a district zoned for COM
merce, it has no modernization
whatever. It is heated by two
coal stoves. the cooking being done
on a wood range. The plumbing
! is most primitive and the house
is lighted by oil lamps. Their
home is dreary inside and outside
and shows no signs of ever hav-
ing had anything done to add
beauty or comfort. Whatever paint
it might have had has long since
lost it's identity. There are no
floor coverings, no window Shades
or curtains. It has the minimum
of furniture and there is a gen.
eral air of complete indifference.
Ethel feels very depressed about
it and, now that she is older, Is
trying to do little things to make
her own room more attractive.
Most Of Income for Food.
I'm 1947 Mrs. Thompson was
found to be diabetic. Since Mr.
Thompson was earning only $2C
"a week handling ice. this was in
adequate to supply special diet
for Mrs. Thompson along with
the other needs of the family. A
; local voluntary agency helped tt
/ get them food and clothing anc
/ also worked out a budget so thai
special foods could be obtained
Mrs. Thompson continues to ge
/ adequate medical care, including
; insulin. free of charge from the
hospital. Last winter Ethel hac
. pneumonia and was cared fol
without charge at the hospital.
Most of their income is spen
for food. Mrs. Thompson sale
they have plenty Of fresh anc
, dried fruits, fruit juices, and veg.
etables. Vegetable boiled dinners
, are the regular fare, varied once
or twice week with stews or po
! roasts. They use dozen eggs {
week, and a quart of fresh milk
day, besides three large cans o
:, milk a week. The only money the!
spend for carfare is for Mrs
J Thompson's monthly trips to thu
3 hospital.
No Savings or Insurance.
|; :; "The family has no savings ant
! no insurance. They buy nothinl
| on the installment plan and hav'
no debts. Most of their clothinl
is donated. The only new clothing
bought is Mr.. Thompson's worl
3 clothes. During slow periods, sucl
S as the lag between the purchas
of ice and coal. some of the olde
children make small contribution
l to make up the deficit. Ethel as
e sists in the school cafeteria an,
q in return is given her lunches an,
: shoes.
Ethel attends free of charg
e the summer camps maintained b
: a voluntary agency, where she ha
9 learned to swim. She is very in
d terested in the activities sponsore
i by this organization. She doesn
d take any part in the extra -curric
70 ular programs of her school. Visit
,r ing with the neighbors seems t
n be the only social activity whic
really interests the family.
ID Ethel Is In the eighth grad
l. and plans to complete q CONNER
S. cial course and become a stenos
a rapher 1If she can be encourage