The Hilltop Tavern Years

My memories of the Hilltop tavern years with Grandma and Grandpa Consier include sitting at the bar on Sunday afternoons....the Fiddler girls would line up on the bar stools eating roast beef and mashed potatoes while watching a movie classic like Heidi....life was good! Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa would sit at a table in the bar area playing canasta....all very friendly in those days.

On Saturday night the family tavern would "rock" with polkas...did anyone dance? Maybe us! Neville Scott, the local drunk, once tried to teach us to sing like the Lennon Sisters on the Lawrence Welk show. He lined us up and coached us to bring forth our best vocals....our collective range was somewhere between a chain saw and the lazy drone of a single engine plane on a Sunday afternoon! That was one of the flaws of Catholicism...we were all about Latin and the Rosary....no singing/musical training!! Needless to say, Neville quickly abandoned his talent scout efforts.

Saturday night was also bath night. We would take turns bathing in a galvanized tub ...one bath a week to conserve water. This resource was trucked in and dumped into a cistern. The water level was measured almost daily with a long stick and when it got low enough "the water man" would be summoned.

Although I did not know the word "discrimination" the Catholic church made me feel it up close and personal.....St.Joseph's would not allow their school bus to travel up the winding highway curve to the tavern....too dangerous! I always thought they felt the "real danger" was having "bar trash" taint their cloisterd education system.Somehow Mr. Lynn, the public school bus driver, managed to navigate this challenge!!

Beyond the back yard of the tavern was an area of timber and we created trails to run around on..Dad would hunt bunnies in the winter with only a stick. Rabbit stew on a cold winter day was pretty good. To the west of the bar was an open field extending up hill to the hedge along Mr. Renner's property. When Honor or I felt put out by our parents we would run up there and hide along the hedge row feeling sorry for ourselves. Eventually, we would get hungry.....and we would trek down the hill for a sandwich. Someone supplied a swing set and we enjoyed that. We played cowboys and Indians with sticks, improvising bows and arrows and guns. We spent a lot of time outside.

Monticello School was a great place to attend...everyone was poor in that township. But the teachers treated everyone fairly, striving to educate. The bookmobile would come every so often and my joy was the Laura Ingalls Wilder series describing life on the prairie. I had no concept of how harsh the settler's lives were...it all sounded so cozy to me. My love of reading was nurtured by these books and the kind attention of Mrs. DeMaranville.

I don't remember getting any beer or wine from Grandma and Grandpa....I do remember there was a jug of Mogen David under the kitchen sink. Our sister, Carol, told later she used to sneak a little nip. I once stole a pack of gum from grandpa and then had to tearfully confess when someone noticed my vigorous chomping.

People were so poor in that area....we did not spend time at each other's homes...although how do you invite your friends to a bar?? I did go to play at Linda DeMotte's house one afternoon and we had boiled cabbage for supper...I loved it.

Better close.....love to all readers!
EllenE