All of us spent time in just reading. I can remember when I was old enough to take out books from the Monongahela Public Library, that I would always sign out several books at a time.

I would read everything I could get my hands on, even all the label information on cans, bottles and cereal boxes. Our Newspaper was the Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph which was delivered for 3 cents a day, the same cost as a stamp to mail a letter. I would read ever article in it. The sports page was my favorite and I had all the players for the Pittsburgh Pirates memorized and could recite their batting averages.

It was a William Randolph Hearst paper which despised President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and had constant articles attacking him and his family. The most infamous muckracker at that time, working for Hearst, was columnist Westbrook Pegler. Day after day, he wrote articles that tried to defame and blacken the president, but Roosevelt crushed every opponent for four straight presidential elections. Robert Ripley's daily spot in the paper was called "Believe It or Not,” and it was one of the paper’s most popular features.

Jones Street, below our house, was a concrete road, extending about 100' from Main St and fairly wide, with little traffic then, and houses on both sides. Many of our friends and playmates lived here or nearby, so it was a natural place to gather for games in the early evening. Sometimes we would get overly boisterous, and Mrs. Bindi, an old lady who lived alone in the corner house, would call the police. When the patrolman came riding up on his motorcycle, we would scatter, and gather again when he left.

Her sons owned an automobile agency in town so we thought she and they were rich. When I was married and lived in Monongahela and occasionally bought a car, I never considered their agency because I had memories of her yelling at us and calling the police.

1932 was one of the turning points, and one of the most important presidential races in U. S. history. The stock market had crashed in 1928. Two years later most banks failed and many depositers lost all or part of their savings. There was no federal deposit insurance at that time. For several decades after the bank failures, many old people still did not trust money and kept their small savings at home, stashed away in some safe place.

Factories and plants shut down, millions were thrown out of work at a time when there was no such thing as Welfare help. Soup kitchens soon sprung up.

Herbert Hoover was president, and his response was that things would soon get better and back to normal all on their own. Roosevelt campaigned on the theme that the government would institute programs to help provide jobs for workers and crop support for farmers.

On election night, 8 years old at the time, I can remember being at Jones St. with other kids, as grownups were walking along Main Street to and from the election house where they voted. I can still remember a little rhyme which someone had taught me - perhaps my Dad - which I taught the other boys and we would call it out as voters approached.

Hoover blew the whistle,

Mellon rang the bell,

Wall Street gave the signal,

And we all went to hell!

When the stock market crashed in 1929, and later most of the banks failed and went under, Hoover was presidentand blamed for not doing more to help the country recover. Mellon was the multi-millionaire secretary of the treasury at that time and received much criticism for not saving the banks from failing.

Roosevelt won the election in a landslide, but it wasn't easy to turn the nation’s economy around. His first task was to try to provide some work for the unemployed. He proposed and congress passed legislation for make-work agencies, like the Works Progress Administration (WPA) where our Dad found work for a while; the Public Works Adminstration (PWA), and the Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) which provided work for 18 to 35 year old young men for a one-year period.

The CCC was responsible for the creation of most of the state parks in Pennsylvana. In towns and cities, they built road drainage lines, and built many stone retaining walls that still can be seen along the highways in rural areas. At its peak, over 500,000 young men were given employment in this program in the United States. They received room and board, and were also paid $30 per month, $25 of which automatically was sent to their families.

The middle of the depression in the mid-thirties was a time of despair for many Americans. Even the weather was a factor in exacerbating the problems of many. For several years in the mid-thirties, there was a disasterous drought in much of the Mid-West and Southwest. Farmland dried up and giant dust storms blew the topsoil for hundreds of miles. This was the time when many emigrated to California with their few precious belongings crammed onto their old cars. One of the largest movements was people from Oklahoma - the Okies whom John Steinback wrote about in his novel called “The Grapes of Wrath.”

The movie industry put out many “escape type” musical extravaganzas at a time when movies were the main entertainment of most people. Popular songs ranged from the upbeat “Pennies From Heaven” to the despairing “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime.” This was also the time of the origin of “Knock-Knock, Who’s There?” jokes.

Thousands of men were “riding the rails” - hitchhiking on boxcars, travelling around the country looking for work. “Hobo jungles” sprang up under bridges and railroad crossings , where transients gather at night to cook and share their food. Men were selling apples or pencils along the street to make a little money. Many, wearing their WW I uniforms, begged on the streets. Soup kitchens sprang up, supported by the Salvation Army and church groups to help feed people.

Very slowly, things started to get a little better, but the real recovery took almost eight years, and the Great Depression didn't really end until the threat of war in Europe boosted the American economy through the massive production of war materials.