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I told them I knew there was no money at home. If I went to work, I’d start earning. Otherwise, I’d be studying for four more years and there’d be even less money. And it was me who convinced my parents rather than the other way round. And I went to work.
Though a friend of my mother’s believed I’d make a great dressmaker, judging by the dresses I made for my dolls, I said had no patience for that, and that I’d go mad before I made a dress. I better make hats, I said.
I went to make hats to a milliner. But because I was 13 and the age requirement for an official contract was 15, I didn’t make any money until I turned 15. Except as tip from time to time for delivering a client’s hat to her home.
My boss was such a person that she kept me in the shop until midnight. And there was still of a way to walk home. I worked near where we lived, one bus stop, let’s say, but who used buses before the war. You always walked on foot.
Though a friend of my mother’s believed I’d make a great dressmaker, judging by the dresses I made for my dolls, I said had no patience for that, and that I’d go mad before I made a dress. I better make hats, I said.
I went to make hats to a milliner. But because I was 13 and the age requirement for an official contract was 15, I didn’t make any money until I turned 15. Except as tip from time to time for delivering a client’s hat to her home.
My boss was such a person that she kept me in the shop until midnight. And there was still of a way to walk home. I worked near where we lived, one bus stop, let’s say, but who used buses before the war. You always walked on foot.
Period
Interview
Anna Mass