MY MOTHER'S FURNITURE

               MY MOTHER'S FURNITURE

My mother must have bought a house full of furniture before the Great Depression set in. She wanted nice furniture.  The three-piece living room set was upholstered in black carved velvety material that never ever wore out in spite of all the living we did--- using it as the main comfort zone. There was the regular davenport, as it was called those days, the winged chair and the big overstuffed rocking chair.  That became a double rocking horse for the grandchildren, who used  the comfy arms as great saddles.

They don't make living room furniture like that anymore.

Then there was the dining room set.  The family always ate at the dining table, never ever in the kitchen.
I used to love to polish this walnut set every week.  My mother had a gallon jug of furniture polish bought from a door-to-door salesman who probably didn't have a real job and was trying to make some money by concocting his own brand of furniture polish.  There was no label on the jar. Heaven only knows what kind of oils he put in that polish.  But it did the job. Maybe there was something in it that made polishing the furniture a pleasurable job. I don't think I really experienced a "high" from using it, though.

And then there was the great big Ellington piano with real elephant tusk ivory keys.  I loved that piano.
It always got a tune-up when needed, no matter how short on money the folks were.  And I polished it with loving care.

The sewing machine, too, was a wonderful thing.  All folded up, it looked like a regular little living room table with drawers.  It was electric, not a pedaled machine. So that needed to be polished, too.
Later, my mother got rid of it and bought a portable Elna sewing machine. I still mourn the old one.

My folks slept on a four poster bed with a Beauty-Rest mattress. My mother always bragged about that mattress.  I think they still manufacture them today. The matching vanity had three mirrors--one on each side of the main mirror and they were on hinges, so you could see how you looked from the side.  As a teen-ager, I spent a lot of time in front of that vanity!

So that's the story of my mother's furniture.