OUR SMITH FAMILY STORY PART SIX by Lorena May Smith Stahlbaum, my Aunt. 12/21/2009

Papa sometimes took us to visit Aunt Ellen at the other end of town. He would play his violin, taught me to dance the Highland Fling, and the Irish washerwoman jig. He also took us to visit Aunt Harriet, up in Grindstone City on Lake Huron a time or two for a picnic or a swim. We had to walk down to the station at the East end to take the train. A lot of trains passed through Bad Axe into the 1920's, as there were two big grain companies in town, business people traveled to the cities by train, and up to cottages on the lake. Not many people had cars, there were often very many farmers in town with horses and wagons, or bobsleds in winter. Though the days of stage coaches was long past, old Mr. Shafer had one he used as a taxi to take travelers from th Depot to the hotels. The car I remember most is an electric car that old Mrs. Hanson had, she was not so very old, probably; nor was Mr. Safer as it seemed to me. Other relatives in town did not register on my mind because I never saw much of them until later on. My mother and father were divorced when I was about 8 years old. Papa took a job in Flint, MI. as an auxillary policeman guard in an auto factory. In those days, divorce was frowned upon, but my mother was well liked and respected, she had to cope with five children without much help or money, she did so very well. My father was not often in town after that. It must have been the summer of 1922, Mama took a job working for the Ford family....not Henry...in Point Aus Barques on the lake. It was an exclusive resort where wealthy people had big cottages. A chauffer picked her up each morning and brought her home each evening to the house we were renting in Port Austin, also on Lake Huron, a few miles from where she worked. Dorothy was about fifteen then and looked after us. We all had things we were supposed to do. My main job was keeping track of Donnie, who was about four, or so. Mostly it was a lot like having a cottage at the shore, except that we were not right on the lake.