Things to think about:
— Stefan isn’t so bad. Did my sandwich give him trouble at school?
— We should hang the laundry on the roof. I must remember to tell Mama in the morning.
— Why don’t our neighbours take better care of their outhouses?
I haven’t had any time yet to work on my hope chest. Mama says there will be plenty of time once we get settled.
Tuesday, May 12, 1914, after school
Mary lives on Centre Street, which is just two blocks away and right by the school. She says that several girls from our class live close to her.
She loaned me a set of flash cards that she made when she was learning the English alphabet. She has only been in Canada for eight months, but when she speaks English she sounds like our teacher. I tried out the flash cards on Mykola and he thinks it is a wonderful game. He remembers the letters as well as I do. I think he is very smart for a five-year-old.
Later
At school we learned that in English, men are called “Mr.” and married women are called “Mrs.” before their names.
I like that!
Wednesday, May 13, 1914, bedtime
I have solved a mystery. I know why Stefan has that big cloth bag. He sells newspapers before school and on Saturdays also. The way I know this is because it was raining today and so he didn’t manage to sell all of his papers. When I passed him on the way to school, he gave me one so I could cover my head.
I avoided the puddles, but a horse and wagon splashed me with mud. The man shook his fist at me and yelled. Stefan’s newspaper kept most of the mud away from my jumper and blouse, but my beautiful stockings and boots were covered. Miss Boyko made me take them off and she stuffed my boots with newspapers so they would not shrink as they dried. She gave me a pair of scratchy woollen socks to wear in class. It was so embarrassing! I had to put my dirty stockings and boots back on when it was time to go home and they were squishy and cold.
When I got home, Baba made me have a hot bath even though it is only Wednesday. She said that my boots are not ruined. They just have to dry with newspaper in them and then she will show me how to brush off the dirt and shine them.
Something else — Mama isn’t Mrs. Haggarty’s housekeeper after all. She works in the kitchen.
Thursday, May 14, 1914, after school
I don’t ever want to go back to school.
Friday, May 15, 1914
curled up on the floor with my pillow
Mama said I could stay home today. I am still so shaken that I can barely hold this pen. This is what happened:
A girl named Slava comes to school dirty and she can’t speak any English. Mary says that sometimes she comes without lunch, but when she does bring something, it’s an oily bag with pickled herring or stinky cheese. Mary told me that Slava’s mother died so it is just Slava’s father raising her and he does not know how to raise a daughter.
Yesterday at lunch, the Canadian girls were playing one of their circle games and Slava wanted to play. They let her sit in the middle of the circle.
I didn’t know what they were saying, but Mary was listening to their song, and it was all about Slava and that she was a dirty little animal. When they were finished, one of the girls scooped up some dirt and dumped it over Slava’s head. The other girls laughed.
At first, Slava started to laugh with them, but then she realized what the girls had done. Her eyes went wide and then they filled with tears. Mary ran up to the girls and grabbed Slava away.
We told Miss Boyko and she calmed Slava down and cleaned her up, but she said for us not to make a fuss about it. She said that we had to get along with these girls and sometimes that means keeping quiet. Why are these girls so mean? Don’t they realize that Slava has feelings just like they do? Sometimes I get so angry that I could cry.
Baba saw how angry I was and she sat down with me and we talked about it. She said that I should feel sorry for those mean girls. That confused me, but Baba explained that when people are nasty it means that they don’t like themselves. It makes them feel better when they hurt someone else. I can’t imagine doing that, can you? I always thought that if you feel bad, you should do something nice for someone else. That always cheers me up.
Baba wanted to get my mind off it, so she showed me a new stitch. With her help, I sewed a pillowcase for my hope chest this afternoon.
I wonder if Slava went to school today?
Later
I walked over to the school and watched through the fence. Mary came over to talk to me during lunch. She said that Slava didn’t come to school either. She told me where she lives. It is on Centre Street not far from Mary’s.
Slava and her father share a room with two other families and you cannot get in by the front door. I had to walk through a skinny alley to the back of the building to find the door. Dear Diary, you cannot imagine how dirty the alleyway was. I had to hold my nose the whole way through. It’s as bad as our neighbours’ outhouses. The room itself is very dirty too. The floor is so grimed with black that you can’t see the wood, and there were bugs. Even the poorest person in Horoshova lives better than this. Sometimes I wonder why we even came here.
Slava was there all by herself so I wrote a note for her father and took her back to our house. Baba boiled water for a bath and then had Slava change into some of my old clothing. Baba is washing Slava’s clothes.
Bedtime
Tato knows Slava’s father. They worked at the same factory. When Slava’s mother died, her father got sad and didn’t come to work sometimes and got fired. Now he works at jobs when he can get them, but half the time he wanders the streets.
Mama said that Tato should go and find him and invite him for supper, but Tato said that we cannot afford to be feeding everyone I feel sorry for. Mama didn’t say anything, and in the end, Slava stayed for supper. We stretched out our food as best we could. I don’t mind eating a little bit less if it means that Slava gets something warm in her stomach. Even Mykola put less on his plate and ignored his grumbling stomach and Mama said she didn’t need supper at all because she had something to eat at Mrs. Haggarty’s. After supper, we all walked Slava back home.
Saturday, May 16, 1914
This was such an exciting morning!
Stefan and me and Mykola played ball on the roof. It is nice up there because there are no people calling us names. Mary came over and played with us too. Our roof is our own private place. It is tiresome holding onto Mykola, though. Once the ball went over the side and almost hit Mrs. Pemlych as she was coming back from the market. Thank goodness Stefan was playing with us or she might have complained to Tato.
Stefan told me about a dance at the Ukrainian Society tonight and was wondering if I was going to go. Tato should be home soon, so I’ll ask.
Later
Mama said how could we go when there was so much work to do at home, but Tato said that it would be good to have some fun. In fact he even said that he would get Mr. Demchuk and Slava, so we’re all going to go!