Brother Mary Anthony
Item
Description
Brother Mary Anthony, called "Herbie" because of his resemblance to Herbert Hoover, was the jack of all trades. He was expected to keep all the systems going. This meant monitoring the water supply, drawn from the river and stored in a water tower north of the English Village. More importantly, he had to keep the furnaces going for heat and hot water. This meant transporting coal to the mansion, the English Village, the super's house, the gardener's cottage, and the gatehouse. In this he was assisted by the biggest boys in the group, which included my brother Peter and Jimmy Bree and others. Peter remembers delivering coal to the mansion through a chute in the yard behind the mansion. One time the coal in the bin suffered spontaneous combustion and the boys had to tote the coal out of the cellar to spread it out on the ground until the fire was completely out. Peter also remembers that we got the coal from a railroad car, but he was not one of the lucky ones to be sent out to the railroad to unload it. The usual means of transportation was Molly, an old dump truck, which broke down about as often as it ran. Brother Anthony was the mechanic and the plumber.
To supplement the coal, we used wood from the many trees felled on the property. These were fat logs. Here again Brother Anthony was aided by the stronger young men among us, including my brother. Years afterward, Brother confided to me how difficult it had been. The lads would often miss the wedge with their sledgehammer, which resulted in a broken handle. New handles were impossible to purchase, so Brother Anthony would fashion them out of the limbs of fallen trees. Sometimes three or four handles would get broken in an afternoon's work period.
One other fire supplement deserves mention. We inherited a Protestant Bible from the former owners. This book was larger than an unabridged dictionary. Out of reverence for the word of God, the boys were told to burn it in the furnace. Instead of tearing it up into little pieces, they threw the entire book in at once. During the night it put out the entire fire, and the dorms were extremely cold the following morning.
To supplement the coal, we used wood from the many trees felled on the property. These were fat logs. Here again Brother Anthony was aided by the stronger young men among us, including my brother. Years afterward, Brother confided to me how difficult it had been. The lads would often miss the wedge with their sledgehammer, which resulted in a broken handle. New handles were impossible to purchase, so Brother Anthony would fashion them out of the limbs of fallen trees. Sometimes three or four handles would get broken in an afternoon's work period.
One other fire supplement deserves mention. We inherited a Protestant Bible from the former owners. This book was larger than an unabridged dictionary. Out of reverence for the word of God, the boys were told to burn it in the furnace. Instead of tearing it up into little pieces, they threw the entire book in at once. During the night it put out the entire fire, and the dorms were extremely cold the following morning.
