Sarah's Life

By John J. Riley

Sarahs Life is a journey from the last decade of the 19th
Century to the first half of the 20th Century. The life and
times of Sarahs Murphy. It is a story of joy and sorrow -
triumph and disaster, success and failure. A life lived to
the fullest. A testment to the best of the human spirit. To
rise about all reverses with grace and dignity Sarahs life is
a life one will remember.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477114728

John J. Riley

John J. Riley is a retired piano restorer and merchant, having run his piano business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for fifty-seven years. He is a widower, the father of six children and grandfather of seven. After his retirement, he has written and published four books. Two Lives is his fifth effort. Mr. Riley’s writings have an element of yesteryear, of glorious memories of times and places of a gentle world. His characters evoke our memories of people we have and can identify with, ever so human, doing their best to survive in a hard and rude world. One of the top literacy critics wrote of Mr. Riley’s work, His work leaves much to be desired to good writing construction etc. But I find myself absolutely fascinated by his stories and his characters. He does possess the gift of Irish story telling. I look forward to his writings in spite all of his literacy faults.

Book preview

SARAH’S LIFE

John J. Riley

Copyright © 2012 by John J. Riley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

108459

Contents

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Chapter 1. The Beginning

Chapter 2. Grandfather’s Beginning

Chapter 3. Sarah Growing Up

Chapter 4. Sarah’s Avocation

Chapter 5. Sarah and Stephen

Chapter 6. A Change in Relationship

Chapter 7. Getting to Know You

Chapter 8. Christmas 1915

Chapter 9. Sarah Tells Her Parents

Chapter 10. A Military Decision

Chapter 11. A Letter from the Military

Chapter 12. A Second Tragedy

Chapter 13. The Decision

Chapter 14. A Meeting

Chapter 15. A Night at the Opera

Chapter 16. Dr. O’Neill

Chapter 17. The Announcement—Sarah Marries

Chapter 18. A Blessed Event

Chapter 19. John F. Murphy Dies

Chapter 20. Legal Matters

Chapter 21. October 29, 1929: The Crash

Chapter 22. The Estate

Chapter 23. Legal Problems

Chapter 24. The Unthinkable

Chapter 25. Ed Hears the Bad News

Chapter 26. The New Home

Chapter 27. December 7, 1941

Chapter 28. Ed Jr. About His Mother

Chapter 29. Some More Legal

Chapter 30. 1949—a Death

Chapter 31. Father Kelly Dies

Chapter 32. At Last a Day in Court

Chapter 33. Life Goes On

Chapter 34. A Wedding

Chapter 35. Sarah Slows Down

Chapter 36. Mary Ceclia’s Wedding

Chapter 37. The Home Stretch

Chapter 38. Final Thoughts

Chapter 39. A Promise

Chapter 40. Sarah Dies

Chapter 41. The Funeral

Dedicated

to

Mother

and

My Godmother, Monica Loughney

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my family for all their help and encouragements

To my Godmother Monica Loughney for her original idea and her memories of my Mother

To the great staff at Xlibris for their patience and professionalism

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John J. Riley is a retired piano restorer and merchant, having run his piano business in Philadelphia for fifty-seven years. He is a lifelong resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After his retirement, he has written and published three books. Sarah’s Life is his fourth effort; it is loosely based on his mother’s life. He is the father of six children and grandfather of six grandchildren. He is a lover of the past and glorious memories of a time and place of gentler times. While Sarah’s Life is a book with an element of fiction, a good part of this story is true.

CHAPTER 1

The Beginning

Sarah Murphy had the good fortune and grace to be born in the year 1891—the end of the great nineteenth century, a century of grace, beauty, and tradition. The twentieth century was looked upon as the new way of life and that it would see progress in every form of life and matter. In the nineteenth century, the horseless carriage was not invented. Homes were lit by gaslight and oil lamps. The twentieth century would see the motorcar, electric lights, and power. Telephones, movies, the player, piano, radio, and one day television, it just seemed all things were possible. It was Sarah’s way of thinking that it was a great and important time to be born as Philadelphia was one of the major big cities in America for Irish immigrant population. The city of Philadelphia was also a major manufacturing center, providing employment for the unskilled Irish workers. In this period, John F. Murphy came to Philadelphia from Atlanta, Georgia, settling in old St. Joseph’s Parish at Third and Walnut St., Center City, Philadelphia. And starting a moving and storage business with one wagon and a team of horses. Within a five-year period, he met and married Mary Brennan an Irish immigrant, who worked in the great Center City homes along Pine, Spruce, Locust, Walnut, and Chestnut streets as a cook and cleaning woman and eventually as a housekeeper. In the early days of their marriage, John and Mary lived above the stable where their horses were stabled in a compact two-room living quarters in most humble conditions. In the five years while living frugally they saved enough money for a down payment on a house at 218 Pine Street. It was a large three-storyed home. The old home needed work. John F. and his men put the old home in good order. In no time, it was an ideal location, only blocks from the parish church, St. Joseph’s. Sarah would recall with joy that their home was next to the fire house complete with a team of fire horses. Between the ringing of the fire engine bells and the speed of the fire engine horses, Sarah remembered the joy and drama of the fire house. She would also recollect seeing her first automobile about 1905; she said the motorcar made so much noise that the horses had to be held by their reins because of their fright. Sarah would remember many facts of the great 218 Pine Street house—of feeding oats to her father’s teams of horses and calling them by their names. As much as Sarah loved the horses, she was absolutely fascinated by the motorcar. She had asked her father if he thought that one day the motorcar would replace the horse and carriage. Yes, her father had answered. In time the horse will be a thing of the past. Sarah grew up in Philadelphia at a time of rapid growth. Philadelphia was known as the workshop of the world. Philadelphia was renowned for the manufacturing of just about every product. That business climate was great for every type of business—from a small one-man shop to a giant factory that employed two or three thousand workers.

012_a_reigun.jpg

The Murphy Home

218 Pine St.

The Irish immigration spanned from the year 1870 to the late 1920s; the Irish population in Philadelphia and other large cities was a reliable workforce that would work for low wages. John F. Murphy with his moving and storage business fit well into the business of the city. As John F. was the best, most reliable, and trustworthy, his name and reputation became well known. It was a known fact in business that once John F. took a moving job one could be assured the job was done right and on time. His word became his bond. John F. became known as a businessman’s friend. Back then, a handshake was more of a contract than a ten-page legal contract in triplicate by a Philadelphia lawyer of today.

Sarah

In the year of 1891, the first of six children was born to John F. and Mary Murphy. Sarah was born at their home 218 Pine Street. Sarah was a bright, pretty, and intelligent little girl, doing very well while attending St. Joseph’s parochial school run by the Jesuit Fathers and the Sisters of St. Joseph’s. Sarah was much like her parents, very pleasant and outgoing, making friends easily, a trait she would continue throughout her life. During that time frame, a smart, intelligent young lady like Sarah was not encouraged to pursue higher education. Higher education meant high school or heaven forgive college. Eight years of grammar school were quite enough. As the mind-set of that era was, it would have been a waste. Women in those days were expected to marry, have a family, cook, and tend the family. In the Irish Catholic family, a young woman’s fate was predetermined. If a young lady desired to attend higher education, it was not encouraged. The traditional role of the man was to be the breadwinner and provider and the woman as the bearer of children and homemaker was the norm. This was the manner in which the society functioned. In time, those customs and values would be challenged; just before 1915, women started a women’s organization, demanding the right to votes and other issues. But in Sarah’s time, times were what it was, but Sarah was fortunate as John F. and Mary Murphy were truly educated people. John F. not only graduated from high school but also did two years of business college. Mary Murphy had an eighth grade education, which in those days was equal to our high school education of today. Sarah’s parents were quite literate, loved to read good books, listen to classical music, and attend operas—a cut above the average Irish person of the time.

The Church

In this era of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Roman Catholic Church was foremost in the lives of an Irish Catholic, not only in their education, but also in just about every aspect of their lives. The church’s influence in their life was complete and all encompassing. Parents were expected to see that all children attended Catholic schools and Sunday Mass and Communion. Also for dating, a Catholic youth was expected to keep company with a person of the faith; a non-Catholic person was, God forgive, out of the question, not unlike the Jews of that era. Tradition was that if a Jewish man or woman married a Gentile they had to have a service where they would read the prayers for the dead. I don’t know if the Catholic Church had a similar ritual in those days. In any case, their actions amounted to the same. In Mother’s early years, she made the acquaintance of a young girl the same age as Sarah who very much like Sarah, the same qualities and polish; however, that young lady Elizabeth Mason attended St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at Third and Pine streets and St. Peter’s School. As Sarah and Elizabeth were very close and best friends, their friendship became a problem with the nuns at Sarah’s school. The nuns suggested that Sarah should have close Catholic friends. Non-Catholic close friends were not encouraged. Sarah was a most curious child, so she asked the nuns, Is not a non-Catholic who is a Christian who believes in God one of God’s children? The answer from the nuns `was that our church, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, was the one true church. Any others were not the way to heaven and salvation. That was their teaching; case closed. When Sarah asked her father and mother about their positions on the serious question, John F. and Mary Murphy did question how a person of good faith, one not of our faith, could not be one of God’s children?

John F. told Sarah, I profess I do not agree with that trend of thought. However as a man of faith and a good Catholic, he did not pursue the question. Sarah continued her friendship with Elizabeth with her mother and father’s blessing. The area at Third and Pine streets where the Murphy family lived was a most diversified location; within the block stayed very wealthy people, yet within two blocks on Gaskill Street lived very poor Russian and German Jews, having just came to America. Three blocks from Third and Pine Street was a colored neighborhood (African American people at that time were referred to as colored people). John F. and Mary taught their children to cultivate friendships with all people regardless of their social standing, to make everyone feel wanted and loved. The way for Mary and John Murphy was the idea of true Christian love. John F. said, I am sure if God were here today, this is the way he would act. No one could give John F. an argument on John F. Murphy’s point on Christian love, even the Jesuits. This thinking was a bit ahead of its time. It would be many years before the Catholic Church would adapt those tenets.

CHAPTER 2

Grandfather’s Beginning

In the year 1875, John F. Murphy and his younger brother James arrived in Philadelphia from their home in Atlanta, Georgia. Their father, James Murphy, fought in the civil war under the Confederate flag. Why they left the South to come to Philadelphia is not known. Upon their arrival in Philadelphia, John founded his moving and storage company. Brother James took a job in a saloon as a bartender; in a short period of only six years, James was to own the bar. Being a very successful businessman, the two brothers were unlike each other as day is from night. John F. was a temperance man, taking a vow or promise as a young man never to drink any alcohol whatsoever whereas James who was also not a drinker could see nothing wrong in making his livelihood from what John F. called blood money. John F. would tell his brother James that money that should go into a family’s food and lodgings. John F. felt quite strong about his younger brother’s way of making a living whereas James had the attitude that as someone has to make money from alcohol it may as well be him. As John F. was a man of high principle, his strong dislike of his younger brother’s business in alcohol was a source of disagreement. John F. was a man of high ideals and principles, most literate and educated for a person of Irish lineage. An ordinary Irishman did not possess the class and quality of John F.’s persona, from his hiring of his colored workers to his overall charity and absolute integrity to one and all, even his strong dislike of his brother’s chosen business—alcohol. While that division could have set two brothers apart and be a source of contention, John F. and James remained close as brothers could.

John F. set an example of his sterling persona to not only his family, but also the entire Irish community. He would tell his children that talk was one thing but actions were how one was judged.

Politics

John F. Murphy was so well thought of in the neighborhood with his many acts of kindness and mercy to the poor that the local big shots in the Democratic Party approached him, asking him to run for the Office of Committeemen, a most powerful office back then. However, John F. politely declined, thanking the big shots for the honor, saying his moving and storage business demanded his full-time interest. The real answer why John F. did not run was that he was appalled at the local Democratic Party; it was a corrupt and crooked way of life. John F. being the decent man that he was could never be a part of a system so low. While John F. was a most idealist man, he also was a most practical man, knowing that the local political party had a power second to none. He would do nothing to antagonize them. He had the good sense to walk the middle lane. In the early years of the twentieth century, the machine politics in the great Irish cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago; their power was without peer, the power of the Irish vote that runs the cities via the Kennedy family in Boston. As corrupt as that system was, it did have a facility to help the voter secure a job and get some financial help to feed a needy family.

CHAPTER 3

Sarah Growing Up

32963.jpg

The Mason Home 200 Pine St.

Not far from the Murphy home on Pine Street lived a family of means and quality; it was the Mason family. They lived in the 200 block of Pine Street on the north side of the street. It was a grand and large home. The Mason family were upper class people, having owned a large bond and financial company at Fifth and Walnut streets. The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Mason and two children, a daughter Elizabeth, Sarah’s best friend, and her brother, seven years older than Elizabeth. The Masons were members of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at Third and Pine streets. The Masons were quite active in St. Peter’s Church. In time, Sarah and Elizabeth became such dear friends that they were almost inseparable, often spending time in each other’s homes. Both parents, the Masons and the Murphys, were very happy to see their daughters with such fine polished girls as were Elizabeth and Sarah. At the holy seasons of the year, Sarah and Elizabeth could not understand why they could not visit each other’s church. The reason given was that the Roman Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church were not the same religions. Of course, the girls answered to that with We worship the same God, do we not? No, they were told that was the way things are. That infaction of the religious law did not affect their deed friendship. In times to come, Elizabeth and Sarah would graduate grade school. Each one attended their graduation services. Both parents, the Mason and the Murphys, could see no wrong in such a service. John F. was heard to remark to his wife, I cannot see why the law of the church forbids so happy an occasion.

As Mary was a deep thinker and most candid, she said, You know, John, I think a lot of laws like this in the church are men’s laws not God’s law to divide us.

John F. agreed with Mary on her radical views, saying, You’re right, Mary, but keep it under your hat. Don’t let the children hear you say such a truth. Sarah and Elizabeth graduated from grade school but went on to high school. That was most unusual for as mentioned before that was not normal. In an Irish family of the day, normally after eighth grade a young girl would seek employment. To continue on with high school education was considered a waste; after all, a young girl was supposed to marry and have children. Elizabeth wanted to study and become a doctor which in its day was a most radical ambition—a woman doctor. As far-fetched as a goal it was, in the city of Philadelphia, at that time there was the first women’s medical college. Elizabeth would attend it after high school. As for Sarah, her ambition was to become an educator and writer after graduating from high school. They were great lofty ambitions worthy of both young ladies. John F. and his wife encouraged Sarah to follow her dreams. Elizabeth’s mother and father felt that Elizabeth deserved the full backing of her dream.

A New Music

About the time Sarah and Elizabeth were entering high school, a new form of music was sweeping America. It was known as rag time. A great hit song that put rag time on the map was a song called Alexander’s Ragtime Band. That was a runaway bestseller, selling in weeks thousands and thousands of sheet music, player piano rolls, and Victoria Records. That was the new music of the time; the younger generation took to it as their own. The older generation branded it as the music of the devil. Some Christian churches banned their congregations to listen or perform to that music. Many a Catholic Church had sermons given by priests who saw that lowest of music as sinful music, which along with the dancing could only bring one to hell.

The writer of that song would in time become the most famous and beloved composer of American popular music. He was none other than Irving Berlin, whose real name was Israel Baline, but a printing mistake on his first published song a few years earlier listed the composer as Irving Berlin. Irving Berlin thought it to be a good show business name and also the printer gave him a low price on the music. Irving Berlin was born in Russia and came to America as a small boy; he had only a third grade education. Yet he had written over 1000 songs in a career that had spanned over eighty-five years; he lived to be 101 years of age, writing songs up to the end. Irving Berlin has written the four standard songs that America sings all year round. They are White Christmas,Easter Parade, No Business Like Show Business, and last but by no means less God Bless America—our second unofficial national anthem. Elizabeth and Sarah thought the new rag time music was just great. John F. and the Masons thought, Give it time, they’ll tire of it, will pass. No, it never did as in a short period of time a new musical craze was to sweep the country known as Jazz. While Sarah and Elizabeth liked the new contemporary music, they loved and enjoyed classical and opera music. Both attended performances at the Academy of Music. John F. and Mary were so very proud of Sarah and they looked with pride at Sarah’s persona. Both Sarah and Elizabeth were involved in their respective churches in charity work for the poor.

The Moving Business

As the years went on, John F. Murphy’s business grew, so that after fifteen years he then had ten wagons on the street. He was known in the moving and storage business as the most reliable and trustworthy in that field. In the year 1913, John would made a radical decision and that was to replace his horses and mules with the new motor trucks he saw as the vehicles of the future. In time (within a period of five years), he replaced his entire fleet of horses and mules with the new auto car motor trucks; as a result, he had the most modern trucks on the street. As his business grew, he also demanded that his trucks and all equipment be kept in pristine order. His men were attired in bright green uniforms. The men were very proud of their uniforms. His men were held to be of high standards. He would not permit a man who worked for him to drink on the job; that was forbidden. While he was a strict temperance man, he did not try to run his men’s life after they left work. Many of his men were hard drinkers as most Irishmen were in