Tillie
I only remember Aunt Tillie from when I was a young girl, but in retrospect, as I think back, she was a very remarkable woman.
A a young woman, Tillie had the misfortune of losing the lower part of her right arm in an industrial accident. Back then the medical field did not have the knowledge to reattach limbs as they do today. So she went through life without a hand and forearm on the right side.
But Tillie had remarkable determination to do everyday tasks and do them well. I can remember how she ironed. She had a "cuff" fitted over her short arm which attached to the handle of the iron. (Back then there were no drip-dry clothes. Everything needed ironing). Yet everything she wore was always neatly pressed and spotless.
She was a very neat housekeeper. Everything was always clean and tidy. You couldn't find one thing out of place in her home. If she had a cup of tea before she went to bed, she would always wash the cup out so she wouldn't have to get up to even one dirty cup the next morning. When she sold her home the real estate man commented that he had never seen such a clean house.
In spite of her handicap, Tillie was industrious. She even learned how to crochet again. Though she struggled with many things, she never let self-pity overtake her. She overcame her handicap with wonderful courage.
"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."
"Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates."
Proverbs 31:27 and 31 KJV
© 2006 Arlene Schwartzkopf