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difference in our Ages. Ruth was a tomboy and played with us on occasion but Frances was too old for that, moving on into her teens. (Some ten years later, Dr. Halsted was to lose his second wife, marry a third time, and raise a third family. Jimmie was destined to become the third husband of Franklin D. Roosevelt's daughter, Anna.) The Halsted place was an establishment. In addition to the seven Halsteds, there were a cook, second girl (always in uniform), laundress, gardener, seamstress, and chauffeur. I've forgotten who took care of the furnace and shovelled the walks but it sure wasn't Dr.Halsted, probably the chauffeur or gardener. They had a big,red, old—fashioned stable which was right behind our property but soon built a huge, two—story garage which was contiguous to our backyard. It included a pergola and small outdoor alcove where we kids used to play and do considerable climbing and acrobatics on the pergola. The garage was equipped with a pit where the chauffeur could stand while working on the underside of the cars. Since the Halsted house was on the comer of Highland Avenue and Dewitt Street, their backyard was beside our house and since it had quite a garden, we were able to sit on our side porch and enjoy it.

On the west side of us, there was a vacant lot which was owned by the Browns who lived back of the lot on James Street, that is, the lot was an extension of their property which ran through from James Street to Highland. There was a path running up through the center of this lot, lined on each side with shrubbery and thick patches of shrubbery lining the side walk on Highland —— so it wasn't just an ordinary vacant lot although they did not cut the grass in it. The Browns were in the retail furniture business and very prosperous. They had two sons, one of them named Kingman, and about my age.

Beyond the vacant lot. lived the Houses, who were the soft drink barons of Syracuse, not just distributors, but makers of ginger ale, sasparilla, birch beer and so on. They had three sons, Louis, Raymond and Edwin, Edwin the youngest and still in his teens. They lived in a square, clapboard house with a big front porch, and they had a [[underline]] garage [[/underline]], two—car size, where my father kept his car when he finally got one. Edwin was the flower of the family and went to West Point. Raymond was delicate and Louis was a slick-haired dude as I recall; they were in business with their father, I believe.

Then came the Browns just beyond the Houses. Mr. Brown was in the wholesale candy and cigarette business. They had a big white house with pillars along a front porch and the house stood on a steep bank well up above street level. They had two children, Dorothy, about my age, who was a very sweet and brilliant girl intellectually and who was aiming to go to Vassar like he mother before her. They also had a son, Caleb Candee Brown, who was a friend of mine although a year or so younger; a really great guy. The absolutely fascinating thing