My other grandma, Ma, didn't work outside the home and hardly ever went to town. The only time she ever left her own little space was to visit her family but that wasn't very often because we mostly came to her. She was my hero.

She me told me many stories. She liked to tell this one.

One day a Singer salesman came to the door. After sewing by hand for a husband and seven children, she was very impressed but she had never bought anything without asking for the money from her husband. She bought it anyway. It was a beautiful treadle with an oak cabinet. She hid the machine and swore the children to secrecy until she could find the right time to tell him herself.

When my grandfather came walking down the path, all the kids ran out to greet him, shouting, "Ma bought a machine! Ma bought a machine."

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