Excerpts from a conversation with 8th grade students at White Jr. High School in Lapeer, MI on March 14th,1979, deAngeli's 90th birthday. (from Michigan's Marguerite deAngeli by William Anderson):
Anderson: Mrs. deAngeli, can you tell us howyou first heard the expressions "Butter at the Old Price"and how you decided to call your autobiography that?
deAngeli: Well, you know, as I remember Nipsing Street, not Main Street, Nipsing Street ... you know where the Court House is, all of you, well, across the side street was Uncle Denny's jewelry store, and that's Mrs. Turnbull's grandfather.And I used to love to go in there and he was very kind to me ...so then across from that, on Nipsing Street, was my father's photograph gallery - on the second floor ... Anyway, two or three doors down was my Uncle Charley's grocery store. Then down further, across the street was Uncle Steve Lockwood's general store. And do you know, do you remember, maybe it isn't true anymore, but it used to be that a general store had in the front dry goods, yard goods.Of course, we didn't have store clothing at that time. Everybody made their own, or had a seamstress. Then, the next section would be, china, kitchen-ware. Then, after that would be the grocery department. When women used to come in on Saturday and bring their butter to sell in exchange for other commodities and my Aunt Ella,who lived way down - oh, about a mile out of town, used to make very good butter. Well, there was a Mrs. Desireau, who lived out Davison Road, who was somewhat less a perfect housekeeper and when she made her butter and brought it in, my uncle didn't sell it, because he said you could find 'most anything in her butter.So, she complained one time that she didn't get top price for her butter like Mrs. Tuttle did. Well, Uncle Steve said, 'If you're as careful as Mrs. Tuttle is about making your butter, I'll be glad to give you top price.' So she went home determined that next time she would get top price for her butter ... Well, it was a hot day and in those days, you had to have a cook stove going, because people ate dinner in the middle of the day. So,while Mrs. Desireau was working the water out of the butter, she had to get up to mend the fire. So she put the butter bowl down on the floor, under the table. And there were two or three little tads running around without very much on because it was hot and one of them slipped and sat down in the butter! So, she slatted the butter of him back into the bowl and said, 'butter'll have to go at the old price again.' "
"Now this is a story my Uncle Steve told so how true, it is I don't know! But then - that became a family saying, you see, and whenever things didn't go as we hoped they would, we would say, 'Oh no, butter'll have to go at the old price again!' "
"In spite of war and human griefs, the geese still flew their uncharted way, the pussy willow soon would burst its bonds of winter and spring would come in its time."
From MICHIGAN'S MARGUERITE DEANGELI with permission from author, William Anderson: pages 30-31. This book is available for purchase from the Lapeer District Library.
