This music box belonged to my Uncle Adolph and Aunt Gertrude. I was fascinated with it as a child. Years later, after Gertrude died and Adolph remarried, he gave it to me.
It's a Swiss Chalet, of course, and it played- well, I have no idea what, because it hasn't worked for years.
Written on the bottom is "MURTON- JUNE 29 '55". Inside the lid is a tag that reads:
Lueget vo Bergen und Tal
Am Himmel stoht es Sternli
Adolph was an ice cream man, a trade he brought with him from Switzerland. Some of my father's ice cream recipies came from "the Old Country" through Adolph. He and dad worked together for a while.
I remember Adolph as a wonderful guy. We would stop to visit at his home in Geneva NY on our way up to Pembroke Ontario when we would visit mom's family in the summer. Funny that a man from Switzerland should settle in a town called Geneva.
I don't remember Gertrude very well, but I do remember Adolph's second wife- she used to lavish me with attention. By the time I knew her she was a white-haired grandmotherly type. She would clip a years worth of Peanuts dailies from their newspaper to give to me when we visited because I didn't get them at home. I would sit at their kitchen table and read through the stack for hours.
They lived in a tiny little house- four rooms, single story. Being a kid that grew up in an old country farmhouse, I was very impressed by this.
I also remember Adolph's lunch stand at the bus depot in Geneva. I remember him sweeping out the place one sunny morning. There was a counter with those bolted-down spinning stools and I think there was a jukebox.
I've always enjoyed having a Swiss connection in the family. Adolph spoke with an accent, and he was just different from the regular people we knew. He laughed a lot, and he loved us kids- he never had any of his own. This print was given to me by my mother- I believe it is a Swiss lake.
Then there is this card, sent to my mom, probably on the occasion of my sister's birth. The back is signed "Hedy Furrer". She was Adolph's sister, back in Switzerland. Cute.