A priceless tea set
In 1933, my mother was 13 years old and living in Reims, France. A peddler visited her village once a week selling various items. After you bought a certain number of items, the peddler would give you coupons or vouchers that you could use to buy special items that you would not particularly need, but would want. Once she had saved enough coupons, my grandmother decided to buy a lovely little tea set, which she had seen on the peddler’s cart several times.
A few years later, when my mother was a young lady, Germans invaded France and the family had to leave home. My grandmother buried the tea set and other precious items in the back yard next to the well to keep them from being broken or stolen by the Germans. The family left, walking with a mule pulling a small cart carrying necessities. At one point, they hid under the cart while an airplane shot at them. The mule never flinched and stood his ground while they hid.
After several weeks traveling over 100 miles, they could return home. Upon returning they found that they had been spared once again. They saw where a mortar round had come through roof above my mother’s room, went through the floor and landed in the kitchen on the first floor, but it did not detonate. Later, they went to the well to check on their treasures that they had buried. Out there, another mortar had struck the ground near the well but hadn’t exploded.
The tea set survives to this day. Although it may have been an inexpensive, quaint little tea set, it will always be valued as a priceless treasure to my family.
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