We lived in an apartment, up two flights of stairs. There was a large room with a big kitchen table and a stove. I slept with my mother in her bedroom. My mother also had a sewing room where she made her living, sewing uniforms. I remember stealing sugar cubes from the china cabinet. My father died when I was a year and a half old. I never knew him. After he died, my mother couldn't support so many children so Albert, Bernard, Henri, Esther & Jacques were sent to an orphanage for a while. My brothers Charles and Jules and sister Sarah were already married and not living at home.