Continuing the story from the narrative: "We needed a chauffeur because of course we only had one car. He had to take us where we needed to go when my father was at work altho’ he drove my father too. For a while Sleepy’s husband was our chauffeur but he proved unreliable so my father had to discharge him. Before we had a car and a chauffeur we traveled about by horse drawn cart. There were three classes of them, the caratella, the carametta and the calaea. The caratella you hailed on the street whether it was occupied or not and were dropped off near your destination. This was an open cart that the driver filled with as many people as he could crowd in and that the poor little pony could pull. It was used by the poorer people.
Then the carametta was also pulled by a pony, but it only carried one fare of one or two people and just went to your destination. You also hailed the Carametta from the street like a taxi. It was enclosed around the sides and back and had an oil cloth curtain to go across the front in case of rain. the Calaesa was a much larger two wheel cart also enclosed and pulled by a horse. When you were going to a party you called the livery stable and ordered it to arrive at a certain time and the driver wore a uniform! then there was the ultimate, a Victoria!, a four wheeled carriage with room for four with the driver on a box in front. It could be covered or have the top down. This could be ordered from the livery stable but the wealthier families had their own!"
Jane's Notes: I'm not certain of the spelling of the names of the carts because Mom's handwriting is so bad. Emilie, you may be able to tell me if I have the correct spelling.
Sorry, Jane: I think this might be a mixture of spanish and tagalog. Only the first one might be "carretela" (add extra r and e instead of the second a). But I do think the dear "ama" would have been spelled Felipa which is the feminine of Felipe or Phillip. Have you come across it other places yet?
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