Annie was too young for dances her mother declared.
The Donnellys paid for and occupied three rooms, but they really lived in one room, the others being too filled with beds to be habitable except at night.

The kitchen, the one living-room, was uncomfortably crowded at meal times.

At no time was there any privacy.

It was impossible for Annie to receive her girl friends in her home.

Every bit of her social life had to be lived out of the house.
When the weather was warm she often stayed in the street, walking about with the other girls or sitting on a friend's doorstep, until ten or even eleven o'clock at night.