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Visit recalls .Seaforth bf past yeors--.. .
(by Daisy Spain Kilmer)
Mrs. Kilmer, the former
Daisy $pain, recently ret iced
from a teaching career that she
s ays included grades from 1 -
10 and in buildings from a one
room school to a $2,000,000
showplace. Her husband is prin-
cipal of North Park Collegiate
and Vocational School in Brant-
ford.
I have just returned from a
visit to Seaforth, my birthplace,
and marvelled at, the changes that
time had wrought. This visit
reminded me of the fact that the
Seaforth I knew was gone forever.
I' asked myself the question,
"What are my earliest recollec-
tions of Seaforth?" About the
age of two - three, I remember
getting ready to go 'uptown '
with my mother. She had made
me a new brown velvet coat and
two matching poke-bonnets, one
lined with pink, and the other
with blue taffeta. When she
asked me which one I wanted
to wear I said both.
At approximately the same
time, I used to run over ,to
Ailment's Saw Mill to get a piggy
back-ride hoirie on my father's
shOulders. The mill was south
of the. Bell Engine and Thre-
sher Foundary and east of the
present UDPC. Which of my
early childhood was spent in the
environs of that same mill.
Seaforth was an ideal place
for a child to grow up. It had
the best of two worlds, - a town
large enough to give 'us that ad-
vantage and yet all the joys of
rural life. As a child, I ranged
from McKillop Twp. to Egmond-
\dile and wellinto Tuckersmith
Irwp. To me, living in this place
was to live in the best town In
the world.
All the family of Jan Spain •
and Margaret Nixon were born,
in the first house south of the
railway tracks. It was then
next door to the Apple Evapor-
ator Factory owned by a Mr.
Merrit from Michigan and man-
aged by My father. The Merrits
had no family and once spoke
of adopting me, but not for long.
I can still recall the tone in
which my parents replied to the -
suggestion.
When I was about three, I
remember waking up each
summer morning to the high,
shrill, strident screech' of the '
-) ,saws,bitirig into the , new wood.
Two things I have long loved
about that mill - the smell of
new wood and the whine of a
saw.
That commons,' which was
behind our house, and our neigh-
bors, the Nixons, Bickells, and
Smiths, was for me a childhood
wonderland.
North-east of our house, there
was the remnants of an old
gloomy building with many huge
timbers still standing - a lonely
place which my father said was
the old salt block.
It eventually disappeared but
I used to climb up there and
peer down its subterranean vast-
ness. I neverliked it too well
because it made me uneasy.
Nevertheless, I often went there
to pick butter and eggs and all 0.
kinds of clovers for bouquets
for my playhouse.
One day I was thus engaged
when I felt something cold and
wet slither across my bare leg.
To my double surprise I learn-
ed that it was a snake and that
I was not afraid of snakes.
Ament's mill was my first
love for years. My father was
the sawyer there. Two Ament
men were in charge, young Billy
and old Billy, Bob Stalker, and
Billie Pethick, who drove the
mill horses. The men called the
bosses , "The Black Squirrel,"
and "The Chipmunk", among
themselves. I was so innocent
that I once yelled "Hello C hippie"
out of our front bed-room window.
Then I learned that you do not
tell all you know.
When my piggyback days were
over, I used to meet my father
and walk home, hand in hand,
while I related all that had tran-
spired In his absence. There was
no generation gap between my
father and myself.
I t was fun to go inside the
mill, to see the big logs come
up the runway then onto the saw-
carriage and watch the saws bite
deep into the wood. There were
the dry kilns for curing the bar-
rel staves, and the huge saw-
dust-pile behind the mill. The
sawdust pile was a fine place
to jump head-long ibut the saw-
dust near the exhaust pipe was
hot and wet. a•
At the end of the mill road,
there was a red barn where they
housed the mill horses. Mr.
Billie Pethick let .is look in while
he fed and watered them and later
let us ride the wagons and sleighs
He was, our staunch friend but
the horses were another matter.
Later on I learned to ride a
bicycle by using those wagon
tongues as amounting place and
falling off all the way down that
lane.
Now those horses figured
in some of my most vivid night-
mares. we kids went into their
pasture because that was where
all the action was. First we had
to climb the old wild sheepnose
tree to get apples. The tree
was inside the gate, so was the
buttercup patch and that huge
area of daisies and blue flags,
Best of all was the creek
called, "The Shiner" where we
had to go to hunt crabs, evade
bloodsuckers, chase slaters,
dragon flies and catch minnows.
It was our closest water so we
put on an Old dress and hunted
and wallowed to our -heart's con-
tent until the horses scared
usall otuht we explored e
. way to the bridge over
the creek
the road that led back to Gem-
mills' bush and ,the stone-
crusher, as well as the field in
which Danny Shanahan pastured
his cattle, not forgetting the big
old beech where we fought the
squirrels for the nuts.
Whenever we went into that
field, and especially if the horses,
were there, they would rush out,
run towards us with flying manes
and tails. .To me they seemed
all rows of huge white teeth.
thundering hoofs and danger.
Then it was every man for him-
self and the devil take the hind-
most. Never having time to un-
fasten the gate, we'd jump, crawl,
or fail head-first over or through
the fence, scared out of our wits.
Many times I have landed in a
dry patch of thistles and spent
hours trying to pick thorns out
of my bare soles. I often wished
that I knew if they really dis-
liked us so much.
This pasture had the most
delkcious strawberries in the far
north-east corner but this was
also the most dangerous place
to be if the horses were out;
hence there existed two choices,
to run screeching for the front
gate or to try to get over the
high fence to Jack Archibald's
corn field.
In the Shanahan pasture, was a
swaley spot where frogs sunned
each afternoon. Our whole gang
of boys and girls went there to
catch the unwary, cut off their
legs and sell them to the Chinese
Restaurant ogpo site the Commer-
cial Hotel. The' first time the
girls found out what they had to do
they turned tail and fled. That
was the end of the girls except
for my part. I still helped the
boys catch the frogs but rebelled
at holding them on the wooden
bridge while the legs were collec-
ted.
Money was a scarce com-
modity so I devised a means to
augment my income. South of
George Dixon's home, there was
once a yellow frame ouse where
a Mr. Yollick had a junkyard.
The afoesaid having moved to
large quarters near the tracks
we c mberi the yard until we had
a six eftirt basket of bones. For
i this we eceived the stupendous
sum of 3 cents. Rags brought
bout 5 cents for a full canvas
sack. We took this to the larger
junkyard, which was a large white
building on the south side of the
railway tracks opposite Dundans
shoe factory. Avery fine Jewish
family I remember, was named
Maidenberi. They left Seaforth
for Hamilton where they had a
vest factory. My father once
told me that the big white build-
ing was formerly a hotel and I
saw it moved across the road
south of the creamery.
This was not my only source
of making money. I had a much
more permanent and lucrative
one. Our street had small barns
behind each house and these barns
stabled the family Cow or
cows. we had two Jerseys,
called , Molly and Dolly. My
grandparents had one, and the
Smiths had a brindle -with cur-
ving horns. When the pasture
on the commons behind the houses
ran out, my brother contracted
to drive them out to Modeland's
bush. He got 25 cents per, cow
and sublet his contract to rie for
5 cents a cow, so we were both
happy; he especially since it gave
him more time 'to persue his
girl friend.
On my way to the bush I
often passed down the lane that
led to Billie Montgomery's home
at the far end, west of Alex Low-
ery's place. Maggie Montgomery
gave me.treats and loved to visit
with me since I was full of the
latest neWs. They were kindly
folk and to me it was a pleasure
to stop there. Age didn't seem to
be so important then, it was the
ability to communicate that mat-
tered. When I came home at meal
times my father invariably asked„
"Well how are things in Little
Scotland?"
Where the new UDPC
-stands, and south of the Jack
Smith place as far south as the
house once owned by the Strong•
family, who also had a farm in
Tuckersmith, the barrel stave'
wood was piled to dry. These
long rows had .openings running
east and west as well as north
and south and had an elm bark
,covering. These were mar-
vellous places to hide for Run
Sheep Run, Tag and Red Rover;
the only requisite was to be skinny
enough to squeeze between the
spaces.
Summer brought the stave-
jointers in, on the commons, to
set up their big machines. There,
under the canvas shelters, they
worked all day and some came
back after supper. One family I
knew well lived in a yellow frame
house on Railway Street and
looked forward to moving to Sea-
forth 'from Brussels. Others
came from places further away
but all were glad to get the work.
They were busy making barrel
staves for the cooper shops.*
The one I remember best was the
one north of the saw mill and
south of The Bell Foundry and
was called Colemans. I often
went there to watch the coopers
at work but it was much quieter
than the sawmill. There was
another cooper shop near Ogil-
vy's flour mill. But I can't
recall much more about it.
My friend, Billy Montgomery,
was a cooper for the Ogilvy Mill,
but later on he had swollen foot
and remained home.
The gang on our street,Smiths,
Spains, Dixons, Coopers and
Beauregardes were a creative
group. One of our favourite
games was to organize elaborate
funerals for any dead bird, cat
or small animal. Every kid who
owned a coaster wagon brought
it.They were tied one behind
the otherwhile we scrounged for
appropriate flowers, weeds or
the ever present Golden-Glow
found at Smiths. Gently we
enclosed the remains in a box,
decorated our wagons and hav-
ing appointed the minister, the
pallbearers, who must appear
in black and the official mour-
ners, we- slowly proceeded up
the street where we held a full
service before we gently in-
tertredlare del/Meld/id our pig--
pen. Usually vie followed this
solemn occasion by running and
climbing trees or having fun
with the mill horses.
My father made us a store
under the big elm back of our
house where we sold sand for
sugar, dry sour dock seeds for
coffee, mud pies for chocolate,
ragweed seeds for spices, mint
leaves for herbs, mountain ash
berry -beads and necklaces, as
well as copious articles pilfered
from home. Accurately we
weighed out our stores on our
old balance scales, and accepted
our paper money. One diffi-
culty -regarding paper sacks was
solved when some boy culprit
stole, some from Mrs. Dickie
Clarke's grocery store. This
caused a great deal of fear among ^
us all,- OR we resolved that it
was wrong and I was appointedto
carry the said sacks to Ciarkes
but I must not divulge the name
of the miscreant, Mrs. Clarke
rewarded us by letting us keep
them since we had co,nfessed
the error of our ways, but we
must promise never to do that
again or she would inform our
parents.
We had made large signs to
advertise our items. One said
that our prices were the best
in town. That must have been
long before inflation!
The lamp pole in iron t of
our place was the gathering place
for the gang to congregate. Here
we chose up for 'Run 4 Sheep
Run'. That part of S aforth,
in our neighbourhood, ,was per-
fect for this kind of game. We
could hide all the way from the
tracks in Seaforth to the edge
of Egmondville and believe me
it is hard to find the other group
under these conditions.
Smaller kids played games
and ball with a wide flat board
and an India rubber ball on our
front lawn but when we got ser-
ious about ball, played with a hard
bat and a hard baseball, we
moved to the Recreation grounds.
Here we also watched Lacrosse
and football.
The commons behind our
house had many holes dug by
people who came from out of
town to get the special kind of
blue clay found there. I can
• recall some who came regularly
each year from Wingham and
Clinton and said they used it for
poultices. After a rain it was
glorious fun to muck in these
holes in your bare feet and feel
this gobby, gooey mess like soft
pudding ooze out between your
toes. To live dangerously, you
tried to put one foot in each hole
and straddle , the gap between
without losing your balance.
I had always wished that I
had been twins so that I could
play in two places at the same
time. I was torn between play-
ing with the boys or sewing doll
clothes._ with the girls. Really
I much preferred boys' Play,
climbing trees, chasing frogs
and snakes, hunting crabs, being
chased, by the saw mill horses,
riding wagons and sleighs, play-
ing tag on the logs at the mill
or fishing in the Maitland River
behind Hank Weilands, or
borrowing Lou Kruse old leaky
boat to row- -up and -down the
river while each took turns bail-
ing out the water with an old
tomato can.
My mother would often
inquire, guilelessly, 'about where
we had been and what we had
spent our time doing. Luckily
we could always find some harm-
less pastime to regale her
with and so escaped any special
admonitions about safe places
to play.
When the delights of playing
with the boys palled, I could re-
join the girls and sit under the
cherry tree to play house, drink
tea and make doll clothes.
Agnes Smith and I were there
one day, putting in time until we
left for the Anglican Sunday
school picnic, when a boy, whom I
shall not name, threw a huge
rock at us striking Aggie on the
bridge of her nose.
to Say she did not Fe to tile picnic,
as she couldn't See›Out of lOT
eyes. Ihadn't the heart ,tes.e we both missed all, tl$, Wn.
The hQs parents pVehhil*1
thrashing 'so that elided the
matter. At leaSt we thought
the incidant was closed but one
day when we were minding our
own business and were running
up 'the street we ran right into
a booby-trap stretched across
our side of the street and an,-
chored in the long grass of Tom
Bleicell's vacant lot. Of course
we fell and scraped our knees
and elbows, then out of the grass
rose the joker, who had thrown
the rock. Without any hesitation
we took off after hink, caught him
and gave him one stiff upper-cut,
like our brothers had taughtus,
and he went out like a used bulb.
For days after we remained in
hiding close to our house,waiting
for the blow to fall. When nothing
happened, we ventured out,, and
never did we ever hear a single
murmur about the affair.
w e traded at Mrs. Dickie
Clarke's grocery store on Main
Street opposite the Legion. At
' that time, Mr. Clarke was con-
fined to a wheel chair. I used
to talk to him on the side porch.
Going there was always an ad-
venture in itself. Where else'
could one find so many things
to interest you? The store was
just full of goodies. On the east
wall was a huge picture in bright
colours, of a choir of people sing-
ing the praises of Comfort Soap.
Below was this verse.
A song we sing
A song of hope
The world is using
Comfort Soap.
I had the distinct impressionthat
the singers meant what the slogan
said as their mouths were great
round O's and it was a fact
we used it cut into slivers and
put in our copper boiler to whiten
the wash.
One store-case fascinated me
most, the candy case. I would
stand there enthralled at this
utopia of delights - jawbreaker
sawlogs, licorice pipes and
strings, lozenges, 'gum drops,
rock candy, barley sugar sticks,
all flavours, all day suckers,
marshmallows,, pink and choco • -
late covered, fudge and hore-
hound. If I did not have candy
money, Mrs. Clarke always let
me_ take my pick and gave it to
me 'for- being, as she said, a
good girl.
I liked going there because we
always had a visit and I ran
happily home feeling mighty im-
portant. Yes life was good and
so were people, ran my childish
thoughts. Sometimes I watch
kids in our supermarkets and
feel sorry that they've missed all
that rapport we had.
Saturday night people went up
town to shop and visit. This was
one time my mother left my
sister and me at home in charge
of my aunt. If we were good, --
we were given a nickel and before
she left were allowed to run up
to Clarkes and choose our candies
-to eat while she was away. The
only difficulty we had), was to
make sure we each got our full
share.
NEWS 'OF
Correspondent
Mrs. Wm. Walters
Mrs. Wilbert Glanville of
Staffa visited on Wednesday with
Mr. and Mrs. Wm.Walters.
The Elmville U.C.W. met on
Thursday afternoon at the Church
with the ladies of the Braemor
Lodge in Exeter as guests. Mrs.
Ronald Fletcher showed pic-
tures of her trip to Germany
and other places. The ladies
a are catering a banquet for the
Exeter -Co-op and also one for
the Usborne Council and their
wives in December.
Mrs. John Coward, Mr. and
Mrs. Phil Hern and familytrattend-
ed a surprise 25th anniversary
party for Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Bibby of Kirkton on Friday even-
ing at the Township Hall in Elm-
ville.
Mrs. George Frayne of Ex-
eter visited on Saturday with
Mr. and Mrs. Walters.
Mr. ,and Mrs. Laurence Tay-
lor of CHuron Park visited on
Saturday with Mr. and Mrs. Wm.
Taylor and family..
44110 :J°
IN;
FUNERAL
FRANK FLYNN
Frank J. Flynn of Clinton
died at Clinton Public Hospital,
Wednesday. He was in his 67th
year.
Mr. Flynn is survived by a
sister, Mrs. Maurice (Mary) Me-
lady, Dublin; and two brothers,
Joseph and Theo, both of R.R.1,
Clinton. f
The body was at the Ball
funeral -home, Clinton. Funeral
mass was celebrated at St. Jos-
eph's Roman Catholic Church
in Clinton Saturday at 10 a.m.
Burial was in Clinton cemetery.
44IP • .1.30! .411
•
WINCHELSEA
CHRISTMAS
SHOPPING HOURS
FolF Seaforth Stores
DURING DECEMBER SEAFORTH STORES WILL
REMAIN OPEN MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
FRIDAYS, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
For your shopping convenience, stores WM be
open unfit 9 p.m. Monday through Erklery,
Dec. 18 Ito Dee. 22. Stotresruldil dose Saturday
evening, Deeetmber 'pi et 6 p.m.
,
THE MERCHANTS' CONE sEAPotian CHAMBER elf COMMEXIMil
Christmas
starts this week in 'the
EXPOSITOR
Look to
the Expositor
for exciting
gift ideas I
SHOP AT HOME. EARLY
FOR BETTER VALUES
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