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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1975-06-26, Page 88Empty frame farm house in Ellice Twp., Perth County. Deserted farm house tells pioneer's story By W. G. Strong "No one, indeed, remains to mourn its fate, No voice to tell its long and varied tale." "So lonely and silent it is, so withered and warped with the sun and snow, You would think it the fruit of some dead men's toil a hundred years ago; And he who finds it sudder.ly there„ as he wanders far and alone, Is touched with a sweet and blessed sense of something tender and gone, The sense of a struggling life in the waste, and the mark of a soul's command, The going and coming of vanished feet, the touch of a human hand." Lampman On a rambling road in quaint back country, remote from the noise of traffic, stands a grey, deserted, weather-beaten frame house. Long years ago after the settler's axe had felled the giant trees, stumps cleared away and stones piled to form fence bottoms for rail enclosures, this abode may well have tempted the passing gaze of the wayfarer. The cruel hand.of time has wasted that hallowed scene and decay marks a tottering relic of a by-gone era. Here the sunburned plough- Man worked his weary way along the furrow's length. Almost with- out fail, the fertil acres he tilled, yielded their preciotis crops. In due time lowing heads and bleating flocks augmented his world wealth. Here the thrifty housewife, brushing dewdrops from the grass in early morn, carried foaming pails to the dairy where shining rows of pans of milk were arrayed on earthen floor or spacious shelf. All day °she plied her dextrous hands, baking, churning, washing, ironing, mendwg, )pinning. At evening hour by her clean-swept hearth while the steaming kettle on the crane bubbled and sang and the drowsy, house dog stretched at her feet, she knit the silent hours away. Within her view she saw the baby's, rocker, the antique chair, the fireside settle, the broad-planked floor, the deep window-sills, the hissing logs, the leaping flames while on the wall the clock, ticked with measured beat and slovir. Above the wide- spread chimney space hung the musket and powder horn. Occasionally the snowbound traveller seeing the ruddy fight sought shelter from the bluster- ing storm and shared the warmth and friendship and hospitality extended. At other times the neighbours came to share at quilting, paring or husking bees. On a lone winter's night joyous sleigh bells announced the gathering of sturdy youths and red-cheeked damsels for a spirited dance with its whirls and stampings. Tolling Alas the toiling husbandman is seen no more. No longer does he drive his herds to upland glades, wander along familiar woodland paths nor sit in thought on 'the door step when twilight shadows linger on the hilltop. No more does his sturdy plough turn the rugged soil; no longer do golden harvests yield to his sickle or cradle. Hushed is the fireside's cheer. No fires upon the hearth- stone burn. No housewife waits her spouse's tardy step. Over all the scene, a solemn stillness broods save for the cawing of a distant crow. The crumbling walls now desolate, make haunts where swallows build their muddy nests, where timbers creak and floor-boards moulder. The leaning doors on rusty hinges squeak and leaky rents yawn in the moss-clad roof. Dusty shelves in kitchen- cup- boards repel. A broken stairway leads upstairs where circling bats hold secret nightly revels. or a "moping owl does to the moon complain." The errant schoolboy still shuns this gruesome place where once he lost his courage despite loud whistling when the dreary wind moaned from obscure places and with quickened pace he fled from fear of haunting ghosts. Those early tenants lived in contentment. Their deeds are not recorded on history's page but in a neglected burial ground a crudely sculptured stone marks their resting place. CONGRATULATIONS SEAFORTH on your 100th ANNIVERSARY THE QUEENS IS 99 ! Be sure to visit our New Centennial Lounge built to celebrate Seaforth's incorporation The Centennial Lounge features nightly dancing and music Neat 9 clean rooms are available at reasonable rates Home cooked meals are served each evening in the TOM STEVENS DINING LOUNGE QUEE S HOTEL MAIN GODERICH STS. SERF I RT THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JUNE 2C, 1075 —15