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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1962-08-16, Page 9The. 'TitreA4cive.c.ete, .APy0 16 1902 e"Oe 9 polar P Service EE N .14 S. ••Cci`i,;•,!ei:1 t.r,tv fIN 4.4 • is LOFTY PERCH — The makers of this large bicycle weren't thinking of little boys such as Mark Truax, London, when they manufactured it back in the 1800's. However, the youngster felt safe on the big-wheeled bike as he received a steady hand from his mother, Mrs. Margaret Truax, and Mrs. Cecilia Restemeyer, Zurich, The bike is only one of the 2,000 interesting exhibits on display at the Eiseobach museum. • — Holiday photo time be received .0.0 for 4 200,pounci pig- Two bedrooms in the upstairs eortteltt antique furniture, much of which was saved by Peter from his parents' home. Oc0114. hpuse After a tour of the museum, the visitor may look . at the many displays in the downstairs of the house m front, which has been rented by the Shrine. Club. This establishment contains some of the larger of Peter's collection with such things AS stoYes, churns, baby buggies, spinning wheels and another or- gan and vietrola are on display, All NIX of the large stoves are over 100 years old and one was built in 1854, The baby carriages form •one • of the most interesting display's in the museum and show that many of the last generation had • some luxurious travel in their younger daYS despite the fact that ball bearings end such • were as common, as rocket flights into outer space. One buggy has an extremely fancy canopy and another was used to put on the rear of bug- gies or sleighs and was spring- • suspended so baby had a smooth ride over the corduroy roads. One buggy was used by twins who were placed back to back and another was a dual pus- pose high chair and stroller. There are six large spinning • wheels, Peter's first bed and also a bicycle that provided plenty of funiri 100. It is the large front wheel variety and. riders had. to know how to get on and balance when they did, or else they would be easily tipped over the top of the 53-inch wheel as the small one from the back flipped over, It is still in good working order. These are but a few of the • antiques and memories of the past at the museum and visitors may view them any day between the hours of 2:00 and 8100 to catch a glimpse of the past. Admission is 50 cents and as was noted, alt proceeds go to aid crippled and mentally re- tarded children under the super- vision of the Shriners. REAL FANCY — Barbara and Lynn Houshorn, Grand Bend, had plenty of fun playing with the many fancy old-time baby buggies on . display at the museum. The one on the right is both a high chair and stroller, while Barbara's doll is .riding in a fancy . buggy com- plete with canopy. —Holiday photo NEW FALL Charmers, "Anything that I saw was old 1 collected." This explanation ma.de by Mr. Peter tiliseribeeli, Grand Bend, sums up melt of his time• during the past 50. years arid lie shows further proof by having Over 2,000 Did articles in his Popular' museum in the summer resort. Now tocalect in a modern two- storey building behind his house on highway 21, the ardent eol- lector has turned the building over to. the Bluewater Shrine .stub, .of which he Is. a member, to operate, His only stipulation in making his generous offer was that any Proceeds be used in aiding mentally retarded or handicap- ped children, Peter, as he is best known throughout the district, pur- chesed his first antique when he was a youth of oely 21, and if, is one of the first of the in. Wresting relies spotted by visi- tors to the museum— the huge glass window in the front door. He reported he purchased the window from Napoleon ,Gantin and it came out of the old Bal- moral hotel. at St. Joseph, found- ed by Narcisse Cantin, who is often referred to as the "father of the St, Lawrence Seaway." Peter recalled that he was "pretty hard-up" at the time and the expe.nditure was a con- siderable out-tay by standards in those days, "I wouldn't tell my wife how much I paid for it," he re- called, but he did tell her a few years later when times got better for the young couple. When she did learn how much he had paid, his wife remarked, "I'm certainly glad you didn't tell me then". This is just one of the inter- esting stories Peter tells about how he acquired many of his articles a•nd lie has records re• counting how he happened to come across most of it, In fact, he and Mrs. Ross Love, who acts as curator, are presently busy labelling all the articles to tell what they are, how they were used and where they came from. They have about half the av tides already labelled to make the tour through the museum even more interesting for visi- tors, Much donated While Peter privately our- chased most of the relics or out-hid other persons at auction sales, many articles have been donated to the museum by in , [crested parties throughout lhe area to help the present and future generations keep a link with the past. Each of these articles tell who donated them and many have only been accepted by Peter on the understanding that if the donors wish them back they may take them. Mr. J. Russell, who is head of the museums in Canada, re- cently toured the local establish- ment and commented that some of the pieces were "outstanding" and couldn't he found in an- other museum in the country, Let's take a tour To acquaint readers with some of the articles and displays, Holiday editor Bill Batten took a tour with Peter and made the following notes: Outside the modern building are two large iron wheels taken from an olo wagon formerly owned by the proprietor and they form an attractive en- tranceway to the building. An old plow, and an interest- ing ice cutter, used on rivers and lakes, also adorn the front of the building, Several old pictures are hang- ing on the wall behind the main desk in the museum and these depict typical scenes that were prevalent throughout the area at the turn of the century and even before, showing log houses, councils of the time and photos of sonic of the leading families, whose descendants can be found scattered in the area todaY. A large collection of clocks are featured in one corner and although. they contain no dates to determine when they were built, a slip in one shows that it was repaired in 1856, The collection of 35 consists of mantel and grandfather clocks and all except one are in working condition, having been overhauled by Peter after lie acquired them. Many of the docks show the fine hand craftsmanship of their makers. Two large glass cases of stuffed birds separate the clocks from the extensive display of crockery, ranging in sizes from small jars to huge containers which were used to store foods before the invention of the re- frigerators Porcelain bed pans, spittoons, food w ar m e r s, wooden nut- crackers, coffee grinders, food choppers and several other an- cient household articles that were time-savers in "grand- mother's" Lime are also on dis- play, A display of irons ranges -from those that had to be warmed every few minutes on the top of the stove to more ingenious ones that were filled with burnt charcoal or heated with gas also prove interesting to those more familiar with the light- weight steam iron in use today. One of the older exhibits in this collection is an old wooden wringer that was built in 1840. Caught alive W h il e modern housewives may be charged with fears of a tiny little mouse the exhibit of rat and mouse traps show that their predecessors weren't quite as fickle as they caught their ene- mies alive. Peter has two wire rat cages that have trap doors at each end, and when the rat started, eating the cheese that was sus- pended on a spring in the cen-s Ire, he activated the wire and' the doors immediately swung shut, pinning him There is no indication of what happened to the rodent after that, but one of the trusty old axes on. another wall could pos- sibly hold some of the secrets. A similar contraption was used for catching mice, but it resem- bles a small bird house and proves that mass production was even on the go in those clays as it was able to house up to four trapped mice at one time—all alive, The next interesting display features the equipment used by former generations to acquire the delicacy that is still rated highly today—maple syrup. A six-foot maple tree is even included and shows the wooden spites and the trough that was used for running the sap off, Two larger shoulder yokes with wooden buckets show how the sap was taken to the boiling pits, which are also on display. However, not all work was done by man power and the next display bears evidence to this fact as it is an extensive array of horse harness, bells, iron collars, two cutters and a large buggy that was "just the thing" when grandad went courting, Most of this equipment was saved by Peter from the farm. his parents owned north of Da shrood Other interesting antiques from area farms are wooden pumps, ox yokes and shoes, a large number of wooden rakes, shovels, forks and other harvest and garden equipment that have now been replaced by the com- bine and threshing machine, Many of these articles are well over 100 years old and two iron gate posts beat the date 1877 and flails used for hand threshing were believed dis-, carded around 1880. Close to 200 small articles are contained on the final wall and range from old saws, .wood- en hammers, measuring ,chains, cooking utensils, slave shackles ..an,d others too numerous to mention. One interesting one is a tal- low burner which was hung on trees to light a trail for visitors coming through [lie forests. Vp0eirs. too The upstairs in the modern building is also devoted to an- tiques and a large room filled with dishes, books, =sleet instruments, vanes and even torture equipment can be found, Style-conscious ladies will probably spot the display of ladies' shoes as they enter the room and will probably grimace with pain as they imagine the work their predecessors must have experienced as they laced up their high-button boots be- fore making the rounds on their social However, they 'will probably pass a small word of congratulas lions to those departed when they realize that the flat heels probably didn't cause as much trouble by dropping through street grates and escalator steps. One of the most interesting musical instruments to be found. at the museum is an old Belgium player-organ that bad to he turned by hand before one could enjoy the sounds of any of the 25 rolls also on display. Other instruments are accor- dions, violins, horns, and an African thumb organ. These would make even the most ac- complished musicians ponder about just how any semblance of music could be attained. Beside the instruments is a display of boot-jacks used to help grandmother arid grand- father off with their shoes and there are also clay diggers and snow skates. A fancy collection of canes attracts most and Peter knows exactly who used each one. They range 'from plain varieties hewed out of small tree limbs to beautiful fancy designs that would make the owner feel just a touch of arrogance as he walked along the street with it. The wall in this room is cov- ered with small knives, bayo- nets, a Turkish scimitar, a flint-lock and many other ex• amples of ancient warfare and hunting, The display of Bibles shows the use of the books as the family history recorder and Peter's collection includes one dated 1795. Two others were printed in the early 1800's and Peter also has his own family Bible brought from Germany by his grandparents. The books are lavishly decor- ated with beautiful scroll writ- ing and the covers are artisti- cally cut out of leather, Another book contains a page of orders taken by Joseph Hart- leib for Bibles and one ran be traced with pictures in the dis- play. One of the persons to or- der a Bible has her wedding picture and also a photo with her first child, who is still liv- ing in this area, Torture tools Two articles that would prob- ably make some turn pale with just the thought of bow •they were used are also in the book case. The one is a small square box that ejects several small razor - sharp blades when a sprMg is released. These were then run over a person's back b Shriners and salt water was later added to convince any victim that honesty was certainly the best policy. Although not a torture instru- ment, a taj ring :knife sounds Just as hail when explained by Peter. It was a sharp knife that was used to cut open a bloated man or beast. A strong spring enabled the Made to be "driven home". Over 200 pieces of various types of dishes are in the dis- play and will attract female customers who might .covet some of the beautiful crystal and fancy cups, saucers and plates, One of the most beautiftd pieces is a large glass serving tray that was decorated with the wings of a large number of colorful butterflies. The mustache cups will at' tract the attention of 'the male visitors and there are close to 15 on display. They have small opening for the mouth and then a bar that kept grandad's prized possession out of his suds. In the next roam one of the most unusual objects is a large flower stand. The three-foot high structure was made entirely fpriottillbroken. dishes of all kinds that were stuck together with Paid with onions An organ purchased in 1905 may not appear to be too much of en antique but it certainly exemplifies the custom of barter in the old days. Peter has a bill of sale with the organ that shows it cost $85.00 and was paid entirely with Dutch set onions. The onions sold for three cents a pound at the time and Peter had enough to pay for the or- gan in one year. Ne explained. that he purchased a buggy by the same method, Another bill of sale on. the wall dated in 1931 shows that he shipped four cattle beasts and received exactly 4i cents a pound For each, AL the same Summer Fill! Your summer fill now entitles you to free addition of B-A Solar P-A-C corrosion inhibitor to your tank, Solar P-A-C effectively counteracts the corrosive action promoted by moisture on the inside bottoirt areas of your fuel oil storage tanks. It's anothdr good reason why you should switch to Canadair most modern heating oil —BA Solar Heat. Mid• leton and Genttner Phone 235-2411 Exeter Conklin Lunth ifr Best Buys! ALUMINUM DO ?R Never contradict your wife. 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