HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1980-07-30, Page 37.C.Y.11.:Nr:0$15 •
Thia is .Sunday' af-
ternoon, one ,during our. .
May heat-*aire, and ain
ontdoers in the shade; in
the feWest possible
clothes. In my childheod,
trty-present-appearanee
weuld have 'been
disgraceful for an 8-year.
old, let alone a Senior
Citizen. , • •
:In those days, I would
have been at Sunday.
school, having walked
about a mile to get there.
' Then' .I :cyanid have stayed
for the 'Morning Service.
Dad (and Marha if there
-Were no babies,.imminent
or very recent) would
haVe driven PrinCe. and
*the phaeton to the village'
for church and some of us
mould have had a ride
home, Sunday dinner :at
noon all have
been
,
preParedon
Saturday so it would
,
not
take long to assemble:
After dinner, we were.
allowed 'to read 7-the
Sunday SchOol papers
Playinate and. Onward -
our Bible Story books and
any !irriproying' books
-that we owned or had
borrowed. Our 'Minister's.
daughter had a complete
set of the Elsie • Books
which she loaned to her
friends. They were very
religious and real- tear-
jerkerS, and am very
sure the children or
teenagers of today would
not, have the least idea
what they meant.
Another thing we could
do was gefor a nice, quiet
walk. The village girls
Often walked to the local
cernetery. It sounds
morbid . but' it - was, a
definite destination fora
walk.- In Spring; we often
went to the bush when the
spring flowers, were in ,
- blooke---anceild-- come
home with great bunches
of drooping wild tloweri.
At that time, we did not
know that we 'should not
pick Trilliums.
Sunday ..pvenine.„ it-was
a privilege for the older
children to go to church
again. I' think I :.,was
singing in the Choir when
I was fourteen and have
been ever since.. We had
acetylene lights in the
church and they often
began to get dimmer and
dimmer, and unless
someone rushed to the
gas plant, we were left in
the dark. I do not suppose
the young men and their
girl-friends objected to
that! In the country and
small villages, church
was the centre of life -
Sundays and weekdays.
There were no movies
anywhere near, and as
for all the other en-
tertainments of today,
they had not even been
invented.
ThiS is summer .and
what did we do with our
. lime? There were many.,
chores for the children to
do. We hunted the eggs'
and looked for hens that
`hid away' and, watched
them daily until the
chiCkshatched - or didn't.
Then we fed the hens and
thickens and watched for
hawkS.
the garden and then weed
if: I fotuid thap young:
carrots often came tip
with the weeds and how
good they tasted!
We drove either Prince anther. ik.nether good needed to sustain lif a anti
or (1,10, • Doll on the place to rd was up in an . Children had taken an
hayrake and then poOr apple tree With ripe important . part in that
Old Doll had to struggle apples all around. I would production.
and :strain 'pulling the. find a level bough and sit FinallY, winter, with
fork loads of hay up into and. read and munch snow and cold, was upon _
-the haymow:- used--to, apples-sulreSh they-were us. wish the modern
feel sorry for • her. I . almost still groWing: kids could see, our winter,
remember the' last day of I used, to like riding, elethes. Some of Our
Prince. I did not have a clothing came from the
saddle, but a folded horse store (or the catalogues)
blanket fastened around, but a lot of it was made at
his middle did a little' to home.. We wore long
alleviate the discomfort woollen underwear,- long'
of. his bony. back: :It was. sleeved and long-legged -
almost like' riding - an 'and how it could itch! We
animated rail fence, but had woollen stockings,
it was fun. Prince was - caps, scarves and mitts.
Of her misery. Butbefore said, to have kicked- and We wore heavy woollen
her death .she, had killed a man in his earlier coats, overstockings and
Presented us with a . days but• he was most rubbers - before the:days-
ouuple of colts. • My .reliable when we got him of overshoes: No levely
knowledge of the sex-life - ssretimes idiesyncratic wind-and-waterproof
of far,m animals was non- but reliable Corning snow suits. But we had
existent., -When George home-from LneknoW, he fun.'We' Played in the
Irwin, dove in with his liked to go:': through ',the snow and get it up our
"Big Rorie' I, was 4ept river and have a drink, • sleeVes, and down .oUr
strictly in the house. and he always went dOwn .necki and into Our. Shoes.
'Bet summer was not all, a till at an angle - but be We built snow fOrts -and
work. We had 'lots of was reliable. He took had glorious fightS—W.e__
home-rlia-de fun too. With, nearly twice, as long to go went sleighriding on the
our, large faMily and the, to town as. to come home gaegway or in the hilly.
neighbouring kids, we but he always got us there field. If we had all af.
wild have quite good ball and back. ternoon we would gO to
games until dark. We had . New where was I? In 'Glenn's 1-1111"where there
a little field near thp road late summer , or early were steep;( bumpy hills
which was not used for autumn: there' was which were-thrilling but
crops and it was very' threshing day and what a probably gave up bruised
level. We often did not busy time that was! The posteriors or stomachs -
have balls and bats from whistle Of the steam depending on the mode of
the store'so we rnade"our engine coming dawn the travel. We -would_ hitch
own. Many an old sock ;I road was much more our sleighs behind a
have ravelled out and exciting than the roar of a sleigh or cutter on the
'wound the yarn tightly -r combine, .The boys vied road, and ride for Miles
around a cork and then with each other for...the until "'we- met another
stitched it through and privilege of running the coming back. It was
through: with ,yarn, in a blower, and -there was simple fun but we were
long, thick darning always work for this breathing pure, um-.
needle:. The boys made older daughter - minding polluted , air. On stormy
bats out of a piece of the younger children if days we efteri walked the :
board. nothing.else. ' beams in the barn and
Arguments ofteri-arese Later their., were the jumped off into the soft-.
during the games and vegetables and fruit to straw or hay. No hard
rules were made on the harvest for immediate bales then!
spot to suit the oc- use or to can or -preserve We tried to learn to
casion- Some of the or store for the winter, skate at home. There was
kids had
.
bikes - not 10 Those tiny seeds we had usually ice on the pond
wonderful like-that. Just developed into all sorts of not have beautiful skates
good plain hikes that delicious vegetables-1_____and high skating --boots.
would take one or two - -remember ,.many times' We justhad spring skates.'
persons from, here to we would put the wash which we attached tccour
there. And girls did not boiler on the woodstove shoes with a spring af-
with a few inches of water fair. There were no
in it and then. go to the outstanding results
back garden for corn - • frequently not even
with a big clothes basket
to carry it home. Our
supper would probably be
Doll's 'life, There was a
thunder.storm the night
before • and ' we have
alwaYs thoughe-that she
was 'struck by lightning
because, all day she just
sort of shuffled around in
circles, That night my
Grandfather put her out
-speeds ---planted-in--tlie-s-pri-n-g--had—hehind the-barn. We did-
corn with butter
(horriemacle) dripping
off, fresh juicy tomatoes,
home-cured ham, and
everything else home
prodeeed. Potatoes were
often , :ken up when the
childre, were home from
school I r the‘TeacherS'
Conventi in. We' had not
heard -of PD' days then, :
Dad wou; go along the
row with • he -plough, just
deeply eni ugh to uncover
the potato' s. We children
did a lot of he 'taking up',
probably Ii cause we had
not so far to stoop.
Carrots, b Bets, ete, were
over us. No Swimming just pulled up and put in
pools and Swimming bags to be stored in the
lessons' for any of us. The cellar. NO freezers!
village boys used- to go Except' sometimes in the
down to' the mil and winter when Nature
swim in the mill pond. Would freeze a quarter of
The darn made a fine beef. By the end of
place from which to dive, autumn the cellar would
I was always a great be bulging with bins' of
. reader and in summer Potal9eSt beets, carrots,
and fall when I could find and apples, and the
Some spare time, I would shelves full of canned,
-go off With abet-ate-Some preserved, Picklecrand
quiet spot. One was in the . jellied food. We did not
haymow -Where I could depend on the`super-
have some peace to read market . for our daily
Gene Stratton Porter or bread. We had helped
some other . favourite produce nearly all we
ride boys' bikes - at least
not 'in --our family.
Frequently a. bike would
lack a handgrip - or eve'
2 . but as lorig as the tires
held up it was still usable.
Another thing the boys
did was `go to the river'.
The Nine Mile River was
about a mile from our
place, across the' fields
and -a swim - bare pelt -
was a great rejuvenator-
on a day like today.
never went to the river
there, Nit a few years
later, I used to drive
Prince to another part of
the. river '(just below
Crozier's)Crozier's) and meeta
High School, friend there
and we would while away
an hour or two just lying
lazily in the river and
letting the water wash
standing results, but
again. it WAS fun, The
village kids often, skated
at the river and in, my
tfiliS there was •a small
outdoor'. rink in the
village-, lighted by' Ian—
terns, and flooded and
cleaned by the young
people. •
0-Page-12