The Rural Voice, 2002-06, Page 38The more hurry, the less speed
In the rush of the haying season it seemed like agood idea to put
the new guy to work raking. So much for the plan.
Dad was always in a hurry. He
got a late career start and he
was always trying to catch up.
He packed well over a hundred years
of active life into his 83 years.
The Depression caused him to
drop out of school in grade nine and
take a job to help keep up the
mortgage payments on the family
farm. The mortgage was only a few
hundred dollars, pocket money today
but a fortune in the era of a -dollar -a -
day wages. After five years of dusk to
dawn farm work for six days a week
with absolutely no holidays Dad
finally was able to quit the job and go
back to .high school to pursue his real
interest of becoming an undertaker.
His high school experience lasted two
years and instead of becoming an
undertaker he became a CN station
By Arnold Mathers
agent. The only relation was that he
was dispatching baggage down the
track rather than dispatching bodies
and souls. By the time mother
entered the scene as a local school
teacher Dad had decided to become a
storekeeper in the village. This
venture failed to take place when the
owner of the store got cold feet at the
eleventh hour and refused to sell and
retire. Dad and Mother, who had by
now married, needed a home and Dad
needed a real occupation since the
station agent job was only part time.
When one is casting their hook it
is amazing how often the fish called
fate nibbles the bait. At this exact
moment the farm down the road came
up for sale, the price was right, the
house was available immediately, and
a kindly mortgage lender appeared on
The old !tay'rake sits abandoned -
now. Qr ce. t 1.40::,•00 -esserrt at400l.
ai haytng.time •4, .»`s'-�
the scene. So at the late age of 27
Dad became a farmer.
The house and barn were spaced
well apart and during the next 25
years of farming I never saw my dad
walk from the house to the barn — he
always ran. As a young boy I became
aware that whatever needed to be
done in the barn or in the field needed
to be done on the fly.
Haying was a particularly fast-,
paced season. There was hay
to be mowed, hay to be raked
and hay to be baled all at .the same
time. Since Dad and his brother and
two or three other farmers all worked
together they put in a lot of hay.
The weather certainly forced the
"make hay while the sun shines"
motto to be true around our place.
Everybody had their job and dad's
34 THE RURAL VOICE