The Wingham Advance-Times, 1957-07-10, Page 10j.
, r k ' 10 1957
Theatre
M
To *bows each .night.
+'irst at 7.1
rats !We. Sat, July 11-12-13
'gkcrK Mature Anita Ekberg
^` in
i" ZARAK"
An adventure story.
On, Fuses., Wed.( July 1548-17
. Theatre Cloned
hey
W�~ s
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•��u.r,«L i
until she came :here
,one day. Since then she
been happy and
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s;
an you: see $15,000
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Y6u don't nerd a`crystal ball
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w A
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Pliorie 147
"'. WINGHAM, ONT.
John W. Waines
R R. 3, LISTOWEL
Phone 1912 •
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Desc..iption of Early Daysm Queens, hush
As Remembered by One of the Pioneers
The following article is an ad-
dress Which was. given by Mrs.
Frank B. Scott at .a joint meeting
of the Bluevale and Winghani W
en's• Institutes in 1916, and was.
published in, the Wingham Times,
Mrs, Seett lived .in Morris for a
Woe as a young girl, but follow-.
ing her marriage resided in Blue,
vale, Turnberry Township, where
she spent the rest of her days.
Her .husband was ,the village
blacksmith and was h business in
that village fol• .over 50 years. Miss
Ruby Ault, who submitted this
article, • used to love the sound of
the anvil and, says it would waken
her in the mornings after a long
absence from home,
Alas! There are no horses to be
shod today and so the anvil is
silent and the blacksmith shop is
idle, It still stands, though, a re-
minder of those days that will
never come again.
Mrs, Scott passed away on Sep-
tember 12, 1930 at the age of 81
and Mr. Scott d4ed November 12,
1933, aged 87: •
* *
PIONEER DAYS
By Mrs. F. E. Scott
On a certain farm iii Morris,
Township within a short distance
of Bluevale, a barn raising ,was
beid not long ago and seeing the
people going by in automobiles• to
attend this event brought very vi-
vidly before me the contrast be-
tween the present and pioneer
days, It does not seem .a great
many years ago since a barn rais-
ing was held on the very next
farm to the one referred to, soon
after the parents of the presfent oc-
cupants settled there. I attended
the barn raising and on the road
home our oxen ran away. It was
surprising, too, how fast such
large, clumsy animals could run.
But no damage resulted and it
gave us something to laugh over in
years after.
I was born on the Pomona, the
largest of the Orkney Islands or
Orcades, fount of old tales and
legends, clustered at the extreme
northern limit of Scotland. It was
off the Brough of Birsay on the
western coast of my native island
that the Earl of Kitchener was
lost a few months ago on the ill-
fated Hampshire. The Orkney Is-
lands are treeless and one of the
first things to impress me when
I landed in Canada, a little girl
of nine, was a beautiful avenue of
trees, on. Grosse Island, the quar-
antine station in the St. Lawrence,
We had fallen. victims to the
measles .and . had to be carried,
wrapped in blankets, from the
ship to the quarantine hospital
through this avenue of trees. An-
other impression that I remember
was a feeling of intense heat, al-
though it was still very early in
summer when we landed..
I had been several years in Blue -
vale before the railway came to
this part o.f the country, but at
Quebec I had my first glimpse of
a railway train and I remember
there was some discussion amongst
us as towhether we should com-
plete our journey by train or by
boat. The boat was finally chosen
and we came all the way to Ha-
milton . by water. At Quebec my
mother bought her first Canadian
bonnet and at Montreal I remem-
ber how grateful 1 was for a
bottle of milk which we had se-
cured by some means or other. I
was weary from tramping the
streets and begged my mother to
carry me as well as my little bro-
ther. When she agreed on condi-
tion. I would relinquish the milk,
we're in business
for your health
We stand ready at all times to fill your
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from fresh stocks of Pharmaceuticals. '
HOME
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WINGHAM
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Blacksmith ShQp
The village blacksmith shop at Bluevale which. -has been idle for some
time, was owned and .operated''by the late Frank Scott. Mr. 'Scott was
in business for over S0. years in Bluevale and his wife is the author of
the excellent account of pioneer ;days in this issue,"
I refused to accede to such a bar-
gain and trudged on by her side
holding her skirt in one hand and
the milk bottler with the other.
CANADA SECURE
Perhaps I ,did not 'experience. the
rigors of pioneer Life'to the same
degree as many have done, for my
father was, a school teacher 'and
also received a pension from the
British Government, As a young
man he had enlisted in the Bri-
tish navy and I might mention
that for a time he served in the
crew of Lord . ilyron's pleasure
yacht in the Mediterranean, It was
while on one of. His Majesty's
shipsthat he ,n'►et with a terrible'
accident by a fall from the' rig-
ging, leaving him a cripple for
life. Being still young in years
he returned home and in due time
was grantetl at Edinburgh a .diplo-
ma as a teacher. About' this time,
while on a ramble in .pursuit of his
favorite sport of hunting or fish-
ing, the saw my' •mother for the
first time where she was weilding
a sickle in •the field like Words -
worth's
"Solitary Reaper". It was
many years after their marriage
before they decided to Cross the
ocean and they were impelled to
do so by their desire to keep their
sons from taking a sea -faring life.
My oldest .:brother' had been lost
at sea, which was a greatgrief, to
my .parents, The coast ,.of the'Ork
neys_ was thronged with' ships
which exercised an itrisistable: fas-
cination over; the iinaginatientr, of
healthy, lusty •youths with their
promise of adventures and won-
derful experiences. in the strange,
far-off places of the earth. So in
dread of losing more. of their sons
my parents emigrated to the new
land beyond thesea wheee• the
ways of men were more peaceful
and secure.
Alter coming to Canadamy fa-
ther taught school in:Dumfries and
Blenheim Townships in the neigh-
borhood of Galt ;and Ayr, -As that
district had been settled for some
time, brick and stone houses not
being uncommon, we did not meet
with pioneer -conditions ' they
are commonly understood till five
or six years . later when we came
to Morris Township,' two . of my
brothers having. taken. up landon
the first concession, back of 'the
river. Father was engaged' as' tea-
cher in the. Stone School and built
a log house nearby in which he
and my mother resided, but I went
to be housekeeper for my brothers.
TO MARKET AT DAWN
new wardrobe was not requited
every few months as is the .case
today. I don't know what we did
for fashions, Axis was a long way
from Queen's Bush and fashion
books were not in vogue in the
pioneer' days. One thing I• can re-
member very distinctly, however,
was when gored skirts came: in..
At first we all had plain, round'
skirts. With fur -bearing animals
so plentiful it might be thought
that furs would be commonly used
but It was quite .a long time before
I saw a fur coat, the first I believe,
being a • buffalo coat worn by a
man at Ayr. When we went out in
winter we wrapped up in shawls.
The need for winter clothing did
not seem as great then as now.
No doubt the ,protection of the
forest trees tempered the climate
to a considerable degree and over-
coats were seldom worn by men
for many years after the country
was opened.
HANDMADE GARMENTS
A largepart of ' the women's
work was the preparation of food
and clothing. 'There „were no large
houses and little expensive furni-
ture to keep in order and all
household appointments were on a
simple scale, But spinning was' a
task every housewife had to reck-
on with. Sheep were among the
first livestock to be. plated on the
pioneer farms and the wool pro-'
duced was partly sold and partly
kept for household use. When'.the
flocks had been;clipped the fleeces. in the sun, then stored away in
were handedover to the woman s ks to be stewed as needed, much
of the house who "teased" the as we make applesauce today. When
wool, removing' all dirt and for- my' brothers hauled their.' grain to
eign substances, It was - then Clinton in the fall of the year it
smoothed and rubbed with hot was my custom to go with them on
grease and sent to the woollen the load and bring home a supply
mill in Wingham to be carded. of dried apples; prunes and other
From the mill itcame back in provisions for winter. 'As, in all
rolls and these were spun into yarn Scottish families, oatmeal, "chief
either fine or coarse, as required of Scotia's food", was a staple ar=
for different purposes: The woman ticle of diet; not the rolled oats of
who worked regularly at her spin- present tinier but the find -grained,
niiig Wheel had no need for physi- meal which housewives still claim
cal culture exercises,- It called for makes the best oatcakes.
both grace and.dexterity of move You are all as familiar as I am
menu. The yarn, after being dyed with' church and school of pioneer
with ,bought dyes, was sent to the days for they have so often been
weaver. There was sure .to be a described—the church,with its pre -
weaver in every neighborhood who centor instead of the choir and
would make up your blankets or organ,the school .with its long
webs of homespun flannel. Jimmy benches instead.of desks and its
Mitchell was widely'known as the
weaver at Bluevale. The family young men and women for scholars
whose numbers and boistrous
spec, (Alt table! today arasuperier,
Wevery early had good garden;
with a considerable variety of
vegetables -,onions, carrots, !mete
and cabbage, Excellent potatoes.
could be grown In the virgin soil,
It was not long before Sve had
currant bushes, black and red,
getting the cuttings from neigh-
bors and I can well remember the
heavy crops they produced. We
ate. them With cream and sugar
at meals and I recall going out .to.
get a dishful for supper and 'squat-
ting beneath , the bush 'With its
laden branches, which seemed to
fill my bowl with no effort.
Salads were not eaten then as
they are now, in fact it is only
about twenty, years since salads be-
gan to be used in this district. Tkie
pioneer, bread was famous for ,its
appetizing quality and somehow it..
seemed so ,much easier to make in
those days. Often 1 would come
home late at night from a party
to find the house like, an iceberg
and I would be forced to set my,
bread for the next day with every-
thing stone cold. But in spite of
all, that it would rise beautifully
and the following day I would
have a prize batch of bread, where-
as, nowadays the sponge has to be
coddled and nursed along if one
expects to have any luck at all.
Undoubtedly the wonderful soil pro-
duced a different chemical quality
in the flour. We used little, granu-
lated sugar in cooking, preserving
it for special occasions, itsplace
being taken by maple sugar . made
in large hundred Pound eakes ill the
spring. I just wish you could taste
the pies that were made with maple
sugar!
TEA $2.00 PER POUND •
As beverages we drank both tea
and coffee. Tea at the time of the
civil war in the United States reach-
ed an almost prohibitive price. It is
any recollection that it was two dol-
lars a pound at' that time though
I may not be quite accurate in this.
At any rate it was too expensive
to use freely but there was a kind
of coffee called "dandelion coffee",
probably made from the dandelion
root, thatwe drank a good deal, es-
pecially at breakfast, We .had not
the apple, the pear, the 'plum and
the cherry to diversifyour diet, but
on the. other hand there was a
wealth of wild fruit, especially rasp-
berries and tiiese, instead of being
canned and preserved were spread
out on pans and paper and dried
From our farm the shortest way
to Bluevale was across the country
to the Bluevale road near 'where
Mr. Dobie noW lives, I 'liked to
bring my butter to market in the
early morning in order to keep
it cool and firm and e; neighbor
.woman and myself. used to start
off soon after dawn carrying our
shoes and •stocking with us
through the dewy Woods until we
reached the highway, ,where we
would sit down and wipe our feet
carefully on the towel We had.
brought with us for the purpose,
don our shoes and then make our
entrance to the village clothed in
our right' minds. Sometimes we
reached the stores so early We
Would be forced to rouse .Mr. Mes-
ser or Mr. Mccosh from slumber
to wait on us. Ort the way borne,
which was reached in 011ie to get
breakfast for the Men, We Would
stop at the same place and remove
our predious footwear before tak-
ing to the bush once more.
Many things •you see which ere:
now called necessities were luxu-
ries in triose days, Bot ' we had
something' then for Which We
would gladly exchange into .of
the advantages w,e have today 4hd
that Was an abundance of hbaltii,
Strength and dauntless spirit,
Life was comparatively simple.
For instance, there.' Were no nrillie,-
ery shops, ,Nearly all small oh11d-
ren wore sunbonnets to 'church
and Sunday School and l`• can 'well
rer`neniber bifying rey first hat at
John Mower's. store in BlUevale.
Tt was a straw' hat and 1 bought
Seine flowers, too, and 'trl'fnined It
•myself, There were• no professional
h either.
dressmakers In t oro days• ei
We did ail our own sewing and
did It by hand, but one`attvantagc
Was . that nearly e'e ryth1ng O
made c'f lrernespun, which, as yen
1iave ail lieiird 'was renowned 'for
its , wearing quallttea . so that a
underwear as well as outer gar- s frits required a schoolmaster of
ments was' made by hand and al- physical as well as intellectual
though • we sometimes pine for the
good old days, perhaps the home- powers. ,
one
flannel 'underwear was
made fla 1HORSES REPLACE OXEN
feature we would not care to have
preserved. As 11, have already stated our
Another household task which first steeds were oxen and our'
has passed away altogether is first carriage a wagon but our•
candlemaking. As long as 1 can', re- family, was among the , first in
member we had one oil lamp,
the district to produce horses,.,
which we had brought to the bush Which added greatly to our social
with us but candles were needed pleasures, Our first light vehicle,
for the other parts of the house was an old mail cart with ;a seat.
and were always used in the lan- built for two which niy brothers
bought from an old mail carrier
terns. The candle moulds were of on the road between Galt and Ayr,
tin, joined together in sets, each who was well known as "Billy, the
mould being smaller at the bottom mail boy". Many a time, as a little
than at the top. The small end girl when we lived in that .tis -
hada hole in it through which the Wet, I had.run behind" the same
candle wick, bought ready for use, mail cart. holding on for dear life
was strung and fastened in a knot and deluding myself with the idea
beneath, The wicks were double so 'that I was getting a ride,—little
that they could be held tightly by thinking that in later years I was
sticks thrust through them and to have the pleasure and right of
laid across the top of the moulds, riding inside,
When the hot tallow, ,melted in a
pot or frying pan, had been pour- With the advent of horses we
ed into the moulda it was allowed
Were enabled t take part in the
to harden and then' , the knot on ial life of awide district, going
the. Wick was cut and the candle to parties as far away as Blyth.
Slipped out.It was tie uncommon thing t�
start off to church in Wroxeter,
HAD GOOD GARDENS' going through T luevale and pick -
What ye•shall eat and what ye lug up a load of our friends as we
passed. It has often been saidthat
people, were like one big family
hi pioneer days and it is really
true. ' No event was considered
eamplete unless. alt out friends
were there. I` can recall '.many
'happy, social occasions and -per-
haps one of special interest Was
the :first Dominion bay celebration
signalizing nalizirig the .bittli of our great
confederation. It was held on
J"'a eksonis fleets in Lased' Wing -
}him and I wonder' If the realized
that e. .day what a great country
Canada 'in 1916 would have be -
shall drink ' and wherewithal ye
shall be clothed have been press•
ing problems of every household in
all ages and it might be interest-
ing to compare what we had to
eat and drink in pioneer days
with the modern. diet. Ti► some re.
spects there was not asrnrlch
variety on the pioneer table; but
hunger is a good sauce' and We
were never lacking in appetite. On
the tither hand some of our food,
owing to the peculiar conditions
of growth, had flavor that is lack-
ing today, Po a long time very
little beef was seen but mutton
and Pork Were nearlyy always to
be had. One great difference' was tlaeh 'yea dt1 International 'Tuna
in the constrniption of eggs, HOU cup Match Is held ori,,tiie fishing
Were riot ,very well provided for on
piercer fertile so eggs were ridt'4"j"ridsVeilgepdrt, ibva
tree eoriiim,n artielrs of diet they Scotia, which draws entrants and
have sines bne and in this re,. spe tateta front Many eotntreat
•
S.S. NO.1 PUPILS IN 1930
Back row, Mildred Griffith, Marguerite Nicholson, Jean Snell, Myrtle, Montgomery, Besste
Lane' teacher, Reita Kitchen, Laura Newton Olive Newton. Front row, Gordon Sanderson,
Fred. Montgomery, Billy' Adams,1 Jack Millar, Cecil Sanderson, Harold B1ackk George
Nicholson, Vernon Snell, Dean Gibson, Wesley Newton, Jack Griffith,
•
SS. No.`1 Pupils in 193,0
Back row, George Nicholson, , Jack Griffith, 'Dean' Gibson,' Gordon
Sanderson, Fred Montgomery;'Jack Millar, ,Wes. Newton,. Vernon Snell,
Cecil Sanderson, Billy Adams, Front row, Marguerite NicholsonfiLaura
Newton;:' Jean Snell, Reita :Kitchen, olive. Newton, Mildred Griffith..
This picture`was taken' at' the Wroxeter School Fair in September, 1.930.
Zetland School
r..
School at the tim this
Z tland e
securepicture of e
i ossible'tc
It was 'rip, ,
paper carried its history, ,Since that time the above picture was
brought, rn.hy Miss M. 'Stapleton, showing the fine stone structure that
has since been torn down. The site is now Used by the Dept, of High-
ways for-, the storage of road materials.'
Conclusion of
Turkberry History
The above story and the histori
cal pictures that appear this week
wind up the,information that has
been carried in this paper for the
past few months doncerning Turn-
berry Township. We hope that our
readers have been interested in the
stories and pictures about familiar
places and people of Turnberry.
We would like, to thank all those
who assisted by contributing .plc-
tures and historical data, We Men-
tion especially Mise Ruby Duff,
who hats 'but: forth an excellent ef•
fent to all phases of publicity pre-
vious to the Centennial, and to all
the•eommittees ef''School Scalpels,
sa well as the numerous individu-
als whd',have supplied infbrniatiori,
Those' who have hot already'' se-'
cured''.bne of the books pertaining
to thY;i=township`s 'History from .its
beginliiirli ;'are reminded that there;
are still, sortie of 'these available
for th'e price Of $1,00 at a number.
of sources Mentioned elsewhere in
this edition'p1 The Advance -Times,
'fhb "book was 'compiled by. Mrs,
p
Ailed Aitken aril "is well worth the.
r1ce. ,
the 't1anadidii prirriary textile'
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weed, , s11k4 ,''and the Varlcus 'sy1i-
theties_sVnd in aprnriitig, Weaving,
felting, knitting, dyeing and flh
isfiintt then fibres and products;
made frofft theta, ,
•
Floor Sanders fug rent:
at r,
.ALEXANDE11
. + HARDWAR;
GOSPEL HALL'
Regular Sunday Serviees
Sunday School. 10.15
Remembering the Lord
at 11.15
Gospel Meeting at '70, p.m.
Each Thursday evening. at 8 p.m.
Prayer Meeting and Bible Study
fiDDI�2�
•
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