Times Advocate, 1995-07-05, Page 13Household items and gadgets from all eras
Ross Haugh T -A Staff
CREDITON - If you want to see
what type of kitchen utensils and
other household articles your
grandmother or great grandmother
used back at the turn of the century
or before, chances are Lois Hod-
gins will have them.
A couple of weeks ago when
Lois and her husband Harvey cele-
brated their 45th wedding
anniversary, they officially
opened an antique room at
their home located on the
South Boundary Conces-
sion of Stephen township.
Lois got the collecting
bug back in 1967. She says,
"In Centennial year I saw a
need to preserve some of
the things that our ancestors de-
pended on in everyday life. I
thought these things were slipping
away. Our young people would not
know how their forefathers lived
and survived."
Her latest acquisition is an old
hand operated Beatty Bros. wash-
ing machine. The washer which she
believes is at least 70 years old was
purchased at an auction sale at Ko-
moka.
Asked where most of her prize
articles come from, she replied,
"Mostly auction sales, flea markets
and yard and garage sales. Estate
auctions are the best place to find
something older. One has to look
everywhere and continuously. You
never know what you might find.
Once and awhile somebody will
just up and give me an item or
two."
In her collection are several arti-
cles from Schatz's general store in
Dashwood. They include a paint
roller, a wooden one pint bottle and
funnel for vine-
gar. In the early
days vinegar
came in barrels.
She also has the
first egg grader
used by Vernon
Schatz.
While most of
her articles were
used' in the kitchen, her collection
also takes in all aspects of life in
the early days.
To take care of the recreation
needs of the early settlers, she has
several varieties of skates which
were fastened to boots and shoes
before taking to the ice pond, usual-
ly located in the farm bush.
For the family parlour she has an
old Viewmaster with a quantity of
slides including one of the Chicago
Stockyards.
About the Viewmaster, Hodgins
says, "Every home had one of these
at the turn of the century. It was
their entertainment before the days
"In Centennial
year, I saw a
need to preserve
some of the things
that our ancestors
depended on
in everyday life"
Harvey Hodgins tries out an old-fashioned scale on his grand-
daughter Angela Ritchie
•
of television."
She continued, displaying a box
of modern articles and said " The
craftsmen and inventors of years
ago were clever, clever people. But,
look in this box. You see dozens of
articles designed by the modern in-
ventor. We maybe can't get along
without them, but there isn't any-
thing in here that is practical for
current use. Some I don't know
what they are for."
In the Hodgins collection are a
wide variety of baskets used to
gather eggs, berries, beans, and a
number of other things. She says,
"They don't make baskets like this
anymore. That's the collector part
of this business, to have something
they don't make anymore.
"Asked if some of her collected
items are scarce, Hodgins replied, "
Here is an egg whipper and it says
patent pending. There's no way to
know how many of these were
made, probably not many."
She has three kinds of old-
fashioned toasters, starting with a
fork type for one piece of bread to a
two-sided wire one and the flapper
electric type.
From the pioneer worker she has
dinner pails in tin and granite and
all kinds of shapes to an early ther-
mos jug.
Her collection has too many
items to mention. A few are glove
stretchers, pie cutlers, paint rollers,
flour sifters, corn huskers, fish scal-
ers. clothes horses, razor strops,
knives, juicers, meat grinders, hair
tongs, curlers, ash sifters, hot coal
tongs, coal oil heaters, cookie cut-
ters, etc. and many utensils that
went under the bed.
Many of the kitchen articles have
different colored handles and Hod-
gins says, "From the colour of the
handle we can determine about
what year it was made. Each era
had a different color."
One thing missing from the Hod-
gins household gadget coilecticn is
a lard press.
She also has one that she does not
know what it is for. It is made of
wood and similar to a tripod, but it
has four legs which are about 20
inches long and fold up.
From years
gone by...
At left, a recent pur-
chase of a 70 year
old washer. Below,
sick room utensils
from way back when.
Lola Hodgins and a coal oil stove of 1885
What does Canada Day mean to you?
Ron MacEachern - Huron Park
"It's a celebration to commemorate
the birth of our country and a day to
show pride in our country.
Judy Thurman - Exeter
1 really like birthday parties and this
is a time to celebrate with all my
friends. I'm celebrating the
conservative victory
Casey Zeehulssn - Exeter
"It's great to be a Canadian.
It's a beautiful country
Garry Ford - Exeter
"It means keeping the country
together, fireworks and the chili
cookoff"
Doreen Tiernan - Exeter
'I'm proud to be a Canadian, lust
proud to be living in Exeter... We're Just
spending most of the day up here. I
think it's great that Exeter does
something for our towns
Timothy Palmer - London
"It means celebrating Canada'
1
Dania Thurman - Oakville
'This is the first time I've ever done
a gig this big in my hometown. I'm
singing for another hour, then I'm
going to watch the fireworks"
This week's Per-
son on the Street
candidates were
all found having
fun at the various
Canada Day cele-
brations in Exeter.
It was a great op-
portunity to ask
them about their
country's 128th
birthday
4.1
1
" ,
1Li � 1 I
''''11111t71\
i 1�'� I r Mt'• �.�f' �1
.t Ilr,...�.. h ItT.
,, as d'i"Art
18
1