Clinton News-Record, 1977-06-02, Page 21•7_9.N A 3i_C'-3 3i 0,- 3A c_C 33( rAt. r ;3 C _ t . : 3i
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• Clinton, Ontario
Thursday, June 2, 1977
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Students
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Second section'
ll2th Year - No 22
earn of pioneer days through experience
Brewer, Andy Van Altena, right, attracted the crowds to his homemade beer
booth but was greeted by a number of mixed reactions to his concoction. The
beer was only one of the many samples of foods and goods that were made by the
grade seven class at Clinton Public School for their Pioneer Day held lasrFriday.
(News -Record photo)
Times have definitely changed
over the past 100 years and very 'few
of us remember, or ever learned
how to make soap, run a
blacksmith's shop or churn butter.
However, the grade seven class at
the Clinton Public School have not
forgotten this past and instead have
created a special Pioneer Day to
learn about the earlier times.
The Pioneer Day, held last Friday
was started last year on the
suggestion of Mrs. Dyck, the grade
seven teacher. Previous to her work
at the Clinton school_ she had taught
in Kitchener and had organized
similar projects there.
Since her grade seven students are
studying the early pioneer in Canada
for history, the project seemed to be
a good idea to incorporate into the
regular classes.
" I t gives the students an idea of
how things were done in the olden
days and helps them appreciate the
modern conveniences," she said.
She also explained that the students.
like a change and the chance to.do
things out of the classroom.
The day -long affair allows the
students to make certain goods,
food and replicas of earlier days and
are set on display for the rest of the
school to see.
"The little kids are enthralled
about the whole thing," Mrs. Dyck
said, "especially the stories that
come from the older kids like the
blacksmiths."
Over in the blacksmith shop, Steve
Boussey and Tim Dobson spent the
day explaining the different toolery
they had collected from their
homes.
"This is a buck saw," pointed but
Tim, "it's used to pull buck teeth."
"And this," he said referring to a
scythe, "is the world's larggst razor
blade."
On the other side of the auditorium
Chris Corrie and Lorrie Mann
donned their pioneer dresses and.
prepared themselves for the serious
work of making soap.
Chris explained "You take cold
water and add lye. Then you melt
four pounds of lard and mix it
together with the lye. Then you put it
into a wooden box lined with cotton
and let it .harden for one or two
days."
The girls must still wait for their
soap to become hard, but neither are
quite sure whether they'd like to
use it or not.
The kitchen seemed to attract
most of the customers. Here one of
With mum's
make. Karen
to her school
photo)
recipe and some water, flour and sugar, biscuits aren't that hard to
Cooper a grade seven student at Clinton Public School showed this
mates at the class' Pioneer Day held last Friday. (News -Record
beer. According to brewer Bill
Tugwell, the beer recipe was found
on a package of malt and contains
sugar, yeast water and the malt. The
mixture was capped and allowed to
sit for a period of four days to a week
and then bottled and left to sit for
another three days.
"Half of the kids think its good,
half thinks its awful," said Bill
referring to the refreshment that he
and Andy Van Altena created.
Connie Anderson, a frequent
customer to the beer stand noted "I
think its good, I've already had a few
glasses."
The school kitchen was also kept
busy as chef John Morgan dished out
samplings of his homemade beef
stew and biscuits. He did note that
he baked his biscuits from Teabisk
since that was the only way.. he knew
'how.
Tim Addison, Jeff Taylor and
Indian Steve Patterson set up a
booth in another spot and poured out
glasses of dandelion wine..
Steve explained that the recipe
belonged to his grandmother and the
three boys made a -gallon of the
drink and allowed it to sit for one
week instead of the required eight..
Their task of picking blossoms
was not ..._arr easy one • as Steve
discovered he was allergic to dan-
` del ions and suffered the con-
sequences.
The wine tasted sweet and smooth
but Tim said, "Some of the grade
one's nearly died from it."
Mrs. Dyck explained that there
was no problem with the making of
wine and beer since the students
received written permission from
their parents to allow them to do
this.
In fact, the parents were very
helpful throughout the preparation
and donation of goods for the day.
Mrs. Dyck noted that all the students
received their supplies from home
and over half of the parents had
come out to examine the exhibits at
the school.
Dancing and music also added to
the festivities of the day and Mrs.
C.F. Barney came out to play a
number of ragtime tunes on the
piano. The delighted and excited
students twirled around the
auditorium and made up their own
renditions of square dancing.
The only obstacle on the dance
floor was a teepee made by Connie
Anderson and Mickey Long. Moc-.
casins and a campfire added to the
decor of home for Steve Patterson
the favorites` was the homemade who posted himself in his teepee
along with his squaw.
The event, which started early in
the morning, also had to be taken
down and later in the afternoon the
70 students gave up their pioneer
roles to clean up their exhibits.
For now, they will return to their
classroom to continue their textbook
studies of early Canadian life, but
next Year a new class of grade seven
will take on the characters of men
and women of the 1800s.
M
Ragtime music provided 'the entertainment at the Pioneer
Day. Mrs. C. F. Barney played the piano and the students
eagerly joined in to dance. (News. Record photo)
Story and.
photos
by
shelley
mcphee
of the
news -record
In the 1800's there were no matches for the Indians to light their fires. Steve
Patterson foundthis out when he took on the role as an Indian at the Clinton
Public School's Pioneer Day. (News Record photo)
d
Ntiva
Chris Corrie never really expected to make soap when it can be bought in the
stores but she learned how for her Pioneer exhibit at the Clinton Public School.
(News Record photo)