Oh yes we were sneaky and we had to be sneaky because other than that we had nothing, you-know? ... Ah, we'd wait for mother and dad to go away some place and then we'd boil some homemade candies, you-know? (laughs)

So I didn't know how to tell the operator how to- you-know, so I just told her in plain English, I, ah, do as much as I could. I just told that she was supposed to- my sister was living some place in Ottawa and this-and-this was her name, and if she could get in touch with it. Ah, with her, you-know? And, ah, so she did.

So they- ah, so anyway, ah, then the R-C-M-P came over and they wanted, ah, that- that key for the cedar chest and- and all the stuff was hidden away in- in the sawdust some place, you-know? ... And, ah, I- I kept on telling them that there was- there was none, you-know? And they searched everything but they didn't find it. And here my mother was walking around with the key in her purse here.

Ah, there was a group of teachers that went on this outing. ... And, ah, I think we went to some place- Temiskaming, I guess, we went to on the train. ... I think we got the train in Mattawa and then went t-- to- for the- Temiskaming. I think they've discontinued that. And then there was another one we went some place in Hull, I think.

Interviewer: Yeah. So how did you start learning? ... Speaker: um, I was talking to somebody and I said, "They're starting embroidery," 'cause I had read it in I think the church bulletin or someplace, "They're starting embroidery in, um- in Wilno," and Zoe was- heard me say that and she says, "Yes, come." ... (Laughs) She's very persuasive.

I remember in our home we had a girl her name was Melba. I forget what her last name was now. Maybe it was West but I'm not sure. And she stayed with us oh three or four years and then she got a job somewheres and then she got married, and there were boys who came over and you-know worked on farms or somewheres and then they got started and got out on their own.

At that time when they tore that down you see there must have been then the market school house, and then they built Anne-Street School. I would say probably 'cause, probably nineteen-hundred and eight, ten, somewheres around there. Must have been when it was built.

Speaker: He's kind-of interested in a girl anyway. Sarah says- and ah she says, "Well you're NOT going out there." Somewheres near Warsaw I think she lives. And ah the mother says, "No y-- you-" it's pretty strict so it's a good thing. Sarah she's- something might happen you-know. None of that stuff.

Speaker: But you-know maybe when they change this highway sometime, with the- all these houses I don't know what they're going to do like you-know when they build all these houses up here. Interviewer: Oh yeah would it get busier you mean or- ? Speaker: Yeah or whether they'll change the- out- yeah somewheres I don't know where. Maybe they'll take the house and-everything and go right straight through here or-something.

Speaker: But mostly ah something to do with milk 'cause he was in another place that they had ah, at ah, what's the little place just below Richmond-Hill. Interviewer: Thornhill? Speaker: Thornhill or somewheres around there.

Speaker: The-Family-Herald, it was a magazine that come in the mailbox from out west it seemed, somewheres. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: But it had everything in it. It had ah, recipes and quilting and news and all-kinds-of-things.

They- they come over- the original ones that- as far back as we've gone. They came Belfast. And they were here somewheres around eighteen-thirty-two, eighteen-thirty-four. I haven't got any records of- boat records, and apparently there's some of them available but I haven't gone that far and I'm not computer-savvy and-all-the-rest-of-that-stuff.

I 'm at a point heading off to college on a scholarship and so you-know she doesn 't always get a lot of attention but she- yeah sh-- her and I get along pretty well most of the time. We have our, our spats like all siblings do and yeah she 's, she 's probably actually the best athlete in the family in terms of who could go the furthest.

Right. So I 'm not saying, yeah we all have to go back to starched shirts and you-know, spats, that 's not the point, but- but there has been a real loss, and people will argue- they 'll say, "Good, because people are much more creative and they 're much more relaxed, and- and we need ideas and-" That 's correct as well...

Speaker: Yeah, one on each side. And if- if we were both arguing- Interviewer: Right. Speaker: And I mean it would be a little spat and my parents would catch it quick before anything ever escalated, so um but we would have to give each other a kiss.

Oh back in my childhood- did we ever get to- oh we always had disagreements with a brother ah or- you-know- yeah, yes, yes. Ah I think I- we're pretty close, our- our- our- my brothers and sisters. Ah we had the odd spat and-everything-else but it's just (inc).

It's weird but ah- they're supposed to mature, but I think they still have the odd little spat you-know.

Well you got to tap a tree and if you do it the way everybody started out with, you've got- you put a spile in the hole you drilled and you hang a bucket on it, then you got to collect the sap and then you have to boil it and it all depends on whether you've got a good, big evaporator or not

Interviewer: Now what did you call the thing that goes into the tree again? What was that- Speaker: A spile.

Oh I remember that very well because it- and it was quite a task. We tapped something like three-hundred trees which was huge for the times because my dad and a hired man tapped all those trees by hand with a brace-and-bit and you put the spile in…