as I say, there was four years difference between us so he- he tended to chum with his friends and I tended to chum with mine.

Annabelle chums around with one of the Darcy girls and she said, "Oh such a nice house, grandma."

Until we started to high-school but then in high-school, you-know, I had some friends that went to Saint-Mary's school and so on but we all, the whole group of us, you-know, some the country boys and town girls we all chummed around and yeah, so-

So they sort of chummed a bit together.

I started chumming around with his sister 'cause she was one grade lower than me, but being not too far away, we met at different, I think, functions and-so-forth so I start chumming around with his sister and then that got me going with him then (laughs).

I know that Keith-Blaine I know him real well, I o-- I chummed with his wife.

Water came from a concrete cistern in the basement, pumped up by a little hand pump and the drinking water from two or three wells along the street.

And ah the stove. The rest was (inc). And there was a cistern in the house.

Ah, ah, our washing was done- we had- first of all we did not have a cistern for catching the soft water from the roof. But my father built- that was one of the first things my father did was build a cistern in the basement. And the wood, ah- the water from the- the, um, rain, ah, provided us with, ah, water to wash with, I mean, everything excepting cooking purposes.

Speaker: Ah, ah, our washing was done- we had- first of all we did not have a cistern for catching the soft water from the roof. But my father built- that was one of the first things my father did was build a cistern in the basement. And the wood, ah- the water from the- the, um, rain, ah, provided us with, ah, water to wash with, I mean, everything excepting cooking purposes. Interviewer: Yeah. Now that would have been caught from the- Speaker: From the- from the, ah, eaving at the edge of the roof and the conductor pipes that took it down into the- Interviewer: Into a tank? Speaker: Into a- yes, a large cement cistern. Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: Well it was a stone cistern, a stone built cistern lined with cement. Ah, then- Interviewer: You drinking water, where would you get that? Speaker: We- we had a well on your property.

Speaker: There would be a cistern in the cellar too. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: So I guess that would be rainwater pretty much.

Interviewer: What would they- what did you call the part of the house though that was on the edge of the roof that collected the water to lea-- Speaker: No, we had the r-- railings- (inc) all around our house, you see. Interviewer: I see. Speaker: And it just come into the barrel. Interviewer: I see. Speaker: But the- in the- in the cistern it come off the roof too.

Interviewer: What um- ah what- what about the water when it came off? Did you put anything on there that-? Speaker: Well, for years it just run down the ground. Well then, we got eavestroughs put on, you-see. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Running the barrels for a while and then we got it galvanized cistern. And it- Interviewer: (overlapping speech) Did you- did you have w-- ah any side things that went down from the- Speaker: Well- Interviewer: From the eavestroughs w-- Speaker: The- the eavestroughs, they were around the outside. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And went down into the wall into the cistern.

Interviewer: Yes. Uh, in some houses, I understand, they did have a way of storing water. Speaker: Yeah, they had a cistern. Interviewer: Yes, that would be- Speaker: Sister-- it would usually been- well, usually it was in the kitchen, you-know- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Under, under uh, the kitchen- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And they had what they called a cistern pump- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And they used to pump the water from the cistern. The cistern would be anywhere from ten to fifteen feet square in the cellar and would be about four feet high and the water they got in the cistern came off the roof, like the rain in the fall and then they had a- they had a- pipes, like what they called uh- for carrying the rain and everything down into the cellar- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Into the- into the cistern-

Speaker: Yes and they- they would drain from the- from the eaves-troughs and uh, usually they had eaves-troughs on both sides of the house and uh, it would come down and uh, go in probably two different- if- if the kitchen or-something was between, they couldn't- they couldn't put the troughs in so they put them in- one on each side into the cistern and uh- Interviewer: Mm-hm, mm-hm. It was a very efficient way of collecting- Speaker: Yes. Interviewer: Extra water, wasn't it. Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: Oh, usually for washing just before meals, like the warm, because it- it was warm, it wasn't hot, and ah, we had a big cistern, it would hold about a hundred barrels of water, so we used that for washing, but then to heat the water for washing, we used a boiler full of hot water. And it was put on top of the wood stove. [0:30:21.0 ] Interviewer: Mm-hm. Ah, the water from, ah, the tank would be used for dishes too. Dishes- Speaker: Probably, yes. Interviewer: Ah, how did the water get into the cistern? Speaker: Oh, from the eavestrough, that drained off the roof, and um, the who-- there was eavestroughs right around the whole house. It ah- it caught a lot of water. Interviewer: Mm-hm. And how did you get that water from the cistern up to the kitchen? Speaker: With a little cistern pump, and ah a s-- ah a sink. And ah, the sink was there, and then we drained it ah into a big pail. It had to be emptied.

And have to go from tree to tree trim it- it off alone, clean out the cistern and get down in there and get down in the well and we put our own septic system in so we had to dig some of that by hand.

Speaker: No we just had a well. Interviewer: A well. Speaker: And cistern. And the cistern was off the kitchen, like under the kitchen floor. So you'd use water out of that.

Speaker: And cistern. And the cistern was off the kitchen, like under the kitchen floor. So you'd use water out of that. And usually the- the well was just for drinking water. So you just- you'd use the cistern water for your baths and-stuff. So it was just basic- basically cistern water was just run off from their- their roof. In other cases yeah. Interviewer: And what would you use for dishes? Or laundry? Would you use the cistern water for that or? Speaker: Yeah I- yeah it'd be cistern water yeah. Yeah and it was okay.

The water from the cistern downstairs.