We got, ah, ah, electricity for lights and then we got for it to cook with and, ah, grills and they kept getting bigger and bigger and, ah, women started getting them for to curl their hair and then toasters and, ah- I can't tell you in the- in the, ah, you-know, order that they came in, how they come in, that would be a whole story in itself.

Interviewer: Yeah. But, ah, you-know, it must have been very satisfying to- to live on a farm in those days. Speaker: Well, ah, no, there was- wasn't- certainly wasn't the rat race that there is today for to get things done.

Interviewer: Um, yeah the- I knew a guy once who had, ah, made cheese and, ah, he, ah- he had very big, ah, muscles running down here he said I guess from- Speaker: Mm-hm. Yeah. Interviewer: Stirring vats of it. Is that the sort of, ah, a system that you- Speaker: Well, I- ah, I don't know too much although we used to- we used to, ah, go in and watch the, ah- they put a rennet in it, something, ah, for to make it curdle and then they drained them- the whey, ah- rennet- I don't know what the rennet is made out of but it's a- they would have to buy that you-see?

And they had- had their own gristmill and, ah, ah, if they got a little better they got, ah, first- the first, ah, grain machines they had was put out by, ah, oh, I don't know if it was Massey-Harris or who but little portable would, ah- could grind probably, ah, twenty bags or, ah- in a day of wheat or-something-like-that. It would be four farmers were to go together and they'd buy one of these, ah, on their own and, ah- in order that they wouldn't have to draw their grain for, ah- for, ah- for six, ten, twelve miles to the- to the gristmill and then wait for maybe a week for to get it back.

You-know, they'd get together a group of house parties and, ah, they'd, ah, ah, probably- if your house was big enough for to have a couple of square-dances, well you- somebody played a mouth organ or a violin or they'd, ah- this is what they done.

There was no such thing as hiring help, ah, it was all, ah, get your neighbours or to help you and they'd come pay you back, you-see?

Trout, bass, ah, pike, pickerel. Lots of fish those days, you-know? The people caught them just for food, you-know, they didn't catch them for to see how many they could catch.

Well, I remember I was building some- doing some work in the- in the- for a woman that kept tourists here, well that was back in thirty-three I guess. And there was a bunch of- she had a bunch of Americans staying there and they called me over for to measure them. They had some pike thirty-nine inches long.

You-see, they make the, ah, cloth first and then they put the, ah- they weave the other colours in. They put- if you want to put roses in- I don't know what's on that chair, whether it's roses or- well, they- they used to do- they'd do these mats out of rags, you-know, these carpets and, ah- and, ah- I see my daughter-in-law down in Saint-Catharines doing them. Boy, they're p-- p-- can be pretty nifty now. You get- of course you buy all the- the stuff for to make it, you-know? And you get the big rug and you work these things through. And that was the way they did. They would w-- they would weave the thing first for to, ah- to- say you wanted to do that chair, the seat in the back, they would make that piece of cloth.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A farrier, you- he just shoe- would shoe the horses, eh? Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: This was the main thing in the old days, of course, how everything was done with horses and, ah, of course in the wintertime they had to be shard-sharp for to travel on the ice and, ah, well, in the summertime of course they usually had a smooth- a summer shoe and a winter shoe.

They had to build a house and a barn and crop a certain amount of land in three years I think before they got their final title. They got a- in the beginning they gave them a- a location ticket, which meant that, ah, in three years tour- um, time or five years time you had to have this building, ah, for to live in.

Speaker: Water is one of the main things. And good water. Interviewer: Yes. Speaker: And we had really good water. We paid a lot of money just for to get a well drilled, you-know.

We often had- there was a little girl staying with us for the winter for the- for to go to school and I can remember she- she come out with me one night, ah, feeding the cattle (inc).

But there were, um, there were dandy blacksmiths. It was lovely to see the ironwork, and they made it all like flowers, I think, all for to make it strong.

Well, they decided to, ah, put the minister on the salary. And they're going around, you-know, the way the m-- minister was paid, or got anything for to live on, they went around every fall.

And went out (laughs) to the country, one dr-- morning- I used to stand on the front of the old sleigh, do-you-see, and be back against the- cover the engine, and, ah, no place on for to sit 'cause you had the engine all covered.

It was way back in nineteen-twelve, I- James-Pinkman got at me for to dig graves for him. Anyone- that's the time I was s-- carting here with the horse. And I wasn't looking- I had all the work I could attend to but- if, ah- I had to work pretty hard a lot of d-- days, for to keep up to me orders, do-you-see?

And they won't let you drive a new car, I understand now, unless you have it and use it. And if I was sitting in a car, in a car that had it on, and I didn't have it tied on me, myself, charge me twenty dollars. Your own government, that's making laws for to ruin you and I, you-see.

I moved darn far, for to start to cart up there, I knew there was a dandy place. There was nobody up there. There was, ah- s-- some lad used to go to the station, but that's all he would do.

Every time he'd go up between the horses, for to give them anything, he was working. He'd get the pockets full, and he tur-- turned right straight and he would go right through the door with his little pockets full of something.