My time in Vancouver with Connie Fletcher

I had met Mrs Fletcher at Trossach camp & we had kept in contact by writing letters. We got lots of time together at camp, for she was a woman of prayer. I didn't have enough money to continue with another year of Bible school. She asked me to come & stay with her & her husband who was a dentist. She always called him Doc. Connie also had another girl living with them, Lorene. We became close friends. We exchanged letters for several years after I left for home for Parry. The Fletcher's had a 2 story office building. They lived upstairs & his dentist office was down stairs. There was a large auditorium on the main floor. Here Mrs Fletcher pastored a small church group. Lorene & I helped in a Sunday school for the children. We also took part in the services. We both learned to give a messages, so this was where I learned to prepare a sermon & after much prayer & study I used notes I had prepared to help me. I would tell Connie I couldn't speak before people as I was too shy, Connie told me I was too self conscious which means self centered & not enough God conscious. With prayer & Bible reading I was able to take my turn delivering a sermon from the Bible with less fear. I did day work some days for ladies in that area of Commercial Drive which was the old part of Vancouver. It was a damp foggy winter, just opposite to the dry prairie's where I had lived most of my life. The street car ran in that part of the city. When I walked to my job I could only see a rushing moving sound as the street car passed me in the thick heavy fog. My clothes were damp even in the closet as I got them out to wear. I was chilly all the time I was out. My friends asked me how I didn't freeze in the below zero weather in Sask. Some how this damp winter seemed to be harder to keep from shivering when I was out on those foggy days. I met several people at these services that I wrote & received letters from after I returned home. The fall of that year I got a ride back to Regina with friends I knew from Grenfell, they were Mr & Mrs Argue. It was good to be home again & to get a job at my Uncle & Aunts on the farm, also to be able to spend time with my cousin Cecile. She often told me I was like a sister she never had as she only had a younger brother Kenneth Lincoln. I wanted to start a Sunday school so I had one in the local school. That spring when Peggy Kirkpatrick came home from Bible school that was at Eston Sask, we had a Sunday school in the school in Dummer where I once worked in the store there for Charlie Mills.

My year at Grenfell Bible School.

The Johnson took me to Regina to take the bus to Grendfell as the school opened in mid Oct and ran for 6 months, closing in mid April. I don't remember how many students there were in attendance that year. The girls dorm was in this large home, where the Presidents family lived. The boys dorm was in another house in that town. The classes were held in the church. There were more girls that year than boys, the meals were prepared in the basement of this large home. Served at long tables, boys in one area & girls in another, married couples sat together. We had classes twice a day & we walked to & from the church twice a day. On Sundays we went to two church services & also Wednesday evening we went to prayer meeting. I roomed with several different girls that year. In mid winter another girl & I got ill with a rash which Dr said was scarlet fever. A room was rented in another place & we were quaranteed there for 4 weeks. Meals were brought over to us. We weren't very ill so there was a speaker put our the room & turned on for us to get each teaching session. We made notes & studied. When we were returned to the girls main dorm I was put with several girls in the attic, which was a large enough room to have 2 double beds, places for our clothes etc. We had tables to do our lessons on. We had 3 flights of stairs to climb up & down. We had 3 meals a day in the basement. There was a room to do laundry in, also a large mangle to press all the sheets with, I had this job when it was my turn in the laundry room. I enjoyed the bible lessons & we had our home work & exams to write. Our subjects were all typed out in folders, mimeographed & assembled in their office. There were special speakers who came & taught some subjects. We were there all through the Christmas season. We had special music & singing groups on the weekends, several students were quite talented with different musical instruments. There were board meetings about finding a bigger building in a different location as this building would not be able to house all the students who were applying to attend Bible school. There was a offer for a large place at the west coast. This was in Port Quitlum BC. This was near Vancouver & New Westminster, two large cities with several churches who had came to Trossach camp. I didn't have a job to return to. The Erickson's had 3 children & needed some one to travel with them to help as Mrs Erickson who wasn't in good health. Every thing from the school was shipped by train & a man from the school went with these furnishings. The 6 of us travelled in the Erickson car on gravel roads, It was quit a trip, we stopped in different towns where there ministers Mr Erickson knew. I had to keep the children entertained. The building that was being bought for the school had not been used for a while . It was dirty, needed lots of cleaning & painting. The weather was very damp & foggy that year. Some asked me how I could stand cold Sask but I found that my clothes were always damp & cold to me. This was such a change from dry Sask. Groups from churches helped clean this large building. A lot had to be done before the students would arrive. I was kept busy with many jobs. Mrs Erickson had to be hospitalize as her former Dr had given her too strong of drugs. I cared for the 3 children, & even had to help cook for the start of the school. He finally found a cook who had been a cook on a ship. He would go to the docks where large fresh salmon were caught & sold very cheap. This cook made several kinds of salmon dishes, stuffed, roasted & served hot. I couldn't attend Bible school but enjoyed the services.

My times at camp before Bible School

My job on the government plan was over that spring. I believe I went to my cousins Cecile place until camp time. Many of the youth & some adults had received an experience with Jesus. There were Bible studies in several different homes or towns from Parry to Kedive some in homes others in small churches. Camp time was a time for everyone who wanted more Bible study and fellowship with those of like faith, and they went to Trossach camp for all or part of the first two weeks of July. I went again that summer with the Johnson's, in their coupe car. I believe there were six of us young people in the rumble seat, really it was just the trunk of car with lid lifted up. Three youth were seated in the trunk each had a person on their lap. The roads were gravel in those days so you can't believe how dusty we all were on arriving at camp. The first few years of camp I worked to pay for my board & room. One year Rachel Rasmussen & I washed the tea towels in a wash tub set on two chairs, we had an old fashioned washboard, to rub them clean, one of us did the rub a dub to get the stains out as the other one rung the soapy water out & into the rinse water in another tub. I don't remember when we first had the use of an old fashioned hand ringer. I have got the water out of the wet clothes both ways, but mostly by hand. We had to hang these towels on a clothes line which was outside back of the wash house to dry in the wind. They later had to be folded & put away. I don't believed we had to bleach the towels. Later years when the camp had its own power plant there was an electric washing machine with a ringer on it. We had clothes racks to dry clothes in rainy weather. I enjoyed camp time. One year Louise Siggelkow & I had one of the first children church services. This was in the prayer cottage, which was back of the sleeping quarters. She played the accordion we sang & I think that Louise gave a Bible story, then asked who wanted to give their heart to Jesus, her youngest brother Phil put his hand up. Louise asked me to take my Bible & lead her brother in the sinners prayer, I don't remember what all I said but he wept & nodded his head yes. Phil was the first person I lead to the Lord. He has been a minister for many years.

The bible studies at camp were such a help to my growth as a christian. I had saved the money I received while at the Pritchard's to attend a Bible school in Grendfell Sask. This school had started in AB but was going to enlarge for a number of students were applying to go. There was a large Mansion of a place found in this Sask town, so the school was moved there the year or so before I applied to attend. I didn't have quit enough money to pay all my fees but I was given a job to wash two flights of stairs, one from the top floor & down to the lower level where the meals were served. I remember one big mess I had to clean up. There were no flush toilets in those days, so in the up stairs was what was called the "CAN" which had to be carried down to be emptied. Muriel was a preachers daughter, a dainty,sweet girl who was assigned this job. She slipped at the top level. This was quit a mess to clean up as it effected both flights of stairs, we both had a big hard job that day, but we survived. We became good friends even after this unpleasant encounter.

Working on a farm on a government plan in the 30's

The hard times during the depression were difficult on the farmers as prices were low for grain. The western farmers needed help in different ways. The Government plan for youth to get work was to sign up to work in the home of a farmer who applied for help. The Ptitchard's moved back from Regina to their farm near Pangman. They had six children, two who could help at home I believe the others were in school. Mrs Pritchard was expecting her seventh child. They applied for help & I put my name in to work in their home that winter. I believe both the hired person & the farmer got a payment. I would be payed five dollars a month. If I stayed the whole time the government would pay me ten dollars a month. I remember all I spent was for stamps & writing paper. Their daughter Elsie was my age. She & I sent to the Timothy Eaton's Co catalogue for the yarn to to knit ourselves each a sweater & skirt out fit. We would do our knitting in the evenings after work was finished. My outfit was royal blue, I don't recall what color her outfit was. Mrs Pritchard would have Bible study when we couldn't get to church, with all of us, she played their organ. They were all good singers. When the weather was mild we would go to church, I think the meetings were in Kedive. They had me lead the song services. As the winter went on, Mrs Pritchard & Elma, their youngest daughter got very ill. They had the Dr come out & we found out they had diphtheria. We were all quarantined & vaccinated, even the adults. Mother & daughter were kept in a bedroom. They hired a nurse to care for them. We would all gather in their bedroom & have prayer, many friends were gathering at the church praying for them. It was a very soul searching time. I remember that was when their son Lorne received his call into the ministry. I remember when we were all called into the sick room to pray while Elma quietly passed into heaven. She was such a loving child who often sang in church giving her testimony that she knew Jesus as her personal savior. She wasn't even 6 years old when she passed away. I was the only one who wasn't a member of the family. The nurse took me aside, told me "I need you to help me prepare the body for burial." I was a little over 18 years old, I went in to that room with a prayer for strength, knowing Elma had left her earthly house for a home in heaven with the savior she loved all her short life. The Nurse asked me to help wash the body, mostly just handing her what she needed. I was to hand her the two pennies she would use to keep Elma's eye lids closed. I don't remember much else but I felt the presence of the Lord in that room. They had the funeral in their yard by a window as the snow was gone if we even had any. The winters didn't give us much moisture at that time. Mrs Pritchard's bed was moved near the window, with Elma's casket just out side it. The family, myself & the nurse all were at the window. The neighbors & friends of the family were gathered farther out in the yard. I don't remember who preached the funeral as they stood near the window. No one could come near to comfort the family with words of love, but they were praying in groups & we could feel their love & care for us. I don't remember when the new baby boy arrived, I believe he was born in their home. He was a healthy boy, he is alive today. He was a farmer like his father, married with a family living as far as I know near Regina.

My family all moved to the Parry Sask

First I must tell what Cliff was doing. He didn't finish his grade12 until he was married. He liked to go places & see things, He was an sort of inventor, as he got a small motor & maybe with dads help, for dad was always making things. Cliff had an older model bike, now I was told this, he fastened a small motor on this bike & road it around town. Neighbour's were saying that he was going to kill himself if he gets it going any faster. There were no speeders in those days, for I remember Violet Mayo, a friend at school was driving, for the first time on Hwy 13 with a friend & ended up in the ditch. The saying at school was, she was speeding at 30 miles a hour, that must have been considered a reckless speed in the early years of driving a car on the gravel roads.

Cliff decided to get a job in a Ontario lumber camp to make some money. He had been catching rides on a slow moving freight train to the next town from Hazenmore which was Kincaid. When I was still home Paul Haase used to take several of us to the church for Friday night meetings in Kincaid ,Cliff often went & he liked to visit with the Pilgrim girls. I heard that if Cliff was on the station platform when a freight train was stopping he would be allowed to jump on a rail car & ride to Kincaid to visit at his friends. He would then catch a ride on the next train to come home. Now I wasn't home when he left for Ontario but whether he rode a freight train or hitched a ride to get his first job I am not sure. He did get a job in a lumber camp, but I am not sure for how long he worked there. He had a little money he earned but hardly enough to get back home. It was in the winter, so how or why he was on his way home in this cold weather, I don't know. He got as far as Winnipeg Manitoba. He had run out of money & hadn't eaten for a while. He had a friend Ted Joyce who lived in that city. The family used to spend summers at Uncle Oscars & the Harry Johnson, Ted was Cliff age so they had become friend. He contacted the Joyce's & they picked him up. He stayed with the Joyce family & here he was feed & well cared for. I think he got a ride back home. He then got a job with a farmer after my folks all moved to Parry. They lived at & worked for his brother Oscar & Alta Lincoln at first. Later they were able to rented a second house in the Rasmussen's yard which was 2 miles from my Uncles. Cliff got a job on a neighbour's farm. My sister Clara worked for a cousin, Ralph & Lottie Gay, for a summer in Milestone. next she got a job in the drug store in Lang Sask. She also worked in their home where she got her board & room as well. My brother Ralph wasn't finished school. He attended a country school called Hawthorne school district. He went to school with some of his cousins, Eldon , Arlo & the 2 Rasmussen's children, Rachel & Earl. My folks had a garden spot & dad was good with the hoe, kept his potato & garden spot clean from weeds. I believe they had a few chickens & laying hens for eggs, a cow for their milk. Ralph finished his public schooling here & then he worked for Uncle Oscar. Clara & I both worked at different times for our Uncle & Aunt, Oscar & Alta Lincoln, we felt like it was home for us there as well as at the Johnson's. When my sister Clara was married the reception was held in the Lincolns home with help from all our relatives. I have many good memories of many times in this community.

My work as clerk in 2 country stores

I enjoyed the jobs I had on the farm for that was where I was born. One year while at my cousins Cecile, she heard that the store keeper in their close town needed some one to help in the store & also in his home as his wife was ill. This was in Dummer Sask, about 2 miles from her place. She took me in for an interview & as I had my grade 12 Mr Mills asked me if I could work in the hotel where both he & his wife lived, she was a diabetic on insulin so needed help. He was in the store a short ways from the hotel. The store was opened only when the train came in Monday, Wednesday & Friday. The mail & supplies came in those days as well. I would help put these supplies away & be ready when the customers arrived to get mail & their groceries. His store sold everything the farmers might need. He even had a yards good counter. I could measure out the yardage they needed also cutting it. He had thread, buttons & various other sewing needs. He had some pop in the back but there was no cooler to keep it in. He had bins for bulk raisin's, nuts etc. One day he had me bring water over to the store for me to wash the raisin's as there were worms in them. I was to skim off the worms, drain, put them on a clean cloth to dry, clean the bin. Then I was to put them back in the clean bin. The nuts were cleaned as well as they also had bugs. I believe the bin of rice was cleaned in the same way. He also had his own soup mixture with sauce he cooked then put in tins cans. I didn't eat soup after I saw how he made it. The only ones who every stayed over night as well as a evening meal were the traveling sales men. Mr Mills always made a large pot of soup. He would scrape any left over food off his or the travelers plate into the soup. This is why I couldn't take soup for years. No one ever got ill from his soup & I never told this to anyone.This was in the time of the dry years but we survived. I would clean her house & when we had travelers I washed the bedding. This was summer time so I washed outside in a big wash tub. Water was heated on the coal
stove in the kitchen then carried out. I added some melted home made soap, put the wash board in the tub & rub a dub, I washed all the clothes in the tub. I had to ring them out by hand. When it came for the sheets to be rinsed, I would squeeze the water out by hand the best I could. Mrs Mills came out helped me squeeze some water out after the last rinse. She would say " that is good enough" then helped me throw the dripping sheets over the out door clothes line to dry. Those were the dry years so they dried well in the hot breeze.

Mail day I help fill the grocery orders for the customers. I had to write their order in a order book, which had a black tracing paper in between the order sheets so the customer could get a copy as well as the store keeper. We would have each order ready for the customer when they came back to pick their groceries up. Some paid cash. I pulled out a drawer to place the bills in one section & coins in separate places for pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters,etc. This is how it was done before cash register's were used. Mr Mills made a lot of the meals but I did what ever I was asked to do. I cleaned the living quarters each day made the beds & helped her as she needed help. She was a kind but a very large lady and not well, she didn't eat right as a diabetic. Mr Mills gave her insulin by needle each morning & some times she would go into a insulin shock if she didn't eat enough,he would spoon feed her until she came to.

I would go back to my cousins for each Sunday so I could go to church with them. Some days I would ride a old bike to come & go to work from the Johnson's. When this job was finished I got a job in the store in Parry Sask which was the next town. Mr & Mrs Sherr's were related to my cousins husband, as their daughter was married to Mr Harry Johnson's sister Mildred. The Sherr's lived up stairs over their store. I helped her with the house work & some of the meals. The same train stopped in Parry to leave off supplies for the store & the mail. The train days were the same days as in Dummer. My new employer was much cleaner & both of them were so good to work for. While I worked in this store the Sask Education tax came in, & it was either 2 or 3 cents on the dollar. We also used a drawer to put the money in as well. He had me to leave the tax charge for him to add when he did the books. This store had more customers, they carried more supplies. Saturday night was a very busy time & all three of us were in the store until after 11 at night. One day while in the store cleaning I was alone when a man came in. He ordered got some groceries then asked for a large bottle of vanilla. Then the next week he did the same thing. I asked my boss why he, a bachelor would use that much vanilla in a week. He also bought several bottles of pop so this was how he celebrated his week ends. They told me this mixture was very hard on the stomach. I enjoyed my time I worked in this store. Saturday nights the youth would walk around the main street block on the only side walks in the town, girls & boys looking at one another too shy to talk to each other, so they walked, giggling girls & whistling boys. The youth were actually shy then. Times have really changed sense those good old days!

My other job at my Uncles & 2 stores

I worked near my relatives for several years. I worked for Oscar & Alta Lincoln's north of Parry Sask. I did house work made meals & anything else that I was needed to help them. They gave me Sundays off, so I went to their daughter, my cousin Cecile Johnson. They would go to church each Sunday at Kedive where there was a small church which was moved through the years to different towns where ever it was central for the Grace Gospel congregations. Most of these folks had came to Trossash's camp each year. The preachers were several who had learned the scriptures at camp. Mrs Art Pritchard was main minister at the time they met in Kedive & then it was later moved to Pangman.

While at my uncles they also had a hired man. My uncle at this time was farming with horses, this was the time before tractors or power machinery. We had to get up at 4am, each work day, as the horses had to be fed & cared for. I was call to get up to make the breakfast for the men who would be in to eat in a hour. The stove was stoked & hot, I had to get a large breakfast ready. I would serve oatmeal, fried eggs, toast with home made Jam & coffee. I often had home cured bacon. The menu changed from day to day. My aunt taught me one day how to catch a young roaster, put a twine string around both its legs, then hang it upside down on the clothes line. She also showed me how to cut its head off, by finding the right joint then quickly remove its head, I then moved quickly away as the bird would flop around. (this may sound cruel to some,) but it as done quickly so it does not hurt the bird). We must have meat cooked for tired working men by 12 noon. I had to have a kettle of boiling water to bring outside to put the chicken in & when the feathers loosened I had to pluck them off & clean the bird. In the house I would have cold water from the out side cistern to clean & draw the bird & cut it in the right pieces for eating. I would have to keep water cool so it would be ready to fry in home made butter so this meal would be ready in time. I would peal the potatoes, have a vegetable from the garden or a jar of home canned veggie that had been done the year before. One summer I worked for a neighbour girl who needed to cook for the threshing crew, for her mother had died. A large crew of men arrived early, I was to help her with everything, They kept a coffee pot on the back of this coal fired cook stove all day long, it was very strong coffee as it brewed all day. It was a very large pot, they even had two pots on for these were men from Denmark who had coffee in the morning, 2 lunch times & also for the evening meal. Anna Hanson was a hard worker for her age & a cheerful person to work with. Next time I will tell more of working in the country store.

My Employment days

I worked one winter for a former neighbour, the ones I mention before, Bob & Alma Banks. They had a family of 4 small children. Alma had to go to either Moose Jaw or Regina for a operation. I was with them for several months that winter. I made the meals also doing all the house work. Some of the children went to school. I made home made bread, it was with the older type of yeast, which was a block of yeast which was slower to rise than we have now. I had to start the bread the night before. The yeast was soaked in warm water. I would put a large amount of the flour into the large bread pan add the soaked yeast mixing it into the flour until I had a large ball of bread dough which was put in a large bowl to rise. This was covered with a cloth & left to rise over night. It was all wrap in a heavy blanket where it would rise until early morning. This was how it was done in the winter. But in the summer I would get up early in the morning to make bread. After the dough had risen I punched it down & I would let it rise again, I may punch it down several time before I put it in the loaf pans to rise in a warm place for a hour. I had to be sure the oven was hot enough before I put the bread into the oven to bake for an hour or until it was a golden brown. There was nothing better than to have fresh baked bread for the evening meal.

While I as was still working here. Alma was home from the hospital, her husband Bob wanted to burn off some stubble back of this grove of trees behind their house. He was using one horse with one section of harrows. He lit the fire in the harrows, a wind came up caused the fire to come towards the horse. This horse lept towards the bushs then the wind sent the fire into the horse. Alma & I went out to see what was happening. Bob finally got the horse out of the fire but it was so badly burned it had to be put down. The sight of this caused Alma to wake up in the morning unable to speak. I don't remember if she saw a Dr but she did get her speech back, this was tramatic event for all of us as this was one of their driving horses.

Life when school days were over

The fall after my first time at Trossach camp I stayed at my cousins Cecile & Harry Johnson's farm north of Parry Sask. We went to church in the area. The Johnson's took me into Regina where I spent time with the Pritchard family, she was the one who prayed with me at camp. They had been farmers at Morland Sask but had gone into Regina to pastor a small newly started church in the city. I had met their family at camp & their daughter Elsie had been my special friend at camp. I had also became a friend of Hazel for I really didn't know anyone but my relatives when I went to camp that year. Elsie & cousin Reatha took me to 3 church services a day. My first year as a camper we all had to get our straw ticks filled with straw at a near by
straw stack. There were free places to sleep in this dorm's sleeping quarters. I remember sleeping in a lower bunk with open screened window at my head. One year I shared a bunk with my cousins neighbour Lizzie Rasmussen & her 5 year old son Earl. The top bunk was for storage for our suit cases, if no one was sleeping on the top bunk. There was a place at the front of the bunks where we could wash up each morning before going for our meal at the dining hall. We had to fill our pitcher with water the night before at the water tank. We had a refreshing cool wash early in the morning for there was no sleeping in as we didn't want to miss the services.

Now about my time in Regina when I stayed with Pritchards, & attended the service I learned more about the Bible. Their family spent times of prayer for each service on their knees. Often each one in the family would pray aloud. I had noticed that Harry & Cecile had prayed on their knees each morning after breakfast. Mother had prayer with us at nights after dad was ill. I learned a lot as I attended these services. I had gone to a few prayer meetings with my friend Isabelle at Hazenmore so this was a deepening of my pray life to be with another praying family. I believe Cecile drove me back to Hazenmore after my time in Regina. She had spent time with me teaching me how to witiness to my friends about how I was born again spiritually when I had gone forward at camp. I had written letters back to my school friends in Hazenmore telling from scripture all about how I knew I was saved (born again). Cecile helped me find the Scriptures to put in these letters. The news went around even before I got home that Annie had gone crazy over religion. They were saying Annie was religious enough with my work in the United Church. I also had gone to the alter at camp 3 days after my salvation experience & was filled with the Holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. The day before I received this power, a former school teacher Miss Beck took me aside to showed me from the Bible that there was more for me. I could be able to have power to live & speak the Word of God to others. She asked me "do you want this power?" I said if she could show me from the Bible & in another place than the Book of Acts I would believe it was for me, so Miss Beck read to me in 1st Corinthians all about the gifts of the spirit also turned to many other verses. That night I went forward while several came & lay hands on me praying for me to be filled with the holy spirit. The next thing I remember I was laying on the straw at the alter speaking words I had not heard of a different language than English & a peace came into my inner being. I now was home in Hazenmore longing to share my experience with my friends in person. My school friend Isabelle was so happy for me as she had a salvation experience. She knew Jesus as her personal savior. Also was praying for me & there were others who were going to house meetings in country homes and were having a ministries in Kincaid come out for services in homes in the country. Mother was attending them. Mother told the group they could use our home for the services. That year I was home many people in town came to the services, Paul Haase was musical so lead the singing & Isabelle & I sang with him. He taught me to play a Hawaiian guitar, I took a few piano lessons from a elderly lady at her home I learned to cord with my left hand & she gave us a old pump organ to learn on. We would have more music in these services held in our home. My sister Clara came to me one evening & asked me to tell her how she could get saved? I used my Bible & showed how I had been born again, so we prayed. She was saved & on her way to heaven. I asked my brother Ralph one time when he gave his heart to Jesus. He said one day he asked mother how he could get saved like Annie & Clara. Mother lead her son Ralph to Jesus. Cliff went the next year to camp & when we stopped at Moose Jaw with some Christians a minister lead Cliff to the Lord. We had many good services in our home. My other class mates were nice to me but left for schooling in other cities. Our next door neigbour came often to the services. One school friend wrote me a letter saying on the out side "from satan hell." A few years later she
wrote me to say she was sorry about the letter, that she too had found the right way to
salvation.

Caring for our sick Horse.

One morning Cliff came in after doing chores to tell us Our favorite driving horse Daisy was laying down & was sick. We had two driving horses which were smaller horses. This team was used when our family went to town or Church as they were much swifter than the work horses , which were called Clydesdale's. They were big & muscular with very large feet. I used to try to get on one as they were quieter than our driving team. I would lead one of these large gentle horses to a fence line climb up the wire onto the horses back, dig my heels into his ribs urging him to move, finally he would walk slowly, stop eat grass ,but this helped me to get to ride a horse. Cliff would first put a bridal in the horses mouth climb on its back & off he would go. I always had a hard time putting a bridal a horse, or even getting his mouth open to get it in & over the ears, then getting on it. I don't remember if Clara or Ralph ever road the horses as they were much younger than me. Now back to our sick horse. Mother got the large Dr book used for doctoring family and animals. She put something together & put this liquid in a bottle & we three went out to get this mixture down Daisy's throat which was quit a job but this did not cure our sick horse. I remember all of us would spend time out watching Daisy. That evening Cliff was still out trying to make Daisy comfortable. I finally went out when it was dark, here Cliff was crying as he was stroking Daisy, I also shed tears as I said good bye to our favorite horse, Cliff didn't come in until she died, I am not sure if mother went out to be with him but I went to bed with a sad heart.

After Dad came home from the hospital, he was in the field cultivating with 5 horses & mother sent Cliff & I out with a horse & stone boat with drinking water for him. We waited until he finished the field & was going to come home. Cliff begged him to let him drive the outfit the half mile home & dad could take the other horse home. I beg him to let me ride on the springs of the cultivator. Dad wanted let us to learn to help. It was a bit down hill & this new horse Dad had just bought was a buckskin we named Dick. He was a bit skittish so as Cliff was on the seat trying to hold them back, Dick's traces hit his heels so he plunged forward taking the whole outfit with him. Cliff hollered wow ,wow. I was about to slid down the cultivator to be dragged under it but I held on with both hands. At the bottom of the hill we were to make a turn into the barn yard. Dad was putting up a new fence along the lane but had just one wire attached. Dick was very afraid of a barbed wire so he stopped, forcing the outfit to come to a dead halt. Cliff & I were getting off when mother appeared. She heard the loud noise of running horses. She got to their heads, Cliff & I got off but just as I was looking at Dick stopped, with one leg in the air for he would not cross the wire. The wire snapped, hit my left leg making a deep long cut. I was bleeding, when dad arrived & took charge. Mum took me to the house to doctor my leg. I should have had stitches in the wound but it was 14 miles to a Dr, with only to travel by horse & buggy. Mum went to the Dr book. I spent the rest of my summer, setting with my left leg on a pillow while mother daily attended my wound. I got infection in it from the new wire. Mother put bread & milk poultices on it. She kept applying a fresh one often to clean the infection out of the wound. I still have quit a scare on that leg. My time was spent reading, waiting for my leg to heal so I would be able to return back to school when it started again.

Life when my father was in the hospital.

I have already told about mother getting a hired man through a government plan which didn't prove to be wise or that she could afford. We children all had our chores but also had our fun times together. We would climb on the hay stack & try jumping from one stack to a lower one, then taking the fallen hay to fill the horses & cows mangers so their meal would be ready for them when they came in from the pasture. Later our farm land was rented to a neighbour, Bob & Alma Banks this neighbour was a real help during dads illness. The Banks family lived a mile or so south of us, with very small baby. He was a returned soldier of the war so was getting financial help in farming. Later I worked for them when I finished school.

We kids would get the cows into feed to help with evening & morning chores. Mother milked the, cow. I am not sure how many milk cows we had at this time. Clara & I did the dishes, Cliff with Ralph were a real help with the morning & evening chores. They had to get the school horse ready to drive the 4 of us two & a half miles to the a school, called Dixie school. Ralph was not yet school age. He was at home, company & help for mother. Clara was born on July 27 the year of our bad hail storm & was born a month early. She started school the spring after she was 6 years old. Three of us went by horse & buggy to this school, & Cliff looked after the horse, I helped with lunches. One of our neighbour kids drove 2 Sheltan ponies in a cart to school. Their father had built a small barn back of the school barn for their ponies. We all had to take the feed for our horses in the back of the buggy for their noon meal. There was a bad accident one day when the Russian children went to get their ponies to go home. They were both dead & blowted. I will never forget that sad sight. Every one was crying for those kids great loss. We were told later that their hired man had taken the oats for their feed out of the wrong bag. This was a bag their father had poisoned oats, to put down the many gopher holes as the gophers were multiplying by the thousands & eating the newly planted grain as it came up.

I remember another time when another family visited us their daughter, Iris Neilson she was older than I. She went with us & her brothers to kill gophers in the pasture. The gophers were eating our pasture grass & gardens, so the municipality had given farmers some posien to control their population. Iris was to help & guide us with the use of these fire cracker or some called gopher bomb. These were to be lite & quickly push down the gopher hole then quickly close the hole, the fumes were to kill the whole family of gophers living there, there where usually several families in each hole. All of both families of kids were there. As Iris lite the fire cracker she didn't get it in far enough & it back fired starting the dead dry grass fire. The pasture was dry & there was a strong wind. Iris quickly told us to take off out coats to beat the creeping flames out. We all worked hard putting the fire out, fortunately the wind dropped so we got the fire out with out too much grass being destroyed. My nice coat smelled like smoke for days. An other memory is of Cliff taming one of the steers after chores by getting on his back, he got to be quit tame while it was tied in its stall or led to water. He had Clara & I come out to help him hitch it to this piece of a old washing machine, a galvanized sheet with a board on one end which he attached a rope, He brought the steer out to tie him to our metal like sled. He told me to jump on with Clara who was already seated at the front holding the board. Then he would grab the reins & we would all jump on & have a ride. As Cliff came back to get on the steer took off, I fell off & Clara hung on & away our once tame steer raced out threw the gate into the pasture, Clara still holding on, Cliff & I running behind. The steer stopped at the foot of the hill, puffing looking back at us running to rescue our sister. We took the now tame steer back to the barn. We never tried this again.

Family Memories of life when father was away

To day I am recalling things that happened, & how we as a family took our dads illness. He had many decisions to make just before the dirty 30 started. I remember mother telling me that dad wanted to sell our quarter of land & move away to another area to buy a larger farm as he had a family of 6 to provide for. Mother felt this wasn't a reasonable plan as we had good neighbours & church family which she had all her life. Her parents had been troubled about her move to this far away place in Saskatchewan Canada. This most likely was one of the reasons they visited us when I was born. The Phillips family had never made any moves like this as all their relatives were with in visiting distance. Our neighbour wanted to sell his quarter of land that joined ours. This sale was an opportunity for us to have a larger farm with out leaving our friends or the church family. I think we had one year of fair crops, then the dry years lengthened. My dad wasn't able to pay these added debts with the poor crop yields. Dad went into a deep depression & his health declined, his walk was unsteady yet had no pain in his legs. A neighbour lady often came to talk & encourage my parents, I watched all this & mother took me as some one in the family she needed confide in. Mother would take we children in the evening just before bed time, we lay down together on her bed & talked. She read the Bible to us & we closed our eyes while she prayed for our family. This was most likely started when dad was place by a Dr in the hospital in Weyburn with people who were considered mentally unbalanced, but he was not given medication but was to be away from families worries, with no responsibility's. He was good with rug making, hand sewing & repair work, all of this kept his mind busy with no out side concerns. With the closing of this hospital & the Dr using medicine & other different means of treatment for many kinds of these health issues My father was treated with what was called shock treatments then was sent home to his family.

Our Families 1st Car

Before the dirty thirty's my dad had bought a Chevy touring car with side curtains, our very first car. Dad had my mother drive the car. She learned to drive by going around our fields then country back roads then finally into town. No one needed a drivers license in those early days. Our family took our first trip by car on hwy 13 to Parry where my Uncle Oscar & family lived. During that visit we all went to some camp meetings at Trossach, near the town of Weyburn. This was our families first time to be at a Revival meeting. I just remember the crowds as there was a grove of many trees a few miles from the Town of Trossach & it was a few more miles to a larger town of Weyburn Sask. On Sunday's lots of people came here for a picnic under the trees as this was what folks called Holy Rollers Camp. It was said the attraction was to see these people roll, some thing I never ever saw the many times I attended this camp. Little did I know that some day when I finished my schooling I would cook at this camp. At this time I am not sure if we had a picnic or paid to eat in the dining hall. I remember getting to know Cecile's brother Kenneth, he was several years older than us. His mother gave him money to treat Cliff & I, so we had ice cream, candy etc which he bought at the concession booth. This was a real treat for Cliff & I. I don't think we stayed long in the meetings after the lively singing of hymns & choruses.

Now I was once again to attend this same camp many years later, with my cousins family Cecile & Harry & their three children Reatha, Eldon & Arlo. It was at the first service that I went forward to give my heart & life to Jesus after accepting him as my lord & saviour. I believe my folks & Cecile's had been praying for all of our family for years. I had been going to some house meetings in Hazenmore with Isabelle Keith & others. Mother was head of the United Church Sunday School & I guided the youth group so I felt I was religious enough to get to heaven but after attending a Alliance Church meeting in Parry school with Aunt Alta & Uncle Oscar it was then I felt I should give my life to God but because my Aunt didn't seem to feel the way I did, I didn't put my hand up to accept salvation. Now at camp I started feeling uncomfortable so I decided to go outside , my excuse to Cecile was I want to go to the bathroom so she went with me. We came back into the meeting she asked me if I really wanted to become a born again christian, I felt tears coming as Cecile asked if I'd like to go up to the front (which they called the altar) & have their minister Mrs Pritchard talk with me to explained more clearly how to become a true born again follower of Jesus, Gods only son, who came into this world to die for my sins. She wanted to know if I want to give my life to Jesus, ask him to forgive my sins, thank him for saving me, I said yes "but I am afraid I won't be able to always live it." Mrs Pritchard said "God doesn't ask you to do this in your own power. I asked her "How do I do this?" She said "Jesus died for you & if you let him come into your heart as you pray, ask him to guide you daily, he will, do you accept Jesus as your saviour?" I said "yes " & peace came into my heart. I knew I had made wrong decisions in life, but now for me, the christian life is the best and the most satisfying way for me to really enjoy life with family & other people, as I praying for others, helping those in need with God's guidance. I am glad I made this life changing decision early in my life.