When we were very young the Great Depression was in full swing and my Dad, being the proud man he was, would never accept "relief" ... (as "welfare" was called in those days) so instead he took work at anything and any place he could get it just to keep us all fed, clothed and warm. I do remember the three of us boys all having to sleep together in the same old bed and my Mother having to put us to bed so she could wash the one set each of heavy underwear we had to wear in winter time!

In the old "tumble-down" frame house we lived in at the time (I always call it our "Tobacco Road" house) ... there was no insulation nor storm doors and windows so in winter it got kind of cold. That's when the winters up north easily reached 50 to 60 below zero Farhenheit. (As a matter of fact ... way up north in northern Quebec years later I've seen it 72 below fahrenheit!) Thank God for the old buffalo robes everybody had in those days because that's what generally kept us from freezing at night! Conversely in the "good old summer time" the mosquitos were so thick you couldn't open your mouth too wide for if you did you more than likely "inhaled" a few of the beasties! As kids, we naturally had to do most of our playing outside and as the mosquitos were so thick, the adults would set pails of sand out around the lawns ... light fires in them and we would happily add green grass to them which would cause a great fog of smoke (we called them smudge pots) which helped keep the mosquitos away!

I remember when the only job my Father could get was working building a dirt road in the spring of the year around a small mountain in the countryside near where we lived. His pay was FIFTY CENTS A DAY! One day a great sheet of ice fell off the mountainside breaking several of his ribs but Dad never missed a day's work! He worked in great pain for days and days so he wouldn't miss earning money to feed his family. I have to ask what would today's generation do if this happened to them? They would collect all kinds of benefits and then sue everyone they could besides!

As poor as we all were in those days, I remember how much real fun we had. There were no radios to speak of (an occasional "crystal radio" or an old one that ran off a car battery, which was generally charged by a "windmill") and certainly no televisions, but you know what? We didn't need them! As there was no electricity, we lit our homes with coal-oil lamps and lanterns and we also read by that light too. Our eyes were sharp as a cat's even so! Our entertainment was "home made" if you will. We made our own bows and arrows, skiis and ski poles, tobaggons and sleighs and even some crude musical instruments! We had "house dances" almost every weekend at different neighbours homes and there was always someone that played the piano, fiddle, banjo, guitar, accordion or just a plain old "washtub" which was often converted into a "bass" string instrument! If anyone was unfortunate enough to have their barn burn down, all the neighbours would come uninvited and BUILD A NEW ONE ... ALL IN ONE DAY! The women all came to cook for the men and often helped with the barn-raising as well. After a "barn raising" there was always a "BARN DANCE" in the evening even though everyone was exhausted from the days hard work! Those were the days!

I remember the adults meeting all the time to play cards .... generally euchre. Gads but I hate euchre! As kids in those days we were scooted out of the way ... usually outside to play so we wouldn't detract from their "VERY SERIOUS" euchre games! The reason I hate euchre is as kids, we listened to the bloody "fights" our parents got into over the stupid game! Hell, I've seen them so mad at each other they wouldn't speak to each other for months. Imagine! Those same euchre games were a sort of blessing for us kids though as it gave us a chance to get together and play as we all lived a fair distance from each other on the farms. Regardless of the arguments over cards, there was always good food served with lots of good home-made cookies, pies, cakes, bread and the like. As we couldn't afford sugar most of the time we used our own home-made Maple Syrup instead. What a sacrifice! Being farmers, there was always a pretty full larder harvested from the gardens and fields. Everyone had what we called a "root cellar" which was generally a big mound of earth over an underground structure where vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, preserves and the like were kept cool but safe from freezing in winter. Often times we cut large blocks of ice from the lake with "ice saws: and buried them in those holes and covered it with deep layers of straw to be used later in the summer as ice cubes, etc.. For meat, we butchered our own pork, veal, beef and poultry. The chickens we raised generally provided us with plenty eggs. All in all when the crops came through okay there was food enough for everyone. Just very little money in those days.

It's so hard to put everything together that comes to mind when it has to do with trying to recall one's past, especially in the very young years. I may get things somewhat out of sequence as to which year I mention things but I'll try to make it sort of tie together as best I can. For example, I remember when I was very very young and the family were all at a funeral in Burk's Falls, Ontario. All the men were dressed in the traditional black suits of that period, with black armbands which were also the tradition of the period and the women in their finery. They had sent my cousins, Lorraine, Norma and I upstairs in the house where they were gathered after the funeral to "get us out of their way" I suppose. Well, being young tots and curious of course, we got into a very large box of powder that women used to put onto themselves with "powder puffs." I guess we found it fascinating to watch it "poof" all over as we tossed it about in the bedroom. That not being sufficient, we also found a hole in the floor where a stove pipe used to be that went into the room below us where all those grieving people in their nice black clothes were .... you guessed it.... we poured it all right down on top of them! Being too young to remember all the details, I really cannot recall whether Lorraine, Norma and I got a "tanning" for it or not but I KNOW it caused a lot of people to stop grieving for a while!

Speaking of that hole in the floor I also recall one "euchre night" at my Aunt Kate's. My cousin Bill and I, having been sent upstairs to play, got to watching the game below from the vantage point of a stove pipe hole in his bedroom right above their table. Well, one thing led to another and we wound up betting who could spit into that big old Alladdin lamp on their card table right below us. This was a special type of light for those days because it gave off a very brilliant light from a long glass enclosure around the wick which got very very hot. If hit with water or the like it would shatter in an explosive way. Well .... you guessed this one right too .... Bill won the bet but we both got the prize .... a damn good "tanning" as it was called in those days of fond memories.

Fast forwarding a few years ..... maybe two or three and I can't remember rightly if it was my brother Pete or my cousin Bill and I that were playing with matches (absolutely verbotten!) at the edge of a bush by a small lake that was on our farm. We didn't realize what we were lighting them on was dried ferns and pine needles! If you know anything about dry ferns and pine needles then you have to know they catch fire easily and burn like ... well ... "blazes" once they get going! Needless to say we didn't have a hope of putting it out so we ran like hell hoping nobody saw us in that area. Wrong! My Grandad Styles (Mom's Dad) was walking back from Doe Lake from his daily fishing and did indeed see us! It became one of the largest forest fires in that area as a result but you know what? God Bless him but my dear old Grandad never even mentioned it to us, let alone anyone else and took our little secret to his grave!

My Grand Dad Styles (shown on the right with Granny) was a wonderfully gentle, mild mannered man who enjoyed walking the mile and a half to Doe Lake to spend the day fishing in his little green rowboat. Then towards late afternoon he would walk all the way back with or without fish ... he didn't care. He just loved nature and fishing.

Speaking of my Grandparents. "Grannie" Styles was a white haired lady who worked hard all her life and wouldn't take crap from anybody. She had a fiery temper that not too many people ever challenged but was also one of the sweetest persons God ever put on this earth (except when she "got her dander up".) Well one time while I was at my Aunt Ann's and Uncle Colin's at Doe Lake where they owned and operated a tourist place, my cousin Jim Stewart and his Dad, uncle Colin saw me playing with my air rifle. They told me if I was to crawl on my belly all the way down to the lakeshore quietly, (about 1500') there was a small flock of ducks there that I might be able to get a shot at. Sooo, nieve young me crawled ALL THE WAY down to that bloody lake and peeked carefully through the reeds at the shore and sure enough ... there they were! My heart gave a thump and my adrenalin pumped fast as I carefully took aim and .... POP .... I hit one but nothing happened! Then I realized my BB had ricocheted off the damn duck! They were wooden decoys and this was one of my uncle Colin's tricks he was famous for. Well, even at that very young age I was a crack shot and I knew he was in the blacksmith shop working so I turned and let one go at the blacksmith shop! Even I could hear that BB ricocheting around in there, for that BB gun was powerful and then I heard uncle Colin cursing a storm, coming out pulling up his coveralls. He had been sitting on the "throne" which was also a part of the rear of the blacksmith shop and as it was built kind of "rickety" and being the blacksmith shop there was all kinds of metal things for the BB to bounce off of ... I got him right in the ass as he was pulling up his coveralls and laughing at me shooting wooden ducks! ....Justice. It was then that he came thundering toward me to give me a good tanning but was headed off by my Grannie who had seen the whole thing. She gave him and Jim the "what for" for leading me on! Justice ....ah ... sweet justice. I just stayed away from uncle Colin for a while, that's all.

I might as well mention another little escapade here involving my cousin, Bill and I when we were only about four or five years old "down on the farm." Although we were too young to be admitted into school yet, we often went along with the other kids to spend the day with them. The school was a one room building and accomodated from Grade One to Grade Eight which was taught by ONE teacher! The teachers in those days were a priceless breed as they went along with this without complaint and at the same time ... included us "wee 'uns" in with the younger class studies as well. Sort of worked out as a "preppie"school well ahead of its time. Although it was a two mile walk to school, we always looked forward to going because at recess and lunch time we played baseball, "anti-over-the-shanty", prisoner's base and many other outdoor games AND THE TEACHER PLAYED RIGHT ALONG WITH US TOO! Can you imagine today if a teacher was asked to do something like that? Gads .... they would have their union after the board or at least demand extra pay along with "hazard pay" as well.

One day while on the way to school, Bill and I got separated from the rest of the kids as we were always hiding from one another in the deep woods on the way. Bill and I stayed together that time but eventually we couldn't hear nor see the others and got hopelessly lost in the deep bush! We wound up going around literally in circles without knowing it! We soon forgot our dilemna and carried on playing the rest of the day. Later on after we had eaten our little lunch we had brought for school, when we got hungry we picked berries or leeks or whatever else we knew was edible. When we were thirsty, we drank from streams that had absolutely PURE WATER in them! When we were tired, we simply laid down against a big old tree and fell asleep. ............ Get the picture now? ............. Much later we finally realized it was getting DARK ... especially in the deep woods but we had no idea how to get home! Now in the bush in the northern area of Ontario one can find quite a large assortment of rather "unfriendly animals" that also get hungry and if they are hungry enough, they more often than not became less choosy about the menu. I have to admit that the two of us were running out of bravado every time we heard an owl hoot or the howl of a wolf and we were getting right scared. We found shelter the best we could up in a big old pine tree and huddled together not only to try and keep warm but to "buck each other up" as best we could.

Fairly late into the night, being very cold and sleeping fitfully, we were awakened to the sound of people yelling our names in the dark. We started hollering at the top of our lungs hoping they would hear us. It's hard to hear things when the noises from the wind in the tree branches are rustling all the time. They did indeed hear us and were guided to our location that way. Our parents had formed a posse of all the neighbours and with lanterns, etc. they combed the area in a criss-cross pattern until they came upon us. They didn't "whup" us for that, strangely enough. I rather think they were too happy to see us safe and sound although we were plenty scared and hungry as bears. Know what? That formidible bush is all within one concession but to two little boys completely disoriented it was like being lost in the jungles of Africa! If we had known enough at that age, all we had to do was walk in as straight a line as possible ... guided by the moon or the stars and we would have come upon the road that encircles that concession but how would two little boys of that age know?

End of Chapter One - Now go to Chapter Two.

This page © H.Heatherington, 2003