Chapter 7
The Homefront

I haven't mentioned much about what went on in the house, winter or summer. I guess our home was like many others at the time. Farm expansion meant buying machinery, horses, harness and when the crop was sold the household didn't benefit very much. We eventually built a small entrance out of our kitchen door which faced north and use to almost completely frost over in the coldest weather. The winter wash water was kept in a steel barrel inside the door where it was easy to dump snow. It was kept covered so no clothes would fall in. What a relief it was when spring arrived and the barrel could be moved outside. Mama couldn't have many house plants as the frost would get them unless they were put In the front room and there just wasn't any room for them. A used organ was provided maybe even before 1920 and was replaced by a new piano about 1923. The older girls, Lillian and Mabel learned to play by notes but I don't remember them taking any lessons. Nellie started taking lessons from Mrs. Joe Dodds. later on from Mrs. Litske and finally from Dayton Swingle. These people were all very capable pianists and possibly capable teachers also.

During these years, we had some kind of music all the time. Johnny played an accordion quite well. Charlie played a slide trombone and even played a little with the Midale band under the direction of Bill Shippam. Papa always had a mouth organ and could play quite well, almost any tune he had in his head by memory is probably a more proper term. Charlie and Nellie, along with Clarence Peterson or Dwight Litske prayed for dances in Halbrite in the years 1924 to 1926. Even I learned to chord fairly well on the piano and helped play for school house dances part of two winters when I helped with chores at sister Mabel's home at Debden. We always had a violin and sometimes a guitar. It was really bush wacker music, but it was fun too. Margaret fell heir to the piano and it is still in good condition and used in their home. Pearl may have taken some piano lessons but she probably wasn't as interested or she may have found it difficult to find time to practice enough to make it seem worthwhile. By 1928 the three older sisters were going to teacher's college or were teaching and Lillian was married, so Pearl became Mama's helper. Mama's health was failing by 1929 and Pearl was kept busy keeping house for a household of five adults and one younger sister. Margaret was going to school and we boarded two teachers from 1928 through 1930. Margaret learned to play the piano very well in the early 1930's. She may have received some help from Nellie as Margaret stayed with Nellie's family quite a lot between 1933 and 1936. It appears then that we had lots of piano music in our home for 15 years, and it is one of the everyday pleasures that I still yearn for after so many years of music famine. My daughter Carol took five or six years of piano lessons along with school work. She played piano at Church and was school pianist for at least two years.

My personal need of music today is supplied by a record player and records that I have searched for over a period of three years. Some were found in Tacoma. Washington, Regina and Weyburn. I still browse the music stores just to pass the time and hope I may find some of Frank Yankovitch's records, Mormon Tabernacle Choir records. etc. I have one "Cotton Picker" record. They were a very popular dance band in the Saskatoon - Prince Albert area, way back when. They may still be going with second generation musicians. I also have one of Don Messer's records, "Maple Creek Old Time Fiddlers", Myron Floren's and just recently I found a record of Zither music. We had an old zither when we moved from Minnesota, it was in pretty tough shape but I guess at one time Mama could pick a tune on it. So much for my tastes in music. I may be way out in left field but it suits my taste, and I find it an easy way to spend idle moments.

I have wandered away from our needs of household items in the 1920's but when I get started on an item of interest to me, I like to complete it while my memory feeds my pen. One of the main items in any household, of course, is the kitchen cookstove. The one we brought from Minnesota was a conventional Peninsular 5 lid cast iron top, with oven and high warming oven, no reservoir for wash water. It likely wasn't very new in 1913 and by 1920 or soon after it was showing signs of wear and needed repairs. I expect it would have been next to impossible to find fire box linings which were getting severely burnt out. The support for the lids was burnt and the stove top sagged. I guess we needed a new stove. Jones Hodgden's had a "High Oven Lighter Day" cookstove and it seems that Mama thought she'd like one. I don't know where it was purchased but that was what Mama got, a Lighter Day". It had only a four lid cooking top, a baking oven on the same level, also a large reservoir. There was a long drawer under the oven for stove tools, shaker, cleaner, etc. It took up a lot more room than the old stove. And it took Mama quite a while to get accustomed to it, but after a while she liked it very much. It had a large fire box, well adapted for lignite coal. We still were using it when we went north in 1Q34. Rather than see it set outside all winter, we had an opportunity to trade it to one of Lillian's neighbors for a smaller stove and a few dollars to boot.

During the 1920's to 1927 there were always young adults at home and we had no end of company, adults, our parents' friends, boys and girls were coming and going. School chums would come and stay over night and some of us would be doing the same. I guess my favorite school chum was Emery Achen. They lived two miles west of Crow Lake school. He was younger and a grade behind me in school. House parties were held at different places alternately, with round dance games played to a corresponding song. There were four or five, maybe more different games, but similar in some ways. Dancing in couples was strictly prohibited. Eventually there were a few dances in country schools, but it was still frowned on by many families. Sunday school and church services were provided at White flock school. Presbyterian ministers from Halbrite were our usual ministers. Swedish services were held occasionally at Gust Petersons . . . "Swede preaching" we called it. Our parents talked Swedish to each other at home a lot until about 1920. They still talked Swedish to the Petersons, Nerds, Goransons and Henning Andersons. It became used less and less and by 1920 we didn't hear any more Swedish. Going to Sunday school and church services was horse and buggy travel for a lot of us. We didn't have a two seated Democrat until 1920, so I am guessing we drove a team with our narrow tired wagon. It was light but still rough riding. In the winter it was a team and bob sleigh. We were always involved with the Sunday school Christmas program at White Rock school and it was a wagon box full of Trumans that sat in the bottom of the box under blankets. The stars were bright, the girls sang songs and some times the northern lights were bright. The milky way would be waning by Christmas time but was very noticeable in September and October. Do we ever notice the stars and northern lights any more? Not very much. We would hear the hum of telephone lines, especially in winter. Now there are no lines to hum. We could go outside at night and hear the coyotes howl from several directions. I haven't heard that sound for thirty years, not that I miss it that much, but times have sure changed since we were kids of all ages. We won't really forget a lot of things we experienced in those days.