Interviewer: And where would the soft water come from? Speaker: It would be in your cistern.

Well, f-- from the roof, the y-- you'd have a- eaves-through around your house that would come in and you'd have a pipe end- end in your cistern. That's the way you- it was soft water was nice, nice to wash your hair.

Speaker: It got a fresh blast and then move out. I remember she always liked to get out there because the cistern was out in your- under the summer kit. Interviewer: Oh you had a cistern, now what was that? Describe what a cistern is. Speaker: Cement tank underneath- caught all the rain water. So you'd a hand pump and there- you know, for a wash water, dish water and all that. Interviewer: Soft water. Interviewer: Right. Speaker: Soft water. So that was great- summer that was one less pail you'd have to carry. Interviewer: So it just came off the downspout on the-? Speaker: Yeah. And then the eavestrough and it would all run into the end of the cistern

It came in on the phone lines and it blew the flipping phone completely off the wall and then w-- wet the ground under the old cistern pump.

Speaker: We had a pump in the yard which served the purposes in the house as well as, a cistern which is still there, down below the pantries and one year, ah, there hadn't been enough rain. I remember my father- husba-- oh, this was a little later, going to the river and bringing home water and putting it in the cistern and watering the- the stock from that, but that's a little later, yes. Interviewer: The water that would come into the cistern, where'd- where did it come from? Speaker: Yeah- ah, from the eavedrop-- eavedroppings around the house. Interviewer: Oh isn't that a smart idea? And how would you get it from the cistern into the- up to the- Speaker: From a little hand pump at that sink.

Speaker: And then there was the wood furnace in the main part and then in the back part was the cistern- 0 Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: To collect rainwater.

And then he said "No," he said "Can you start Monday?" I said "Yes." (laughs) He said "I want you to come in Monday." And that was the Civic-Ho-- after Civic-Holiday (laughs). And I stayed there- I was going to to go for about three years 'til we were able to start paying on a house or-something. I stayed for thirty-one (laughs). No thirty, I guess. I started in sixty-one and I quit in ninety-one.

But going to the parents', we visited them regularly. Every Sunday you would visit, um, the whole clan.

And, ah, she would walk in her old shoes and then she'd just hide them in the ditch and put on her clickety little shoes-

Those boys were- were after me. I ran into the bathroom, didn't get the door locked in time and they both g-- came in. Interviewer: Oh dear, what did you do? Speaker: I- I just screamed and yelled and clawed and- and finally the other kids- the younger kids were in the- in the cloakroom where the stove was and they- they yell-- they said "Here comes the teacher." (laughs) So they had to run out (laughs).

Interviewer: Did your school have electricity then? Speaker: Oh yeah, you had the- you had hydro but you had no running water, you-see and your toilet was just a- a big tank in the hole in the floor and the girls had one and the boys had the other. Then you co-- cloakroom for all your coats.But you d-- little- your- brought every morning you brought the pail and 'course the water would be getting cold out of the well.

Yeah, when it- she hits the stone, you got to be- of a good hold on it or it's going to clout you well on the side of the head.

Yeah, when it- she hits the stone (non-lexical sound: wouh), you got to be- of a good hold on it or it's going to clout you well on the side of the head.

Interviewer: Candle-light? Speaker: By ah- no, by coal-oil lanterns.

You had the coal oil lantern or a gas lantern. Did the chores with that and lit the house with the coal oil lamp. We got along fine.

So, Lori would sneak in, she'd watch 'til they were headed to the barn with the old coal oil lantern and then she'd sneak in and do the- help us with the dishes and then she'd say, "Don't tell your mother. Don't tell your mother."

But on the- on the- in the evenings, we would certainly go- the older ones would go to the barn and- and ah, help feed ah livestock and- and um, I can remember my dad milking the cows before we got hydro so there was a wire strung from one end of the barn to the other and he had a- just a coal-oil lantern that he would slide it on the wire behind the cows and- and then ah you-know, when he was milking or- and that must have been- I-mean our vet always s-- even after we got the electricity, our vet always said it was one of the darkest barns he ever come into.

Yeah, yeah. You had to take a coal-oil lantern out or- or-something-like-that and hang it up high because it wouldn't safe to set down on the floor in case something kicked it and- Because farms have been- barns have been burned that way, and you lose all your cattle, too.

Interviewer: So you didn't have electricity so I-guess you'd have to work with just ah kerosene? Speaker: Coal o-- coal oil lanterns we took to the barn yeah.

...and there's a small little area in this building. There was cement, there was a cook stove right there in this chicken coop.