Interviewer: And, ah, what sort of things did he sell in his store when he first set it up? Speaker: Oh, when he first started it was ah china toys, notions, patent medicines, tea, coffee- Speaker: Interviewer: Blankets. Speaker: Blank-- horse blankets and blankets, and- pails, all kinds of alumin-- granite and-things-of-that-type.

That's right, as well as, ah, doing retail business he did quite a wholesale business on laundry soaps, (laughs) patent medicines, toilet soaps, ah, teas, coffee, ah- and all, like, heavy work clothes, overalls, horse blankets, ah, hammocks, sealers. He used to bring sealers in by the carload, laundry soap in by the carload.

Interviewer: Did you put anything over yourself to keep warm? Speaker: Oh yes we had big buffalos, big, big buffalos, made of all the goat skins. Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: And that you-know. And then in the bottom of the sleigh we d-- we probably put a- an old quilt or one of the horse blankets, or-something like you-know.

Speaker: We'd be all nice and cuddly warm and you hear the horses going along and- and hear the sleigh bells ringing. It was- yeah cold but- but we were warm. Interviewer: What did- what did they wrap you in? Horse blankets or bear skins- Speaker: Yes, oh yeah, no horse blankets yeah horse- Interviewer: Somebody tells me the smell of a horse blanket is a real nice smell. Speaker: It is a nice smell. And- well it's got a real horsey smell. And of course horses smell anyway. And that's an-- thats an-- that's the thing. With the smell and with the- the sounds- oh wonderful, yes.

And um, one thing I do remember is if my dad happened to be home and- and it was a cold day or it was a stormy day, he'd come to school the horses and sleighs and pick us up and cover us up with horth- blankets- and horse blankets- Interviewer: Oh really? Speaker: Had a r-- a smell that you remember- not a bad smell but a smell that you remember you-know?

Speaker: And the horses were trotting down that highway, cold night. We were covered up in horse blankets and the chimes on the- I've never forgotten that. Interviewer: Wow, I got shivers when you said that. Speaker: Yeah, it was lovely.

Speaker: Yeah, it was lovely. Speaker 2: (inc) straw on the bottom of the sleigh and- and likely robs over us. Speaker: Dad had the horse blankets over us. Speaker: Mm-hm, yeah. Speaker: All covered up. But I can hear those chimes up (inc). Interviewer: Yeah, that's perfect for Christmas.

... the only time that things would be really dandy is when it was a really cold, cold day with a bad wind. My older brothers would probably hitch up the horses and give me a ride to- to school. So that's where I got initiated on how valuable a horse blanket was.