Interviewer: Oh yes, she went to go to the Bethel church, yeah. Speaker: It was more or less non-denominational in them days. Ah the Free-Methodists and the United-Church, and it was run under the guidance of the United-Church at that time. But it got- what would you call it? Run down. Not looked after and it fell over.

Interviewer: But before- before the cars, how long would it take to get to Perth? Speaker: Oh that was a two hour run I think, on a good horse. And I had some good ones in them days, horses. Swing out on the road, never stop trotting 'til you got home. Sometimes faster than others.

They had counts along the road here and there. The ah compressors for blowing rock, drilling rock. Them days it was on four wheels. Big outfit on four wheels. Now they can move them 'round with no problem at all but they have to have a good team of horses to handle them. Take them off one cut and onto the other and like that.

Speaker: All them days, ah- young folks seemed to come to dances, and b-- halls were full Saturday nights or Friday nights. Interviewer: Well how else would you meet people, you-know, if you didn't go to those dances, really? Speaker: An odd fight.

And we always had ball, had- had a big ball diamond and then they had a small ball diamond for the smaller children, and them days the outhouse, that was something too. It was the big building and it was divided. One side for the boys and the other for the girls.

Interviewer: So it was a very nice school for- Speaker: It was kind of more up to date school in them days, yes it was.

Took two team of horses like on them s-- or whatever ways, they opened them with the ah, plough- ah, home made ploughs I guess in them days.

So I liked to go out with dad then. (inc) But I had to know how to sew before I got married, and how to make a quilt, and- oh, all-that. And know how to- how to bake bread, you-know you had to do them things in them days. The know how of it anyway.

Interviewer: Would you order things from the Eaton's catalogue. The dining room's suite would that be-- have been ordered from the Eaton's catalogue? Speaker: Oh yes, it would have to be, in them days. Yes, yes.

Interviewer: What does it mean to make a box? Speaker: Well, you made a- a box and decorated it you-know and then you put in a nice lunch in it, you-know, all the goodies in them days, yeah. There was no bought bread, it was homemade bread, you-know? What you call a "good lunch" today t-- you wouldn't buy (laughs).

Interviewer: Did you play much sports in terms of- ah- everything now seems to be rol-- revolved around sports teams and baseball teams but ah- Speaker: Well there was not much sport in them days, wasn't- had a rink there- there at Maberly ah- Speaker 2: Had a good rink for a few years.

... you drove over the pile, pulled the bottom open, and then it all f-- as the horse went over, as you- it- it would unload it. There was no dumps them days, no hydraulic.

Big sleighs. My uncle said you walked most of the way because the roads back in them days weren't too good.

So th-- how much ah land do you need to grow a carrot? Cucumbers? Not much right? Exactly. So there was enough dirt for stuff like that. But I just ah felt bad for some of them that inconceivable and ah, course ah the emails that they received in them days was probably not accurate, but the land they're getting for free right? They ah, they asked for a picture, but they wouldn't get it.

Speaker: The stinking sons-of-bitches, they were gone. Speaker 2: Because they knew they would have to work like a bastard all day. Speaker: See, we had a tractor then. Speaker 2: So you baited them with oats to catch them. Speaker: And in the-- in them days, like, a tractor was a lot more fascinating than a pair of stinking horses.

Anyway, my- my parents, they, ah- they did a little bit of niche farming we'd call it today but in them days it was called survival. So dad and mom, they, ah- they really sold a lot of strawberries but it wasn't berries, it was a strawberry plants.

... and I migrated back to good old Perth and, ah, bought farm equipment and decided I was going to do a farm service even though I didn't have a farm, I didn't have a cow, I didn't have nothing. I just had a bit of equipment and in them days if you were, re-- you-know, willing to work you got a job so- That's what I've been do-- that's what I did then and I still do some of it yet.

Speaker: And we had milk machines. They were called Massey-Wright-Ways. And that was a big deal in them days for somebody to have a milking machine. Interviewer: Right. Speaker: So that's, ah, how they did. Interviewer: So when electricity came in, ah, probably not that f-- long after before for-- before phones came in, eh? Telephones? Speaker: Oh, we had a phone before the power.

Speaker: It was what you call quietness. (laughs) Interviewer: (laughs) So when you had quietness, did you- was there a lot of reading or game- or playing games or- Speaker: Oh, absolutely, yeah. Interviewer: A lot of books in your house? Speaker: But you see- see people went to bed a whole lot earlier in them days, you-know, than they do now. Like, if you were as late as nine-o-clock going to bed, well how do you plan on being able to do anything tomorrow? You-know, that was the attitude.

Speaker: And there was no such thing as saying, "Oh, gee, I don't feel like getting up." You could either get up or be pulled out of bed, whichever w-- was your choice. Interviewer: (laughs) Okay. Speaker: (laughs) So it was a dictatorship in them days. Interviewer: Ah, with the family? Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: With the parents? Speaker: It- yeah, definitely was. Yeah.