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Came Earlier, - Was Colder and Had Moreiisnow Than in; These Days, Old-Timer Thinks; Cordwcrod `Provided A1- most; Entire Fuel Supply, and Kee ing-Woodhox Full Was a Man-size Job for the Small oy;...but Otherwise Produced..Some Pleasures; One-cylinder Oxen Was. Once Auxiliary Motive Power; `Market Days in Barrie Were Busy Times;Maple-sugar Frivolities and an Old-time I`......L.uo HIIXKA .C()H{ (`Am prvs: -118`; \ ll ` [uhl `Th? IOWB COUIG ERIK: And in this connection the writer will quote part of a letter recently re- ceived from one or the realgold Barrie boys. now living in Toronto. who in sending to me. someold pictures and clippings relating to the old town. says- in part: I am sending you some clip- pings and a group picture of 50 or 75 of us employees of the Henry Sewrey Foundry in Barrie. 44 years ago, If the picture were larger I guess you A. F. A. MALCOMSON rm: % PLATE cuss` LIFE Bur 1.: and There Accident % XuoMomu:4 All Steumhip Linen - Camdian,National Railways. ALWAYS A PLEASURE GIVE INFORMATION UOWJ O I - u - ww Eountry Dario; GOVERNMENT MUNICIPAL N By Fred W_-. Grant,_Vic`tori'a,` WE REPRESENT 7 would recognize most` of them. but anyway. that`: your humble servant, marked X. with the oiican in his hand. as! was engineer there at the time. `While walking in Queen Streetwest here last -Saturday afternoon I met one 'ot_ those old boys of -that` group --, and whi"e noting the s-peedof an aeroplane 1 just passed overhead and the unbroken lline of passinz motor carsfhe asked is me it I remembered those days in Bar- lrie. 45 and 50 `years ago. when we I would step to the door of the foundry to get out of. the chokin dust-and heat '.,and, if it was a Satur ay,pyou would | see coming along the dustv roadtrom Kidd's Creek, a yoke of oxen hauling Ia load to market from 10 or 12 miles ox-t at a`speed"of perhaps two-miles anphour. with the driver walking be- side_ thefn wit ~hls prodding stick in I his hand..while is wife and -daughter I or son sat on the hard plank seat of , the big heavy wagon-box made of 1 2x10 planks and filled with farm pro- ] duce. But, believe me. those oxen days .and horse and buggy days were the (times we used to have the markets in [ Barrie when the whole market square vwould be occupied by wagons -or sleighs loaded with hay. wood, pork, beef. produce and grain. They don't have that kind of markets any more. It also used to be a common sight to see fifteen or twentyvt armers' wag-ans filledwith barley standing at new Simpson's and Ander-ton's Breweries and as whole string of grain Wagons at Daymen s. McMlllan s and Wilkin- son's Flour Mills, with the whole f.-eight yard at the Northern Railway station filled with wagons waiting their turn to unload their grain for the dealers there." a- min. 4-rm hnauinrr nf mum an frat. `HOT! 0! SEE LU Lvcuug uuvv vvvvuou \-U me good . - T I Just to ride to town again `on a. loadi . A l nf wood. dealers there." So. with the passing of oxen as traf- fic `bearers. other Worthwhile things also have disappeared from the activ- ities of Barrie to-be replaced, no "doubt, by something much better. Sugar-Makers Song When you` see the curling smoke smudrxe-maple buh and sky M You maypbe sure the sugar--making days are then drawing nigh. Frosty nights and snowy days make the Irpie pulses play T111 congested with their sweetness ' they delight-to drip away. Oh. bubble. bubble, bubb'le,`tbubb1e, bubble. goes the pan, Furnish -any better music for the sea- nnn H imh man! 1"UY`TllSI1 -y UULL!-:1` uluuxu tut huv awn" son, if you can; You can see the golden billows, and can Watch the ebb and flow. They're the sweetest joys indeed that the sugar-makers know. Then you see the farmer trudging with his dripping `buckets home. we certain `days of sugar-making then kovn full-u nnmn J.`l. B uurtaux uayu UL aucu ';uunuag uuwu A have fully come. As the fragrant odors iasuethroush the anrnnfIvnd nn nnv-, AB Ule Iragrant OQDTS ISSUE! Clll'UU LHD sometime oen door, You can hear the eager children cry- " ing "Please give us some more" For fever. crou or chilblains or any sickness `tie t e thi n Taken in great big gases. repeated often. everg spring. And this tick slice of fresh-baked bread laid Whole, upon a plate With shavings of maple sugar or syrup piled on it is simply reat. It you say you don't bel eve it, take 8. saucer and a spoon 7 Though you're sourer than a. lemon you'll be sweeter, Veryeoon. . Until everyone you meet at home, even upon the street. Will have half a mind to envy you, for you look so very sweet. There used to be considerame maple syrup and sugar harvested each spring . from sap tapped from trees in many 9.4` I IIVZC 'l'II VI BARBIE. om`. Phone MTW AIIIQI3 15:11 Jv.o- -IW - There wujs `delightful an-Io: pic- nicking about sugar-making -_ for the` small boy ot..;the family. and the an- nouncement that o erations would soon begin could only e occasioned nowa days. by the knowledge that a new mo- tor car was to be added to the family possessions. And, besides," it was pro- bably the greatest occasion when he could appear to be `very active and still not be doing much work.` Among the real Jobs open to him, possibly the most popular, was as assistant fire- man in chucking on wood to keep the" tire going under the bigecauldron, or in driving the old nag` which hauled the nails of sap from the woods to the sugar-house. loaded upon the bouncing, sliding stone-boat or a bobsleigh. But maple sugar is not now being made as it used to be, and a good deal of the run and plcturesqueness of maple sugar making has gone, so fru- asvthe small boy is concerned, and he now rarely has the opportunity of en- joying the old pastime, even were he so inclined. ' . _, 'AI-- A.._--..11_ ...-_.-I_._.._ ...-..1.: . Just. to nu: LU wwu ugau. uu u. nu... of wood. V } Sitting with the driver. sometimes held! thn reins. ' * | 3U , buvlauwuo -`Usually "the juvenile members would` be given a little plant of their own, where they could make their own can- dy by spreading the hot syrup with a wooden ladle upon the clean snow. already beginning to settle down, and which when cool enough and still pli- able was rolled up into a sticky ball of wax-jack," _all ready for eating. And was there ever such candy made? Most of times it was so tenacious it glued your Jaws together and you just had to wait until it dissolved in your mouth`. But 0 matter how much was eaten--and t e general average or a normal boy's eating capacity has'not greatly changed with the passing of tir_ne--no bad eff cts ever were appar- ent,>such was t- e purity of the maple candy. It was indeed wonderful the. amount you could eat, and after ynu had filled entirely up on it, all you needed to do was to eat a pickle or two, and then begin all over again. v-1__-__ AL- -....lI-. AA... ....... 0... la. n....1 vvvu, usuvn voovoa wyg... v.-. .-- ..D.._--. Even the family dog was in it and when he had been fed a big lump of wax-Jack and his jaws had closed on it. it was with the expression of deep`- est surprise that he found he cou.d not open then. After shaking his head, using his paws -as` a lever and than running around in a circle, he conclud- ed the only course was to follow his young master's example to` lie down quietly and wait until it had dissolved. I'm thinking of the snow-flakes and the J-ingling of the bells, - And the memory of those childhood joys always with me dwells And the piling of the snowflakes and T creaking of the -sleighs How it takes me back to boyhood and the careless, happy days, When I'd rather catch a bobsled as it went skimming by, . Than ride in royal` splendor with old age drawing nigh. . Oh, the glimmer_ of the wintry stars and shimmer of the snow, How chiidhcmd days keep trooping up from out theeiong ago, And the memories of taffy-pulling with happy. noisy crowd ` And all the other Winter pleasures that unnfk in] van? nllnnrn But maple sugar-making has lost a lot of its romance in later days, since it has fallen into the same commer- cialism which has influenced almost everything. and as a result less sap is wasted and better returns secured. Nowadays the great iron evaporator: are used instead or the big cauldrons into which thewsap. w-hich was not spilled. was poured. when the farmer in the majority of cases merely made syrup and sugar for the family use; and as a result thecommercial product is `quite tree or the little bits of ashes and charred wood which invariably crept into the uncovered cauldron and somehow seemed to improve the sug- ar's `taste. These conditions also have pretty much put a stop to the boy's opportunity for sticking his paddle into the boiling pot. either for licking off the syrup or spreading on the snow to cool, which probably has at the same time improved the finished or- ticle, if not the fun for the boy. The general methods of gathering the sap have greatly changed as well, for most of the home-made. roughly hewn spouts and troughs have been replaced by metal implements of standardized pattern. . Rut while manlebsmzar is still made puuwru. But while maple sugar is still made in Ontario, conditions are not what they used to be as regards at least the settled part of the central part of the Province and the annual crop is only a fraction or what it used to be. In the old days _0ntario ' [produced in the neighborhood of 4,000,000 pounds year- ly. and in recent years only 65,000 pounds were made. Canada is produc- ing now about twice the amount oi! maple syrup and sugar that it did 40 or 50 years ago, but the Province of Quebec provides the major portion. tapping. about 5,000,000 maple trees tol the 1,500,000 21 Ontario, and there are still 9. few 0 d-timers who remember the dayswhen sugiar meant maple su- ear and the other varieties were con- sidered tancy and their entire family supply was gathered from their own bush. And as sugar-making came at a slack-time in the farmer's life any surplus was sold, bringing the. first crop returns of the year. Ami while mnnln nixgnr-making in U16 1"aClIlC,UDB.SE,"L`l1S` II1bl_lUl'ly OI It is put up in some modern factory a nd kn-ows so. little reg1a1'd1ng a maple tree that it would have to be introduced to one with a loud-speaking megaphone. I._...-._ V 5.. `AL- .___._I- _-........ CPU}! 1'UEl'llH UL HID year. And while maple sugar-making is not the general, `occurrence it used to be in the district around Barrie, they're "still making it somewhere, but judging from the samples I have Occasionally been privilegedto sample out here on the Pac1f1cTCoast.Q,h9 majority of it [In nut nu in anvnn vnnnvv-I Fconfnvnr a nr1 Luu nu uu: ULHCI` wuucx youthiul zest allowed. Winter "Memories u an HUI` uuyt. such were _the sugar-making oper- ations arm conclusions as I remember them in the` old days in the district around Barrie, and in which the writer had a pleasant place on more than one `occasion and each of which still is. re- tained in happy memory. Those hnvmn nnrtiaa mm n1mna+ ah-n- Buzzara Dmwmg m yuur uu.-u, Buvvv piled on your feet, I Later you discovered you've been fro- zen to the seat." ' Hear the snow a.-creaking as we sneak ! along, Something kind of angel-like in the runners gone. _ Those home parties are almost obso- lete nowadays, when most of such af- fairs are of a semi-public nature and are `usually held in some hall r `com-` munity building; and no matt r what uuueu In nappy memory. I the object of any old-time social gath- ering it was almost invariably that 9. dance was held in connection with it. .. ---~-- nu gnu warn-non . [From all around the countryside were speeding girls and boys, _ To that farm dance `mid jingling bells and boisterous, -Joyous noise; With horses prancing no one felt the blizzard cold and `raw, ' In cutter or the big farm sled wells filled with robes and straw. Withvin the best room at the fa.rm' the Jolly gathering throng i ` Buzz like a swarm of busy bees and fill the air with song. The girls display their sweetest smiles andgive their tongues full rein, In efforts to entrap the boys in `ad- m~iration's train. The fiddler tunes the strings with pick of thumb and scrape `of how, I Finds one string keyed a. bit too high, another keyed too low, ` Th-n rosins up the tightdx-awn -hairs, the young folks in 21 fret V Until their ears are greeted with the. , welcome words All set! Everyone danced~ `til sunrise came, missed not a single tgrn, From the time that they gathered where the oil lamps dimly burn, i The caller never ceased his gab, the fldd1ex',(l:'1mp with sweat, 5 Feet all were pounding on the floor,; making some noise, you bet. Hugging the girls when they were swung, raising them off their feet. Placing them `back exactly right for someone else to meet. I Glances from eyes seemed to express. to everyone that they 1 Were just as pleased as anyone with? that old dance-hugging-play. I And thus the merry dance went on tll morn'ing's struggling light 1 In lengthening streaks of grey broke down the barriers of night. Then all start homeward in the glow of early morning skies, ' I All weary-limbed young revellers With -drooping. sleepy eyes. IT1he young men to their barns must speed to tend their waiting herd, The girls all hasten off to sleep and dream of what occurred. And for a month the young folks talk of what a jolly time They all had at the "taffy-pull" which finishes thisrhyme. cwvw-I-11` v-yo Au.` nqoun ,_,_.....__ ---... _ .--_, ...-. --FRED W. GRANT. 1016 Princess Ave., Victoria, B.C. : Chrinfrnna 1997 ~ ' Salute your partners! Let`her go! Balance all. and do-se-do! Swing your pm-`.9 and run away, right and left and gents sashay. Gents to right and swing and meet, on to next girl and repeat. Balance now. and d'on t be shy, swing "your pard, and swing her high. Bunch the girls and circle '1-ound, thump your feet until they bound. Form a. basket. break away. Swing again, but don't get gay. Aliman left, and balance all: lift `your feet and let `em fall. Swing your opposite, swing again. squeeze her plenty, if you can. Back to partners, do- se-do, Fill join hands and off you go. Gents salute your little sweets, then clmse around so each one meets. Hitch and squeeze em. go a-skating to your p:1rtners there all waiting. swing her now you got her there before you take her to her chair. shake a foot and off you go to sent your partners in a row. Cwke and sandwiches, coffee and ll.`-monrlde. Everyone go to it-- all promenade." Out for the Lancers! Salute left and right, forward and backward, with your partner in sight. Balance on corners. and all join hands; back to your lady where she stands. Gents in the centre, and ladies sashay, now just reverse it and go the other way. Grab on your partner, cross down the line, back to your places now, that's very fine. Now, everybody! Give `em some heft. Right hand to. part- ners, grand right and left. Balance all, and off you go. Rag a little, rdo-se-do. Reach and clinch, and swing your girl. right and left, and all unfurl. Swing again and shake your feet, on to the next one and repeat. Balance all, now that's the thing: get together, hug and swing. Salute your partner. jog down .the lane, when you get down there come back again. Ladies to right and gents to left. pound the floor with all your heft. Balance every- one, all hands round, keep on go- i-ng, make her sound. Grab your lady. don't be shy, then be sure to swing her high. Salute your part- ners, take a run. Go get your duds, the dance is done." U10 1'L'lI1UEES AVE `Christmas, 1927. A Dance in theucountry an .............a .1... -..--_...-__x;- NOW 1s THE mu: T0 INSTAL A cuuuas HECLA FURNACE (Continued from lat weok): Good Old Boluled ` o Good old Mister Bobslod, friend of long ago. , A How I long to see you, Bob. soon as. mare : a snow. ` * A. Plung])_e_r z_m(_|_ Heater The Ft'lrnace_L_gV`_/1,__at 'a;:-5ne` 76:: in Seven " CZ-Uri ti Zijcj -2 jbjj Qnil Call or Write for Information and Prices. Goods called for and delivered. Prices reasonable. _ I `J _ arg RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS ntao Scholarshiinr Matriculation, Solo Singing, Music, Art, Conversational ench emphasized. Outdoor Games and Sports. `II!Al .'l\I nmnnnn nwr-,mr.t.mam 1 .YM1"l"li`.n mtunmnn '"""'1-re3c'11"}e':Bi.T1i;i"z ei.'"oI71%'JF'G:B' aH&'Sp'o}T;a.'"""' EEALTE RECORD EXCELLENT. LIMITED NUMBERS. `FOR, PROSPECTUS APPLY TO PRINCIPALS COURSES--Clerical, Secretarial, Teachers, Commercial, Shorthand, Banking, Auditing, Typewriting. SPECIAL COURSES--For Normal and High School Graduat- es, Public School Teachers. i POSITIONS await those properly qua1ified-5O graduates and V undergraduates secured good positions during 1927. 210W 1 Jun; Lu aux: yuu, 4-Ivy, ..... ..-. there's a snow. A . sort 0! get to feeling how 'twou1d do ma R00 Write for rates or phone 445. W. A .TURNER, Proprietor `77cL . L BANK SCOT IA I HAVE THE ONLY DRY-CLEANING PLANT WITHIN YOUR REACH, OUTSIDE THE CITY. I AM A PRACTICAL TAILOR AND READY TO ATTEND TO REPAIRS ON ALL CLOTHES. The only school north of Toronto that is a member of the Business Educators Association of Canada. .."..? ,U9.. `D`lQ'|"h'lkT'l"' . ennnn . WITH (1 `D .Q Capital $10,000,000 W. FIRTH We invite your Savings Account and will arrange to accept deposits by mail when required. lIU Wuu Luv |.IbAVVbg nun.-........y.. ....-.. the reins, Taking chance of frozen exits. or ggttingl Man 011 lbhlains. ESTABLISHED 1832 000,000 Reserve $19,500,000 Resources $245,000,000 There` is magic 111 that word Home which never can be forgotten. Didyogu `bver Stop to think how few `homes would be secured unless someone saved money P 118 Dunlap St. 'fHE| .C]1(|"( `W11: -1' \\ And. Could n. Taxmg cnunuc us Ll_.'U'al:u mu, m. ,u......., . the chlbblains. Blizzard blowing in your face, snow nilm ! rm vnur feet. I 'Thv~ : .C0uI< rl -` xx For 1 KYO 5: And f HM. -Th 0 'Thoi! ~W0u' `And A The steaming Luau: cu : uuttyuns uauua, 7 the slippery -road, 1 Without a thought about the cold or of their heavy load. , Good old Mister Bobsled, although, you're not of style, , Still you've got those motor trucks beat a thousand mile. . At least that's my opinion, and I think I ought to know, For you and I were partners some fifty years ago. T And the w iter remembers that some of those 1021 s of wood were hauled to our home by a yoke of oxen. and were owned by a farmer named Caldwell, 1 think. But I am rather hazy about the details regarding oxen, as they were Just dropping out of the fashionable activities of life about the time the writer was beginning to take an in- terest in life. But I do remember that the driver usually walked along beside them carrying a heavy six-foot , long pointed oak goad with which to prod them in the flank. or a long "black- tapering from two-inch butt or handle down to the stinging knotted end, to induce them to carry on as they ram- bled with "a rhythmic swing 0 their bodies. over the rough corduroy- bridged road at perhaps two miles or. so an hour rate of speed. And in each owner's yoke e~ch succeeding off, or nigh ox carried the same name as his predecessor, and as would his succes- sor, so that it was always, "Gee, Buck," and "Haw, Ben," or "Bright or what- ever two names had been originally chosen by that particular owner for his yoke. Probably because an 0:: has always stood as an example of stup- idity. _it was found necessary to as sociate its name with the direction to be turned each time. instead of the name Gee" and Haw" in the case of horses. And anyone who ever acted as -chief chauffeur to a yoke of oxen, and succeeded in having them perform their ordained duties satisfactorily through a season. or even through a. trip of any length, must have develop- ed a rich, colorful and expressive vo- cabulary which would qualify him even to hold down the job of over.- seeing a gang of circus tent-pole driv- ers, and everyone will readily remem- ber Just how forcibly any of those fel- lows could talk. Anrl In this nnnnnnnn Hm writer snake" whip, a solid pl-wited leather affair. ten or twelve feet long and `\'}m1 In H `L,nl| S\'h` ) this Cl -{L fl I V [)A(: `I\ it An - daxy of L` pros 0001 ...\:\r\ l(mk1 :vr:O `. ora!-31.111115 l\_lllu UL uu5vo`ooosv 050 -u-- runners song. The steaming team are hurrying along H13: nlinnerv -road.