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page 4 farm country memories of a bygone day beloved bethesda resident left us a rural chronicle f by selena atkinson 18771972 times have changed since i was aittle girl everything is speeded up and travelling is much faster icars electricity radio tele phone have all come into use since ivas a girl the first time i went to toronto i was 10 years old 1887 we started off at midnight with the sleigh and horses mother made a lunch for us we stopped at the golden lion and here father fed the horses after we rested and had our lunch we went into the city to shop we left the city around 3 oclock and arerived home at 8 oclock the next time i went to the city was to the exhibition by train from aurora with my parents on the grounds of the exhibition the first electric car was being de monstrated i thought i would never want to ride on one of them the horse ears were still in use in the city at that time but shortly after the electric cars were run ning in the city and then they came north to richmond hill soon i had my first ride to the city so 1 went on them after all my grandfather came to cana da from england in 1830 he was a carpenter by trade and worked on the first parliament buildings in toronto he and grandmother lived at victoria square it was called reids corner then for several years and then moved to bethesda my father was nine years old when they move all the land was covered with trees it meant a lot of hard work to clear the landthey burned a lot of tim ber just to get rid of it by piling up the logs in huge piles and setting fire to them the stumps of the trees were standing very thick in the fields but in time they were removed by stumping machines a mr king had a stumping machine and spent all his time going around taking out stumps the men used to have wood bees they would help each other cut logs with crosscut saws one man on each end of the saw sometimes they would race to see if i if ii toe lil i i wjk whifchurchstouffville mayor fran sainsbury chats with keith and mary hutchinson during a recent retirement party for the couple they re cently sold their john deere dealership hutch inson farm supply on hwy 48 jim thomas stouffville feeds ltd main st w stouffville 6401892 suppliers of shur gain master feeds garden centre forage seeds mmm specializing in horse feed which couple could saw their log up first then the lady of the house wouyld have a good supper ready for the men as this hard work made them very hungry we made soap in those days too using wood ashes with fat they put the fat and rind into a big black kettle out doors and boiled it the fat was from butchering of hogs the meat was cured and smoked when the fat mixture was boiled down they added wa ter which had drained off a box of ashes this was the lye this made a nice jelly and that was soft soap we also used to bake in a big outdoor oven made of bricks we could bake a dozen loves at one time i remember the first bread i baked in it myself there was a big dinner bell on our house to call the men to dinner when they were working in the fields because very few men had watches one of the pleasant things for me was when mother had a dress maker come to make a dress for me the dressmaker would go to several homes to do sewing a neighbour lady used to knitt me fancy white stockings and her husband used to mend our shoes my grandfather and my father who were carpenters often made coffins i remember a small one my father made for a little child i helped my mother make the pret ty lining for it my father some times had to make them on sun day and he said the hammering would sound so loud for sundays in those days were very quiet my grandfather helped build the church at bethesda and he was the first sunday school su- perintedent my mother was pre sented with some books by the sunday school in 1869 and 1870 for her perfect attendance one of the ministers rev wp brown held meetings for the children on fri day afternoons at the church the children left school at last recess and went to the church we used to walk to sunday school and church most of the time sometimes we went in sleighloads behind teams of horses the horses were tied in the big shed by the church some times our church had a garden party everybody in the commun ity would come arid we set tables up on the lawn at one garden par ty our doctor came he was dr sangster and he brought a friend with him his name was macken- zie king who later became prime minister of canada the first community picnic i can remember was when i was 10 years old i can still see the big tin pails of lemonade with tin dippers in them we had harvest some services in the fall of the year and the meal was served in the church shed after the meal we went into the church for a special service the lamp posts were decorated with leaves and pretty red ber ries and fruit and vegetables and flowers were arranged on the lis tlie icing on the ciu- aftct lkinj mitutil in tin mtiit i styling luminal by thy liriml new fcitnus mil impressed hvill i1kiiiiihuic tmpinvcnunts vitvtm hetlclicjttal in the price i his uir icltn hcctc ittstmto- jttcctl in cnlttclv new lute tit hxi settes lttvn lih tins all in- pneci siiltstiniiiilv ics thin the 1ni models thev replace not wit 1 few dolltrs less lint hundreds its the most significant pttee reduction in inltn ivcrehtstoiv ncav overhead vilve engineson most models provide increased horse power and toniie itetici efficiency and ttiel economy too and theyre enclosed lot ipneici operation youll hml nunc legrtxim taster refueling ami on out i a higher petfotm- anee 511inch tnowci deck see lot yourself lohn ixeres eoiiihtilltloit ol high quilltv anil performance along with low price gives you nioictiaetor for a lot less money than ever hefotc compare uh11 others have to offer you ii find iheic s never been a bciiet time to own a lohn ivclc othiin units i ifce 1 iveic hutchinson farm supply limited hwy 48 stouffville 6402699 dairy farmers dairy cattle mineralvitamin premlxes try our new 44 top dress milk maker available with or without methionime and niacin another quality product from marmill for further information call us pleasing you pleases us reesors marmill limited 14 station street markham 416 2942323 or 18002685657 canada ontario crop insurance deadline april 30th call maustyn mcknight uxbridge 4168523536 i agriculture canada ontario ministry of agriculture and food platform in the winter we used to have singing schools taught by diffe rent men with musical talent one time indians used to camp in a big bush not far from us we used to go and visit them and watch them make baskets we still have baskets in our home which those indians made the first school at bethesda was on the corner across from the church it was built of logs the first brick school was built in 1872 this school had no basement but had large entry rooms to hang coats and hats and put our dinner pails there was lots of room to play there too and in winter these entry rooms were heated by big box stoves that burned logs in the school room there was a platform at one end the desks faced the platform in rows two people sat at each desk often an older child with a younger one because ev erybody was in the same room we used to write on slates with scratchy slate pencils older chil dren would help the younger ones with their arithmetic help them with their spelling and help them read we used to have spelling matches and arithmetic matches the contestants would stand in rows facing one another and the schoolmaster would give us words to spell or oral arithmetic the school burned down in 1892 from an overheated stove while the new school was being built we had school in a shed on the farm of our schoolmaster mr pike i think the highlight of our scho- poldays was our christmas ex amination time mr pike had us well drilled inteading lessons and singing best of all was the candy and nuts and the good taffy he used to make the girls always had nice new aprons for that day our schoolmaster mr pike taught in the bethesda school for 45 years we had lots of fun in our home because there was a large family the boys played football and baseball we had a big swing and a whirligig and a teetertotter our father built my sister and i a real playhouse often neighbour ladies would come to visitr and bring their knit ting the little children came too and we had tea parties together on sunday morninbgs while the boys of our family were cleaning up we girls washed the dishes and while we were working we all would sing so we had a choir at home we used candles and oil lamps to light our homes my mother used to make the candles we girls had to clean the glass lamp chimneys trim the wicks and keep the lamps filled with oil the young people did a lot of skating on the pond at pikes they played hockey every satur- day afternoon they often changed their skates in our kitch en and walked to the pond the community used to have oyster suppers held in the homes we had games before supper and after the dishes were all washed sometimes it was nearly morning when we arrived home we used to have apple paring bees the neighbors would help each other wc had some apple peelers the rest would use paring knives we finished up with lunch the next day was the busy day making sauce outside in big cop per kettles we boiled cider first then put the apples in and each one had to take his turn stirring the apple sauce and keeping the fire going the ladies held carpet rag bees too they got together and sewed rags in long strips and rolled them into balls ready for the weaver the lady of the home made a big supper for everybody i also remember the first show er given by the community for a couple getting married in the winter we would go to our community gatherings in the sleigh behind a team of horses i remember one night a sleigh load of us went to stouffville to a skat ing carnival it was cold and we had to wrap up well in blankets and robes we often went to other churches on special occasions in sleigh loads it was always very cheerie to hear the sleigh or cutter bells we learned to know the sound of the different bells and could identify the people before we could see them we would stand outside and listen to the bells and would be ready for our sleigh load there were no tele phones then to tell us when they would arrive we walked in the summer time because there was not room for many people in the buggies one time we borrowed a three seater light wagon to go to my brothers wedding the first store at bethesda was on lot 3 when the second store was built at the corner it also be came the post office before that the mail was delivered to gorm- ley we used to like to get the mail and take it to our neighbours there was once an old saw mill at the corner on the townline where the waterfall is yet there were a lot of logs and lumber where the beautyiful grounds are now i often had a ride on a load of logs when i was going to school this mill later became a cider mill and later still it was a grist mill where farmers brought their grain to be ground into chop for their cows and pigs my father built the first mill for mr lewis my father was 21 years old at the time west of the mill was a cheese factory there used to be a saw mill on the corner of the vandorf road and the fifth concession too one of our neighbours used to make straw hats in the early days the farmers harvested their grain byhand us ing an instrument called a cradle they went round and round the field cutting the grain by hand then the grain was gathered into bundles and bound by hand the grain was threshed by horse pow er but the stocks and pods of peas were spread on the barn floor and flailed by hand the flail was a- stick with heavy leather pieces on one end the men beat the pods with these to get the peas in the spring most of the people made maple syrup for there were a lot of maple trees we used to have taffy pulls and sugaring off parties in the maple woods the maple sugar was used in the homes we had a good time when i was young we had to work hard but we were taught to work and not to shirk many changes have taken place since 1 was young and many more things will change but 1 have many pleasures to re member of the days gone by science with service 0 fertilizer specialists for over 25 years q regular or custom analyses 12 soil testing spreading equipment h all minor elements 0 speedy delivery call dr allman to discuss your needs m bradford fertilizer limited box 1000 bradford ont log ico bradford plant 4168955103 aurora plant 416 7279421