Freetown Drama Club, l924 Back row left to right: Fred Reeves, Brewer Auld, John Lewis, Silas MacFarlane, J.B. Lewis, Colby Lewis. Second row: Anna Burns, Lou Deacon, Erna Murphy, Marguerite Auld, Emily Driscoll, Russell Burns (in front).

Carnivals were a big thing too. We’d prepare for weeks, dyeing old curtains and sheets, etc. We’d come up with the most remarkable creations. We went to all the neighbouring rinks and were sure to come home with prizes. “Barney Google” and his horse “Sparkplug” was one of the best. The horse looked almost lifelike. George Lewis and his mother, Jennie, once helped me dress as a yellow butterfly. Yellow and brown crepe paper were the materials for this creation. It had pipe cleaners for the feelers. It was a prize winning special.

Tobacco chewing was the favourite indoor sport of some of the senior males. You weren’t worth your salt unless you could hit a spitoon at least six feet away. Then, there were the more subtle ones, who’d hold on until the last possible moment and then head for the door to let strip outside. Grandpa Holmes was one of the latter variety. This particular night he was doing just that, when he hit Mrs. Darrach Moase right on the kisser. He felt very badly and undertook at once to repair the damage with what turned out to be a very dirty scrubbing cloth. It had looked pretty good to him in the dark.

Homemade soap was another speciality of the ladies and they prided themselves on their special recipes. Mrs. Douglas Jardine gave me her special once. She’d render out the fat then take 41/2 cups of it while it was still warm, not hot, and stir into it a can of lye, which had been dissolved in 2V2 cups of water. It was fun to make. It would start to thicken as you stirred and looked just like honey. You’d set this out to cool then put it in fancy containers for the Charlottetown Exhibition. It generally took prizes. A friend once saw it and thought it was fat, and tried to fry eggs with it. The eggs were a total disaster. We, however, had a good laugh.

Mrs. Albert Campbell taught me how to spin yarn from wool. She had a big wheel which she operated with her foot, like a sewing machine. It was really fascinating to watch the wool turn into yarn, by twisting

and pulling it just right. Mrs. Chum Taylor taught me to tat. It was a very dainty type of home made lace. It’s sort of a lost art now. What a pity!

The most terrifying experience to me personally was in 1938. Being just out of nurse’s training school, Mrs. Walter Curley was to be my first confinement case, away from hospital atmosphere. This lovely sunny

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