three months for repairs is in a fairway to open shortly. The work was done by the Mechanics Manufacturing Co. of Summerside under the supervision of Mr. D. Kirk. Finish inside -— ash, painting under careful management ofjacob Howatt. Owing to the kindness of the Method- ists, services were held in their church. This church will re-open Sunday, —— 19, 1899. Reverend]. R. MacKay will preach at 11 am. Reverend WH. Smith at 3 pm.5

In the early days, the church was heated by two potbellied stoves. One sat inside the church door and the other sat at the front of the church. Each stove had a long pipe that ran to the centre of the church, connecting to a centre pipe passing out through the ceiling. A round wooden cover still marks the spot. This source of heating remained until the 19505, when just enough space was dug out of the basement to allow two

REFLECTION: Mervin Inman

They dug out just enough of the basement to fit in two floor furnaces sometime in the 19505. I was the first one to crawl in and start the digging for none of the rest could get through the cellar window. The two oil stoves furnaces) didn’t work very well, for they kept blowing out, although they were supposed to be automatic. I think it had something to do with a down draft caused by putting the chimney on the eve of the church instead of at the gable end. They hired Harley Gamble to stay in the basement during Sunday service to trip the stoves back on after they blew out.

It was quite a job when we dug out the entire basement. The Carr boys brought out an escalator and I, on my knees, started to shovel the dirt unto the escalator which carried it outside. We had to dig it out so everyone could work down there. Since the wall was only halfway down we had to cement it. They put another wall inside of that again. We kept cementing it until we got the second wall under it. Then they wanted a concrete floor after that. Major MacLeod and I went one evening to trowel it. Major had an old Model T Ford Coupe which we travelled up in and didn’t it come up a blizzard! Since Major couldn’t see a thing, he wouldn’t take the car home, and we had to walk. But we got the

job done.

56 LOT 16 UNITED CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE