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Memories - cont’d. Arthur “Zip” Cox on Tankerton farm. I started at Scotstoun School (pronounced “Scotstoon”) when I was six. Scotstoun School was on Reid’s farm. My brother and I had four miles to go each way, summer and winter, got there the best way you could. No school buses. We usually rode two on a horse, or we used snow shoes. It made the distance shorter, because we could cut across farms and where a horse couldn’t travel. During the cold weather, the first student to arrive, got the pot belly heater going, and the first hour of school was held around the heater. There were no janitors and all students had their assigned duties to perform before they left for home. The older ones had to split wood, shovel snow to the outhouse, clean out the barn, etc. I never heard any complaints. If there was any monkey business. Miss Elcome, was the sole judge, and she would administer punishment accordingly. She kept a good sized hickory cane in her desk. She made you come to the blackboard, where you had to bend over, and she would administer a few good smacks across your seat. It didn’t hurt too much, but all the kids laughing hurt the most. In the late fall when snow came and the sloughs froze over. Dad would take a sleigh load of grain, cutting across the open prairie, to Vermillion, where there was a grist mill; he would return with a year’s supply of flour, cream of wheat, bran, etc. It was a trade deal, so much wheat for so much flour, etc. We also had a hand grinder, and from that. Mother would make whole wheat cakes, bread, etc. Served with Rogers Golden Syrup, they were enjoyed by many people. In the very cold winter weather, you could hear the ice on the lakes booming and sleigh runners squealing on the snow for quite a distance away. Everyone brought their neighbours mail back from town, including any supplies that had been requested from the store. On Dad’s return trip from Mannville, in the winter, he would often be invited to stay for supper with Mr. and Mrs. Reeves. Their Cont’d. next column Memories - cont’d. farm was about one and a half miles closer to town than ours. Dad would let the team and sleigh go on and later when he arrived home, they would be standing in the yard waiting. Dad would leave a note on the seat, so Mother would know where he was. Some of the highlights of my life were a trip to town and having dinner with Dad and Mother in the Mannville Hotel. It cost .50 cents each, and I used to think my parents were rich, to spend that much money on a meal. Another highlight was a trip to Vermillion where we saw the silent black and white show, “The Better Ole’’. Another was the July 1®‘ celebration in Mannville: baseball games, picnics with friends, five cent ice cream cones, horse races. Bronco busting, etc. There was the school Christmas party with the big decorated tree, lighted with candles, Santa Claus and all the goodies and presents. Then came spring with millions of prairie crocuses and the fun of drowning out gophers. In the fall there was threshing time, with the big steam engine slowly chugging across the prairie pulling the separator and the men’s bunk wagons. All the neighbouring women would come over and help prepare meals for the many hungry men. Elizabeth Cox and a days hunt. Big Lake, only a short distance northeast of us, had some nice sandy beaches. It was always a good place for the neighbours to meet for a picnic and to swim in the warm water. In the fall a travelling tribe of Indians would camp, for a week or so, on the shores of Big Lake. They would trap muskrats in the bank runs on Big Lake and the surrounding sloughs. Thousands of migrating geese and swans would stop over for a few days on Big Lake. Many farmers stocked up their larders. Most used rifles, you couldn’t miss, there were so many. The coyotes got the wounded. We didn’t have electric lights, just candles, coal oil amps and lanterns. No radio, television, buses and automobiles. Miss Lynn had a Model T Ford without a starter. Her family lived south of us. Her car was Cont’d. next page Page 6